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This paper aims to confirm that increasing the hardness of thrust collars can improve the load carrying capacity (LCC) and wear resistance of water lubricated thrust bearings (WTBs) made of polymers paired with non-polymeric thrust collars, and to design a WTB with high LCC and durability for a shaftless pump-jet propulsor of an autonomous underwater vehicle. Six kinds of WTBs were manufactured by matching aluminum bronze, stainless steel and silicon nitride with two different polymer bearing materials. Their tribological behaviors were tested and compared.

The tribological behaviors of the WTBs made with different materials were investigated experimentally on a specially designed test rig.

Aluminum bronze is not suitable for crafting thrust collars of heavy load WTBs due to severe abrasive wear. Two body abrasive wear first occurred between the thrust collar and the polymer bearing. Next, aluminum bronze wear particles were produced. The particles acted between the two materials and formed three body abrasive wear. Stainless steel/polymer bearings showed better wear resistance while Si₃N₄/polymer bearings were the best. Improving the hardness of thrust collars is significant to the LCC and service life of WTBs.

The wear mechanism of WTBs under heavy load conditions was revealed. Improving the hardness of the thrust collar was confirmed to be a preferable method to improve the wear resistance and LCC of WTBs. The results of this study may provide an important reference for the selection of water lubricated materials and the design of heavy load WTBs.

This paper aims to present a numerical model to investigate the mixed lubrication performances of journal-thrust coupled bearings (or coupled bearings).

The coupled hydrodynamic effect (or coupled effect) between the journal and the thrust bearing is considered by ensuring the continuity of the hydrodynamic pressure and the flow field at the common boundary. The mixed lubrication performances of the coupled bearing are comparatively studied for the cases of considering and not considering coupled effect.

The simulated results show that the hydrodynamic pressure distributions for both the journal and thrust bearing are modified due to the coupled effect. The decreased load capacity of the journal bearing and the increased load capacity of the thrust bearing can be observed when the coupled effect is considered. And the coupled effect can facilitate in reducing the asperity contact load for both the journal and thrust bearing. Additionally, the interaction between the mixed lubrication behaviors, especially for the friction coefficient, of the journal and the thrust bearing is significant in the elastohydrodynamic lubrication regime, while it becomes weak in the mixed lubrication regime.

The developed model can reveal the mutual effects of the mixed lubrication behavior between the journal and the thrust bearing.

This paper aims to design a new surface profile with simpler processing technology, which makes the bearing load carrying capacity (LCC) close to that of conventional tilting-pad thrust bearing.

The paper analyzes the LCC of the thrust pad with crown profile and designs a new profile, whose performance is similar to the crown profile. The laser method is introduced to fabricate the new profile. The profile with tiny crown height can be fabricated by the laser with the proper parameters.

It was found that there is an optimum value, which is best in terms of the capacity of tilting-pad thrust bearing reach. The new profile with proper parameters can replace the crown profile.

The new profile can replace the crown profile and is easier to be made. The new design method could be adopted for designing the pad surface profile of the tilting-pad thrust bearing.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze lubrication characteristics of a bidirectional thrust bearing in a pumped storage, considering the effect of the thermal elastic deformation of the pad and collar.

This study used the fluid–solid interaction (FSI) technique to investigate the lubrication characteristics of a bidirectional thrust bearing for several typical operating conditions. The influences of the operating conditions and the thrust load on the lubrication characteristics were analyzed. Then, various pivot eccentricities were investigated to analyze the effects of the pivot position.

It is found that the effect of the radial tilt angle of the collar runner on the oil film is compensated for by the radial tilt of the pad. The central pivot support system is the main factor limiting the loads of bidirectional thrust bearings.

This paper has preliminarily revealed the lubrication mechanism of bidirectional tilting-pad thrust bearings. A three-dimensional FSI method is suggested to evaluate the thermal–elastic–hydrodynamic deformations of thrust bearings instead of the conventional method, which iteratively solves the Reynolds equation, the energy equation, the heat conduction equation and the elastic equilibrium equation.

This study aims to analyze the dynamic performance of aerostatic thrust bearing for different geometries of recess. Different geometries of recess of equal recess area, i.e. circular, elliptical, rectangular and annular, have been considered in analysis. The work also analyzes the influence of tilt angle on the performance of thrust bearing. To compute the unknown pressure field, the Reynolds equation governing the flow of compressible lubricant (air) has been solved using finite element formulation. Further, separate finite element formulations have been carried out to compute fluid film stiffness and damping coefficients directly. This method provides quick computation of stiffness and damping coefficients of aerostatic thrust bearing than the usual approach.

As the Reynolds equation governing the flow of compressible lubricant is nonlinear partial differential equation, the computation of the stiffness and damping coefficient follows an iterative procedure. It requires a lot of computational energy. Therefore, in the present work, a novel technique based on finite element formulation is suggested to compute air film stiffness and damping coefficient in aerostatic thrust bearing.

A novel technique based on finite element formulation is illustrated to simulate the performance of tilted pad aerostatic thrust bearing. On the basis of simulated results, following key conclusions may be drawn. The static and dynamic performance of a circular aerostatic tilted thrust pad bearing is significantly affected with a change in the value of tilt parameter and the shape of the recess.

Implications are as follows: direct computation of air film damping coefficient is performed without perturbation method in finite element method (FEM); influence of tilt on aerostatic thrust bearing is studied; influence of recess shape on aerostatic thrust bearing is observed; and finite element formulation of aerostatic thrust bearing is performed.

The present work will be quite useful for bearing designer and academicians.

