Applied Tribology: Bearing Design and Lubrication

Abstract

The primary focus of this book is the application of tribology to the design and analysis of bearings and related mechanical components. In order to make the book more useful to a wide audience, the authors attempted to maintain a balance between theory and practical application. In the view of this reviewer, they were quite successful in meeting that goal.The orientation of the book is clear from the amount of space and coverage allocated to different topics in tribology. The first part of the book, which consists of four chapters and about 100 pages, presents an introduction to the field of tribology. The second part, about 275 pages in length, contains eight chapters dealing with fluid film bearings. The final part covers rolling element bearings in three chapters and about 100 pages. Therefore, the title of the book is quite accurate; it focuses on bearing design and lubrication, and it covers that topic well.In the introductory chapter, there is a broad introduction to tribology and to bearing selection. Lubricants and their physical properties are the topic of chapter 2, with particular emphasis on liquid lubricants and their properties and on means of oil supply. In chapter 3 there is an introduction to solid surfaces and surface roughness, and a summary of contact mechanics. Chapter 4 contains a brief introduction to friction and wear, and a good discussion of the selection of bearing materials.The largest portion of the book, part II, deals with fluid film lubrication and its application to bearing design and analysis. First there are two chapters in which the principles of viscous flow are presented and the Reynolds equation is developed in a coherent manner. Solutions are given for several simple cases ͑including a slider bearing pad͒. Methods for dealing with turbulence and rough surfaces are discussed. There are then five chapters that each focus on one type of fluid film bearing: thrust bearings, journal bearings, squeeze film bearings, hydrostatic ͑externally pressurized͒ bearings and gas bearings, and one chapter dealing with unlubricated or partially lubricated sliding bearings. In each chapter there is some discussion of the theoretical background, followed by practically useful methods for design and performance analysis of the bearings. In particular, the design methodology favored by the authors is tabulated data, design charts, and curves. There are many worked examples showing how the methodology is applied and many practical recommendations for use in bearing design. There is discussion of important phenomena such as cavitation and thermal effects, information about various bearing geometries, and some discussion of dynamic behavior.The final part of the book deals with rolling element bearing design and analysis. First the types of rolling element bearings, their geometries, operating principles, and performance limits are described. There is a short discussion of force and stress analysis in ball and roller bearings, and life and load capacity prediction. Recommendations are presented f...

Numerical modelling of hydrostatic lift pockets in hydrodynamic journal bearings – Application to low speed working conditions of highly loaded tilting pad journal bearings

“…Only few information can be found in general books on Tribology and Lubrication. In their book [2], Khonsari and Booser have indicated that the oil hydraulic lifts are also used during the very low rotational speed operation, i.e. turning speed operation (several revolutions per minute), in order to reduce the friction torque and the wear of the hydrodynamic bearings.…”

Use of Textured Surfaces to Mitigate Sliding Friction and Wear of Lubricated and Non-Lubricated Contacts

“…These attributes are generally larger in scale than the surface finish of a typical bearing or gear (typically from 0.025-0.3 m in arithmetic roughness [1]), but in special cases they can be only a few nm in size. Several attributes of textured surfaces are depicted in Figure 1.…”

FEM Applied to Hydrodynamic Bearing Design

“…The Wendt (Wendt, 1933) and the surface drag losses (Khonsari & Booser, 2008) empirical formulas have been used to assess the friction factor λ for journal and thrust bearings, respectively.…”