Performance Analysis of Plain Journal Bearing Using CFD Model

Abstract

Bearing stability depends on the slenderness ratio (L/D), lubricant film thickness, lubricant whirl frequency, lubricant oil temperature, lubricant pressure, attitude angle, stiffness coefficient, viscosity, lubricant density etc.Due to the friction force between shaft and bearing, bearing performance need to be determined according to different lubrication states and different geometry of the journal bearing, though it is difficult to find the performance using experiment. A new approach has been proposed in this study to determine the performance parameter using Ansys.The purpose of this study is to obtain an efficient slenderness ratio (L/D) by stiffness coefficient analysis on different coordinate of the journal bearing. It is a major concern to find out the viscosity and slenderness ratio (L/D) effects on bearing performance using CFD analysis. This is the first such type of study that the bearing performance has been conducted with0.25 to 1.00 range of slenderness ratioand change of viscosity of lubricants by FLUENT 14.5. A Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) approach was applied which focused an optimized slenderness ratio range of 0.25 to 0.5 results lower elastic strain, deformation, and stress formation on the journal comparison to 1.00L/D ratio.