Magneto-Rheological (MR) lubrication of sectorial thrust pad hybrid bearing

The use of smart lubricants in fluid film bearing applications has gained enormous popularity. This study presents a numerical model to predict the behavior of a magneto-rheological (MR) lubricated hybrid sectorial thrust pad bearing system. The Finite Element Method (FEM) has been used to solve the modified Reynolds equation, which describes the sectorial thrust pad hybrid bearing. A constitutive relation based on the Bingham model is used to simulate the flow behavior of the MR lubricant. The computational results reveal that increasing the number of sectors in the magneto-rheological (MR) lubricated sectorial thrust pad bearing enhances the pocket pressure, load-carrying capacity, and stiffness coefficient.