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Analysis of Water Lubricated Bearing with Different Features to Improve the

Performance: Green Tribology

Conference Paper · January 2018

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-53556-2_78

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Analysis of Water Lubricated Bearing
with Different Features to Improve
the Performance: Green Tribology

Anil B. Shinde, Prashant M. Pawar, Sunil Gaikwad, Pakija A. Shaikh

and Yashpal Khedkar

Keywords Surface features
Pressure
Load carrying capacity
Numerical

analysis

1 Introduction

The world’s seas, oceans and rivers are a vast global resource of non-polluting,
endlessly renewable energy and with the ever increasing demand for electrical
power. Many companies and countries have invested heavily in journal bearing
systems that will generate power and yet still withstand the harsh underwater
environment. The water passes the bearing through the longitudinal grooves as well
as moves radially between the propeller shaft and the bearing face in a thin film.
Once this film, or wedge, has developed the journal aft does not actually come into
contact with the bearing. The eccentricity of the journal is related to the pressure
that will be generated in the bearing to balance the radial load. Hence, it is nec-
essary to analyze the fluid film of lubricant.
Most of the researchers were much attracted in investigating the theories and
experiments of hydrodynamic lubrication and paid no attention to how to improve
load carrying capacity of a hydrodynamic journal bearing. Reduction of environment
pollution and energy saving are important issues in machine design [1].
Water-lubrication system is convenience, green, safe and energy saving. The appli-
cation of water-lubricated journal bearings is widespread, such as ship building,
transportation industry, food industry, industrial machinery and equipment, and
pharmaceutical industry [2]. The drawback of water as a lubricant is that its viscosity is
much lower than that of oil and other lubricants [3]. The numerical analysis is carried
out for smooth surface journal bearings to find out performance characteristics [4–8].

A.B. Shinde (&)
P.M. Pawar
S. Gaikwad
P.A. Shaikh
Y. Khedkar

Shri Vithal Education and Research Institute’s College of Engineering,
Pandharpur, India
e-mail: abshinde@coe.sveri.ac.in

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 761

P.M. Pawar et al. (eds.), Techno-Societal 2016,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53556-2_78
762 A.B. Shinde et al.

In the present work, a 3 dimensional CFD model is developed, using COMSOL

Multiphysics software, to study the behavior and the performance of a journal
bearing with a water lubricant. A Reynolds equation is used to obtain the pressure
distribution and load carrying capacity. This Reynolds equation is solved theoret-
ically and implemented in COMSOL to get the simulation results. The results of the
CFD model are compared with results of Gao [9] and found to be in good
agreement.
The validated model is used to analyze the effect of surface features like trian-
gular, circular and rectangular positive slot to study the development of pressure
and load carrying capacity.

2 Model of Plain Hydrodynamic Journal Bearing

Figure 1 shows the coordinate and the schematic of a simple plain journal bearing
in an equilibrium-state configuration. The plain journal bearing is immersed in
water lubricant. The hydrodynamic action creates dynamic pressure in water
lubricant, mainly in the convergent part of the journal bearing gap, to counteract the
load thereby separating the journal surface from the bearing surface with a thin
water lubricant film. The hydrodynamic pressure ultimately terminates in the
divergent part of the gap, and the pressure may go below the vapor pressure. When
equilibrium state is reached, the journal is displaced from the bearing with a center
distance (e), which is referred to the journal eccentricity. The eccentricity ratio (e)
and the clearance (C) are important parameters to measure the load carrying
capacity and pressure distribution of the journal bearing. With the help of these
parameters, lubricant film thickness is determined.

