Temperature distribution and thermal distortion due to frictional heating in a dry shaft-bush tribosystem using the finite element method

Abstract

The temperatures due to frictional heating within a solid lubricated or coated journal bearing were analysed by using a finite element method. Distortion due to frictional heating was also calculated in the case of the coated system to ascertain the suitability of coating materials for high temperature applications. A solid model of the shaft-bush tribocontact was generated with an eight-node, three-dimensional, first-order isoparametric heat-transfer element and Patran solid modeller software. The Patmar (Patran-Marc) translator was used to help develop the Marc-based finite element program for the system; this software was used on the CRAY X-MP supercomputer to perform a finite element analysis of the contact. The analysis was performed for various liner materials, for thin, hard, wear-resistant coated bearings and for different geometries and thermal cooling boundary conditions. The analysis indicated that thermal conductivity of the liner or coating material is the most vital thermal parameter that controls the interface temperature. In addition to design variations, the proximity of the cooling source to the heat flux-generating interface is critically important to the temperature control in the system. Further, the thermal stresses and deformation are dependent on the elastic properties and thermal expansion coefficient of the coating material for a given geometry. © 1995.