Numerical Investigation of Slip Effects and Cavitation in Hydrodynamic Thrust Bearing with Circumferential Pocket Geometry

The impact of cavitation on bearing performance is frequently overlooked in the scant research on textured bearings. This study investigates the load-carrying capacity of a thrust bearing under cavitation conditions with lubricant film thickness variations and circumferential pocket surface textures. This research's novelty consists on integrating texturing, cavitation, and slip engineering to evaluate load-carrying capacity. The slip conditions were implemented at various locations, including before the pocket, on the pocket, both before and on the pocket (combined), and without a slip as a reference. Computational fluid dynamics was used for the analysis in both cavitation and no cavitation scenarios. The results show that the highest maximum pressure, 5.09 MPa, was achieved with a 15 µm film thickness with slip applied prior to the pocket. When there was no slip, the lowest pressure was recorded at 80 µm film thickness. With the maximum load-carrying capacity of 1744.61 N, the slip-before-pocket arrangement continuously demonstrated superior performance across all configurations. In comparison to the cavitation scenarios, the no cavitation simulations produced superior pressure and load bearing capacities across all film thickness and slip changes.