Modeling Wear of Journal Bearings

P. Bergmann [1], F. Grün [1],
[1] Chair of Mechanical Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben, Leoben, Austria
Published in 2016

Wear in hydrodynamic journal bearings resulting from solid contact in the mixed friction regime becomes an increasingly prominent topic leading to the necessity of numerical wear evaluations. A numerical method tackling this topic based on Archard’s wear law is presented and applied on a close-to-component journal bearing test rig. This approach allows a validation of numerical results by comparing them with resolved test results. The results illustrate the effects of solid contact on the process of wear chronologically and locally resolved. The subsequent influence of wear on fluid film geometry and pressure build up is presented. The numerical method proofs its usability to handle wear caused by solid contact in lubricated systems.