Effect of boundary conditions on the performances of gas-lubricated micro journal bearing

As significant components of micromechanics, gas-lubricated microbearings are more prevalent for their special advantages than other types. The fluid dynamics of the microbearing is different from their larger cousins due to the noncontinuum effect and surface-dominated effect, which may make the Navier-Stokes equations invalid. In this paper, by considering the accommodation coefficients on journal (α _i) and that on bearing (α _o) separately, the microbearings with different bearing numbers under the assumption of large L/D (length to diameter) are simulated using direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) program incorporated with a Volume-CAD software. The diffuse reflection model and Cercignani-Lampis-Lord (CLL) model are applied to model the molecule-surface interaction. The flow field characteristics, as well as the performances of gas-lubricated journal bearings including load-carrying capacity, attitude angle and bearing drag are obtained. The results reveal that α_iand α_ohave different effects to flow field characteristics and bearing performances. The bearing number has significantly impact on the bearing performances. The method developed in this paper would be very useful for designing and evaluating the gas-lubricated journal microbearing.