A SOFTWARE TOOL FOR THERMO-ELASTO-HYDRODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF THRUST BEARINGS

Andrei MINCULESCU¹

andrei.minculescu2@honeywell-garrett.com

Traian CICONE²

Michel FILLON³

¹ Honeywell-Garrett, Romania

² Department of Machine Elements and Tribology, "Politehnica" University of Bucharest, Romania

³ Laboratory of Solid Mechanics, University of Poitiers, France

Abstract. Pressure and temperature induced deformations, although small, can be at the origin of fluid film forming, in sliders with nominal flat and parallel surfaces. A realistic analysis of such configurations must be done using complex, thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic (TEHD) models that cannot be solved using a single commercial software tool. Therefore, specific computer codes must be developed. The present paper presents a software tool developed for TEHD analysis of elastic sliders typically used in thrust bearings. This Thrust Bearing Analysis (TBA) software couples two solvers: a finite element (FE) module to solve for pad deflections and a flow module, for pressure and temperature distribution in the film as well as heat transfer in the pad. The latter consists of an iterative solution of decoupled Reynolds and energy equations, based on a first order finite differences scheme (FD).

Keywords: lubrication, thrust bearing, TEHD, software, FE and FD analysis