Comparison of Experimental, Thermoelastohydrodynamic (TEHD) and Thermal, Non-Deforming Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Results for Thrust Bearings: Part II

Author(s):  
Xin Deng ◽  
Cori Watson ◽  
Minhui He ◽  
Roger Fittro ◽  
Houston Wood

A thrust bearing is a particular type of rotary bearing permitting rotation between parts but designed to support a predominately axial load. Part I of this study was submitted to ASME 5th Joint US-European Fluids Engineering Summer Meeting. It compared the experimental, TEHD and CFD results for a thrust bearing. Reasonable relative errors between these three results were observed. The outlet oil film thickness at low speeds and the inlet oil film thickness at high speeds as calculated using TEHD were found to be more accurate than their counterparts. Isothermal, non-deforming CFD was found to predict outlet film thickness accurately as thermal deformation has a lower impact in the outlet region. Isothermal and non-deforming CFD was also found to produce a qualitatively accurate film thickness and pressure distribution. Experimental data from a second paper reported by the same authors in Part I, provides temperature measurements in two different pads and showed some variation of temperature from pad to pad. A thermal CFD, different from isothermal CFD in Part I, was performed in this Part II. Different data analysis methods will be included in Part II including a comparison of leading edge, mid-plane and trailing edge temperature at two loads, two speeds. 24 different speed-load combination TEHD cases and 12 CFD cases were run in Part II in addition to the 32 TEHD cases and 8 CFD cases in Part I. Both TEHD and CFD underpredict the slope between temperature and shaft speeds. TEHD also underpredicts the slope between temperature and bearing loads while CFD can get an accurate slope between temperature and bearing loads. An improved inlet temperature model would fix the error between temperature and bearing load in CFD, and also can enable CFD to have the same accuracy as TEHD analysis for the temperature versus shaft speed relation. The inlet film thickness from both TEHD and CFD is underestimated. TEHD is more accurate than CFD in outlet film thickness, or minimum film thickness, which is a critical performance characteristic in fluid film thrust bearings. While CFD is more accurate than TEHD in inlet film thickness and power loss.

Author(s):  
Niels Heinrichson ◽  
Axel Fuerst ◽  
Ilmar Ferreira Santos

This is Part II of a two-part series of papers describing the effects of high pressure injection pockets on the operating conditions of tilting-pad thrust bearings. Measurements of the distribution of pressure and oil film thickness are presented for tilting-pad thrust bearing pads of approximately 100 cm2 surface area. Two pads are measured in a laboratory test-rig at loads of approximately 0.5, 1.5 and 4.0 MPa and velocities of up to 33 m/s. One pad has a plain surface. The other pad has a conical injection pocket at the pivot point and a leading edge taper. The measurements are compared to theoretical values obtained using a three dimensional thermoelasto-hydrodynamic (TEHD) numerical model. At low and intermediate loads the theoretical pressure distribution corresponds well to the measured values for both pads although the influence of the pocket is slightly underestimated. At high loads large discrepancies exist for the pad with an injection pocket. It is argued that this is likely to be due to the unevenness of the collar surface. The measured and theoretical values of oil film thickness compare well at low loads. At high loads discrepancies grow to up to 25 %. It is argued that this is due to the accuracy of the measurements.


Author(s):  
D. M. C. McCarthy ◽  
S. B. Glavatskih ◽  
I Sherrington

The influence of pad facing material on hydrodynamic lubrication in tilting-pad thrust bearings is investigated in terms of pad and oil-film temperatures and thicknesses. Two tilting-pad thrust bearings are examined: one with babbitt pad facing, the other with a layer of PTFE-based composite material. Frictional torque, pad, collar, and oil-film temperatures and thicknesses are all monitored by means of a comprehensive array of sensors mounted in the bearing and shaft. A considerably smaller range of temperature is seen in the steel backing immediately below the surface material for the PTFE faced pads. Oil-film temperatures measured at the mid-point on the pad trailing edge show no significant difference between the two bearings. Oil-film thicknesses in the two bearings are seen to differ. At the leading edge, oil-film thickness is thinner for the PTFE pad than for babbitt. However, at the trailing edge the PTFE pad has the thicker film.


1965 ◽  
Vol 180 (1) ◽  
pp. 1025-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. W. Hemingway

A transducer has been developed to sense the variation of oil-film thickness in a thrust bearing by sweeping across the working face of the pads and ‘viewing’ them from the rotor. This device was used to compare the deflection of a circular pad with theory, and some degrees of correlation was found. The pads tested formed wedge-shaped films by elastic flexure and successfully carried considerable loads. A tentative explanation is provided for their means of starting to operate successfully.


