Thermoelasto-Hydrodynamic Analysis of Nano-lubricated Journal Bearings Using Computational Fluid Dynamics with Two-way Fluid-Structure Interaction Considering Cavitation

In the present work, a 3-D CFD analysis has been implemented successfully to analyze the thermo-elastohydrodynamic (TEHD) performance of Nano-lubricated journal bearing with considering the cavitation effect. The performance of a bearing lubricated with pure oil as well as with the base oil dispersed with different volume fractions of TiO2, Al2O3, and CuO nanoparticles with and without cavitation effect has been implemented and compared. A Two-way fluid-structure interaction and Zwart-Gerber-Balamri cavitation models are used to perform the elastic deformation of the bearing material and the cavitation effects on its performance by using ANSYS-FLUENT 2019 R2. The effects of journal speed, eccentricity ratios, and different types of nano-lubricants with different volume fractions of nanoparticles on the TEHD performance of such bearing have been considered. The mathematical model is verified by comparing the results with that obtained researchers and found a good agreement. The simulation results show that the oil film pressure and hence the load carried by the bearing increased when the bearing is lubricated with nano-lubricant that has a higher volume fraction of the nanoparticles while decreased when considering the elastic deformation of the bearing material and the cavitation effect.