INERTIA EFFECTS IN A CURVILINEAR THRUST HYDROSTATIC BEARING LUBRICATED BY A POWER-LAW LUBRICANT

摘要

The flow of a power-law lubricant in a clearance of a curvilinear thrust hydrostatic bearing with impermeable walls is considered. The bearing is modelled by two curvilinear smooth surfaces. The lubricant flow in the bearing clearance is considered with inertia forces. The equations of motion for power-law fluid (similar to the boundary layer equations) are solved by an averaged inertia method. Step and spherical bearing are discussed as examples. It is shown that the inertia effects influence the bearing performance considerably.