3D CFD model of the lubricant flow and heat transfer in a tapered roller bearing

Bearings are one of the most important components in modern industrial machinery due to their high load-carrying capacity with limited friction. Although limited, this friction can generate significant heat and can cause wear to the rolling elements. In order to prevent such situations, typically grease or lubricants are used. Lubricants in addition to preventing wear of the bearing components can also be used as a heat transfer fluid that extracts heat that is produced due to it friction inside the bearing. Studying the flow of the lubricant, therefore, becomes crucial for the optimum operation of the bearing. In this poster, a roller bearing is investigated. The model investigates the bulk fluid flow in the bearing along with the secondary flows around the roller elements. Modelling the flows inside the bearing is very complex due to the dimensional disparity between the bearing elements and the path of the fluid flow. The heat transfer phenomenon further complicates the problem as the time scales for the fluid and the solid components are very different. In order to simplify the problem the flow and heat transfer in the fluid and solid bodies are decoupled. In this poster, the first step in this process is presented where the flow field and heat fluxes on the bearing components are investigated. These heat fluxes can be then later used to evaluate the temperature distribution in the solid elements. This allows for much cheaper computations with plausible results that can be used to analyze the flow and temperature distribution inside the bearing.