Influence of the mass conservation cavitation boundary on the tribo-dynamic responses of the micro-groove water-lubricated bearing

Abstract This study aims to reveal the role of the mass conversation cavitation boundary on the tribo-dynamic responses of five kinds of micro-groove water-lubricated bearing under mixed lubrication. By introducing the mass conservation boundary, the tribo-dynamic model of the water-lubricated micro-groove bearing is established and numerically solved by the control volume method. The accuracy of the developed model is verified by comparing the calculated results with the existing experimental and simulation results. The effects of cavitation under Reynolds and mass conservation boundary conditions on different micro-groove bearings were analyzed using the model, and the rotational speed and microgroove depth parameters were analyzed. The simulation results show that , regardless of the shape of the bottom of the microgroove, cavitation can stabilize the journal movement and enhance the dynamic pressure effect of the micro-grooves. The parameter analysis of rotational speed and micro-groove depth proves that rotational speed significantly influences the micro-groove cavitation zone and the dynamic pressure effect. Moreover, the greater the micro-groove depth, the smaller the enhancement effect of cavitation to dynamic pressure. The water-lubricated micro-groove bearing with the bottom shape of the left-triangle has the best lubricating performance during the whole analysis process.