• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.2173-2187
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• 2022

A 3D thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic model is developed to analyze the sealing performance of a notched mechanical seal applied in the reactor coolant pump. In the model, the generalized Reynolds equation, the energy equation coupled with notch heat balance equation, the heat conduction equations, and the deformation equations of the sealing rings are iteratively solved by the finite element method. The film pressure and temperature distribution are obtained, and the deformation of the sealing rings is revealed to study the mechanism of the notched mechanical seals. A parameterized study is conducted to analyze the sealing performance under different operating conditions. As a comparison, the sealing performance of non-notched seals is also studied. The results show that the hydrostatic effect is dominant in the load-carrying capacity of the fluid film due to the radial mechanical and thermal deformations. The notch can cool the fluid film and influence the thermal deformation of seal rings. The sealing performance is sensitive to the pressure difference, ambient temperature, and rotational speed. It is suggested to set the notches on the softer sealing rings to acquire the greater hydrodynamic effect. Compared with the non-notched, the notched end face holds a better lubrication performance, especially under lower rotational speed.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.87-93
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• 2023

Nanofluids are dispersions of particles smaller than 100 nm (nanoparticles) in base fluids. They exhibit high thermal conductivity and are mainly applied in cooling applications. Nanolubricants use nanoparticles in base oils as lubricant additives, and have recently started gathering increased attention owing to their potential to improve the tribological and thermal performances of various machinery. Nanolubricants reduce friction and wear, mainly by the action of nanoparticles; however, only a few studies have considered the rheological properties of lubricants. In this study, we adopt a parallel slider bearing model that does not generate geometrical wedge effects, and conduct thermohydrodynamic (THD) analyses to evaluate the effect of higher thermal conductivity and viscosity, which are the main rheological properties of nanolubricants, on the lubrication performances. We use a commercial computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT, to numerically analyze the continuity, Navier-Stokes, energy equations with temperature-viscosity-density relations, and thermal conductivity and viscosity models of the nanolubricant. The results show the temperature and pressure distributions, load-carrying capacity (LCC), and friction force for three film-temperature boundary conditions (FTBCs). The effects of the higher thermal conductivity and viscosity of the nanolubricant on the LCC and friction force differ significantly, according to the FTBC. The thermal conductivity increases with temperature, improving the cooling performance, reducing LCC, and slightly increasing the friction. The increase in viscosity increases both the LCC and friction. The analysis method in this study can be applied to develop nanolubricants that can improve the tribological and cooling performances of various equipment; however, additional research is required on this topic.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.1035-1042
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• 2014

Reducing the friction of engine parts is an important issue in engine design. The loss of energy in the piston assembly due to mechanical friction ranges from 40 to 55%, and there is an increase in the total energy of about 5% if the friction of the piston can be removed. In order to reduce the friction loss at the level of each engine part, it is necessary to perform a comparative analysis with other engines to determine the important factors affecting the energy loss. Several studies have been performed to analyze the lubrication based on hydrodynamic modeling, since a piston lubrication system has dimensions in the nanoscale to microscale domain. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the correlations between the molecular and continuum systems. In this study, we investigated the friction changes due to the various interactions between molecules in the wall/fluid interface, where a microscopic movement of the oil film occurs along the cylinder liner of the engine.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.350-355
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• 2001

Minimum clearance between the piston seal groove of a piston and cylinder bore to ensure against extrusion of the piston seal and leakage of working fluids is an important design parameter for a seal designer in hydraulic cylinder application. Contact force, critical pressure at which extrusion occurs, leakage rate, fluid film thickness and friction force have been analyzed for some design parameter such as clearance between cylinder wall piston, depth of rectangular groove and pressure of sealed hydraulic fluid. In this paper, we analyze displacement and stress of ACGT seal by finite element analysis to understand Contact Behaviour Characters

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.198-203
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• 2000

In this paper, a numerical analysis is carried out to show the effect of friction farce on the dynamic characteristics of a flow divider valve. The continuity equations and the equation of motion fur spool are numerically solved. The viscous friction force acting on the spool is considered analyzing the Reynolds equation which governs the viscous flow in the clearance gap between the spool and sleeve. Dynamic characteristics are highly affected by the viscous friction farce whose magnitude is relatively small compare with other fluid forces. Therefore present theoretical formulation and numerical scheme can be used generally in designing and performance evaluation of all the hydraulic spool valve.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.12-19
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• 1986

