Effect of grooves at noncontact outer ring area on thermal flow performance of high-speed bearing under oil interruption

Purpose Under oil interruption, lubricant supply in the high-speed bearing cavity is interrupted, which reduces the bearing lubrication and cooling ability, thus leading to degradation of bearing performance or even its failure. This paper aims to study the effect of grooves at the noncontact outer ring area on the flow and thermal performance of high-speed bearings under oil interruption, which is expected to improve the resistance of existing bearings to oil interruption. Design/methodology/approach The groove was added to the noncontact outer ring area of the bearing, and a method of combining volume of fluid and MRF was adopted to systematically study and analyze the oil-gas flow field structure and the temperature field distribution in the bearing cavities. Findings Results show that the lubricating oil could be stored and guided by the grooves of the bearing outer ring into the key lubrication area inside the bearing cavity, which increased the oil content near the inner ring and made the oil distribution more uniform. As a result, lubrication cooling and heat dissipation performance of the bearing cavity was improved. Compared with the original bearing, the bearing with a V-shaped groove had the optimal lubrication and cooling performance. Originality/value A rolling bearing model of the noncontact outer ring area with grooves under oil interruption is established in the paper. The simulation results provide theoretical guidance for the research and development of high-speed bearings with stronger oil interruption resistance ability. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-06-2024-0199/