Numerical Modeling of Plain Journal Bearings Within A Heavy-Duty Engine Oil System Using Gt-Suite

Umeå University
Master of Science in Engineering Physics

Department of Physics
Master’s Thesis
Numerical Modeling of Plain Journal Bearings

within a Heavy-Duty Engine Oil System using
GT-SUITE.
Fredrik Kälvelid
Submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Engineering Physics of the University of Umeå January 2016
Supervisor: Anna Rimark, ÅF Industry AB Göteborg

Examiner: Krister Wiklund, Department of Physics, Umeå University.
Abstract
Numerical Modeling of Plain Journal Bearings within a Heavy-Duty

Engine Oil System using GT-SUITE
Main and connecting rod bearings along the crankshaft in a heavy-duty engine oil sys-
tem requires efficient feed of oil flow to ensure the performance of lubrication, cooling and
cleaning. The bearings and builded bearing models considered in this work are based on
a Volvo 13L engine. Two main models to predict the oil flow in main and connecting rod
bearings have been investigated using the system analysis software GT-SUITE. These two
models are based on two numerical methods called the Mobility method and the Reynold’s
equation respectively.
The main bearing and the connecting rod large end bearing loads calculated in the
present work is similar to the reference bearing loads, especially for connecting rod large
end bearing and at lower engine speeds. For higher engine speeds, the present load results
are far o↵, compared to the reference load results. This di↵erence at the higher engine speeds
showed also an increased di↵erence in the oil volume flow rates. But more information re-
garding the calculations of the reference loads is needed to analyze the di↵erences further.
Considering the ”split lines”, where the upper and the lower bearing shell meet, in
the bearing models increased the oil volume flow rate with 13.3% on average for the main
bearing. Main bearing stand for 86% of the total flow whilst connecting rod large end and
small end bearing stand for the rest 13% and 1% of the total flow. The feed of oil to main
bearing and connecting rod large end bearing appears continuously whilst the feed of oil to
connecting rod small end bearing appears in the form of a few pulsations.
Comparing to the numerical reference flow results, the results in this work are similar
at high oil temperatures and at low engine speeds, otherwise the results are far o↵.
Considering the Reynold’s equation when predicting the oil volume flow rates in plain
journal bearings is a more accurate way than using the Mobility method since it takes more
specific geometrical irregularities into account. The oil volume flow rate for main bearing
di↵er with 2.7% on average when solving the Reynold’s equation compared to the Mobility
method.
Keywords: Main bearings, connecting rod bearings, bearing load, Mobility method,
Reynold’s equation, GT-SUITE, lubrication, split lines, oil volume flow rate.
i
Sammanfattning
Numerisk modellering av glidlager tillhörande en tung motors

oljesystem med GT-SUITE.
Ram- och vevstakslager längs vevaxeln i en tung motors oljesystem kräver ett e↵ektiv ol-
jeflöde för att säkerställa utförandet av smörjning, kylning och rengöring. Lagren och de
byggda lagermodellerna i detta arbete är baserade på en Volvo 13L motor. Två modeller för
att simulera oljeflödet i ram- och vevstakslager har undersökts med hjälp av systemverktyget
GT-SUITE. De två modellerna bygger på varsin numerisk metod varav den ena är baserad
på Mobility metoden och den andra på Reynolds ekvation.
Lasterna för ramlagret och vevstakens stora lager som har studerats i detta arbete är
jämförelsebara med lasterna som referensdata visar. Detta gäller särskilt vevstakens stora
lager vid låga motorvarvtal. För höga motorvarvtal stämmer de beräknade lasterna inte
alls överens med referensdatat. Denna skillnad i last visade också en ökad skillnad i ol-
jevolymsflödet för högre varvtal. Men eftersom informationen om beräkningarna av referens
lasterna är begränsad är det svårt att analysera skillnaderna nogrannare.
När ramlagrets ”split lines” includerades i beräkningarna, där det övre och det undre
lagerskalet möts, ökade oljesflödet i genomsnitt med 13.3%. Ramlagret står för 86% av det
totala flödet, vevstakens stora lager och lilla lager står för resterande 13% och 1% av det
totala oljeflödet. Oljetillförseln till ramlagret och vevstakens stora lager sker kontinuerligt
medan till vevstakens lilla lager sker oljetillförseln i form av pulsationer.
Jämfört med det numeriska referensdata för oljevolymsflödet är resultaten i detta arbete
långt ifrån samma. Vid höga oljetemperaturer och vid låga varvtal är det jämförelsebart,
annars är volymsflödena betydligt olika.
Numeriska metoden som är baserad på Reynolds ekvation är mer exakt jämfört med Mo-
bility metoden vid beräkningen av oljevolymsflödet, eftersom den tar hänsyn till geometriska
oregelbundenheter i beräkningarna.
Oljevolymsfödet för ramlagret skiljer sig i genomsnitt med 2.7% när beräkningen är
baserad på Reynolds ekvation jämfört med Mobility metoden.
Nyckelord: Ramlager, vevstakslager, last, Mobility, Reynold’s ekvation, GT-SUITE,