1964 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Elwell ◽  
R. E. Gustafson ◽  
J. C. Reid

This paper is the third in a series which presents the results of a study of main marine propulsion bearings of the conventional pivoted-pad, hydrodynamic type. It presents a description of tests conducted at sea on the main propulsion thrust bearings of the destroyer USS Barry (DD 933). Steady steaming tests in both calm and rough water are reported, for the full range of design speeds and loads. Data taken in these tests are compared to the values predicted by the analytical results of the first two papers in this series. These earlier papers analyzed the performance of such bearings under conditions of constant speed and load. Data from simultaneous measurement of 59 temperatures and 18 oil-film thickness gages is presented.


Author(s):  
M. K. Bielec ◽  
A. J. Leopard

The effect on flooded tilting pad thrust bearing performance of a number of external variables is examined. At sliding speeds between 10 and 100 m/s, and for specific pressure between 15 bar and 55 bar, measurements were made of oil film thickness, bearing temperature, and power loss for various oil inlet systems, oil quantities, housing pressures, and degrees of misalignment. Power consumption in high-speed thrust bearings can be safely reduced by the use of directed lubrication with a drained casing, bearing temperature being reduced and oil film thickness increased.


1977 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Etsion ◽  
D. P. Fleming

A flat sector shaped pad geometry for gas lubricated thrust bearings is analyzed considering both pitch and roll angles of the pad and the true film thickness distribution. Maximum load capacity is achieved when the pad is tilted so as to create a uniform minimum film thickness along the pad trailing edge. Performance characteristics for various geometries and operating conditions of gas thrust bearings are presented in the form of design curves. A comparison is made with the rectangular slider approximation. It is found that this approximation is unsafe for practical design, since it always overestimates load capacity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 282-290
Author(s):  
Junchao Zhu ◽  
Haiyu Qian ◽  
Huabing Wen ◽  
Liangyan Zheng ◽  
Hanhua Zhu

ABSTRACT This paper investigates journal bearings, and builds a lubrication model taking into account misalignment, the lubricant couple stress effect and shear thinning. In order to explore the sensitivity of couple stress fluid lubrication performance to oil film thickness, we introduce the critical oil film thickness coefficient. The results show that the sensitivity increases with the increase of the couple stress coefficient, and it is highest in the area of minimum oil film thickness. Compared with a parallel journal, increases in the misalignment angle strengthen the effect of couple stress. Shear thinning also plays an important role in bearing lubrication performance. For a low oil inlet temperature, the effect of shear thinning increases with the increase of the couple stress parameter. For a high oil inlet temperature, the influence is negligible. An increase in the misalignment angle will not further enhance the effect of shear thinning.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangcheng Xu ◽  
Jianhua Chu ◽  
Wenlin Luan ◽  
Guang Zhao

Abstract In this paper, single-bump foil models with different thickness and double-bump foil models with different initial clearances are established. The structural stiffness and equivalent viscous damping of double-bump foil and single-bump foil are analyzed by finite element simulation. The results show that the double-layer bump foil has variable stiffness and the displacement of the upper bump is greater than the initial gap when the two-layer bumps contact. A model for obtaining static characteristics of aerodynamic compliant foil thrust bearing is established on the basis of the stiffness characteristics of the double-bump foil. This paper solves gas Reynolds equation, the gas film thickness equation and the foil stiffness characteristic equation via the finite element method and the finite difference method. The static characteristics of the thrust bearings including the bearing pressure distribution, the gas film thickness and the friction power consumption have been obtained. The static characteristics of two kinds of foils have been compared and analyzed, and the effect of initial clearance on the static performance of double-bump foil bearings is studied. The results show that the double-bump foil structure can effectively improve the load capacity of thrust bearing. In addition, the static performance of double-bump foil thrust bearings is between the performance of the single-bump foil bearing and the double-bump foil bearing whose foil’s clearance is zero. The smaller the initial clearance is, the easier it will be to form a stable double-bump foil supporting structure.


1974 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 386-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Bahadoran ◽  
R. Gohar

The effects of speed, load and roller geometry on the oil film thickness and shape in a complete roller bearing are demonstrated experimentally by means of optical interferometry. At quite moderate roller speeds, increase of film thickness becomes inhibited. This effect is attributed to a truncated inlet meniscus, a similar condition having been observed elsewhere with a ball-and-plate machine and with a model of a tapered-roller thrust bearing.


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