CFD Simulation Analysis of Thrust Bearing Lubrication Performance with Height of Texture Variation and Cavitation Modeling
M Muchammad (a*), M Tauviqirrahman (a), H Nurahman (a), J Jamari (a)

a) Laboratory for Engineering Design and Tribology, Mechanical Engineering Department, Diponegoro University, Indonesia

Abstract

Increasing bearing performance can be done in load support by adding texture on the bearing surfaces. In this paper, a study of height textured effect on hydrodynamic thrust bearing by considering cavitation is presented. The textured surface is applied in rectangular geometric with several dimension. Single-textured thrust bearing with several height was analyzed by numerical methods based on Reynolds equation and 2D CFD model analysis based on Navier-Stokes equation. The result showed that the pressure distribution with higher textured surfaces can increases the load support in hydrodinamic thrust bearings, in other words height of the texture will affect thrust bearing performance.

Keywords: Thrust bearing- cavitation- load support- texture

Topic: Engineering