smörjning, split lines, volymsflöde.
ii
Contents
Abstract i
Sammanfattning ii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Software for system analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.2 1D CFD and 3D CFD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Motivation and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.1 Aim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.2 Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Statement of Originality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.5 Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.6 Nomenclature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Theory 6
2.1 Hydrodynamic lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1.1 Plain journal bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.2 Lubricant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.3 Bearing radial clearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.4 E↵ect of grooves and holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.5 Oil flow rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2 Pressure and pressure drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 Journal and bearing rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.1 Pipe motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.2 Connecting rod bearing motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4 Journal bearing modeling methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
iii
2.4.1 Mobility method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4.2 Reynolds equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3 Method 18
3.1 Material and geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.1.1 Oil properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.1.2 System diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1.3 Geometries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.1.4 Bearing split lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2 Boundary data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2.1 Bearing load due to cylinder pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2.2 User defined bearing load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3 Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3.1 Model 1: Two bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3.2 Model 2: Three bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.3.3 Model 3: 2D model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4 Results 29
4.1 Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.1 Study 1: Bearing load comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.2 Study 2: E↵ect of bearing split lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.3 Study 3: Match reference data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.4 Study 4: Connecting rod small end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.1.5 Study 5: Mobility method and Reynold’s equation . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5 Discussion 39
5.1 Analysis of the studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.1.1 Study 1: Bearing load comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.1.2 Study 2: E↵ect of bearing split lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.1.3 Study 3: Match reference data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.1.4 Study 4: Connecting rod small end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.1.5 Study 5: Mobility method and Reynold’s equation . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6 Conclusions 42
6.1 Summary of achievements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6.2 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Bibliography 44
iv
List of Tables
1.1 List of used subscripts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 List of non-dimensional parameters and variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 List of dimension parameters and variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1 Values of the constants for the 10W30 oil (Wramner, 2014). . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.2 Geometry data for main and connecting rod bearings, the data is taken from
CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine. MB, CRLEB and CRSEB are
defined in section 1.6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
v
vi
List of Figures
1.1 An example of a simple 1D flow domain, where scalar quantities, such as

temperature and pressure are solved for in the cells and vector quantities,
such as velocity and mass flux, are solved for at the boundaries between the
cells (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1 Visualization of a typical hydrodynamical lubricated plain journal bearing with

an angular velocity !J (Substances and Technologies, 2015). . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 Visualization of a detailed lubricated plain journal bearing. The figure describe
a plain journal bearing with an applied load FL . The forces Fp and Ff r gen-
erated by the relative motion carries the load force and things like location of
maximum and minimum film thickness, location of maximum pressure Pmax
and direction of eccentricity " can be observed (Substances and Technologies,
2015). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 The e↵ect of pressurized holes and grooves in bearing shells. The left figure
show the e↵ect of a single hole whilst the right figure show the e↵ect of a
groove at the upper shell (dashed line) with an angular extent of 180 (Gamma
Technologies Inc, 2015b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 Angles ✓1 and ✓3 for the calculation of the feed flow rate, equation (2.13), for
a bearing with a partial circumferential groove (dashed line) with maximum
270 angular extent (Martin, 1983). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5 Volume flow rate, Q, forced by a pressure di↵erence, P = P1 P0 , inside

