Inertia Effects in Rheodynamic Lubrication of an Externally Pressurized Thrust Bearing Using Bingham Lubricant with Sinusoidal Injection

In the present theoretical investigation, the combined effects of fluid inertia forces and sinusoidal injection of the Bingham lubricant, on the performance of an externally pressurized thrust bearing with circular geometry are studied. Using the conventional two-constant Bingham model and by adopting the method of averaging inertia terms, the reduced Navier-Stokes equations are modified and numerical solutions have been obtained for the bearing performances such as the pressure distribution and the load carrying capacity for different values of Bingham number, Reynolds number, time and amplitude. The effects of fluid inertia forces and the non-Newtonian characteristics of the Bingham lubricant on the bearing performances for different sinusoidal conditions are discussed.