Performance Analysis of Thermal and Surface Roughness Effect of Slider Bearings with Unsteady Fluid Film Lubricant Using Finite Element Method

Abstract

The streamline upwind Petrov‐Galerkin (SUPG) finite element method was used in this study to investigate the thermal and surface roughness effects on an inclined slider bearing with an unsteady fluid film. One‐dimensional transverse and longitudinal surface roughness models were considered with the supposition that roughness is stochastic and has a Gaussian random distribution. For simplicity of numerical computation, the irregularity caused by the texture of the surface is transformed into a regular domain. The bearing performance of the combined effect is lower than the thermal and surface roughness effects of the one‐dimensional longitudinal surface roughness for all modified Reynolds numbers of nonparallel slider bearings; this means that for nonparallel ( w = 0.4) between the surface roughness effect and the combined effect condition, there is a decrease of 13% in load‐carrying capacity performance and a minimal change in friction force, respectively. However, in the case of nonparallel one‐dimensional transverse type slider bearings, the bearing performance of the thermal effect is lower than the combined and surface roughness effects for all modified Reynolds numbers, where between the combined effect and the thermal effect condition, there is a reduction of 19% in load‐carrying capacity performance and 2% in friction force practically for all changed Reynolds values, respectively. Furthermore, the combined effects at various temperatures have been investigated. As a result, in both longitudinal and transverse models, in the case of the pad temperature being lower than the slider, the load‐carrying capacity performance is higher than in other cases for nonparallel slider bearings, whereas when the slider temperature is lower than the pad temperature, the drag frictional force is the leading one in both models. In general, considering surface texture and inertial effects will increase the performance of a slider. The results obtained are displayed using figures and tables.