This work demonstrates that granular flows (i.e., macroscale, noncohesive spheres) entrained into an eccentrically converging gap can indeed actually exhibit lubrication behavior as prior models postulated. The physics of hydrodynamic lubrication is quite well understood and liquid lubricants perform well for conventional applications. Unfortunately, in certain cases such as high-speed and high-temperature environments, liquid lubricants break down making it impossible to establish a stable liquid film. Therefore, it has been previously proposed that granular media in sliding convergent interfaces can generate load carrying capacity, and thus, granular flow lubrication. It is a possible alternative lubrication mechanism that researchers have been exploring for extreme environments, or wheel-regolith traction, or for elucidating the spreadability of additive manufacturing materials. While the load carrying capacity of granular flows has been previously demonstrated, this work attempts to more directly uncover the hydrodynamic-like granular flow behavior in an experimental journal bearing configuration. An enlarged granular lubricated journal bearing (GLJB) setup has been developed and demonstrated. The setup was made transparent in order to visualize and video capture the granular collision activity at high resolution. In addition, a computational image processing program has been developed to process the resulting images and to noninvasively track the “lift” generated by granular flow during the journal bearing operation. The results of the lift caused by granular flow as a function of journal rotation rate are presented as well.

A thermohydrodynamic lubrication model of turbulent cavitating flow for high-speed spiral groove thrust bearing was developed considering the effects of cavitation, turbulence, inertia, breakage, and coalescence of bubbles. Comparing with the classical thermohydrodynamic model, this model can predict not only the distributions of pressure and temperature rise but also the distribution of bubble volume and bubble number density. Static characteristics of the water-lubricated spiral groove thrust bearing in the state of turbulent cavitating flow were analyzed, and the influences of multiple effects on the static characteristics of the bearing were researched. The numerical calculation result shows that the bubbles are mainly distributed in inlet and outlet of the spiral groove, the distribution of bubble volume is skewed under the equilibrium state, and small bubbles account for a large proportion of the cavitating flow under high-speed condition. Furthermore, the load carrying capacity and the leakage flow of the bearing decrease due to the effect of cavitation under high-speed. The maximum temperature rise of the bearing decreases due to the effect of cavitation effect.

Passive magnetic bearing's (PMB) adaptability for both lower and higher speed applications demands detailed and critical analysis of design, performance optimization, and manufacturability. Optimization techniques for stacked PMB published in recent past are less accurate with respect to complete optimum solution. In this context, the present work deals with a pragmatic optimization of axially stacked PMBs for the maximum radial load using three-dimensional (3D) equations. Optimization for three different PMB configurations, monolithic, conventional, and rotational magnetized direction (RMD), is presented based on the constraints, constants, and bounds of the dimensions obtained from published literature. Further, to assist the designers, equations to estimate the mean radius and clearance being crucial parameters are provided for the given axial length and outer radius of the stator with the objective of achieving maximum load-carrying capacity. A comparison of the load-carrying capacity of conventional stacked PMB using the proposed equation with the equation provided in literature is compared. Finally, effectiveness of the proposed pragmatic optimization technique is demonstrated by analyzing three examples with reference to available literature.

Surface texturing is a technique for improving frictional and hydrodynamic performances of journal bearings because microtextures can serve as reservoirs for oil or traps for debris and may also generate hydrodynamic pressure. Over the past two decades, many researchers have experimentally demonstrated that texturing of various tribological elements can reduce friction force and wear, contributing to improvement of lubrication performance. Some numerical studies have examined the hydrodynamic lubrication conditions and reported that surface texturing affects the static characteristics of journal bearings, such as their load carrying capacity and friction torque. However, the validity of these numerical models has not been confirmed because of a lack of experimental studies. This study proposes a numerical model that includes both inertial effects and energy loss at the edges of dimples on the surface of a journal bearing in order to investigate the bearing's static characteristics. Experimental verification of journal bearings is also conducted with a uniform square-dimple pattern on their full-bearing surface. The results obtained by the model agree well with those of experiment, confirming the model's validity. These results show that under the same operating conditions, textured bearings yield a higher eccentricity ratio and lower attitude angle than the conventional ones with a smooth surface. This tendency becomes more marked for high Reynolds number operating conditions and for textured bearings with a large number of dimples.

