Distribution of hydrodynamic pressure in the interspace of lateral sliding bearings lubricated by ferrofluid with different concentrations of magnetic particles

This paper presents the numerical results of hydrodynamic pressure distributions and capacity in the gap of ferrofluid-lubricated slide bearing with different concentrations of magnetic particles. Ferrofluid is a colloidal mixture of dispersing agent (base) and diffused (magnetic particles). The most common distracted factors are Fe3O4, Ge2O2 or NiO. Scattering factor is mostly water, mineral oil, synthetic oil. In addition, the magnetic particles are coated with a surfactant in the form of long chains of molecules or electrostatic coating. Reynolds-type equation has been derived from the equations of momentum and continuity equation for laminar, steady and isothermal flow. Viscoelastic model Rivlin-Ericksen type of lubricant has been adopted. It has been adopted also that the dynamic viscosity depends generally on the magnetic field. The equations of momentum, continuity and Maxwell's equation with a constitutive equation were made dimensionless, and then them small units of higher order have been omitted (units of the order of the relative radial clearance: i//=0.001). Such estimated system of equations of motion was divided into two subsystems by the small parameter method. The basic system of differential equations which consider the effect of the magnetic field has been received and the additional system which takes into account influences of non-Newtonian properties as well. Integrating the appropriate momentum equations and imposing boundary conditions the velocity vector components and the Reynolds-type equation have been obtained. While computer simulations of the magnetic field were assumed that the longitudinal component of magnetic induction vector does not change with the length of the bearing. Reynolds-type equation by which the hydrodynamic pressure distributions can be determined has been solved numerically using Mathcad and ourselves calculation procedures. The paper presents results of numerical calculations of hydrodynamic pressure distribution and lift force for the simulated values of the magnetic field and ferrofluid's dynamic viscosity and for different relative eccentricities and dimensionless length of the bearing. The results presented in the paper are the solutions of a basic system.