an arbitrary volume V . Q flows from high pressure to low pressure. . . . . . . 12
2.6 Feed from main gallery to one of the main bearings and the drilling through
the crankshaft which rotates at the engine speed (Gamma Technologies Inc,
2015c). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.7 The circular motion of the bearings attached on the crankshaft (Auto Tech-
nology, 2012). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.8 Fluid film geometry for a dynamical loaded plain journal bearing (Yu and
Sawicki, 2002). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 The solid lines describe temperature dependency of dynamic viscosity, density,
thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity for the 10W30 oil used in Volvo
13L engine (Wramner, 2014). The dashed lines show the properties for a
10W30 oil included in GT-SUITE’s library of substances. . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2 System diagram of a part of the oil system for a Volvo 13L engine. The
diagram illustrate the main gallery and the oil feed to the bearings inside the
engine block (Williams and Cordell, 2010). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
vii
viii LIST OF FIGURES
3.3 Angle convention used for bearing and journal grooves and holes (Gamma
Technologies Inc, 2015b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4 The bearings studied. Pictures are taken from CAD corresponding to the Volvo
13L engine. Note that the scales of the bearings in figure (a)-(c) are not correct. 21
(a) Main bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
(b) Connecting rod large end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
(c) Connecting rod small end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.5 Width of the connecting rod small end bearing, measured as a function of the
angle with 0 and 360 located at the top of the bearing. Bearing data is taken
from CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.6 One of the split line located at 90 where the main bearings upper and lower
shells meet. The picture is taken from CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L
engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.7 (a) Main bearing radial clearance as a function of bearing angle. The split
lines are located at 90 and 270 with a 0.6 angular extent. (b) Connecting
rod large end bearing radial clearance as a function of bearing angle. The split
lines are located at 90 and 270 with a 0.7 angular extent. The data is taken
from CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
(a) Main bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
(b) Connecting rod large end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.8 An illustration of the more accurate modeling approach for the split lines.
Figure a) show how this model looks in GT-SUITE, and figure b) show the
cross sectional area, CSAsl , of a split line defined in figure 3.7 with width
Wsl and height Hsl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
(a) GT-SUITE GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
(b) cross sectional area of the split line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.9 Cylinder pressure profiles for di↵erent engine speeds (left figure). Note that
the piston’s top dead center take place at 360 . Peak pressure values as a
function of engine speed !J (right figure). These values are measured at
100% engine torque for each engine speed. The data is corresponding to the
Volvo 13L engine. Due to confidential materials in this work, the values on
the y-axis are not present. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.10 Load on the main bearing calculated by AVL EXCITE. The solid and the
dashed line determine the load in x- and y-direction respectively. These bear-
ing loads are also determined for 100% engine torque for each engine speed.
Note that top dead center appear at = 0. Due to confidential materials in
this work, the values on the y-axis are not present. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.11 Connecting rod large end bearing angular velocity is !J = 1000 rpm. Due to
confidential materials in this work, the values on the y-axis are not present. . 25
3.12 A 1D model of main bearing and connecting rod large end bearing. The left
picture is taken from the GT-SUITE GUI and the right picture is taken from
CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
(a) GT-SUITE GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
(b) CAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
LIST OF FIGURES ix
3.13 A 1D model of main bearing, connecting rod large end bearing and connecting
rod small end bearing. The left picture is taken from the GT-SUITE GUI and
the right picture is taken from CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine. . 27
(a) GT-SUITE GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
(b) CAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.14 A model of the main bearing. The left picture is taken from the GT-SUITE
GUI and the right picture is taken from CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L
engine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
(a) GT-SUITE GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
(b) CAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.15 A 2D geometric mesh generated on the inner surface of the main bearing. . . 28
(a) mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
(b) mesh near split line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1 Main bearing load and connecting rod large end bearing load with respect to
crank angle at the engine speed !J = 600 rpm for AVL EXCITE and GT-
SUITE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
crank angle at the engine speed !J = 950 rpm for AVL EXCITE and GT-
SUITE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
crank angle at the engine speed !J = 1800 rpm for AVL EXCITE and
GT-SUITE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
crank angle at the engine speed !J = 2100 rpm for AVL EXCITE and
GT-SUITE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.5 Oil volume flow rate for main bearing and connecting rod large end bearing
at 8 engine speeds with corresponding main gallery pressures for the Volvo
13L engine. The presented result is a comparison between the two di↵erent
