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Multiphysics Modeling of Spring-Supported Thrust Bearings for Hydropower

Applications

Conference Paper · October 2012

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Xavier Borras Jan Ukonsaari

University of Twente Vattenfall AB
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Luleå University of Technology
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Multiphysics Modeling of Spring-Supported Thrust Bearings for
Hydropower Applications

F. Xavier Borràs*1, Jan Ukonsaari2 and Andreas Almqvist1

1
Luleå University of Technology, Division of Machine Elements, Luleå, Sweden;
2
Vattenfall, Vattenfall Research and Development AB, Luleå, Sweden.
*Corresponding author: Luleå University of Technology, 97 187 Luleå (Sweden), [email protected]

Abstract: The present work is an attempt in point restricts heavily the degrees of freedom of
predicting the performance of spring-supported the pad.
thrust bearings. Thorough research has been
done into the existing theories in order to
incorporate them into the COMSOL
Multiphysics software. The results proved the
capability of coupling partial differential
equations (PDE) to form a complex non linear
system and thus obtaining proper results. The
Reynolds equation is solved taking into account
pad and collar elastic deformation and thermal
expansion. The importance of including these
phenomena has been evaluated. Linking the
bearing material properties with the pressure and
temperature developed in the assembly has been
seen to play an important role. The result of this
research is a hydrodynamic model taking into Figure 1. Tilting pad thrust bearings performance
scheme.
account the main variables involved in a spring-
supported thrust bearing performance. The
model developed can be used when designing or To allow tilting and at the same time avoid
modifying thrust bearings. this punctual fixed contact point, the spring-
supported thrust bearings were created. This
Keywords: thrust bearings, Reynolds, spring- second kind of thrust bearings allows working
supported, elastic deformation, thermal under a wide range of operating conditions
expansion. maintaining a good efficiency. The pads lie on a
spring mattress that handles the applied load.
The spring-supported thrust bearings follow the
1. Introduction same principles, however with a different tilting
The main feature of the thrust bearings is to
system (Figure 2). The springs-supported thrust
provide for separation between the shaft and the
bearing has good self adjustment and heat
support, something essential when working with
dissipation. It is also of benefit with respect to
hundreds of tones spinning at hundreds of
vibration in running.
revolutions per minute. A physical contact
between both surfaces would represent the
destruction of the machine.
A highly pressured, micrometre thin, lubricant
film is located between the collar or runner
(dynamic part) and the pad (static part). The
static piece is compound from a number of
segment shaped pads. Figure 2. Spring supported thrust bearing
The most common type for hydropower performance.
applications are the tilting pad thrust bearings
(TPTB). In this kind of thrust bearings, each pad It is well-known the argument between
is placed over a spherical pivot that allows tilt to tilting-pad and spring-supported thrust bearings
the surface (Figure 1). A fixed defined pivot supporters. It is not clear which grants better

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the 2012 COMSOL Conference in Milan

results. Although the spring-supported has a not with pressure and temperature and they have
fix pivot point, the spring pattern hampers significant influence on system convergence.
considerably its study. However, the parameter that influences
The complexity of this kind of thrust convergence most is h, i.e., the gap morphology,
bearings is mostly the strong linkage between all which encompasses both mechanical
the phenomena involved from different deformation and thermal expansion.
engineering fields.

2. Model
The study carried out is a
thermoelastohydrodynamic analysis (TEHD)
which requires a high computational capacity to
solve a complex FEM non lineal system (Figure
3).

Figure 4. Pressure distribution on the pad surface.

As it is found in many rotor hydraulic

machines, cavitation is a phenomenon to deal
with when working with thrust bearings. Due to
the divergent shape of some parts of the gap,
huge negative pressure regions can be found
when solving the Reynolds Equation. In the
present model, the effect of cavitation is
accounted for by simply using the positive part
Figure 3. The three models required to predict spring- of the pressure distribution while integrating load
supported thrust bearing performance (pad, fluid film carrying capacity.
and collar).

