Study on Static Characteristics of Water-Lubricated Textured Spiral Groove Thrust Bearing Using Laminar Cavitating Flow Lubrication Model

Abstract Water-lubricated hydrodynamic spiral groove bearing is a potential support way for high-speed rotary machine, but the frictional power loss of the bearing will increase with the rotatory speed. Surface texture processing should be an effective technical means to decrease the friction power loss, and other static characteristics of the bearing will be affected by the such textural surface. However, the static characteristics of water-lubricated textured spiral groove thrust bearing have not been thoroughly considered. This article aims to establish the theoretical model for the water-lubricated textured spiral groove thrust bearing under laminar cavitating flow, and field distribution and static characteristics of the bearing are analyzed using the model. A verified test indicates that the theoretical simulation agrees with the experimental value. The result shows that, with consideration of texture effect, the friction torque of the bearing is reduced, there exists an optimal texture parameter for a given film thickness, under which the bearing has the maximum load-carrying capacity, no obvious change rule is found for the volume flowrate; with consideration of the cavitation effect, the load-carrying capacity of the bearing is increased, while the volume flow and the friction torque are slightly affected. The model developed in this study lays a solid foundation for the design of the water-lubricated textured spiral groove bearing.