Effects of wear and shaft-shape error defects on the tribo-dynamic response of water-lubricated bearings under propeller disturbance

This study explores the effects of wear and shaft-shape error defects on the tribo-dynamic responses of water-lubricated bearings under nonlinear propeller disturbance using a numerical model. The model proposed in this paper is verified by comparing the results from experiments and simulations in published studies. Numerical simulation studies reveal the effects of nonlinear propeller disturbance on the dynamic behavior and lubrication performance, such as hydrodynamic force, contact force, and journal trajectory, of the water-lubricated bearings with wear and shaft-shape errors. In addition, the effects of the critical factors for wear and shaft-shape errors, including wear depth, deviation angle, magnitude, and waviness order, on the tribo-dynamic responses of water-lubricated bearings are identified. The results of numerical spectrum analyses show that the nonlinear disturbance significantly affects the dynamic behavior (shown as the fluctuation range of the journal trajectory increases), and reasonable wear parameters can improve the lubrication performance of the water-lubricated bearing. Moreover, the effects of shaft-shape errors on the transient hydrodynamic force, contact force, film thickness, pressure, and journal trajectory are greater than that of wear. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

Automated summary

This study investigates the effects of wear and shaft-shape error defects on the tribo-dynamic responses of water-lubricated bearings under nonlinear propeller disturbance. The results show that the nonlinear disturbance significantly affects the dynamic behavior of the bearings, and reasonable wear parameters can improve the lubrication performance.