Visualisation study on flow field of bearing lubrication

Knowing the movement forms of lubricant during lubricating process should be useful and helpful to understand lubrication mechanism, so a visualisation apparatus improved from classical particle image velocimetry was presented to achieve it in this study. The effects of rotational speed and supply pressure on lubricant's velocity field were discussed and tested. Velocity size of lubricant increased with rotational speed and supply pressure. Velocity angle increased with rotational speed but decreased with supply pressure. Experimental results agreed well with theoretical predictions. This test apparatus can be useful and suitable for the visualisation of flow field during lubricating process.