A self-circulating porous bearing with a wrapped-around reservoir

The research herein offers a feasibility study for a new, revolutionary type of bearing which excludes an external lubricating circuit. This bearing has a stationary porous bushing whose inner diameter faces the bearing clearance, while the outer one faces a wrap-around reservoir. The eccentric shaft generates pressure difference ensuring the fluid to circulate naturally between these two regions. This circulating mechanism is described and numerically simulated using the full 3D Navier-Stokes equations for the fluid flow in the bearing clearance and the adjacent reservoir. The flow inside the porous matrix is modeled using: Darcy's law, the added Forchheimer term to account for the inertial effects as the speed increases and the Brinkman term to account for the hydrodynamic boundary effects at the interface between fluid and porous media and for the added shear effects inside the porous media. The thermal effects have been studied. The static and dynamic characteristics of the bearing have been mapped and discussed as a function of the bearing geometric features. In the second part of the dissertation the design and testing of the bearing prototype was described. Different reservoir depth configurations have been considered, various angular speeds, and various magnitude loads. Pressure and temperature measurement have been recorded circumferentially at the symmetry plan of the bearing. The orbits of the shaft have been monitored. The results of these experiments concluded that the new bearing was feasible and was functioning according to the theoretical predicted model.