Fig. 1 Co-ordinate and model of a plain hydrodynamic journal bearing

Analysis of Water Lubricated Bearing with Different Features … 763

3 CFD Model—Analysis

3.1 Governing Equations

The theory applied to the hydrodynamic water lubricated bearing is given by

Reynolds’s Equation. This equation is based on several assumptions that were
adopted to simplify the mathematical derivations. The following are the some basic
assumptions of hydrodynamic lubrication theory (1) the fluid flow is laminar,
(2) the fluid lubricant is continuous, incompressible, and Newtonian, (3) there is no
slip at the boundary, (4) the velocity component in y direction is negligible in
comparison to the other two velocity components in the x and z directions,
(5) velocity gradients along the thin and z directions, are small and negligible
relative to the velocity gradients across the film, (6) the effect of the curvature can
be ignored, (7) the pressure variations in the y direction are very small, and their
effect is negligible in the equations of motion, (8) the force of gravity on the fluid is
negligible, (9) fluid viscosity is constant.
The Reynolds equation for Newtonian, incompressible and constant viscosity
fluid in a thin clearance is given by;
   
@ h3 @p @ h3 @p @h
þ ¼ 6U ð1Þ
@x l @x @z l @z @x

This Reynolds equation is commonly used for solving the pressure distribution
of hydrodynamic bearings. Where, h is the variable film thickness is due to the
journal eccentricity;

h ¼ C ð1 þ e cos hÞ ð2Þ

3.2 Parameters and Variables

3.2.1 Parameters

The parameters used for analysis are given in Table 1.

3.2.2 Variables

The variables used for analysis are given in Table 2.

764 A.B. Shinde et al.

Table 1 Parameters set for analysis

Name Expression Description
R 40 mm Journal radius
H 80 mm Journal height
c 0.04 mm Clearance between the bearing and the journal
omega 1500/60 * 2 * pi rad/s Journal angular velocity
e 0.8 Eccentricity ratio
Rmin 0.02 mm Base, width and diameter of triangular, rectangular and
circular slot respectively
h 0.01 mm Height of triangular, rectangular and circular positive slot
respectively
d 4 mm Axial pitch distance
S 20 No. of positive slot

Table 2 Variables set for Name Expression Description

analysis
h atan2(y, x)[rad]
h c*(1 + e*cos(h))
u −omega*R*sin
(h)
v omega*R*cos(h)
Angle along circumference
Lubricant film thickness
x-component of journal
velocity
y-component of journal
velocity

3.3 Material Properties and Boundary Conditions

3.3.1 Material Properties

Water is used as a lubricant. The density and dynamic viscosity of water are
1000 kg/m3 and 0.001 Pa s respectively.

3.3.2 Boundary Conditions

The governing equations are solved in equilibrium state, taking no account of

gravity force, and the operating pressure is set to 1 atm. The boundary conditions of
the inlet and outlet are respectively “pressure inlet” and “pressure outlet” with
gauge pressure at zero Pascal. The inner surface of the water film is modeled as
“sliding wall” with an absolute rotational speed which equals the velocity of the
journal.
Analysis of Water Lubricated Bearing with Different Features … 765

3.4 Analysis and Results

3.4.1 Analysis of Plain Journal Bearing

In the design of journal bearing, various surface features like circular, rectangular
and triangular positive slots incorporated. The major dimensions are mentioned in
Table 1. In the analysis of plain journal bearing, effect of eccentricity ratio is
studied. The results are shown in Fig. 2. The results of the CFD model with water
lubricant are compared with results of Gao [9] as shown in Fig. 3 and shows same
trend.

3.4.2 Results of Plain Journal Bearing

Eccentricity ratio (e) is an significant parameter to increase pressure distribution and

load carrying capacity of plain journal bearing. In order to study the relationship
between eccentricity ratio (e) and distribution of pressure produced by hydrody-
namic lubrication, the effect of the different eccentricity ratio (e) are used in the

1) ε = 0.5 2) ε = 0.6

3) ε = 0.7 4) ε = 0. 8

Fig. 2 CFD results of effect of eccentricity ratio (e) on increase in pressure distribution of plain
journal bearing
766 A.B. Shinde et al.