bearing load calculations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.6 Main bearing oil volume flow rate using two di↵erent methods to describe the
bearing split lines. In this case, 8 engine speeds with corresponding main
gallery pressures for the Volvo 13L engine have been considered. . . . . . . . . 33
4.7 Oil volume flow rate, Q for various pressure drops, P for the main bear-
ing and the connecting rod large end bearing. The results represent three oil
temperatures and three engine speeds. The presented results are solutions cal-
culated by GT-SUITE and BEAN based on bearing loads calculated by AVL
EXCITE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.8 Main bearing oil volume flow rate Q versus pressure drop P at high engine
speed and medium oil temperature. Solution by the Mobility method and the
Reynold’s equation compared with the reference data by BEAN. . . . . . . . . 34
4.9 Oil volume flow rate Q for the main and the connecting rod bearings for several
engine speeds !J . The flow rates for each bearing are added together and the
total oil volume flow rate is described by the upper most line. . . . . . . . . . 35
4.10 Oil volume flow rate as a function of crank angle for connecting rod small
end bearing. The oil feed pulsations are clearly seen and appear a few times
in every revolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.11 Oil volume flow rate Q for main bearing with respect to crank angle . The
Mobility method has been used for the calculations and the cases with and
without bearing split lines are shown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.12 Oil volume flow rate, Q for main bearing with respect to crank angle . The
upper figure show the result for the Mobility method compared to the Reynold’s
equation. The lower figure show the e↵ect of the bearing split lines using
Reynold’s equation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.13 Minimum oil film thickness, hmin for main bearing with respect to crank angle
. The upper figure show the result for the Mobility method compared to the
Reynold’s equation. The lower figure show the e↵ect of the bearing split lines
using Reynold’s equation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.14 Maximum oil film pressure, Pmax for main bearing with respect to crank angle
. The upper figure show the result for the Mobility method compared to the
Reynold’s equation. The lower figure show the e↵ect of the bearing split lines
using Reynold’s equation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.1 Two 2D meshes of the main bearing inner surface. a) a coarser triangulation
of the main bearing inner surface; b) closer look at the coarser triangulation
near split line; c) a finer triangulation of the main bearing inner surface; d)
closer look at the finer triangulation near split line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
(a) Main bearing (coarser mesh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
(b) Split line (coarser mesh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
(c) Main bearing (finer mesh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
(d) Split line (finer mesh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
x
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Background
A heavy-duty engine is an engine that is built with the purpose to manage long operation
time with heavy loads. Such demanding conditions require accurate geometries and func-
tionalities of the heavy-duty engine working components to reach a desired efficiency as well
as a reduced emission of greenhouse gases (U.S. HDVs phase 2, 2015).
Heavy-duty engines can be found for example in trucks, busses, marines and in con-
struction machinery (About Cummins pacific, 2013). These vehicles are very important to
ensure that the logistics works, which today is essential within all types of industries that
aim for a successful future (Truck transport services - full speed ahead - Rhenus logistics,
2015).
One part of the heavy-duty engine that is important is the oil system. The oil has three
main objectives: cooling, cleaning and lubrication of engine components (Heywood, 1988).
Due to heavy loads, heat and rotating parts inside the heavy-duty engine, oil is needed to
obtain desired efficiency but also to maintain the service life of the engine (Heywood, 1988).
The development of a new engine platform is now in progress by Volvo GTT and will
in the future be a platform that include engines from all, mentioned above, service areas.
To accomplish this new engine platform, a 1D model of the entire oil system where the
components are evaluated individually and on system level is required. Such a 1D model
should give information about the flow characteristics i.e. pressure, temperature and flow
rate. The 1D model should then predict possible improvements to generate better engine
oil systems in the future.
A 1D oil system modeling project were done under the period 2015-2016 in collaboration
between ÅF (project developer) and Volvo Group Trucks Technology (Volvo GTT) (project
customer). The assignment is to model the oil system using the commercial software GT-
SUITE, one of many engineering softwares for systems analysis within Gamma Technologies
Inc. An entire 1D model means that all parts of the oil system within a heavy-duty engine
will be modeled. The present work will be an external function parallel with the entire 1D
oil system modeling project.
Today continuing in reducing engine mass has contributed to fewer dense and heavy
parts (Martin and Xu, 1993). On the other hand, the achievement of higher engine output
lead to heavier loads to the bearings (Martin and Xu, 1993). As a consequence, engine
bearings are working with thinner oil films and require therefore even more efficient feed
flow of oil to the bearings to ensure the performance of lubrication, cooling and cleaning
(Martin and Xu, 1993).
My work will therefore focus on modeling the oil flow in plain journal bearings along the
crankshaft inside the engine block. This includes the main bearings, connecting rod large
end bearings and connecting rod small end bearings (Kopeliovich, 2015).
1
2 Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1.1 Software for system analysis
