An Experimental Investigation on the Temperature Distribution in Circular Journal Bearings

1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junichi Mitsui ◽  
Yukio Hori ◽  
Masato Tanaka

The temperature distributions in full circular bearings were measured in a test rig. The effects of journal speed, lubricant viscosity, and clearance ratio on the maximum bearing temperature and its location were discussed. The results were compared with the theoretical analysis by the present authors and good agreement was obtained over the wide range of operating conditions. The maximum bearing temperature is found to increase considerably with the increase of speed or lubricant viscosity and also with the decrease of clearance ratio. Its angular position is found to vary with speed and clearance ratio. These phenomena can be explained by the characteristics of maximum film temperature in the oil film.

Lubricants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Anh T. Vo ◽  
Michel Fillon ◽  
Jean Bouyer

The lifespan of journal bearings is directly related to the operating conditions they have to face and reducing their maintenance intervals allows one to have a clear idea about their performance when issues occur. The presence of scratches on one of its surfaces degrades the performance of a journal bearing. These effects have already been assessed in experiments; however, numerical studies on this subject are still scarce. This work develops a numerical thermohydrodynamic (THD) program using the finite volume method to simulate the effects of scratches on the performance of journal bearings. To test the validity of the program, the numerical results are compared with the scientific literature and with experimental measurements conducted using the Pprime Institute journal bearing test rig. Some minor discrepancies are observed, but the overall results are in good agreement.


Author(s):  
Lorenzo Pinelli ◽  
Francesco Poli ◽  
Andrea Arnone ◽  
Sébastien Guérin ◽  
Axel Holewa ◽  
...  

Within the European research project RECORD (Research on Core Noise Reduction) the tone noise emissions of a high-pressure turbine stage have been numerically evaluated by six different academic and industrial partners. The turbine stage geometry and operating conditions match an HPT test rig located at Politecnico di Milano (Italy). Since the constant demand for quieter and greener propulsion systems has led to the development of several numerical aeroacoustic codes, this common benchmark represents an important chance to compare the performance of each approach. In this paper, the tone noise results of three distinct categories of numerical solvers (unsteady RANS, harmonic balance and time-linearized approaches) are compared. For the tone noise simulations, all the partners used non-reflecting boundary conditions at the domain inlet and outlet in order to avoid spurious reflections. Moreover, the acoustic modeshapes in the turbine duct were evaluated with different level of complexity by the various partners and different post-processing techniques were employed to extract the acoustic waves from the unsteady solutions. The result comparisons for the blade passing frequency have shown a good agreement (within 4 dB) among the partners in terms of PWL values. Also the acoustic eigenmodes (radial shapes of the pressure waves) and the eigenvalues (axial wave numbers) agree well among the different simulations. A wide range of acoustic results are presented and discussed in the paper.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Carlo Alberto Niccolini Marmont Du Haut Champ ◽  
Fabrizio Stefani ◽  
Paolo Silvestri

The aim of the present research is to characterize both experimentally and numerically journal bearings with low radial clearances for rotors in small-scale applications (e.g., microgas turbines); their diameter is in the order of ten millimetres, leading to very small dimensional clearances when the typical relative ones (order of 1/1000) are employed; investigating this particular class of journal bearings under static and dynamic loading conditions represents something unexplored. To this goal, a suitable test rig was designed and the performance of its bearings was investigated under steady load. For the sake of comparison, numerical simulations of the lubrication were also performed by means of a simplified model. The original test rig adopted is a commercial rotor kit (RK), but substantial modifications were carried out in order to allow significant measurements. Indeed, the relative radial clearance of RK4 RK bearings is about 2/100, while it is around 1/1000 in industrial bearings. Therefore, the same original RK bearings are employed in this new test rig, but a new shaft was designed to reduce their original clearance. The new custom shaft allows to study bearing behaviour for different clearances, since it is equipped with interchangeable journals. Experimental data obtained by this test rig are then compared with further results of more sophisticated simulations. They were carried out by means of an in-house developed finite element (FEM) code, suitable for thermoelasto-hydrodynamic (TEHD) analysis of journal bearings both in static and dynamic conditions. In this paper, bearing static performances are studied to assess the reliability of the experimental journal location predictions by comparing them with the ones coming from already validated numerical codes. Such comparisons are presented both for large and small clearance bearings of original and modified RKs, respectively. Good agreement is found only for the modified RK equipped with small clearance bearings (relative radial clearance 8/1000), as expected. In comparison with two-dimensional lubrication analysis, three-dimensional simulation improves prediction of journal location and correlation with experimental results.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Γεώργιος Πατεράκης

