Effect of surface roughness on steady performance of hydrostatic thrust bearings: Rabinowitsch fluids

Abstract

The present theoretical study is concerned with the analysis of surface roughness effects on the steady-state performance of stepped circular hydrostatic thrust bearings lubricated with non-Newtonian fluids: Rabinowitsch fluid model. To take the effects of surface roughness into account, Christensen’s theory for rough surfaces has been adopted. The expression for pressure gradient has been derived in stochastic form employing the energy integral approach. Results for stochastic film pressure and load-carrying capacity have been plotted and analyzed based on numerical results. Due to surface roughness, significant variations in the theoretical results of these properties have been observed.

Keywords

• hydrostatic lubrication
• pressurized bearings
• thrust bearings
• surface roughness
• cubic stress fluids