Elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication analysis of a porous misaligned crankshaft bearing operating with nanolubricants

In this paper, the combined effects of the characteristic size and concentration of inorganic fullerene-like tungsten disulphide nanoparticles (IF-WS2 NPs) or molybdenum disulphide nanoparticles (IF-MoS2 NPs) on the nonlinear dynamic behaviour of a gasoline engine crankshaft bearing subject to an arbitrary force torsor (effective applied force and moment vector) are theoretically and numerically investigated using the V. K. Stokes micro-continuum theory. These NPs are the most common additives for lubrication purposes due to their excellent tribological characteristics along with their effect on reducing friction and wear. It is assumed that the journal (crankshaft) currently made of a forged steel is rigid and the main bearing consists of a thin poroelastic liner made of low elastic modulus materials like Babbitt metals fixed in a stiff housing as defined by ASTM B23-00. The Krieger-Dougherty law is included in the proposed EHD model to account for the viscosity variation with respect to the volume fraction of nanoparticles dispersed in the base lubricant. On the other hand, the characteristic size of nanomaterials is introduced by a new material entity, denoted l, which is responsible for a couple-stress property. The Reynolds equation is derived in transient conditions and modified to account for the size of nanoparticles and the bearing-liner permeability property. For an arbitrary force torsor, the hydrodynamic pressure distribution, the squeeze film velocities, and the misalignment angular velocities are determined simultaneously by solving the discretized Reynolds equation and the equilibrium equations with the damped Newton-Raphson iterative method at each crank angle step. The crankshaft center trajectories in three sections of the main journal axis as well as the misalignment angles are deduced from the squeeze film velocities and the misalignment angular velocities by means of a Runge-Kutta scheme. According to the obtained results, the combined effects of the size and concentration of fullerene-like nanoparticles on the dynamic behavior of a compliant dynamically loaded crankshaft bearing operating with dynamic misalignment are significant and cannot be overlooked.