GT-SUITE is a software for modeling, among several other things, engine oil systems
(Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a). GT-SUITE is using a 1D Computational Fluid Dynam-
ics (CFD) compressible solution to predict flow rate, pressure and temperature distributions
throughout the whole oil system. GT-SUITE solves equations for mass, momentum and
energy to obtain prediction for the flow characteristics (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a).
GT-SUITE is using rapid techniques, based on earlier work by several researchers (Booker,
2013), (Martin and Xu, 1993), (Goenka, 1984), (Martin, 1983), (Booker, 1971) and (Booker,
1965), when solving for flow, pressure and temperature. In this work, GT-SUITE’s ability
to predict the fluid flow in plain journal bearings corresponding to a Volvo 13L engine, will
be a prior of interest.
1.1.2 1D CFD and 3D CFD
Computational Fluid Dynamics are numerical methods within the wide branch Computer
Aided Engineering or CAE (Raphael, 2003). The methods are used for prediction and
analyze of behavior of fluid flows, heat transfer, and related phenomena (Kuzmin, 2007).
CFD as an engineering tool is powerful and widely practised by many industries as well
as in research. The most commonly used form of CFD code is based on the finite volume
technique, in which the domain volume is discretised (divided) into smaller volumes (CFD-
Online, 2012a). In these smaller volumes, often referred to as cells, the governing equations
are numerically solved. The governing partial di↵erential equations solved for are the Navier-
Stokes equations on fluid flow (CFD-Online, 2012b). The Navier-Stokes equations represent
the following conservation laws of physics; conservation of, mass, momentum and energy.
In the present work the 1D CFD software GT-SUITE was used which contain a 1D
computational approach to solve the governing equations describing the fluid flow in the
system. The 1D CFD method solves the Navier-Stokes equations in one dimension (Gamma
Technologies Inc, 2015a), which means that the flow quantities are averaged across the fluid
flow direction. In contrast with 3D CFD, where the governing equations are solved for all
three directions (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a).
Predicting the fluid flow in a model built in GT-SUITE is done by solving the 1D
compressible flow equations. Further, the 1D system is discretised into smaller volumes
as in the 3D CFD case, although in the 1D numerical model the flow quantities become
averaged, as mentioned above. The solver, or in this case the CFD code is based on the
finite di↵erence technique along with a finite volume approach to discretise and numerically
calculate the governing equations (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a). An illustrative example
of the 1D method is show in figure 1.1.
Vector quantities Scalar quantities
Figure 1.1: An example of a simple 1D flow domain, where scalar quantities, such as temper-
ature and pressure are solved for in the cells and vector quantities, such as velocity and mass
flux, are solved for at the boundaries between the cells (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a).
1.2. Motivation and Objectives 3
The 1D models in GT-SUITE are created by using various building components cor-
responding to di↵erent parts of an investigated system. These components vary in their
degree of complexity and extent; from simple objects i.e. pipes, to more refined objects such
as plain journal bearings. The components are joined together through nodes. A 1D CFD
model usually have the ability to involve a network of components with no major e↵ect on
simulation time. Each individual component is a sub-model with a predetermined set of
parameters, which defines the physical behavior. Using these components, more elaborate
systems can be constructed and analyzed, such as a model of an entire engine oil system.
1.2 Motivation and Objectives
1.2.1 Aim
The aim of the project is to investigate how well hydrodynamic lubricated plain journal bear-
ings can be modeled with GT-SUITE by comparing to known reference data describing the
pressure, temperature and flow rate. The aim is also to investigate and analyze two bearing
modeling approaches with GT-SUITE and emphasize necessary physical assumptions and
why they can be made.
1.2.2 Goal
The goal is to build two main models to simulate oil flow in plain journal bearings using GT-
SUITE, then compare the fluid flow characteristics between these two models and examine
how well the results are consistent with known reference data. After comparing the modeling
approaches, highlight strengths and weaknesses between the two models.
1.3 Contributions
For future investigations regarding numerical modeling of oil lubricated plain journal bear-
ings, the present work have added knowledge concerning the e↵ect of oil volume flow rate
of certain bearing formation. Further, the present work has contributed to an increased
comprehension of plain journal bearing modeling with GT-SUITE.
1.4 Statement of Originality
1D numerical modeling of fluid flow to predict pressure, temperature and volume flow rate
in lubricated plain journal bearings are a much faster approach than 3D numerical model-
ing and gives realistic and considerable accurate results (Goenka, 1984). The commercial
software GT-SUITE gives good predictions for the oil flow in plain journal bearings within
a heavy-duty engine since the used methods describes the flow within GT-SUITE are estab-
lished mainly by Booker (1965) and Goenka (1984).
4 Chapter 1. Introduction
1.5 Publications
Numerical Modeling of plain Journal Bearings within a Heavy-Duty Engine Oil System using
GT-SUITE is a project done in the course Master’s Thesis in Engineering Physics, 30.0
ECTS at the Department of Physics, Umeå University.
1.6 Nomenclature
Table 1.1: List of used subscripts.
Subscript Description
MB Main bearing
CRLEB Connecting rod large end bearing
CRSEB Connecting rod small end bearing
sl Split line
Table 1.2: List of non-dimensional parameters and variables.
Parameter Description
ẽ Normalized eccentricity
S Bearing geometry correlation factor
M Mach number
Specific heat ratio
M W Mobility vector
DB
P W Pressure vector
DB
f (V ) Function for arbitrary flow volume V

