Cavitation modelling effect on pressure distribution of inclined lubricated contacts and textured surfaces using CFD

In liquid lubricated contact, cavitation is often found and directly influences the hydrodynamic pressure profile. However, a large number of reseachers working on textured bearing still often neglected the cavitation phemonena. In this paper, the effect of cavitation on the lubrication performance is discussed, based on a CFD model. The comparison between the case of "nocavitation" and the "with cavitation" for the lubrication analysis is performed for the case of inclined lubricated contact and of textured surfaces with no slip condition. Based on the simulation results, it is found that in the case of conventional (incined) slider bearing including of the cavitation modelling in the analysis gives the same prediction with the case of "no-cavitation" with respect to the pressure distribution. However, in the case of simple textured parallel slider bearing, it is highlighted that the inclusion of cavitation modeling affects the prediction of load support significantly compared to that neglecting the cavitation model.