A study of cavitation effect in a journal bearing using CFD: a case study of engine oil, palm oil and water

Abstract

Cavitation is a common phenomenon in journal bearing, which plays a crucial role in lubrication efficiency. However, the degree to which the cavitation phenomenon affects the lubrication performance for a different type of lubricant is still unclear. Therefore, in this paper, a comparison between the case of ‘cavitation’ and ‘without cavitation’ phenomena for journal bearing is presented. This study focused on three different types of lubricants which can be categorized into renewable and non-renewable resources, which are water, palm oil, and engine oil (SAE20W40). The uniqueness of our study is the inclusion of renewable sources, which is palm oil. Numerical analysis was chosen as an approach tool via ANSYS FLUENT. The cavitation process is investigated with a change in the pressure distribution of the oil film in the journal bearing. In the situation of non-cavitation model applied, the cavitation effect is neglected which has yielded a different value of pressure maximum and a minimum of the fluid film as compared if the cavitation concept is introduced. This study demonstrates the importance of the cavitation approach incorporation in the numerical prediction of lubrication in a hydrodynamic journal bearing.