Fluid film bearings (FFBs) provide economic wear-free performance when operating in hydrodynamic lubrication regime. In all other operating conditions, except hydrostatic regime, these bearings are subjected to wear. To get wear-free performance even in those conditions, a hybrid (hydrodynamic + rotation magnetized direction (RMD) configured magnetic) bearing has been proposed. The hybrid bearing consists of square magnets to repel the shaft away from the bearing bore. Load-carrying capacities of four configurations of hybrid bearings were determined. The results are presented in this paper. The best configuration of hybrid bearing was developed. A test setup was developed to perform the experiments on the fluid film and hybrid bearings. The wear results of both the bearings under same operating conditions are presented.

This study investigates a mechanism of textured features taking into account the balance of moment termed “balancing wedge action.” The principle of the suggested mechanism is that a change in moment applied to the lubricated area by incorporating textured features promotes the entire wedge action over the lubricated area. In the current study, multiple dimples are created on the stationary surface of an infinite pad bearing. A one-dimensional incompressible Reynolds equation is solved numerically to determine the load-carrying capacity of infinite pad bearings with a centrally located pivot. Numerical results show the importance of the balancing wedge action. When multiple dimples are created at the inlet side or outlet side of the lubricated area, positive load-carrying capacity is realized. When multiple dimples are located around the central area, no balance solution is obtained for the pad. The dimple depth, width, and distribution are varied to investigate the behavior of the load-carrying capacity realized by the action of the balancing wedge.

Machine hammer peening (MHP) is an incremental surface finishing process. It enables both surface smoothing and texturing. Compared to well-established surface texturing processes, MHP has the advantage of simultaneous induction of strain hardening and compressive residual stresses. Both texturing and surface layer modification are very beneficial in case of mixed-boundary lubrication. MHP has been only recently developed. Therefore, the influence of surface textures manufactured by MHP on tribological interactions is unknown and lacks fundamental investigations. In this work, hydrodynamics of MHP textures is investigated by means of a three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The analyzed MHP textures have already been experimentally used to reduce friction in strip drawing tests. Using CFD analysis, an optimal arrangement of multiple elliptically shaped surface structures for maximizing the fluid pressure and the load-bearing capacity is determined. Furthermore, a correlation between the determined process parameters and the lubrication properties is presented. Because of significantly high hydrostatic pressures, cavitation is neglected in this work. Additionally, the effect of structure pileups is neglected in this study. Within the range of parameters investigated, it was found that an arrangement of surface textures by MHP should be transversally overlapping and clearly separated longitudinally. High structure depths, lubricant viscosities, and sliding velocities further improve the load-bearing capacity as well as small fluid-film thicknesses.

In order to understand the load-carrying mechanism of thermal wedge, numerical results for a rectangular pad and a slider with parallel gaps under four types of surface boundary temperature conditions are presented. Two assumptions of rigid-solid and smooth-surface were used to exclude the effects of both thermal deformation and micro-asperity. The relation between thermal wedge and thermal boundary conditions is revealed. The load-carrying mechanism of parallel gaps is explained with the thermal wedge derived not only from the surface temperature difference (STD) as proposed by Cameron but also from the film temperature gradient (FTG) independent of STD. It is also pointed out that in numerical analysis, the very small viscosity–temperature coefficient would result in high oil temperature and therefore, the predicted loading capacity from thermal density wedge would be extremely enlarged.

This study presents combined effects of couple stress fluids and rotational inertia together with considering lubricant viscosity variation with pressure in squeeze film characteristics of parallel annular plates. Squeeze film characteristics are obtained by combined solution of modified Reynolds equation and Stoke's microcontinuum for couple stress fluids with consideration of viscosity variation with pressure. Various cases of couple stress, inertial, and noninertial characteristics with isoviscous and piezoviscous contributions are investigated. The pressure distribution and load-carrying capacity for lubricant film are obtained in a closed form, using a small perturbation method. Furthermore, numerical solution of the film height versus response time is calculated employing the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. The result shows that the combined effects of couple stresses and viscosity–pressure dependency improve the load-carrying capacity and lengthen the response time, as compared to the classical Newtonian lubricant with constant viscosity. However, increasing rotational inertia parameter decreases squeeze film characteristics.

A new structural stiffness model for the compliant structure in foil gas bearings is introduced in the first part of this work. The model investigates the possibility that the flat segment between bumps, in bump foil strip, may deflect laterally and separate from the rigid bearing surface, and it also considers the interaction between bumps in the bump foil strip, the friction between the bump foil, and the surrounding structure. The validity of the analytical solution was verified through direct comparison with previous numerical and analytical models. In the second part of this work, the introduced bump foil model is used to investigate the static characteristics of generation II gas foil thrust bearing. The numerical simulations of the coupled fluid-structure interactions revealed that the foil thrust bearings share many features with their rigid bearing counterpart and the results showed clearly that the load carrying capacity of foil thrust bearings increases nonlinearly with the rotation speed and is expected to reach an asymptote as the rotation speed exceeds a certain value. The effects of ramp height and interface friction (i.e., friction at bump foil/rigid bearing interface and bump foil/top foil interface) on the static characteristics of generation II foil thrust bearings are investigated.

