Numerical analysis of dam breaking behavior of Bingham pseudoplastic fluid by using the explicit MPS method

Abstract

Grease lubrication in ball bearings is one of key technologies to reduce energy consumption and enhance lifetime in design of spacecrafts as well as general industrial machineries. From a view point of grease lubrication design, it is crucial to understand grease macro flow phenomena in ball bearings taking into account non-Newtonian property of grease. In the current study, grease macro flow phenomena were investigated based on experimental and numerical works as a preliminary study. Grease dam breaking was defined as a benchmark problem and its collapsing phenomena were experimentally observed. As for the numerical work, a basic algorithm to simulate non-Newtonian grease macro flows was developed based on the explicit MPS (Moving Particle Simulation) method coupled with Bingham pseudoplastic fluid model. The observed grease dam breaking behavior was simulated by the developed numerical approach and the numerical results showed a good agreement with the corresponding experimental data.