Comparative Study of Rough Slider Thrust Bearings Having Different Pad Shape Variations Lubricated with Couple Stress Fluid

Present work investigates the performance of different pad-shaped sliders (cycloidal, polynomial, exponential, secant, hyperbolic, and plane). Performance of hydrodynamic lubrication is altered by considering surface roughness along with couple stress. In a mathematical model of the slider bearings possessing surface roughness which is a stochastic random variable with mean (≠ 0) and variance (≠ 0) in analysis. The rheological characteristics attributed to the lubricant with polymer additions are described by Stokes which is based on couple stress model of fluid. For couple stress fluids, in regard to the Stokes micro-continuum theorem, for the general lubricating film shape, updated expressions for bearing pressure, load carrying capability, center of pressure, power loss coefficient, and frictional force are produced. Dimensionless couple stress parameter is used to analyze the performance of slider bearing under the influence of couple stresses. With respect to surface roughness parameter in both Newtonian and couple stress fluids, bearing performance parameters are examined. Moreover, couple stress fluids exhibit these effects in a more pronounced manner than corresponding Newtonian fluids. It is noted from the current study that the exponential-shaped slider outperforms other pad-shaped sliders in terms of performance.