The Contribution of Fluid Film Inertia to the Thermohydrodynamic Lubrication of Sector-Pad Thrust Bearings

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the load carrying capacity of thermohydrodynamic lubricating films in sector pad thrust bearings; it combines the effects of the thermal wedge and fluid film inertia in one analysis. Particular emphasis is placed on fluid film inertia in a rotational fluid film analysis. The nonlinear partial differential equations are transformed into finite difference equations and a successive over-relaxation method is used to obtain numerical solutions to the equations using a digital computer. The convergence of iterations is accelerated by introducing a relaxation factor. The analysis shows that fluid film inertia significantly affects the loading capacity (or pressure distribution), and velocity profiles. Temperature variance caused by fluid film inertia is insignificant.