2.1 Pressure Distribution: the Reynolds 2.2 Elastic Deformation

Equation The pressure distribution in the fluid film is
The pressure distribution on the thin applied in the boundary conditions on the other
lubricant film is obtained from solving the models (pad, collar plate and lubricant film).
Reynolds Equation (Figure 4). The gap is small
enough to use the Reynolds Equation instead of Here, the pad is modeled as a union of three
the general Navier-Stokes equation which would different domains: a steel structure, the Babbitt
increase the complexity of the calculations. layer and the foundation of springs. The
materials of the pad and the Babbitt are specific
The Reynolds Equations in 2D reads: for each thrust bearing and must be obtained
from the manufacturer. In the present model, the
springs are modeled as elastic cylinders with
 h3 1 
    Uh   0 corresponding Young modulus and Poisson ratio
 12 2  adapted to actual spring data. The collar,
normally made from a different material than the
where ρ is the lubricant density, η is the pad, has been also modeled here, with the fluid
viscosity, U is the collar velocity and h is the pressure contributing towards mechanical
geometry of the gap between the pad and the deformation and with convection & conduction
collar. Lubricant density and viscosity varies contributing towards thermal expansion. Figure

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the 2012 COMSOL Conference in Milan

5, depicts the total displacement, i.e. both field u=u(x,y,z), is also deduced from the
mechanical deformation and thermal expansion, pressure distribution;
at a typical operating point.
u 2
  p
z 2
The temperature of the lubricant film governs
the temperature of the whole assembly since the
viscous heating is the only heat source included
in the present study. The temperature in each
node contributes to the thermal expansion of the
pad and the collar.

Figure 5. Collar deformation due to the pressure

applied and the thermal expansion.

Notice that the displacement of the walls of

the pad and the collar, changes the gap geometry
h defined in the Reynolds Equation. This
coupling substantially increases the non-linearity
of the problem.

Figure 6. Temperature distribution of the fluid film.

2.3 Temperature Distribution
The temperature plays an important role for
the performance of the bearing. It is essential to
take into account the thermal expansion of the
3. Use of COMSOL Multiphysics
The most important governing equation
solid geometries and the lubricant material
defined in the current study is the Reynolds
proprieties variation with temperature; mainly
Equation. The equation is specified in the
the density and the viscosity of the fluid.
Lubricant Shell physics which is defined on the
pad surface. A null boundary pressure is stated
The temperature distribution in the fluid film
since this is a hydrodynamic approach. The
is obtained from the definition of a Heat Transfer
velocity field of the moving walls it deduced
in Fluids physic in the fluid model (Figure 6):
from the angular velocity of the turbine and
decomposed trigonometrically. The angular
 T T  2T speed is left as an input parameter.
  Cp   u f   v f    k  2 
 
 x y  z
Another input parameter when working with
 u f 2  v f 2  T turbines is the external load to handle (shaft and
         water weight). A global equation modeling the
 z   z    force balance between the generated pressure
and the external load is introduced i.e.;
p  p p 
   u f   v f  
T  x y   pdS  F

fluid  Wext

As explained, the pressure on the gap is

obtained from solving the Reynolds Equation Equality of this condition is reached by
defined on the pad surface. The fluid velocity varying the average distance between the pad

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the 2012 COMSOL Conference in Milan

and the collar. This is achieved by means of the The displacement field obtained from the pad
Lubricant Shell physics. and collar model confers precisely the gap
geometry (Figure 8). Both displacements fields
A Solid Mechanics physics is defined on the are included in the gap definition on the
whole pad geometry. The pressure obtained from Lubricant Shell physics.
solving the Reynolds Equation is used as
boundary load. A rigid surface is used to model
the support for the elastic cylinders, modeling
the spring foundation, so that it’s movement is
restricted.