Fig. 3 Effect of eccentricity 6

Present Analysis
ratio (e) on pressure

Static Pressure im MPa

5
distribution for water G. Gao (2014)
lubricant, blue colour present 4
analysis results, red colour
3
Gao [9]
2

0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Eccentricity Ratio (ε)

Fig. 4 Effect of eccentricity

Load Carrying Capacity in

ratio (e) on load carrying 16

14
capacity of plain journal
12
bearing
10
kN

8
6
4
2
0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Eccentricity Ratio (ε)

numerical analysis. Figure 3 shows graph for the pressure distribution versus the
eccentricity ratio (e). Hydrodynamic performances of plain journal bearing mainly
depend on the size and distribution of the positive pressure on the zones. It is
observed that, with increase in eccentricity ratio, there is increase in pressure dis-
tribution. From Fig. 3, it is seen that maximum pressure is developed for eccen-
tricity ratio e = 0.9.
Similar to pressure distribution, load carrying capacity is also depends upon
eccentricity ratio. From Fig. 4, it is observed that, as eccentricity ratio increases,
load carrying capacity also increases.

3.4.3 Analysis of Journal Bearing with Different Surface Features

The validated model is used to analyze the effect of surface features like triangular,
circular and rectangular positive slot in the development of pressure and load
carrying capacity. From the CFD analysis of journal bearing with surface features, it
is observed that, micro features on the surface of journal bearing enhancing the
pressure distribution. Figure 5 shows CFD results for pressure distribution of plain
journal bearing and bearings with surface features at same eccentricity ratio
(e = 0.8).
Analysis of Water Lubricated Bearing with Different Features … 767

Plain Journal Bearing (ε = 0.8) Bearing Triangular positive slot (ε =

0.8)

Bearing Circular positive slot (ε = 0.8) Bearing Rectangular positive slot (ε =

0.8)

Fig. 5 CFD results for pressure distribution of plain journal bearing and bearings with surface
features at same eccentricity ratio (e = 0.8)

Fig. 6 Comparison of 2.5 Plain Journal Bearing with

pressure distribution between Bearing Triangular slot
Sta c Pressure im MPa

plain journal bearing and 2 Bearing with Bearing with

bearings with features at Circular slot Rectangular slot
1.5
different eccentricity ratio
1

0.5

0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Eccentricity Ra o (ε)

3.4.4 Results of Journal Bearing with Different Surface Features

From Fig. 6, it is observed that, for 1500 rpm speed of journal with 0.001 Pa s
viscosity of water lubricant, maximum pressure is developed in journal bearing with
rectangular positive slot.
768 A.B. Shinde et al.

Load Carrying Capacity in N

Fig. 7 Comparison of load
carrying capacity between 14000
Plain Journal Bearing with
plain journal bearing and 12000 Bearing Triangular slot
bearings with features at 10000 Bearing with Bearing with
8000 Circular slot Rectangular slot
different eccentricity ratio
6000
4000
2000
0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Eccentricity Ra o (ε)

Similar to pressure distribution, load carrying capacity of plain journal bearing

and bearing with surface features studied. From analysis, it is found that, journal
bearing with rectangular positive slot have more load carrying capacity as compared
with others as shown in Fig. 7.

4 Conclusions

The pressure distribution and load carrying capacity of the hydrodynamic journal
bearing with water lubricant has analyzed. Based on the results, following con-
clusions can be made for journal bearing with different surface features studied.
Using Reynolds equation, present CFD model of plain journal bearing is simulated
and compared with result of Gao [9] and found to be in good agreement. It is found
that, the pressure and load carrying capacity increases as of eccentricity for a plain
journal bearing increases. Further analysis of bearings with different surface fea-
tures, it is found that journal bearing with rectangular positive slot have maximum
pressure development and load carrying capacity as compared with journal bearing
with triangular and circular positive slots. This may be due to development of less
film thickness at feature location.

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