PERFORMANCE OF EXTERNALLY PRESSURIZED CONICAL THRUST BEARING UNDER LAMINAR AND TURBULENT-FLOW CONDITIONS

In the present theoretical investigation, the effect of turbulent lubr ication, represented by Reynolds stresses, on the performance of exter nally pressurized circular and conical thrust bearings is studied. A r ecent algebraic Reynolds stress model is employed. The governing equat ions are solved iteratively using the finite difference method. Both t he inertia forces and thermal effects are neglected in the present ana lysis. The effects of recess radius ratio, film thickness ratio and Po iseuille and Couette Reynolds numbers on the performance characteristi cs of the circular and conical bearings are studied. The bearings' per formances under laminar flow condition are also presented and compared with the turbulent condition. The present study reveals that the circ ular bearing has slightly higher dimensionless pressure, load and torq ue than the conical bearing. Further, the turbulent flow solution give s higher dimensionless pressure, load and torque than the laminar flow solution. Finally, increasing the film thickness ratio or the recess radius ratio has the effect of decreasing both the dimensionless load and torque.