1.6. Nomenclature 5
Table 1.3: List of dimension parameters and variables.
Parameter Description Unit

W Bearing width mm
DB Bearing shell diameter mm
DJ Journal diameter mm
C Bearing radial clearance mm
Ch Bearing radial clearance for Qh calculations mm
Cp Bearing radial clearance for Qp calculations mm
Hsl Height of bearing split line cross sectional area mm
Wsl Width of bearing split line cross sectional area mm
Deq Equivalent diameter mm
GW Bearing groove width mm
GD Bearing groove depth mm
d Feed hole width mm
hmax Maximum oil film thickness mm
hmin Minimum oil film thickness mm
h Instantaneous oil film thickness mm
" Eccentricity mm
CSAsl Cross sectional area of bearing split line mm2
V Arbitrary flow volume mm3
AEsl Angular extent of split line
G✓ Bearing groove angular extent
FL Journal load N
Fp Hydrodynamic pressure force N
Ff r Hydrodynamic friction force N
Fc Surface contact force N
F Total bearing load N
!J Journal angular velocity rpm
!B Bearing angular velocity rpm
P Total oil film pressure bar
Qh Hydrodynamic oil volume flow rate l/min
Qp Feed pressure oil volume flow rate l/min
Q Total oil volume flow rate l/min
QM Martin oil volume flow rate l/min
µ Oil dynamic viscosity Pa s
⇢ Oil density kg/m3
c Oil specific heat capacity JK 1 /kg
 Oil thermal conductivity JW 1 /m
P Pressure drop bar
ac Centripetal acceleration mm/s2
Chapter 2
Theory
This chapter contains a theory concerning the hydrodynamic lubrication of plain journal
bearings and how these bearings are modeled with GT-SUITE.
2.1 Hydrodynamic lubrication
As mentioned in the introduction of this report, one of the three main purposes for the
oil system in a heavy-duty engine is lubrication of engine parts. Several parts in a heavy-
duty engine are rotating and therefore need lubricated bearings to reduce friction and for a
smoother motion (Heywood, 1988).
Figure 2.1 shows a plain bearing with a rotating journal inside. The lubricant in figure
2.1 separates the journal surface from the bearing surface due to pressure and friction forces
in the lubricant and this type of lubrication is known as hydrodynamic lubrication (Kane
and Inc, 1997).
The space between the bearing and journal surfaces, called clearance, is created in order
to make room for the lubricant flow. The lubricant flow rate in bearings is dependent
on clearance width, which will be described later. Note that the center of the journal is
displaced from the center line of the bearing, this displacement is due to applied loads on
the journal (Substances and Technologies, 2015).
Clearence
!J DB
DJ
Journal
Lubricant
Bearing shell
Figure 2.1: Visualization of a typical hydrodynamical lubricated plain journal bearing with
an angular velocity !J (Substances and Technologies, 2015).
With no load applied, the journal remains centered relative the bearing surface and
the clearance width is equal to C = (DB DJ )/2. However, with an applied load on the
journal, the width of the clearance vary around the bearing due to the journal displacement
(Substances and Technologies, 2015). The sources causing this displacement is described
more clearly in figure 2.2 and section 2.1.1.
6
2.1. Hydrodynamic lubrication 7
2.1.1 Plain journal bearing
Lubricated bearings operate by generating a very thin film of lubricant at a sufficiently high
pressure to match the applied load. This is an e↵ect of the relative motion between the
journal and the bearing shell. In this way, large loads can be carried as long as the loads
are within the bearing capacity (Substances and Technologies, 2015).
For bearings along the crankshaft in combustion engines, these loads usually appear due
to explosions inside the cylinders. The separation between journal and bearing shell appear
due to a (see figure 2.2) hydrodynamic pressure force Fp and a friction force Ff r in the
lubricant. These two forces counteract the load force FL , which means that, for a given load
force FL , the journal is separated from the bearing shell and displaced from the center-line
of the bearing (Substances and Technologies, 2015). Following equation, (2.1), describes the
force counteraction.
Fp + Ff r = F L . (2.1)
For a given load force, FL , the bearing shell is centered in the (xy) coordinate system and
