Institute SECTION DEof

LFMI

2aborator$ of fluid mechanics and instabilities

Gnie mcanique Mechanical Engineering

2aboratoire de conce tion de LCSM s$st3mes Laboratoire de Conception de Systmes Mcaniques m4cani+ues

Numerical study of herringbone grooved ournal air bearings

Yoan Marchand

%& Introduction
A Herringbone Grooved Journal Bearing (HGJB) is com osed of a grooved rotating art! and a fi"ed smooth su ort. #he load is transferred due to the eccentricit$.

'& (esults
#he resolution is firstl$ done in t%o dimensions (grooves arallel to the a"is of rotation). #he s ectral method and FD& are less accurate near the border of a groove. #he time of calculation is ver$ long %ith Fluent. #he FD& is im lemented in three dimensions to be com ared to the e" erimental results. #he more accurate F'& %ould also be im lemented %ith more time available. #he (arro% Groove #heor$ ((G#)! used for com arison! %as develo ed for bearings %ith infinite number of grooves and little load. #he )D results for the finite difference method are better than the ones of the (G#. An error is still resent bet%een the e" eriment and the solution of the FD&. #his error might be due to the a ro"imation on the film thic*ness. #he F'& results are needed to confirm this su osition.

)& *otivation and ob ectives

Different theories have been develo ed to com ute the ressure field around the bearing. #hese methods are based on the lubrication e+uation. #he$ are not validated %ith e" erimental results for small number of grooves or high loading due to a la*e of e" eriments for these conditions. /ne ob0ective is to develo some of these theories and validate them %ith recent e" erimental results. #he goal of this recent e" erimental contribution %as to com lete the literature %ith results for high loading and small number of grooves. Another ob0ective is to chec* if it is ossible to model the roblem %ith a commercial soft%are solving the (avier1Sto*es e+uations. #his %ould give more accurate results. An investigation on the influence of the sha e of a groove is also leaded. #his influence is im ortant since the real sha e of a groove de ends on the manufacturing rocedure. #he results of the sha es of a groove are obtained %ith the F'& in ,D. #he influence of the sha e is on the order of )5 of the force. #his results should be chec* in )D since other effects ma$ be relevant.

+& *ethods
Fluent is used as the commercial soft%are. an unstead$ solution must be found because of the combination of eccentricit$ and grooves! . a lot of cells are re+uired due to a ver$ thin film of fluid com ared to its %idth. #he lubrication e+uation is numericall$ solved %ith the finite difference method (FD&)! the s ectral method and the finite element method (F'&). #he characteristics of the s ectral method and FD& are. the film thic*ness must be smoothed near the border of each groove because this +uantit$ is differentiated! . thus the mesh must be thin to have an accurate result. #he characteristics of the finite element method are. the elements are laced either on a groove or on a ridge! so the film thic*ness must not be a ro"imated! . s ecial sha e functions are used! the$ are locall$ solution of the lubrication e+uation! . a coarser mesh can be used. Sha e >deal 9 , '" erimental Force! F @(B 6).=8 66.<, 6,.:8 6).79 Attitude angle! ? @AB 6.78 6.7; 6.7) 6.78

,& Conclusion
#he commercial soft%are cannot be used to calculate the ressure field around a bearing because that %ould ta*e to much time. #he solution of the lubrication e+uation b$ finite difference method is good even if an error subsist. #he results b$ F'& are better in ,D and should be im lemented in )D. #he results obtained %ith the e" erimental sha e are close to the one of an ideal sha e. And the ressure field is not greatl$ influenced b$ the groove sha e in ,D.

Su!ervisor

"c#no$ledgements

Prof. Francois Gallaire Dr. Alain Schorderet

Prof. Francois Gallaire Dr. Alain Schorderet