This paper presents an optimization algorithm for journal bearing profiles with respect to stiffness and load-carrying capacity and an application example of the same. An analytical approach for finding the optimum is derived. How the optimization procedure works when using numerical calculation tools is briefly explained. The application example is introduced and the expected performance of the optimized bearing profile is compared to the expected performance of state-of-the-art bearing profiles. Finally, the measured bearing performance data is compared to the expected values. The findings indicate the effectiveness of the introduced optimization algorithm.

The paper presents a detailed computational study of flow patterns and performance indices in a dimpled parallel thrust bearing. The bearing consists of eight pads; the stator surface of each pad is partially textured with rectangular dimples, aiming at maximizing the load carrying capacity. The bearing tribological performance is characterized by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, based on the numerical solution of the Navier–Stokes and energy equations for incompressible flow. Realistic boundary conditions are implemented. The effects of operating conditions and texture design are studied for the case of isothermal flow. First, for a reference texture pattern, the effects of varying operating conditions, in particular minimum film thickness (thrust load), rotational speed and feeding oil pressure are investigated. Next, the effects of varying texture geometry characteristics, in particular texture zone circumferential/radial extent, dimple depth, and texture density on the bearing performance indices (load carrying capacity, friction torque, and friction coefficient) are studied, for a representative operating point. For the reference texture design, the effects of varying operating conditions are further investigated, by also taking into account thermal effects. In particular, adiabatic conditions and conjugate heat transfer at the bearing pad are considered. The results of the present study indicate that parallel thrust bearings textured by proper rectangular dimples are characterized by substantial load carrying capacity levels. Thermal effects may significantly reduce load capacity, especially in the range of high speeds and high loads. Based on the present results, favorable texture designs can be assessed.

The mechanical model of a “Z” type double-decker ball bearing under the action of radial load is established in this paper on the basis of the Hertz contact theory. According to the security contact angle theory, the influences of inner and outer bearings' internal clearances on the bearing's static load carrying capacity, radial deformation, radial stiffness, and load distribution of balls are analyzed. This model is verified in both stationary and rotational loading experiments. Moreover, the simulation results show that the static load carrying capacity of Z type bearing is smaller than that of either inner bearing or outer bearing that is contributed to compose the Z type bearing. The static load carrying capacity of a Z type bearing reduces with the increase of the inner and outer bearings' internal clearance. These simulation results also indicate that the contact angle of the maximum loaded ball in the outer bearing easily exceeds its security contact angle compared with the inner bearing, which, as the main factor, may cause the Z type bearing to overload and to fail. In this sense, the investigated Z type bearings are unfit to apply to situations with heavy load, high speed, or high precision.

Angled-surface slot-compensated hydrostatic bearing (ASHB) is a novel type of hydrostatic bearing which is potentially applicable in rotary tables. However, it has not been sufficiently studied in available literature. In this paper the mathematic model for ASHB was built and solved by the finite element method (FEM). The influence of semicone angle on static and dynamic performance characteristics was theoretically investigated. The simulated results have been compared with that of the traditional fixed slot-compensated hydrostatic bearing (FSHB) on the same geometric and operating conditions. Results show that the performance of ASHB is better than that of FSHB; the studied bearing with a large semicone angle is superior in power consumption; the clearance width ratio of the restricting gap to the bearing gap has an obvious effect on bearing performance.

This paper presents an experimental procedure to evaluate the load-carrying capacity of a fixed-incline slider bearing (dimensionless load W versus convergence ratio K) using a slider-on-disk lubricating film test rig. In general, the applied load is the dependent variable and is directly measured for different convergence ratios such that the relation of the load-carrying capacity W and the convergence ratio K can be obtained. The load and slider inclination are fixed in the present approach, and the film thickness is measured at different speeds. As the dimensionless load can be a function of speed and film thickness, the variation of load-carrying capacity with respect to speed can be obtained even under a constant load and a fixed incline. It is shown that the measured load-carrying capacity is lower than that predicted by the classical hydrodynamic theory. Nevertheless, the experimental results acquire the same trend in the variation of dimensionless loads with convergence ratios. The theory holds that the load-carrying capacity is a single function of the convergence ratio. However, the experimental results show that the dimensionless load-carrying capacity is affected by the inclination angle of the slider, load, and the properties of lubricating oils.

