EFFECT OF INERTIA FORCES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF EXTERNALLY PRESSURIZEDCONICAL THRUST-BEARINGS UNDER TURBULENT-FLOW CONDITIONS

The effects of convective and centrifugal inertia forces on the perfor mance of externally pressurized conical thrust bearings, working under turbulent flow conditions, are studied. The study makes use of an alg ebraic Reynolds stress model proposed for turbulent lubrication. The g overning equations are solved iteratively using the finite difference method. The study reveals that the effect of the convective inertia fo rce on the conical bearing performance is opposite to the effect of th e centrifugal force. Further, the effect of combined inertia forces is to decrease both the dimensionless pressure and the load of the beari ng.