The Impact of Oil and Sealing Air Flow, Chamber Pressure, Rotor Speed, and Axial Load on the Power Consumption in an Aeroengine Bearing Chamber

Abstract

Trends in aircraft engines have dictated high speed rolling element bearings up to 3 million DN or more with the consequence of having high amounts of heat rejection in the bearing chambers and high oil scavenge temperatures. A parametric study on the bearing power consumption has been performed with a 124 mm pitch circle diameter (PCD) ball bearing in a bearing chamber that has been adapted from the RB199 turbofan engine (DN∼2×106). The operating parameters such as oil flow, oil temperature, sealing air flow, bearing chamber pressure, and shaft speed have been varied in order to assess the impact on the power consumption. This work is the first part of a survey aiming to reduce power losses in bearing chambers. In the first part, the parameters affecting the power losses are identified and evaluated.