Influence of material properties and operating conditions on the predicted performance of poroelastic faced bearings

A new lubrication model of poroelastic lubrication of materials with low Young's modulus and permeability is presented based on Darcy's law and linear elastic solid mechanics and a contact model. A rotating bearing surface moving against a flat surface is considered and the effect of material parameters and operating conditions is analyzed. The results show that the material parameters (permeability (k), Young's modulus (E), and viscosity ()) and operating conditions (angular velocity () and material deformation ()) have significant effects on the lubrication performance of the poroelastic bio-inspired materials. It is also observed that the load ratio (the ratio of pressure-borne load to the applied load along the contact boundary) increases as k and E decrease, and as , , and increase. Conversely maximum solid stress decreases with decreasing of E, , , and with increasing of k. The relationship of the load ratio, contact stress, and deformation relative to E and k has been illustrated in this paper.