Abstract
To investigate the static characteristics of aerostatic journal bearings with porous bushing, the flow model—in which the compressibility of lubricating gas is considered—is established based on the Reynolds lubrication equation, Darcy equation for porous material, and continuity equation. With the finite difference method, difference schemes for non-uniform grids, relaxation method, and virtual node method, the numerical method for the governing equations of compressible flow in porous journal bearings is proposed. The effects of nominal clearance of bearings and compressibility of gas on the static characteristics are analyzed. Under the same minimum film thickness and the same gas compressibility, as the nominal clearance widens, the load capacity, mass flow rate, and power consumption increase. Under the same minimum film thickness and the same nominal clearance, with the increase in gas polytropic index, the load capacity strengthens, while the mass flow rate and power consumption decline. This study could provide a reference for the design of porous journal bearings.
Highlights
Aerostatic journal bearings are normally lubricated by externally pressurized gas, holding advantages of high cleanliness, environmental protection, and low viscosity
Commercial computational fluid dynamics software based on three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations is another method to predict the static characteristics of porous journal bearings [27]
This study aims to model and solve the compressible flow in porous journal bearings and investigate the effects of nominal clearance and lubricant compressibility on static characteristics
Summary
Aerostatic journal bearings are normally lubricated by externally pressurized gas, holding advantages of high cleanliness, environmental protection, and low viscosity. Ruan et al [16] used the perturbation method to solve the gas lubrication equation, and analyzed the operation stability of aerostatic porous journal bearings. Nicoletti et al [18,19] adopted the Newton–Raphson method to solve the flow model of aerostatic porous journal bearings. Lee et al [20] introduced the under-relaxation method to ensure the solution stability of compressible flow and analyzed the geometrical parameters of gas-lubricated porous bearings. Commercial computational fluid dynamics software based on three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations is another method to predict the static characteristics of porous journal bearings [27]. This study aims to model and solve the compressible flow in porous journal bearings and investigate the effects of nominal clearance and lubricant compressibility on static characteristics. Analysis of lubricant nominal clearance and compressibility is performed with the solver
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