Performance analysis of elliptical journal bearing lubricated with experimentally characterized nanolubricant considering thermal effect using CFD technique

Abstract

This study uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to quantitatively examine the performance of an elliptical journal bearing (EJB) lubricated with TiO2 and ZnO nano-lubricant considering thermal effect. In an experiment, nanoparticles with particle concentrations varying from 0 to 2 weight percent are mixed with SAE15W40 engine oil to create these lubricants. The impact of weight fractions, rotational speed, eccentricity, and ellipticity ratios on the thermal performance of the EJB has been examined. The Kreger-Dougherty model is employed to understand the effects of oil film temperature as well as nanoparticle concentration on lubricant viscosity. The pressure and temperature determined by (Dang 2020) and (Wang 2021were evaluated against the CFD model with good agreement. The findings show that for 2 wt% nanoparticles, e of 0.6 and N of 5000 rpm, the load-carrying capacity increased by 5.5% and 4% and the side leakage flow decreased by 24.4% and 18%.