타원체 딤플로 Texturing한 평행 스러스트 베어링의 윤활특성

Abstract

Friction reduction between machine components is important for improving their efficiency and lifespan. In recent years, surface texturing has received considerable attention as a viable means to enhance the efficiency and tribological performance of highly sliding mechanical components such as parallel thrust bearings, mechanical face seals, and piston rings. In this study, we perform lubrication analysis to investigate the effect of dimple shapes and orientations on the lubrication characteristics of a surface textured parallel thrust bearing. Numerical analysis involves solving the continuity and Navier–Stokes equations using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT. We use dimples consisting of hemispherical and different semiellipsoidal orientations for simulation. We compare pressure and streamline distributions, load capacity, friction force, and leakage flowrate for different numbers of dimples and orientations. We find that the dimple shapes, orientations, and their numbers starting from an inlet influence the lubrication characteristics. The results show that partial texturing of the bearing inlet region, and the ellipsoidal dimples with the major axis aligned along the lubricant flow direction exhibit the best lubrication characteristics in terms of higher load capacity and lower friction. The results can be used in the design of optimum dimple characteristics for parallel thrust bearings, for which further research is required.