Numerical study of the thermo-hydrodynamic lubrication phenomena in porous journal bearings

In this work, a numerical simulation is presented for the thermo-hydrodynamic self-lubrication aspect analysis of porous circular journal bearing of finite length with sealed ends. It consists in analyzing the thermal effects on the behavior of circular porous journal bearings. The Reynolds equation of thin viscous films is used taking into account the oil leakage into the porous matrix, by applying Darcy’s law to determine the fluid flow in the porous media. The presented results are in good agreement with those cited in the literature. The effects of dimensionless permeability parameter and eccentricity ratio on performance parameters are presented and discussed. The results showed that the temperature influence on the journal bearings performance is important in some operating cases, and that a progressive reduction in the pressure distribution, in the load capacity and attitude angle is a consequence of the increasing permeability.

Research Highlights
► The work presented in this paper is related to the thermo-hydrodynamic aspect analysis of self-lubrication problem. It consists in analyzing the thermal effects on the behavior of circular porous journal bearings.
► The Reynolds equation of thin viscous films is used taking into account the oil leakage into the porous matrix by applying Darcy's law.
► The effects of dimensionless permeability parameter and eccentricity ratio on performance parameters are presented and discussed.
► It is shown that the temperature influence on the journal bearings performance is important.