Modeling a Spiral Groove Thrust Bearing Using 3-D, Two-Way Fluid Structure Interaction With Conjugate Heat Transfer

In order to quantify the performance of a spiral groove thrust bearing at various operating conditions, a two-way fluid structure interaction model with conjugate heat transfer was created. In this model, the fluid passing through the rotating spiral grooves, as well as the fluid passing behind the bearing pads, was modeled with a Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes solver that included the effect of turbulence. This fluid simulation was coupled with a structural simulation of the runner and pads that included heat transfer. To simulate the effect of a thrust load, a force was applied to the structural side of the simulation that was, in turn, transferred to the fluid simulation by way of mesh deformation. The resultant data set includes details such as pad motion, temperature, pressure, and film-thickness profiles as a function of applied thrust load. This allows for the determination of the maximum allowable thrust load before contact occurs at some assumed film thickness. This paper outlines the setup procedure and includes a brief discussion of the simulation results. These results demonstrate that it is possible to use fluid structure interaction to predict the load capacity high speed spiral groove thrust bearing.