Fluid-film bearings: a finite element method of analysis

摘要

Finite element method (FEM) has become a very popular technique for the analysis of fluid-film bearings in the last few years. These bearings are extensively used in nuclear industry applications such as in moderator pumps and main coolant pumps. This report gives the methodology for the solution of Reynold's equation using FEM and its implementation in FE software LUBAN developed in house. It also deals with the mathematical basis and algorithm to account for the cavitation phenomena which makes these problems non-linear in nature. The dynamic coefficients of bearings are evaluated by one-step approach using variational principles. These coefficients are useful for the dynamic characterisation of fluid-film bearings. Several problems have been solved using this code including two real life problems, a circumferentially grooved journal bearing for which experimental results are available and the bearing of moderator pump of 500 MWe PHWR, have been solved. The results obtained for sample problems are in good agreement with the published literature. (author). 9 refs., 14 figs., 5 tabs., 2 ills. (Atomindex citation 27:032027)