베어링의 열전도율이 평행 슬라이더 베어링의 윤활성능에미치는 영향

Abstract

Temperature rise due to viscous shear of the lubricating oil generates hydrodynamic pressure, even if the lubricating surfaces are parallel. This effect, known as the thermal wedge effect, varies significantly with film-temperature boundary conditions. The bearing conducts a part of the heat generated; hence, the oil temperature varies with the thermal conductivity of the bearing. In this study, we analyze the effect of thermal conductivity on the thermohydrodynamic (THD) lubrication of parallel slider bearings. We numerically analyze the continuity equation, Navier-Stokes equation, energy equation including the temperature-viscosity and temperature- density relations for lubricants, and the heat conduction equation for bearing by creating a 2D model of the micro-bearing using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT. We then compare the variation in temperature, viscosity, and pressure distributions with the thermal conductivity. The results demonstrate that the thermal conductivity has a significant influence on THD lubrication characteristics of parallel slider bearings. The lower the thermal conductivity, the greater the pressure generation due to the thermal wedge effect resulting in a higher load-carrying capacity and smaller frictional force. The present results can function as the basic data for optimum bearing design; however, the applicability requires further studies on various operating conditions.