Numerical Analysis of Variable Load Wear of Oil-lubricated Stern Bearing

Due to the low rotational speed of the stern shaft of a large sea ship, the change of external load can easily cause the mechanical friction of the tail bearing lubricated by oil, and then cause different degrees of wear and damage to the metal parts of the friction pair. By using CFD-DEM coupling method to carry out multiphase flow iteration calculation on the tail shaft model, the stress distribution between the journal and the bearing bush can be explored by changing the value of initial external load. At the same time, the metal-to-metal compression effect of the friction pair will directly affect the stress distribution of the bearing and the trajectory of the shaft center. After the tail bearing runs for a period of time, the metal-to-metal extrusion movement of the friction pair will gradually intensify, and the compression force will gradually stabilize with the running time. The wear debris generated in this process will continue to produce displacement and multiple friction with oil in the tail bearing, which will cause bearing abrasive wear and other mechanical damage during the long running of the tail shaft. The effectiveness of the simulation results is verified by comparing with the actual wear state of the tail bearing.