Plain Bearing Simulation

For the simulation of hydrodynamic bearings in FIRST the 'Generalized Metric Surface' technology allows it to consider an arbitrary bearing geometry in the simulation process.

Due to the full integration of the bearing module in the MBS part of the software, there is no need to distinguish between a bearing geometry and a corresponding motion.

Everything is 3D!

Each geometry can handle any type of motion!

Industry leading plain bearing modeling.

The current bearing catalogue in FIRST allows it to work with 6 different bearing geometries

Plane

Cone

Cylinder

Sphere

Thrust

Torus

Highlights of the Plain Bearing Module

Solution of the Reynolds differential equation
Temperature calculation
- Solution of the energy equation for temperature distribution (TEHD)
- Adiabatic calculation of average bearing temperature
Local deformations of sliding surfaces
Consideration of tangential loads
Material data is retrieved from FEM models
User-defined bearing contour
Mixed friction - measured or stochastic values
Microhydrodynamics via flow factors
Arbitrary fluid supply definition
Partial filling
- Variable film thickness - time and/or geometry dependent
- Mass conserving cavitation (Kumar-Booker algorithm)
Pressure, temperature and shear dependent fluid parameters
Arbitrary groove/hole geometry on bearing surface

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