Research on influencing factors of oil film temperature field characteristics for adaptive hydrostatic thrust bearing

Abstract

Adaptive hydrostatic thrust bearing represents a mechatronic answer to the fast-growing industrial needs of high-performance rotary machineries. The aim of this research is to study the influencing factors of the temperature field characteristics of the adaptive hydrostatic thrust bearing, such as rotational speed, load, viscosity, and inlet flow rate. The temperature rise equation of the micro-gap oil film is derived, and a three-dimensional model of micro-gap oil film is established. Finite Volume Method and ANSYS FLUENT are used to explore the influence factors of the temperature rise of the micro-gap oil film based on the principle of Computational Fluid Dynamic. The results show that temperature rise on the downstream side of the oil cavity is higher than that on the countercurrent side, and the temperature rise on the edge of the outer oil sealing edge is higher than that on the inner oil sealing edge. The rotational speed has the greatest impact on the oil film temperature rise, followed by viscosity, inlet flow rate, and then load. The increment of oil film temperature rise with the load less than 16 t is higher than the increment of oil film temperature rise with the load greater than 16 t. When the rotational speed is lower than 80 rpm, the temperature rise of the oil film increases faster with the increase of the rotational speed than when the rotation speed is above 80 rpm. The inlet flow rate increases, the maximum temperature and average temperature rise of the oil film decreases, but there is little variation. The maximum temperature and average temperature rise increase with the increase of viscosity, and the greater the viscosity, the more obvious nonlinear.