The effect of boundary slip and cavitation on hydrodynamic pressure generation in pocket bearings

Surface texturing as well as boundary slip is an effective approach to increase the tribological performance, friction and load support of lubricated mechanical components. However, in a textured bearing with boundary slip, cavitation, which is generally neglected, is important, and it alters the flow behavior. Therefore, in this paper a novel analytical equation was proposed based on a modified Reynolds equation considering boundary slip and cavitation. The modified Reynolds equation was derived by following the general approach to deduce the Reynolds equation from the Navier-Stokes equation by assuming classical assumptions, except that boundary slip was present. A theoretical investigation was carried out to study the effect of boundary slip including cavitation on the pressure distribution of a pocket bearing. Different slip configurations (full slip, single slip and semi slip) were studied and compared to various pocket depths. The results indicated that the presence of boundary slip both on the lead...