Influence of surface texturing on the hydrodynamic performance of a thrust bearing operating in steady-state and transient lubrication regime

This paper presents a finite element modeling of hydrodynamic thrust bearings operating both in steady-state and transient lubrication regime. The presented numerical algorithm is conservative and makes it possible to determine, with a high degree of accuracy, the operating characteristics such as the friction torque, the film pressure, the film thickness and the oil flow. For different operating conditions, it was shown that the behavior of the thrust bearing is not the same when textures are applied on the rotor or on the stator. Thus, the difference in behavior between the stationary and non-stationary case was revealed. Lastly, it was predicted that placing the textures on the rotor could, under certain conditions, improve the hydrodynamic performance of the thrust bearing.