Mathematical Analysis of Effects of Surface Roughness on Steady Performance of Hydrostatic Thrust Bearings Lubricated with Rabinowitsch Type Fluids

Abstract

The objective of present theoretical analysis is to study the combined influence of surface roughness and lubricant inertia on the steady performance of stepped circular hydrostatic thrust bearings lubricated with non-Newtonian Rabinowitsch type fluids. To take the effects of surface roughness into account, Christensen theory of rough surface has been adopted. Solution for momentum equation has been derived by means of average inertia approach. Analytic expressions for film pressure have been established for radial and circumferential roughness patterns. Results for film pressure, load carrying capacity of bearing and lubricant flow rate has been plotted and analyzed on the basis of numerical results. Due to surface roughness, significant variations in these properties have been observed.

Multiscale Elastohydrodynamic Wedge-Platform Thrust Bearing with Ultra Low Clearance

“…In the analysis of hydrodynamic thrust bearings, the surfaces were often assumed as rigid because of the magnitude of the surface elastic deformation far lower than the bearing clearance owing to low hydrodynamic film pressures [1][2][3][4]. There have been also the researches on these bearings by considering the surface elastic deformation in the condition of relatively heavy loads and low sliding speeds [5,6]. In the big-size hydrodynamic thrust bearings such as in hydrogenerators and turbo machines, the surface clearance can be ultra low or even vanishing [7,8].…”