Study of Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication of Radial Bearing with Surface Texture

In order to study the influence of surface texture and elastic deformation of bearing surface on the lubrication performances of radial bearing, Winkler elastic foundation model was used to calculate the deformation of bearing surface, and the finite difference method was employed to solve Reynolds equation. Finally, the bearing performances were computed and compared between textured case and untextured case under flexible and rigid conditions. The results of numerical simulation show that the surface texture has a more significant influence on the static characteristics of radial bearing compared with the bearing's deformation. And the textures can significantly change the pressure distribution of oil film. Additionally, the location of textures on the bearing surface has different influences on the bearing performances. Generally, the textures located in the rising region of pressure have a positive influence on bearing performances, while the textures located in the declining region of pressure have a negative influence on bearing performances.