Fluxes in a full-flooded lubricated Tapered Roller Bearing: Particle Image Velocimetry measurements and Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations
Journal article, 2023

The acquisition of complex fluxes inside a Tapered Roller Bearing (TRB) via Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is an experimental challenge. This can be successfully performed by exploiting a special test rig having the outer ring manufactured with sapphire. In the present paper, the velocity field in the region between cage, rollers and outer race have been captured via PIV in a fully flooded lubricated TRB. The experimental conditions have been reproduced numerically via Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The comparison of PIV results with CFD ones showed excellent consistency. It has been observed that, in the target domain, the tangential velocity of the lubricant is greater than those of the cage. In addition, in the proximity of the edges of the rollers, squeezing effects due to high gradients of pressure have been recorded. The distribution of flow rates due to the pumping effect in different regions of the TRB have been estimated.

CFD

OpenFOAM®

PIV

Tapered Roller Bearing

Lubrication

Author

Lorenzo Maccioni

Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

Valery Chernoray

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Fluid Dynamics

Franco Concli

Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

Tribology International

0301-679X (ISSN)

Vol. 188 108824

Subject Categories

Tribology

Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics

DOI

10.1016/j.triboint.2023.108824

More information

Latest update

8/24/2023