the journal in the displaced coordinate system (x0 y 0 ) as seen in figure 2.2. This displacement
refers to the journal eccentricity, ", as is seen in figure 2.2. The eccentricity is a vector with
components "x and "y to represent the displacement in x and y coordinates respectively.
The amount of eccentricity adjusts itself until the generated lubricant film pressure Fp and
friction Ff r , due to this motion, balances the load FL (Flores, Claro and Ambrsio, 2006).
Since the load force change in amplitude and direction during an engine cycle, so are
the norm and direction of the eccentricity vector. A larger load makes the journal move
further away from the bearing shell center (Substances and Technologies, 2015). For further
clarification, one engine cycle is the same as two crankshaft revolutions (0 to 720 ).
F luid f illed region y y0 Cavity region
hmax
FL
!J
x
" x0
FP
hmin
Ff r
Pmax
Figure 2.2: Visualization of a detailed lubricated plain journal bearing. The figure describe
a plain journal bearing with an applied load FL . The forces Fp and Ff r generated by the
relative motion carries the load force and things like location of maximum and minimum
film thickness, location of maximum pressure Pmax and direction of eccentricity " can be
observed (Substances and Technologies, 2015).
8 Chapter 2. Theory
Figure 2.2 also shows the lubricant pressure distribution on the bearing surface and
where the maximum pressure, Pmax , is expected to take place. Note that the direction of
load FL and the location of maximum pressure are not related. This is due to the generated
pressure from the relative motion between journal and bearing shell mentioned above, and
therefore the pressure has its maximum near the location of the minimum film thickness
hmin .
At the right side of the journal in figure 2.2 there is a region not fully filled with lubricant,
rather a mixture of lubricant and air. This is due to the ”pumping” e↵ect by the rotating
journal and it is named cavitation, and therefore this region got the name cavity region
(Substances and Technologies, 2015). Cavitation is a complex thing to describe and will not
be considered in this work, but it is good for us to know that cavitation exists and has an
essential e↵ect on the flow (Vincent, Maspeyrot and Frene, 1996).
The dashed line that crosses both the center of the bearing and the center of the journal,
determines the maximum hmax and minimum hmin lubricant film thickness.
2.1.2 Lubricant
”The lubricant in an engine oil system has the following five purposes: 1) reduce the fric-
tional resistance of the engine to ensure mechanical efficiency, 2) protect the engine against
wear by preventing metal-to-metal contact, 3) contribute to cooling the regions of the engine
where friction work is dissipated, 4) remove impurities from lubricated regions, 5) hold gas
and oil leakage at an acceptable minimum level” (Heywood, 1988).
Temperature and pressure vary during the cycles for a working engine. This generate
temperature and pressure changes in the lubricant and therefore the lubricant requires suit-
able properties to manage these fluctuations and still fulfill the five purposes stated above.
Therefore, the temperature and pressure dependency of the lubricant viscosity, µ, density
⇢, specific heat capacity, c, and thermal conductivity, , is important.
High viscous lubricants make it easier to separate the journal and bearing surfaces and
a larger load can be carried (Substances and Technologies, 2015). However, a high viscous
fluid decreases the flow rate and hence a↵ects feed flow to engine parts. To achieve the same
flow rate, more work is required by the oil pump, which increases the fuel consumption (Sni-
derman et al., 2012). Finding an equilibrium between these two scenarios is necessary. In
the present work, we will not reach high enough pressures in the lubricant so the lubricant
properties is approximately independent of pressure and only temperature dependency is
considered. The lubricant viscosity is decreasing exponentially with temperature, T , and
takes the form (Wramner, 2014)
B
µ(T ) = Ae T +C . (2.2)
Constants A, B and C are determined using measurement data by Wramner (2014).

