An efficient and robust predictive technique has been developed for the analysis of dynamically loaded, flexible journal bearings using the finite element method. The work is in two parts. In the first part a fast predictive technique is developed for the analysis of dynamically loaded, rigid journal bearings. The finite element formulation of Reynolds equation is presented using both 3-node triangular and 8-node isoparamteric elements to model the lubricant film. The latter are shown to approximate the problem more closely using fewer nodal points and hence requiring fewer equations. The Gauss-Seidel over-relaxation method is used to solve the resulting system equations and the sparseness of these equations is exploited. Comprehensive results are presented for the Ruston and Hornsby 6VEB Mk ifi marine diesel engine connecting rod bearing. Two different time stepping methods are considered and the effects of incorporating various oil feed features in the analysis are also presented. The second part of the work deals with the flexible bearing problem. The method of carrying out the structural modelling and the way in which the structural compliance relationships are obtained is described. A fast matrix inversion technique used to obtain these relationships is also described. Based on the rigid bearing work 8-node isoparametric elements are used to model the lubricant film. Two methods are presented for coupling the structural and lubrication analysis. The first method, the under-relaxation method, although proving straightforward to implement is shown to be unsatisfactory for this particular problem due to to convegnence problems. The second method is the Newton-Raphson method which is shown to be highly convergent. The Newton-Raphson method is subsequently highly modified to produce a fast solution method. This is shown to be several orders of magnitude faster than any previously developed method making this technique viable as a general design tool rather than just providing benchmarks against which to compare simpler analysis techniques. Again results are presented for the Ruston bearing showing the effect upon the predicted performance of incorporating elasticity into the analysis.

In this study, a model suitable for the plasto-hydrodynamic lubrication of cold rolling with the oil-in-water emulsions has been developed. The coupled modified Reynolds and von Karman equations are solved by the Newton-Raphson method. In the numerical simulation, the main factors of influencing the numerical convergence are the initial guess for the inlet film thickness and the inlet speed of strip. The inlet film thickness can be estimated by the Wilson and Walowit formula [5]. The effects of oil volume fraction, surface speed of roller, reduction ratio, forward tension, backward tension, pressure viscosity coefficient, and surface tension group on the lubricating properties of cold rolling are investigated. Results show that the film thickness increases with increasing surface speed of roller, but its effects on the film pressure, the roll force and the roll torque are not conspicuous. In addition, the film thickness increases as the pressure viscosity coefficient increases. In the condition of the very low pressure viscosity coefficient, hydrodynamic lubrication of cold rolling works by enhancing the forward tension. Ahead of the roll bite, the metal surface has a higher affinity to the oil phase so that water is excluded and the oil pooling is formed because of the difference in the viscosity of the two components of the emulsion. Hence, in the condition of the lower initial oil volume fraction, the thicker film thickness is formed by the higher oil volume fraction in the work zone due to the oil pooling. The oil pooling is mainly influenced by the surface tension group. The surface speed of roller and the reduction ratio could enhance the oil volume fraction ahead of the roll bite.

In this study, Reometer AR2000 is used to investigate the effect of shear rate on viscosity of emulsion. And a model for the effective viscosity of emulsion is established. Moreover, another model for the hydrodynamic lubrication with binary mixtures of non-Newton fluids is developed. The coupled modified Reynolds are solved by combining the advanced multilevel method with the Newton-Raphson method. The effect of shear rate on lubrication characteristics of hydrodynamic lubrication of emulsion is investigated in cold rolling process. Research results show that the viscosity of emulsion is decreased with increasing the shear rate. Hence,the oil film thickness, oil preasure and oil concentration under hydrodynamic lubrication are increased with decreasing the slide-to roll ratio. Emulsion will be Newton fluid under high shear rate. In the cold rolling process, the emulsion shows the high shear rate, and the elastic deformation of roller and strip are considersd. Hence the end point of plastic zone of strip is moved to oulet zone due to the lubricated zone is increased, so that the film thickness is higher than that for rigid body. When roller radius is increased, the effective elastic modulus and the thickness reduction of strip are decreased, then the lubrication characteristics in cold rolling process are influenced by elastic deformation. When the rolling speed is increased , the inlet film thickness is increased, and the roll torque is slightly increased, but the rolling force and peak preasure are almost not influenced.