In this study, a three-dimensional thermohydrodynamic (THD) CFD model is developed to study the characteristics of an inward pumping spiral groove mechanical seal pair using a commercial CFD software CFD-ACE + . The model is capable of predicting the temperature distribution and pressure distribution of the seal pair. Based on the CFD model, a parametric study is conducted to evaluate the performance of the seal. It is found that thermal behavior plays an important role in the overall performance of a seal. The spiral groove parameter can be optimized to achieve desired performance. The optimization is dependent on the application requirement of the seal.

This paper presents an optimization study of the geometry of three-dimensional micro-thrust bearings in a wide range of convergence ratios. The optimization goal is the maximization of the bearing load carrying capacity. The bearings are modeled as micro-channels, consisting of a smooth moving wall (rotor), and a stationary wall (stator) with partial periodic rectangular texturing. The flow field is calculated from the numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible isothermal flow; processing of the results yields the bearing load capacity and friction coefficient. The geometry of the textured channel is defined parametrically for several width-to-length ratios. Optimal texturing geometries are obtained by utilizing an optimization tool based on genetic algorithms, which is coupled to the CFD code. Here, the design variables define the bearing geometry and convergence ratio. To minimize the computational cost, a multi-objective approach is proposed, consisting in the simultaneous maximization of the load carrying capacity and minimization of the bearing convergence ratio. The optimal solutions, identified based on the concept of Pareto dominance, are equivalent to those of single-objective optimization problems for different convergence ratio values. The present results demonstrate that the characteristics of the optimal texturing patterns depend strongly on both the convergence ratio and the width-to-length ratio. Further, the optimal load carrying capacity increases at increasing convergence ratio, up to an optimal value, identified by the optimization procedure. Finally, proper surface texturing provides substantial load carrying capacity even for parallel or slightly diverging bearings. Based on the present results, we propose simple formulas for the design of textured micro-thrust bearings.

In this paper, a method facilitating the analysis of the effects of surface roughness on the lubrication of a rotating device is presented. The analysis utilizes homogenization—a suitable technique for averaging the effects of roughness as modeled by the Reynolds equation. The originality of this work lies in a novel way of deriving the so called local problems, also known as microbearing problems. It is clearly shown how this increases the computational efficiency by eliminating the dependence of the global coordinates on the formulation of these local problems. This does not only speed up the computation, it also means that the derived flow factors or flow tensors require less storage space. To provide for good usability, alongside the flow factors for the averaged Reynolds equation, the correction factors for the averaged friction torque (and force) and the expression for averaged load carrying capacity are presented here.

In an externally adjustable fluid film bearing, the hydrodynamic conditions can be changed as required in a controlled manner. The principal feature of the bearing is the facility to adjust its radial clearance and circumferential film thickness gradient. Unlike a tilting pad bearing, this bearing can have radial adjustments. The tilt adjustments are obtained by providing flexibility to the pad at one corner. This paper deals with the effect of turbulence on the steady state performance characteristics of a centrally loaded 120 deg single pad externally adjustable fluid film bearing. The bearing has an aspect ratio of 1 and operates over a wide range of eccentricity ratios with different radial and tilt adjustments. The Reynolds equation is solved numerically using the finite difference method. The linearized turbulence model of Ng and Pan (1965, “A Linearized Turbulent Lubrication Theory,” ASME J. Basic Eng., 87, pp. 675–688 ) as well as the simplified adiabatic model of Pinkus and Bupara ( 1979, “Adiabatic Solutions for Finite Journal Bearings,” ASME J. Lubr. Technol., 101, pp. 492–496 ) are incorporated in the solution scheme. The static performance characteristics calculated are presented in terms of load carrying capacity, attitude angle, friction variable, and Sommerfeld number. A comparative study with the combination of adjustments predicts that the static performance of the bearing is superior with negative radial and tilt adjustments.

This paper presents a nonlinear theoretical model to study the effect of laser surface texturing on the tribological performance in soft elastohydrodynamic lubrication. Both geometrical and physical nonlinearities of the elastomer are considered by using a logarithmic strain and the Mooney–Rivlin constitutive law, respectively. The results of the present nonlinear model are compared with a previous linear one over a wide range of operating conditions. It is found that the simpler linear elasticity model predicts results that are only slightly different from these predicted by the more accurate nonlinear one. Hence, the linear elasticity model can be practically considered valid over the entire range of operating conditions.