This study aims to enhance the lubrication performance of thrust bearings. The influence of columnar convex–concave compound microtexture on bearing performance is investigated

Based on the compound microtexture model of thrust bearings, considering surface roughness and turbulent effect, the variation of lubrication characteristics with the change in the compound microtexture parameters is studied.

The results indicate that, compared with circular microtexture, the maximum pressure of compound microtexture of thrust bearings increases by 7.42%. Optimal bearing performance is achieved when the internal microtexture depth is 0.02 mm. Turbulent flow states and surface roughness lead to a reduction in the optimal depth. The maximum pressure and load-carrying capacity of the bearing decrease as the initial angle increases, whereas the friction coefficient increases with the increase in the initial angle. The lubrication performance is best for bearings with a circumferential parallel arrangement of microtexture.

The novel composite microtexture with columnar convex-concave is proposed, and the computational model of thrust bearings is set. The influence of surface roughness and turbulent flow on the bearing performance should be considered for better conforming with engineering practice. The effect of microtexture depth, arrangement method and distribution position on the lubrication performance of the compound microtexture thrust bearing is investigated, which is of great significance for improving tribology, thrust bearings and surface microtexture theory.

The purpose of this study is to numerically investigate the time-varying mixed lubrication performance of microgroove journal-thrust coupled bearing (MJTCB) under nonlinear excitation.

A three degree of freedom (3-DOF) dynamic model of the rotor coupling with the transient mixed lubrication behavior is established. Based on numerical predictions, the role of the microgroove on the time-varying mixed lubrication performance of MJTCB is identified. The effects of the microgroove depth, microgroove shape and external load on the time-varying mixed lubrication performance of MJTCB are also studied.

Numerical results show that the effect of the coupling hydrodynamic on the time-varying mixed lubrication performance of the coupled bearing is strengthen with the increasing of microgroove depth. Furthermore, it is found that the optimal microgroove shape for the thrust bearing, arc or rectangle, highly depends on the microgroove depth. Finally, the contact performance of the thrust bearing is slightly affected by the radial external load.

This study is expected to achieve a better understanding of the time-varying mixed lubrication performance of MJTCB under nonlinear excitations.

Oil-free heat pumps that use the system refrigerant gases as lubricants are preferred for thermal management in future space applications. This study aims to numerically and experimentally investigate the static performance of externally pressurized thrust bearings lubricated with refrigerant gases.

The refrigerant gases R22, R410A and CO₂ were chosen as the research objects, while N₂ was used for comparison. Computational fluid dynamics was used to solve the full 3 D Navier–Stokes equations to determine the load capacity, static stiffness and static pressure distribution in the bearing film. The numerical results were experimentally verified.

The results showed that the refrigerant-gas-lubricated thrust bearings had a lower load capacity than the N2-lubricated bearings, but they presented a higher static stiffness when the bearing clearance was less than 9 µm. Compared with the N2-lubricated bearings, the optimal static stiffness of the R22- and CO2-lubricated bearings increased by more than 46% and more than 21%, respectively. The numerical and experimental results indicate that a small bearing clearance would be preferable when designing externally pressurized gas thrust bearings lubricated with the working medium of heat pump systems for space applications.

The findings of this study can serve as a basis for the further investigation of refrigerant gases as lubricants in heat pump systems, as well as for the future design of such gas bearings in heat pump systems for space applications.

The purpose of this paper was to construct lubrication model closer to the fact of thrust bearings and to calculate the bearings characteristics of lubrication for understanding how structures influence bearings performances and, importantly, what can be the most beneficial. Large-scale composite thrust bearings with Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-faced sector pad backed by steel base are used increasingly in equipment. But there are plenty of puzzled problems in design and application.

The authors established a 3D thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) model. Oil film was formulated by Reynolds equation for pressure, and by energy equation for temperature varying through oil film thickness. Meanwhile, pad temperature was formulated by solid heat transfer equation. Elastic and thermal deformations of pad surface were calculated. Viscosity and density of oil were valued separately under different pressure and temperature. Load balance was considered as well as overturning moment balance. Finite difference method was applied to discrete these equations.

PTFE layer and steel base have either helpful or detrimental impact on contact strength and full film lubrication of thrust bearing depending on their relationship in thickness. Temperature lag between middle layer of steel base and pad surface depends on PTFE layer, but not on the steel base. PTFE layer thickness should be considered when alarming threshold value of the bearings temperature is chosen.

Three-dimensional TEHL model of large-scale composite thrust bearings was established, which included more factors close to the actual. Conclusions were drawn. These proposals are helpful to design the bearings.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze lubrication characteristics of a tilting pad thrust bearing considering the effect of the thermal elastic deformation of the pad and collar.

This study used the fluid–solid interaction (FSI) technique to investigate the lubrication characteristics of a tilting pad thrust bearing for several typical operating conditions. The influences of the rotational speed, the thrust load and the oil supply temperature on the lubrication characteristics were analyzed.

The three-dimensional (3D) film model clearly shows that there is no pressure gradient but large temperature gradients across the film thickness. The wall heat transfer coefficients on the pad surfaces distribute in a very complex way and change within a large range. The rotational speed, the thrust load and the oil supply temperature have great but different influences on the lubrication characteristics.

This paper has preliminarily revealed the lubrication mechanism of the tilting-pad thrust bearings. The 3D FSI method is suggested to evaluate the thermal-elastic-hydrodynamic deformations of thrust bearings instead of the conventional method which iteratively solves the Reynolds equation, the energy equation, the heat conduction equation and the elastic equilibrium equation. Using FSI method, the heat transfer coefficients on the pad surfaces can be evaluated better.