1. Refrigerant foil bearing behavior—A Thermo-HydroDynamic study: (Application to rigid bearings).
- Author
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Garcia, Mathieu, Bou-Saïd, Benyebka, Rocchi, Jérôme, and Grau, Grégory
- Subjects
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REFRIGERANTS , *FOIL bearings , *MECHANICAL behavior of materials , *HYDRODYNAMICS , *RIGID dynamics , *COMPRESSOR lubrication - Abstract
Abstract: Internal experiments at Liebherr-Aerospace FRANCE (LTS) on new refrigerant-lubricated compressor designs have shown that under specific operating conditions, a mixture of vapor and liquid appears in the compressor, instead of a single-phase vapor flow. Therefore, refrigerant-lubricated foil bearings behavior is studied, including the likelihood of two-phase flow in the lubricant. In this paper, we focus on the lubricant behavior only, in the operating conditions of foil bearings. The coupling with structural behavior is a complex process and will be the topic of another paper. The Thermo-HydroDynamic approach describes lubricant characteristics such as pressure, density, viscosity, and temperature. It involves the use of a Generalized Reynolds Equation for turbulent flow, a nonlinear cubic Equation of State for two-phase flow and a 3D turbulent thin-film energy equation. Journal bearing global parameters are calculated for steady-state conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2013
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