The current work describes an experimental investigation of isothermal and turbulent reacting flow field characteristics downstream of axisymmetric bluff body stabilizers under a variety of inlet mixture conditions. Fully premixed and stratified flames established downstream of this double cavity premixer/burner configuration were measured and assessed under lean and ultra-lean operating conditions. The aim of this thesis was to further comprehend the impact of stratifying the inlet fuelair mixture on the reacting wake characteristics for a range of practical stabilizers under a variety of inlet fuel-air settings. In the first part of this thesis, the isothermal mean and turbulent flow features downstream of a variety of axisymmetric baffles was initially examined. The effect of different shapes, (cone or disk), blockage ratios, (0.23 and 0.48), and rim thicknesses of these baffles was assessed. The variations of the recirculation zones, back flow velocity magnitude, annular jet ejection angles, wake development, entrainment efficiency, as well as several turbulent flow features were obtained, evaluated and appraised. Next, a comparative examination of the counterpart turbulent cold fuel-air mixing performance and characteristics of stratified against fully-premixed operation was performed for a wide range of baffle geometries and inlet mixture conditions. Scalar mixing and entrainment properties were investigated at the exit plane, at the bluff body annular shear layer, at the reattachment region and along the developing wake were investigated. These isothermal studies provided the necessary background information for clarifying the combustion properties and interpreting the trends in the counterpart turbulent reacting fields. Subsequently, for selected bluff bodies, flame structures and behavior for operation with a variety of reacting conditions were demonstrated. The effect of inlet fuel-air mixture settings, fuel type and bluff body geometry on wake development, flame shape, anchoring and structure, temperatures and combustion efficiencies, over lean and close to blow-off conditions, was presented and analyzed. For the obtained measurements infrared radiation, particle image velocimetry, laser doppler velocimetry, chemiluminescence imaging set-ups, together with Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy, thermocouples and global emission analyzer instrumentation was employed. This helped to delineate a number of factors that affectcold flow fuel-air mixing, flame anchoring topologies, wake structure development and overall burner performance. The presented data will also significantly assist the validation of computational methodologies for combusting flows and the development of turbulence-chemistry interaction models.


Author(s):  
B. R. Nichols ◽  
R. L. Fittro ◽  
C. P. Goyne

Many high-speed, rotating machines across a wide range of industrial applications depend on fluid film bearings to provide both static support of the rotor and to introduce stabilizing damping forces into the system through a developed hydrodynamic film wedge. Reduced oil supply flow rate to the bearings can cause cavitation, or a lack of a fully developed film layer, at the leading edge of the bearing pads. Reducing oil flow has the well-documented effects of higher bearing operating temperatures and decreased power losses due to shear forces. While machine efficiency may be improved with reduced lubricant flow, little experimental data on its effects on system stability and performance can be found in the literature. This study looks at overall system performance of a test rig operating under reduced oil supply flow rates by observing steady-state bearing performance indicators and baseline vibrational response of the shaft. The test rig used in this study was designed to be dynamically similar to a high-speed industrial compressor. It consists of a 1.55 m long, flexible rotor supported by two tilting pad bearings with a nominal diameter of 70 mm and a span of 1.2 m. The first bending mode is located at approximately 5,000 rpm. The tiling-pad bearings consist of five pads in a vintage, flooded bearing housing with a length to diameter ratio of 0.75, preload of 0.3, and a load-between-pad configuration. Tests were conducted over a number of operating speeds, ranging from 8,000 to 12,000 rpm, and bearing loads, while systematically reducing the oil supply flow rates provided to the bearings under each condition. For nearly all operating conditions, a low amplitude, broadband subsynchronous vibration pattern was observed in the frequency domain from approximately 0–75 Hz. When the test rig was operated at running speeds above its first bending mode, a distinctive subsynchronous peak emerged from the broadband pattern at approximately half of the running speed and at the first bending mode of the shaft. This vibration signature is often considered a classic sign of rotordynamic instability attributed to oil whip and shaft whirl phenomena. For low and moderate load conditions, the amplitude of this 0.5x subsynchronous peak increased with decreasing oil supply flow rate at all operating speeds. Under the high load condition, the subsynchronous peak was largely attenuated. A discussion on the possible sources of this subsynchronous vibration including self-excited instability and pad flutter forced vibration is provided with supporting evidence from thermoelastohydrodynamic (TEHD) bearing modeling results. Implications of reduced oil supply flow rate on system stability and operational limits are also discussed.


2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan H. Andersen ◽  
Hiroyuki Sada ◽  
Seiji Yamajo

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the theoretical and experimental performance of oil lubricated journal bearings. DNV has developed a new calculation tool for the analysis of journal bearing performance as part of shaft alignment analysis. The results of the calculation tool have been compared to other research and analysis methods under static and dynamic conditions. In addition, white metal bearings were tested with decreasing Sommerfeld number until loss of hydrodynamic lubrication. The experiments were carried out in a bearing test rig and with three different lubricants, normal mineral oil, emulsifying oil, and water-soluble oil. The tests were done with increasing water content in the lubricant. Results from the test were compared with calculation using the DNV analysis tool.


