Numerical micro-texture optimization for lubricated contacts-A critical discussion

Despite numerous experimental and theoretical studies reported in the literature,surface micro-texturing to control friction and wear in lubricated tribo-contacts is still in the trial-and-error phase.The tribological behaviour and advantageous micro-texture geometries and arrangements largely depend on the contact type and the operating conditions.Industrial scale implementation is hampered by the complexity of numerical approaches.This substantiates the urgent need to numerically design and optimize micro-textures for specific conditions.Since these aspects have not been covered by other review articles yet,we aim at summarizing the existing state-of–the art regarding optimization strategies for micro-textures applied in hydrodynamically and elastohydrodynamically lubricated contacts.Our analysis demonstrates the great potential of optimization strategies to further tailor micro-textures with the overall aim to reduce friction and wear,thus contributing toward an improved energy efficiency and sustainability.

Effect of presence of lifting pocket on the THD performance of a large tilting-pad thrust bearing

Hydrostatic assistance is a commonly used method to improve limited load carrying ability of tilting-pad thrust bearings during transient states of operation of vertical shaft hydro-generators.Despite of special hydraulic equipment(as pumps,valves,etc.),it also requires manufacturing of special recesses/pockets at pad sliding surfaces,into which oil is injected under high pressure.It allows to lift the rotor before start-up of the machine and form a hydrostatic film between pads and collar.There is a quite wide variety of geometry of recesses(shape,depth,and size)met in practical large bearing applications.The presence of a hydrostatic pocket(usually located in the sliding surface above the pivot area,where thin film,high oil pressure and temperature are observed)affects bearing performance under hydrodynamic operation.In theoretical researches,there is an almost common practice not to include hydrostatic recess in thermohydrodynamic(THD)or thermoelastohydrodynamic(TEHD)analysis.This is probably due to the problems with obtaining solution for oil film geometry with pocket,the order of magnitude of the pocket depths being larger than gap thickness.In this paper,an attempt was taken to study the effect of lifting pocket on THD performance of a large tilting-pad thrust bearing of Itaipu power plant.Bearing performance was evaluated including recess shape for several cases of its depth.The results show that hydrostatic recess changes calculated bearing properties quite significantly,especially in vicinity of the pocket.