Thermal Effects in Thrust Washer Lubrication

A numerical model was developed to study the thermal effects on the lubrication mechanism of radially-grooved thrust washers. A mass-conserving transient thermohydrodynamic (THD) analysis was performed by solving the modified Reynolds and energy equations for the lubricant pressure and temperature distributions. The heat transfer equations were also solved simultaneously to obtain the temperature fields of the solids (thrust washers). Due to different thermal time responses of the lubricant film and the solids, heat transfer equations of the runner and the thrust washer pad were treated as in quasi-steady state at each time step in the transient solution. Elrod cavitation algorithm was implemented to include lubricant cavitation. The results show that thermal effects do not only reduce load carrying capacity and the frictional torque but also increase side flow rate. Moreover, the numerical model also demonstrates that the thermal effects have greater influence on the load support when the groove depth and groove numbers increase. Furthermore, the analytical results also show that there exists certain operating conditions before thermal effects become the dominating factors in influencing the thrust washer performance.