2019 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 03002
Author(s):  
Carlo Alberto Niccolini Marmont Du Haut Champ ◽  
Fabrizio Stefani ◽  
Paolo Silvestri

The aim of the present work is to design a test rig suited to investigate the dynamic interaction between rotor and hydrodynamic journal bearings in micro gas turbines (microGT), i.e. with reference to small bearings (diameter in the order of ten millimeters). Particularly, the device is capable of measuring the journal location. Therefore, the journal motion due to rotor vibrations can be displayed, in order to assess performance as well as stiffness and damping of the bearings. The new test rig is based on Bently Nevada Rotor Kit (RK), but substantial modifications are carried out. Indeed, the relative radial clearance of the original RK bearings is about 2/100, while it is in the order of 1/1000 in industrial bearings. Therefore, the same RK bearings are employed in the new test rig, but a new shaft has been designed in order to reduce the original clearance. The new shaft enables us to study the bearing behaviour for different clearances, as it is equipped with interchangeable journals. The experimental data yielded by the new test rig are compared with numerical results. These are obtained by means of a suitable finite element (FEM) code developed by our research group. It allows the Thermo Elasto-HydroDynamic (TEHD) analysis of the bearing in static and dynamic conditions. In the present paper, bearing static performances are analysed in order to assess the reliability of the journal location predictions by comparing numerical and experimental results. Such comparisons are presented for both large and small clearance bearings of original and modified RK, respectively. Good agreement is found only for the modified RK equipped with small clearance bearings (relative radial clearance equal to 8/1000). Nevertheless, rotor alignment is quite difficult with small clearance bearings and a completely new test rig is designed for future experiments.


Author(s):  
Shanping Shen ◽  
Guoqian Song

Abstract Multi-sector combustor tests are essential to aero-engine annular combustor development. For the test rig design, it is necessary to ensure that the pressure drop and flow split to the various portions of multi-sector combustor are consistent with the combustor component. This paper introduces a new kind of multi-sector combustor rig. The diffuser system of the test rig is different with the combustor component. This test rig is simple in structure and easy to machine. To evaluate the flow split and pressure drop of the test rig, a 1D-flow network approach is applied to multi-sector combustor rig design. The calculated results show good agreement with the experiment data. In order to study whether the test rig can simulate flow split and pressure loss of combustor components, flow split and pressure loss under different design features are analyzed. Result shows that by changing the effective area of inner/outer annular inlet baffle and inner/outer bleed air plate, inner/outer liner pressure drop and the ratio of air flow to W31c can be changed in a wide range. Thus, this kind of multi-sector combustor rig is convenient to change the multi-sector combustor test rig design to meet the requirements of the pressure drop and flow split design of combustor component, even when the rig has been manufactured.


Author(s):  
F. A. Martin

The aim of the paper is to produce a rapid calculation method for predicting lubricant flow in plain cylindrical journal bearings. Lubricant flow data, already available from rigorous solutions considering the effect of film reformation, are used together with experimental evidence to develop unique graphical aids and flow prediction equations. These equations, although developed from specific flow data, are of a general form and therefore will be applicable to a wide range of different bearing operating conditions. Graphical aids, from which the flow equations are derived, give normalized actual flow as a function of normalized hydrodynamic flow for different groove geometries. The main input parameters, namely a hydrodynamic flow term Qh and a feed pressure flow term Qp, are easy to derive and have been in common use in bearing design techniques over many decades. The new design aids, in chart and equation form, give realistic flow predictions for bearings with an oil hole, a groove opposite the load line, an axial groove at the maximum film thickness position and the commonly used case of a bearing with two axial grooves. The flow prediction equations are supported by experimental data.


1966 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ashley ◽  
B. Mills

During the past few years systematic vibration testing has played an increasing part in the evaluation of mechanical devices. The electro-hydraulic vibrator, consisting of a valve-controlled hydraulic cylinder, is capable of high thrusts over a fairly wide range of frequency. This paper examines the theoretical behaviour of such a vibrator which is itself similar to a hydraulic positioning system. The cylinder equations are extended to include end leakages and the servo valve is examined both for transfer characteristics and the interdependence of flow and load. It is shown that the classical square root relationship between pressure drop and flow does not necessarily apply for a two-stage valve with a spring-centred second stage and that a dimensionless number known as the valve load compensation coefficient describes these characteristics. For practical valves it is possible for the flow to be almost independent of the load over a wide range of operating conditions and thus a linear transfer function can be used for the valve-cylinder combination. The experimental work shows good agreement between the theoretical characteristics and those found in practice.


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