The analysis of thermal effects is of expressive importance in the context of rotordynamics to evaluate the behavior of hydrodynamic bearings because these effects can influence their dynamic characteristics under specific operational conditions. For this reason, a thermohydrodynamic model is developed in this work, in which the pressure distribution in the oil film and the temperature distribution are calculated together. From the pressure distribution, the velocity distribution field is determined, as well as the viscous dissipation, and consequently, the temperature distribution. The finite volume method is applied to solve the Reynolds equation and the energy equation in the thermohydrodynamic model (THD). The results show that the temperature is higher as the rotational speed increases due to the shear rate of the oil film. The maximum temperature in the bearing occurs in the overloaded pad, near the outlet boundary. The experimental tests were performed in a tilting pad journal bearing operating in a steam turbine to validate the model. The comparison between the experimental and numerical results provides a good correlation. The thermohydrodynamic lubrication developed in this assignment is promising to consistently evaluate the behavior of the tilting pad journal bearing operating in relatively high rotational speeds. 1. Introduction Aiming to increase profits and improving economic growth, the industries have been seeking for some ways to raise productivity, such as new technologies, system optimization, and consequently, power source increasing. Those factors allow the machines operation in higher speed accelerating the production system. However, the increment of the operational speed, specifically in rotating machinery, is not a simple task, because it can cause serious problems like affecting the safe operational conditions of the machines. The rotation speed increase in rotating machines can completely change its dynamic behavior, turning an initially stable machine into an unstable one. It mainly occurs due to the dynamic characteristics of the bearing, which tends to change significantly with the rotational speed. One of the reasons is the influence of thermal effects in high rotational speed, because of the shear rate in the oil film, increasing consequently the temperature of the lubricant as well. Therefore, special attention must be taken due to the influence of the thermal effects in the hydrodynamic bearings under certain operational conditions. An article of valuable contribution to the development of thermohydrodynamic analysis
References
[1]
D. Dowson, “A generalized Reynolds equation for fluid-film lubrication,” International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 159–170, 1962.
[2]
D. Dowson, J. D. Hudson, B. Hunter, and C. N. March, “An experimental investigation of the thermal equilibrium of steadily loaded journal bearings,” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, vol. 181, part 3B, pp. 70–80, 1966.
[3]
P. W. Hall and P. B. Neal, “The influence of film temperature boundary conditions on the performance of fluid film bearings,” International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 17, no. 9, pp. 565–572, 1975.
[4]
Y. Nagaraju, M. L. Joy, and K. Prabhakaran Nair, “Thermohydrodynamic analysis of a two-lobe journal bearing,” International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 209–217, 1994.
[5]
S. Taniguchi, T. Makino, K. Takeshita, and T. Ichimura, “A thermohydrodynamic analysis of large tilting-pad journal bearing in laminar and turbulent flow regimes with mixing,” Journal of Tribology, vol. 112, no. 3, pp. 542–548, 1990.
[6]
M. Fillon, J.-C. Bligoud, and J. Frene, “Experimental study of tilting-pad journal bearings—comparison with theoretical thermoelastohydrodynamic results,” Journal of Tribology, vol. 114, no. 3, pp. 579–588, 1992.
[7]
H. C. Ha, K. W. Kim, and H. J. Kim, “Inlet pressure effects on the thermohydrodynamic performance of a large tilting pad journal bearing,” Journal of Tribology, vol. 117, no. 1, pp. 160–165, 1995.
[8]
R. K. Gadangi and A. B. Palazzolo, “Transient analysis of tilt pad journal bearings including effects of pad flexibility and fluid film temperature,” Journal of Tribology, vol. 117, no. 2, pp. 302–307, 1995.
[9]
M. Fillon and M. Khonsari, “Thermohydrodynamic design charts for tilting-pad journal bearings,” Journal of Tribology, vol. 118, no. 1, pp. 232–238, 1996.
[10]
L. Bouard, M. Fillon, and J. Frêne, “Comparison between three turbulent models—application to thermohydrodynamic performances of tilting-pad journal bearings,” Tribology International, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 11–18, 1996.
[11]
M. Tanaka, “Recent thermohydrodynamic analyses and designs of thick-film bearings,” Journal of Engineering Tribology, vol. 214, no. 1, pp. 107–122, 2000.
[12]
Q. Chang, P. Yang, Y. Meng, and S. Wen, “Thermoelastohydrodynamic analysis of the static performance of tilting-pad journal bearings with the Newton-Raphson method,” Tribology International, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 225–234, 2002.
[13]
P. G. Morton, “Unstable shaft vibrations arising from thermal effects due to oil shearing between stationary and rotating elements,” in Proceedings of the 9th IMechE International Conference on Vibrations in Rotating Machinery, pp. 383–391, Exeter, UK, September 2008.
[14]
K.-B. Bang, J.-H. Kim, and Y.-J. Cho, “Comparison of power loss and pad temperature for leading edge groove tilting pad journal bearings and conventional tilting pad journal bearings,” Tribology International, vol. 43, no. 8, pp. 1287–1293, 2010.
[15]
T. Dimond, A. Younan, and P. Allaire, “A review of tilting pad bearing theory,” International Journal of Rotating Machinery, vol. 2011, Article ID 908469, 23 pages, 2011.
[16]
O. Reynolds, “On the theory of lubrication and its application to Mr. Beauchamp tower's experiments, including an experimental determination of the viscosity of olive oil,” Philosophical Transactions of Royal Society of London A, vol. 177, part 1, pp. 157–234, 1886.
[17]
I. F. Santos and F. H. Russo, “Tilting-pad journal bearing with electronic radial oil injection,” in Proceedings of the ASME/STLE International Joint Tribology Conference, San Francisco, Calif, USA, October 1996.
[18]
A. Cameron, “Heat transfer in journal bearings: a preliminary investigation,” in Proceedings of the General Discussion on Heat Transfer, pp. 194–197, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 1951.
[19]
M. He and P. E. Allaire, “Thermoelastohydrodynamic analysis of journal bearings with 2D generalized energy equation,” in Proceedings of the 6th IFToMM International Conference on Rotor Dynamics, vol. 1, 2002.
[20]
C. R. Maliska, Transferência de Calor e Mecanica dos Fluidos Computacional, Livros Técnicos e Científicos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2nd edition, 2004.
[21]
M. K. Fitzgerald and P. B. Neal, “Temperature distributions and heat transfer in journal bearings,” Journal of Tribology, vol. 114, no. 1, pp. 122–130, 1992.
[22]
I. F. Santos and R. Nicoletti, “THD analysis in tilting-pad journal bearings using multiple orifice hybrid lubrication,” Journal of Tribology, vol. 121, no. 4, pp. 892–900, 1999.