A New Thermal Elasto-Hydrodynamic Lubrication Solver Implementation in OpenFOAM

Abstract

Designing effective thermal management systems within transmission systems requires simulations to consider the contributions from phenomena such as hydrodynamic lubrication regions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) remains computationally expensive for practical cases of hydrodynamic lubrication while the thermo elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) theory has demonstrated good accuracy at a lower computational cost. To account for the effects of hydrodynamic lubrication in high-power transmission systems requires integrating TEHL into a CFD framework such that these methodologies can be interfaced. This study takes an initial step by developing a TEHL solver within OpenFOAM such that the program is prepared to be interfaced with a CFD module in future versions. The OpenFOAM solver includes the Elrod–Adams cavitation model, thermal effects, and elastic deformation of the surfaces, and considers mixing between the recirculating flow and oil feed by applying energy and mass continuity. A sensitivity study of the film mesh is presented to show the solution variation with refinement along the circumferential, axial and radial directions. A validation case is presented of an experimental single axial groove journal bearing which shows good agreement in the pressure and temperature results. The peak pressure in the film is predicted within 12% and the peak temperature in the bush is predicted within 5% when comparing the centerline profiles.