Analysis of the multiphase lubricating oil effect on the performance of the tilting-pad journal bearing

Abstract

As heavy industry develops, large amounts of tilting-pad journal bearings are widely used in advanced technology and key equipment. So, it has become a hot research direction to ensure the stable operation of tilting-pad journal bearings by using multiphase lubricating oil. The aim of the present research was to clarify whether using the multiphase lubricating oil has a positive effect on the performance of the bearings. The approach is based on computational multiphase fluid dynamics and finite-element method. Reynolds averaged equations of multi-phase flow was applied to computation for improving the accuracy. The change of loading capacity of oil film was studied with CFD simulation under particles added to the lubricating oil. The results indicate that the bearing capacity of bearing increases when the particle content, diameter, and density increase. The performance of bearing becomes better when the multiphase lubricating oil is applied in the oil film of bearing. The implications of these results are that the development of multiphase lubricating oil has important practical significances.