11/20/2016

FacultyofmechanicalengineeringFlowPhenomenaandHeatTransferofJournalBearingsFHMnster

Flow Phenomena and Heat Transfer of Journal Bearings in

Heavy-duty Gas and Steam Turbines

Scope of the Research

Current State

CFD Solver and Numerical Method

Cooperation Partner

Siemens gas turbine SGT5-4000F source:Siemens AG

Nearly all steam turbines and heavy-duty type gas turbines use journal bearings. This kind of
bearing has a high degree of reliability and economic eciency, and various types have been
developed.
The traditional design of journal bearings is usually based on one-dimensional uid lm.
This applies the Reynolds equation which is a derived form of the Navier-Stokes-equations
and the equation of continuity. It determines the pressure eld and has to be extended by
several semi-empirical models in order to cover turbulence, cavitation, or heat transfer
phenomena. This approach has been recognized as very ecient for obtaining fundamental
bearing data. Based on it, corresponding numerical schemes and special computer
simulation codes like VT-FAST or ALP3T have been developed.
Despite its great success, the fundamental assumptions made in lubrication theory create
some obvious limitations for modelling and simulating of the complex ow within realistic
journal bearing geometries. Since the Reynolds equation is derived by assuming simple
Couette and Poiseuille velocity proles, any recirculation phenomena cannot be covered
accurately in terms of hydrodynamics. Furthermore, turbulence and mixing phenomena
could only be incorporated by using additional empirical models.

https://en.fhmuenster.de/maschinenbau/labore/waermetechnik/turbinengleitlager.php

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11/20/2016

FacultyofmechanicalengineeringFlowPhenomenaandHeatTransferofJournalBearingsFHMnster

Journal bearing with extracted ow domain

Scope of the Research

Flow in a journal bearing

The traditional method for hydrodynamic journal bearing analysis usually applies the
lubrication theory based on the Reynolds equation and suitable empirical modications to
cover turbulence, heat transfer, and cavitation. In cases of complex bearing geometries for
steam and heavy-duty gas turbines this approach has its obvious restrictions in regard to
detail ow recirculation, mixing, mass balance, and lling level phenomena. These
limitations could be circumvented by applying a computational uid dynamics (CFD)
approach resting closer to the fundamental physical laws.

Current State
The application of a fully three-dimensional CFD analysis including turbulence and multiphase ow phenomena has been successfully conducted for hydrodynamic journal bearings
as used for steam and heavy-duty gas turbines. A detailed view of the ow and mixing
phenomena in the oil supply pocket was realized. For the rst time large eddy simulations
are applied to investigate the mixing behavior of fresh oil supply in a full scale journal
bearing. An upscaled experiment method was used for visualization and qualitative
validation of the LES model for fresh oil inow inside the supply pocket. The ndings of
this research have considerable implications on the functionality and secureness of turbo
machinery journal bearings.

https://en.fhmuenster.de/maschinenbau/labore/waermetechnik/turbinengleitlager.php

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11/20/2016

FacultyofmechanicalengineeringFlowPhenomenaandHeatTransferofJournalBearingsFHMnster

Filling level, pressure and velocity distribution (f.l.t.r.) in the ow domain of the journal bearing

CFD Solver and Numerical Method

The CFD tool OpenFOAM (Open Field Operation and Manipulation), an open source CFD
software was used. The following reasons drove this decision
OpenFOAM is an open solver package and oers full control of all model equations and
algorithms, which is essential for the present research study.
The accuracy and eciency of the solver capabilities oered by OpenFOAM are
permanently checked by a global community including major academic institutions.
The use of OpenFOAM is unlimited in the sense that there are no license fees, which is
particularly interesting for the parallel application of the solver. Due to the oered
parallelization, it is possible to perform very complex calculations on computer clusters
without any additional costs.

Cooperation Partner

Professorship for Energy Technology

Siemens Energy Sector
Product Engineering at the Ruhr University Bochum

Contact
Personal Pro le

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FacultyofmechanicalengineeringFlowPhenomenaandHeatTransferofJournalBearingsFHMnster

https://en.fhmuenster.de/maschinenbau/labore/waermetechnik/turbinengleitlager.php

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