Influence of Roughness Parameter in Hydrodynamic Lubrication: A Special Case of Thrust Bearing

Abstract

Abstract Basic hydrodynamic lubrication theory has been considered in the present work. In this project, Reynolds equation in polar coordinates (r, θ) was derived from the Navier-Stokes and then it has been augmented with appropriate boundary condition and solved using a notable numerical technique namely finite difference method with a fast solver Gauss-Seidel (with relaxation factor 1.0). In the present investigation, hydrodynamic pressure generation in an oil film has been computed without the embodiment of roughness factor first and then compared with the incorporation of roughness factor between the sliding surfaces. It was behold from this study that there is a significant change in the pressure generation. So its conspicuous from the present investigation, the lubricant performance also relies on roughness factor at large. Therefore, it is the fruitful information for the designer while designing the hydrodynamic bearings irrespective of their type it is imperative to consider roughness factor suitably.