Water Lubrication Assisted by Small-Quantity Oil in a Journal Bearing

Abstract

In this work, water lubrication assisted by a small quantity of oil has been investigated on a water-lubricated bearing test bench, aiming to improve the lubrication of the bearings under short-time severe working conditions. Results demonstrated that the addition of small-quantity silicon oil can significantly reduce friction, with the coefficient of friction at certain speeds being lower than that achieved with either pure water or pure oil. And small-quantity supply, small time interval of oil supply has little impact on friction reduction. Moreover, a method based on the Stribeck curve was proposed to predict the COF reduction ratio. Additionally, computational fluid dynamics simulations provided insights into the migration of injected oil , revealing a correlation between oil leakage and COF.

Keywords: water-lubricated bearing, two-phase flow, CFD simulation, secondary lubricant