Theoretical modeling and numerical solution of hydrostatic radial bearings with porous restrictor

To predict the static characteristics of the hydrostatic radial bearing with a porous restrictor, a flow model for porous bearings, in which the velocity slip on the interface between the porous and film domains was considered, was established based on the Reynolds equation for lubrication, the Darcy equation for porous material, and the continuity equation. With the finite difference method, difference schemes for non-uniform grids, successive an overrelaxation method, a Laplace-Neumann virtual node method was proposed, and thus a numerical method for simultaneously solving the flow governing equations was established. The in-house solver named PBS was programmed and presented fast and stable performance. PBS agrees well with ANSYS Fluent in terms of the bearing capacity, pressure field, velocity field, etc., but PBS implements instant simulation. The effects of pressure difference and viscosity of feeding lubricant on the static characteristics were analyzed by using PBS. With the increase of pressure difference, the load capacity and feeding flowrate rise linearly, and the feeding power consumption grows quadratically. With the increase of lubricant viscosity, the load capacity rises slightly while the flowrate and power consumption drop linearly. As the eccentricity ratio increases, the load capacity, flowrate and power consumption increase. This solver and conclusions can provide a reference for the porous bearing design. © 2021, Editorial Office of Journal of Vibration and Shock. All right reserved.