The last physics required for this spring-

supported thrust bearing model, is the Heat
Transfer in Solids physics. The temperature
distribution of the top surface of the pad is
obtained by solving the Energy Equation in the
fluid model. On the other boundaries, convective
cooling is imposed to take into account the heat
transferred from the pad to the lubricant bath. In Figure 8. Fluid film thickness results from the
this way the temperature distribution in the solid combination of the pad and collar surfaces
is obtained, which in turn makes it possible to deformation.
estimate the thermal expansion in the Solid
Mechanic physics. Figure 7, shows the A fluid model was necessary to consider the
temperature of the pad. temperature increment. The Energy Equation is
defined in the whole fluid domain. The velocity
field can be deduced from the pressure
distribution obtained in the Lubricant Shell. The
heat source is determined from the shear stress
suffered in the fluid film. In order to match the
geometry of this model with the gap geometry, a
Moving Mesh is defined in this geometry. The
displacements of this mesh are obtained from the
displacement fields of the pad and collar models.
It has been necessary to define extrusion model
coupling operators to use the different fields
obtained in a model into another one.

Figure 7. Temperature distribution of the pad. 4. Results

The final model is capable to combine the
The collar plate model follows the same pad and runner displacement fields defining
principles as the pad. A Solid Mechanics physics ideally the final gap morphology. These
is defined in which the fluid pressure acts as displacement fields from the solid compounds
boundary load and the collar’s top surface is take into account the deflection suffered from the
modeled as fixed. pressure applied and its counteraction by the
thermal expansion. A large effort was spent to
A Heat Transfer in Solids physics is also model the gap geometry due to its significance
defined in this model to obtain the temperature when solving the Reynolds equation. The model
distribution in the collar and then estimate its estimates also the temperature distribution,
thermal expansion. A uniform temperature is which depend on the bath temperature, the shaft
considered on the lower surface of the pad, due rotational velocity, the external load applied and
to its moving nature. It is considered the heat the bearing design. The model has been designed
flux transferred from the fluid through the shaft. for pure hydrodynamic conditions; no

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the 2012 COMSOL Conference in Milan

 hydrostatic elements have been input. The 7. Conclusions
material proprieties, as confirmed by the
simulations, play an important role. The model A model for spring-supported thrust bearings
developed allows predicting e.g. overload simulations has been developed. The true
situations, see Figure 9, test different kinds of multiphysics model, efficiently couples the fluid
lubricants, see Figure 10, or test the influence of flow, the fluid-solid interaction and the
different spring’s distributions. convection and conduction occurring within a
typical spring-supported thrust bearing.

With special attention paid to applicability,

the model was implemented in order to be easily
adapted to a wide large class spring-supported
thrust bearings. It allows for testing different
lubricants, loads and speeds in order to predict
the consequences of changing these. The model
developed can be used to facilitate designing or
modifying thrust bearings. It is also gives a
better understating of the behaviour of this type
of bearings.

Figure 9. Variation of the film thickness and the pad

temperature with external load. 8. References

1. J. H. Vohr, Prediction of operating

a) temperature of thrust bearings, ASME, 103, 97-
106 (1981)
0%
2. C. M. Ettles, Three dimensional computation
50%
of thrust bearings, Tribology Series, 11, 95-104
100%
(1987)
3. A. L. Brown, J. H. Ferguson and J. B. Medley,
Spring-supported thrust bearings for
Hydroelectric generators: Finite element analysis
of pad deflection, Tribology Series, 39, 99-110
(2001)
4. D. Markin, D. M. C. McCarthy and S. B.
Glavatskih, A FEM approach to simulation of
tilting-pad thrust bearing assemblies, Tribology
b) International, (2003)
0%
5. R. A. Boudry, E. C. Khun and W. W. Wise,
50%
Influence of load and thermal distortion on
the design of large thrust bearings, Trans ASME,
100% 80, 807-818 (1958)
6. F. X. Borràs, A. Almqvist, J. Ukonsaari,
Multiphysics Modelling of Spring-Supported
Thrust Bearings for Hydropower Applications,
LTU Publications (2012).

9. Acknowledgements
Figure 10. Comparison of a) film thickness, and b)
pad temperature along the midline of the pad when This project would not have been possible
using two different lubricants (ISO VG68, ISO without the help from Patrick Issakson, Ivar
VG32). Kjelberg and Fredrik Nääs.

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the 2012 COMSOL Conference in Milan

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