Theoretical and experimental results show that the performance of a load-bearing surface in hydrodynamic lubrication may be enhanced by engineering a definable surface texture onto the surface. These surface textures are in the form of protrusions (positive asperities) or cavities (negative asperities) of known size and geometry. The benefits of such surface textures include lower friction torque, higher load capacity and lower operating temperatures. This Thesis details a fabrication process to manufacture such surface textures/asperities on flat surfaces. The asperities are fabricated using a UV photolithography process followed by electroplating. A complete surface characterization is done to evaluate the effectiveness of the manufacturing process. From the characterization results, some errors in asperity geometry are identified and statistically quantified. These errors are found to be normally distributed and the random surface roughness is 1 to 3 orders of magnitude less than the deterministic feature size. The accuracy of the manufacturing process for fabricating the asperities was found to lie within 6.5 % of the desired value over all the errors studied. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is done to theoretically evaluate the effect of some of these errors in the hydrodynamic lubrication regime.

In order to achieve enhanced and cost-effective performance of engineering components, Surface Engineering embraces traditional and innovative surface technologies which modify the surface properties of metallic and non-metallic engineering components for specific and sometime unique engineering purposes. The surface roughness of an engineered surface may be classified as: the random surface roughness which is a product of surface finishing and the deterministic surface roughness which is engineered to increase the lubrication characteristics of the hydro dynamically lubricated thrust ring. The effect of stochastic/random roughness can not be ignored when the roughness is of the same amplitude as that of fluid film thickness. Average flow model derived in terms of flow factors which are functions of the roughness characteristics is used to study the random surface roughness effects on hydrodynamic lubrication of deterministic asperity. In addition, the effect of boundary conditions on flow factors is studied by calculating the pressure and shear flow factor using two different new boundary conditions. The results are obtained for random surface roughness having a Gaussian distribution of roughness heights.

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A thorough investigation on the existing hydrodynamic lubrication theories and the reverse pumping theories for the conventional lip seal is conducted. On that basis, the algorithms and the methods used in the numerical modeling of the conventional lip seal are modified and applied to the study of the lip seal running against surface textured shafts. For each step of the study, the numerical model is benchmarked against the experimental results. Important physical mechanisms which explain the reverse pumping ability of the triangular surface structures are revealed. Meanwhile, the accuracy of the numerical model is tested. In general, the numerical simulation results match the experimental observation well. However, there are several important discrepancies. For each discrepancy the possible causes are discussed, which benefits the further attempts of the modeling work on the lip seal running against surface textured shafts. The conclusions of this study themselves can be used as a guidance to the design of the surface textured shafts for the lip seal applications. Finally the limitation of the current theories and the modeling methods are discussed and reasonable improvements which can be done are proposed for the future work.

Este trabalho apresenta uma discussão sobre o estudo dos efeitos térmicos e elásticos decorrentes da pressão de sustentação presentes nos mancais. Para tanto, propõe-se um modelo matemático baseado nas equações para mancais curtos considerando a região de cavitação e utilizando o princípio da continuidade de massa. Com isto, deduzem-se as equações para o mancal a partir das equações de Reynolds e da energia, aplicando uma solução modificada para a solução de Ocvirk, sendo as equações resolvidas numericamente pelo Método das Diferenças Finitas. Somado o tratamento de mecânica dos fluidos, o trabalho discute dois modelos térmicos de previsão de temperatura média do fluido e sua influência no campo de pressão, apresentando gráficos representativos do campo de pressão e de temperatura, assim como as diferenças e implicações das diferenças. Para o cálculo de deformação da estrutura, utiliza-se um Modelo de Elementos Finitos para uma dada geometria, fazendo-se uma avaliação da variação do campo de pressão e o quanto essa diferença afeta as demais propriedades do fluido. Por fim, com o modelo completo, calcula-se o quanto esse modelamento para mancais curtos se aproxima de soluções para mancais finitos, com base em resultados da literatura, chegando a desvios quase oito vezes menores que os previstos pela literatura. Além disso, pode-se estabelecer a abrangência do modelo, ou seja, prever as condições em que suas propriedades são válidas e podem ser utilizadas para estudos iniciais. / This work presents a study on thermal and elastic effects resulting from support bearings. It proposes a mathematical model based on short bearing equations within the cavitation region, using the principle of mass continuity. Then, the used equations are deduced from Reynolds and energy equations applying a modified solution for the Ocvirks solution. All the equations are numerically solved by the Backward Finite Difference Method. In addition to the treatment of fluid mechanics, this work discusses two thermal models to predict the average temperature of the fluid and its influence on the pressure field; it also presents the representative charts for pressure and temperature fields, as well as the differences and implications of these ones. To calculate the deformation of the structure, a Finite Element Model is used, considering a specific geometry and an evaluation of the variation of the pressure field is conducted to determinate how this difference affects other properties of the fluid. Finally, the full model is applied to analyse how this modeling for short bearing solutions can be used as an approach for finite bearings. Analysis reaches deviations nearly eight times smaller than predicted by literature data. Furthermore, it was possible to establish the range of the model in which its properties are valid and can be used for initial studies.

This is a phd thesis