Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Analysis of a Radially Adjustable Partial Arc Bearing Using Fluid Structure Interaction

Conventional method of performing Elasto-hydrodynamic Lubrication (EHL) analysis on a partial arc bearing involves simplification of actual physical model and developing complex codes. This paper presents the overall EHL analysis of a radialy adjustable single 60° partial arc bearing using the sequential application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Computational Structural Dynamics (CSD). Here the coupled field analysis uses the capabilities of commercially available Finite Element Software ANSYS/FLOTRAN and the technique of Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI). The pressure field has been obtained using CFD considering the flow to be laminar. Stress distribution and deformation in the pad due to resulting pressure force is obtained using Finite Element Method (FEM), satisfying the boundary conditions. The stress distribution indicates the critical points in the pad. In this paper the static characteristics of radialy adjustable single 60° partial arc bearings are predicted for different eccentricity ratios and length to diameter (L/D) ratios. The results show reasonable agreement in general.