Using emulsion lubricant whose cooling effect and incombustibility are good and which is economical, I investigated lubricative mechanism and the behavior of scattered particles in the elastic fluid lubrication region with the line contact between rollers and plates and the light interference system. The results of the study are as follows: (1) The flow in the squeeze oil film is considered as comparatively wide clearance and narrow one, and in the former case the effect of the distribution of particles and the velocity on the flow. In the latter case, emulsion particles stay in the clearance an the oil film changes with the decrease of the oil film thickness. (2) In the wide clearance the velocity difference of the flow O/W or W/O emulsion is inverse proportional to the particle size. In the narrow clearance the distribution of the remained drops is different from one another and the scattered particles change more easily in O/W type than in W/O type. (3) At the beginning of the EHL the stagnation region with slow flowing velocity exists and the behavior at the region is different depending on the particle size. (4) By observing the dischromatic light interference line, emulsion oil passing through EHL region and the crack behavior at the beginning of EHL were found.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.247-253
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• 2018

Temperature rise due to viscous shear of the lubricating oil generates hydrodynamic pressure, even if the lubricating surfaces are parallel. This effect, known as the thermal wedge effect, varies significantly with film-temperature boundary conditions. The bearing conducts a part of the heat generated; hence, the oil temperature varies with the thermal conductivity of the bearing. In this study, we analyze the effect of thermal conductivity on the thermohydrodynamic (THD) lubrication of parallel slider bearings. We numerically analyze the continuity equation, Navier-Stokes equation, energy equation including the temperature-viscosity and temperature-density relations for lubricants, and the heat conduction equation for bearing by creating a 2D model of the micro-bearing using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT. We then compare the variation in temperature, viscosity, and pressure distributions with the thermal conductivity. The results demonstrate that the thermal conductivity has a significant influence on THD lubrication characteristics of parallel slider bearings. The lower the thermal conductivity, the greater the pressure generation due to the thermal wedge effect resulting in a higher load-carrying capacity and smaller frictional force. The present results can function as the basic data for optimum bearing design; however, the applicability requires further studies on various operating conditions.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.35-44
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• 2006

Turbocharger bearings are under the circumstance of high temperature, moreover rotated at high speed. It is necessary to be designed overcoming the high temperature. So the type of oil inlet port, the inlet oil temperature and the sort of engine oil should be designed, controlled and selected carefully in order to reduce the bearing inside temperature. In this study, the influence of aerated oil on a high-speed journal bearing is also examined by using the classical thermohydrodynamic lubrication theory coupled with analytical models for viscosity and density of air-oil mixture in fluid-film bearing. Convection to the walls and mixing with supply oil and re-circulating oil are considered. The considered parameters for the study of bubbly lubrication are oil inlet port's type, oil aeration level and shaft speed. It is found that the type of oil inlet ports and shaft speed play important roles in determining the temperature and pressure, then the friction and load of journal bearing at high speed operation. Also, the results show that, under extremely high shaft speed, the high shear effects on aerated oil and the high temperature effects are canceled out each other. So, the bearing load and friction show almost no difference between the aerated oil and pure oil.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.207-218
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• 2007

Turbocharger bearings are under the circumstance of high temperature, moreover rotated at high speed. It is necessary to be designed overcoming the high temperature. So the type of oil inlet port, the inlet oil temperature and the sort of engine oil should be designed, controlled and selected carefully in order to reduce the bearing inside temperature. In this study, the influence of aerated oil on a high-speed journal bearing is also examined by using the classical thermohydrodynamic lubrication theory coupled with analytical models for viscosity and density of air-oil mixture in fluid-film bearing. Convection to the walls and mixing with supply oil and re-circulating oil are considered. The considered parameters for the study of bubbly lubrication are oil inlet port's type, oil aeration level and shaft speed. It is found that the type of oil inlet ports and shaft speed play important roles in determining the temperature and pressure distribution, then the friction in a journal bearing at high speed operation. Also, the results show that, under extremely high shaft speed, the high shear effects on aerated oil and the high temperature effects are canceled out each other. So, the bearing load and friction show almost no difference between the aerated oil and pure oil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2002.10b
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• pp.425-426
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• 2002

Lineal and angular movements of many engine components make the lubricant absorb air and the aerated lubricant greatly influences the clearance performance of contacting behaviors of engine components such as big-end bearing, cam and tappet, etc. This study investigates the behaviors of aerated lubricant in the gap between con-rod bearing and proceeding which is one of the most frictional energy consuming components in the engine. Our assumption for the analysis of aerated lubricant film is that the film formation is influenced by the two major factors. One is the density characteristics of the lubricant due to the volume change of lubricant by absorbing the bubbles and the other is the viscosity characteristics of the lubricant due to the surface tension of the bubble in the lubricant. In our investigation, it is found that these two major factors surprisingly increase the load capacity in certain ranges of bubble sizes and densities. Frictional forces are also influenced by the aerated bubble size and density, which eventually enlarge the shear resistance due the surface tension, Modified Reynolds' equation is developed for the computation of fluid film pressure with the effects of aeration ratio under the dynamic loading condition. From the calculated load capacity by solving modified Reynolds' equation, proceeding locus is computed with Mobility method at each time step.