The influence of surface roughness on friction in a flexible hybrid bearing

The effect of surface roughness on friction in all lubrication regimes is studied for a flexible hybrid bearing of a radial piston hydraulic motor. The effect is studied by performing experiments in a specially designed test rig and numerical simulations of the real measured surface topographies of the bearings. The simulations are performed with a two-scale model where surface roughness is treated on a local asperity level by homogenized flow factors and a global scale where the bearing structure is included. Three bearings with different surface topographies are included in the study and both experimentally measured and simulated friction are analysed for each of them. Comparison of friction predicted by the model and experimentally measured friction is performed and it reveals that the model is a valuable tool for analysing the effect of surface roughness in this type of bearing.