The design of hydrodynamic water-lubricated step thrust bearings using CFD method

Water-lubricated bearings are expected to be widely used because of convenience, green, safe and energy saving. The purpose of this study is to provide references for designing hydrodynamic water-lubricated step thrust bearings. The numerical analysis is undertaken under the condition of different pad dimensions, step heights, step positions, water film thicknesses and rotational speeds of thrust rings based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The results including pressure distribution, load carrying capacity, friction torque and friction coefficient are gained and compared for optimizing geometry parameters. A reference to determine water-lubricated step thrust bearing dimensions and a formula to check the minimum water film thickness are proposed.