Multiphase flow analysis of hydrodynamic journal bearing using CFD coupled Fluid Structure Interaction considering cavitation

In this study, a fully three-dimensional CFD analysis and multi-phase flow phenomena, has been successfully implemented for simulation of hydrodynamic journal bearing considering the realistic deformations of the bearing with Fluid Structure Interactions (FSI) along with cavitation. Mixture model is used to model cavitation in the bearing and parametric modelling is used for modifying the flow domain due to deformation. Both systems are coupled and design optimization based on multi objective genetic algorithm (MOGA), is used to obtain optimized solution of the attitude angle and eccentricity for the combination of operating speed and load. In the study of bearings with and without effects of cavitation, it is observed that maximum pressure values drop when cavitation is considered in the bearing. Also there is decrease in maximum pressure when elastic deformation in the bearing is considered. The oil vapour distribution goes on increasing with the increase in shaft speed, thus lowering the magnitude of the pressure build up in the bearing. Multiphase study of bearings with cavitation hence becomes extremely important in case of bearings operating with higher speeds. The experimental data obtained showed very good agreements with numerical results and considerable reduction in computation time is observed.