CFD analysis of influence of axial position of shaft on hydrodynamic lubrication of slide conical bearing

During the operation of a slide bearing, the position of its shaft or sleeve varies due to many factors, such as vibrations, load changes, changes in the lubricating viscosity. The vibrations or varying load can cause, that the position of the bearing shaft, measured along its axis of rotation, changes. This is particularly important for sliding bearing with conical geometry. Due to the geometry of this kind of bearing, i.e. where the radius of this bearing (of the shaft and sleeve) has not a constant value, as in the case of a journal bearing, it is more difficult to obtain proper values and describe its hydrodynamic lubrication. This article shows the results of hydrodynamic lubrication of the slide conical bearing, for which the changes in the position of the bearing shaft in the longitudinal direction, i.e. along its axis of rotation, were taken into account. The commercial CFD software, designed for solving general for flow phenomena problems, was used in the simulations. This article shows the results of simulations, assuming that the lubricating oil behaves as a generalized Newtonian fluid. The hydrodynamic pressure distributions, load carrying capacities and friction torques were calculated for the concerned bearing. The aim of this work is to show how the operating parameters of the slide conical bearing can be influenced, by only changes of the position of the shaft along the axis of its rotation.