The optimal design of gas-lubricated contacts is addressed, with emphasis on appropriate strategies for the management of constraints that usually arise from physical or manufacturing considerations. The necessary tools for evaluating the objective function (which is the load capacity in this case) and its gradient are recalled. The presentation aims at “black-box” implementations in which an optimization package is coupled with a completely independent Reynolds-equation solver. In our implementation DONLP2 is used as optimizer, while the solver is a Galerkin finite-element code. Two applications are reported: A fixed-volume planar slider bearing and a three-pad compliant journal bearing. In both cases the robustness of the approach is demonstrated and interesting aspects of the optimal gap profiles are presented.

Issue Section:
Technical Papers
Keywords:
mechanical contact, lubrication, finite element analysis, optimisation, machine bearings, Knudsen flow
Topics:
Bearings, Design, Finite element analysis, Journal bearings, Optimization, Pressure, Slider bearings, Stress, Gas bearings, Fluids, Shapes
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 by ASME
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