Metamodelagem Kriging aplicada em modelos de mancais termo-hidrodinâmicos

Abstract

Hydrodynamic bearings are fundamental components in large rotating machines. The computational modeling of bearing elements, the so-called thermohydrodynamic models, propose the solution of Reynolds equation and energy equation simultaneously. Thus, the variation in the oil viscosity due to the thermal variations are considered. The computational cost associated with thermohydrodynamic models turns the use of this approach in the modeling of rotating machines unfeasible for some applications. In this sense, the use of metamodels is presented as an interesting alternative to reduce the computational cost associated with the thermohydrodynamic models for hydrodynamic bearings. In this work, Kriging metamodels are applied to the bearings of a Francis hydropower unit, consisting of four bearings: one axial tilting pad thrust bearing, two radial tilting pad journal bearings, and one radial cylindrical journal bearing. The results obtained in this work show that the Kriging metamodeling approach can represent the considered bearings satisfactory. It is a powerful tool that makes feasible the surrogate of thermohydrodynamic models for hydrodynamic bearings in the modeling of rotating machines.