Abstract The research work undertaken in this article addresses the use of electro-rheological (ER) lubricant for controlling the performance of spherical thrust bearing system. In the present work numerical investigation of a circular recessed spherical thrust bearing system with a capillary restrictor lubricated with ER lubricant has been described. The governing Reynolds equation for spherical thrust bearing has been solved by FEM technique. The influence of axial eccentricity ratio and various value of imposed electric field on the bearing performance has been investigated. The findings of study indicates that a bearing operating with negative axial eccentricity provides improved performance with ER lubricant. A designer can harness this effect by using a fitted type of spherical thrust bearing system.

中文翻译：

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ER润滑剂行为对球面嵌入式静压推力轴承性能的影响

摘要 本文开展的研究工作涉及使用电流变 (ER) 润滑剂来控制球面推力轴承系统的性能。在目前的工作中，对带有用 ER 润滑剂润滑的毛细管限流器的圆形凹入球面推力轴承系统进行了数值研究。球面推力轴承的控制雷诺方程已通过有限元技术求解。研究了轴向偏心比和各种外加电场值对轴承性能的影响。研究结果表明，以负轴向偏心运行的轴承使用 ER 润滑剂可提高性能。设计师可以通过使用合适的球面推力轴承系统来利用这种影响。