The temperature dependence of the density is linear and expressed as (Wramner, 2014)
⇢(T ) = ⇢0 (1 D(T T0 )), (2.3)
where ⇢0 , D and T0 are parameters determined using measurements (Wramner, 2014). Spe-
cific heat capacity, c, and thermal conductivity, , is determined by following two linear
relations (Wramner, 2014)
c(T ) = b1 + m1 T and (T ) = b2 + m2 T, (2.4)
where constants b1 , b2 , m1 and m2 determined from measurements (Wramner, 2014). The

measurements that is done by Wramner (2012) to determine all the constants in equation
(2.2) to (2.4) are experimental measurements on a 10W30 oil that is described in section
3.1.1.
2.1.3 Bearing radial clearance
The bearing radial clearance, defined in section 2.1, has a large impact on the flow rate and
hence numerical modeling of bearings require accurate definitions of the clearance (Gamma
Technologies Inc, 2015a). Harrison (2015) claims that the general relation between volume
flow rate, Q, and bearing radial clearance, C, is
Q ⇠ C 3. (2.5)
A more exact expression for Q will be described in section 2.1.5.

The radial clearance can vary around the circumference of the bearing. This can appear
for several reasons, e.g. installation failure or high temperature rise. To make the simulations
as plausible as possible, measurements of clearance of already installed bearings are required.
These measurements have been done for main bearings and connecting rod large end bearings
and tolerances are determined (Federal Mogul Motorparts, 2003). From these clearance
tolerances, plausible bearing radial clearances have been determined and applied in this
work.
The eccentricity, ", often scales with the clearance, C, for normalization. The normalized
eccentricity takes the form ẽ = "/C and gain values between 0 and 1, where ẽ = 1 means
clean metal-to-metal contact (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a). When ẽ > 0.999 the oil
film thickness is considered small and more likely less than the surface roughness of the
contacting materials which means metal-to-metal contact (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a).
A surface contact force, Fc is therefore introduced (Greenwood, 1971). A slight modification
of equation (2.1) reads
Fp + Ff r = FL Fc , (2.6)
and Fc will contribute to the hydrodynamical forces Fp and Ff r to oppose the load force
FL . This solution by Greenwood (1971) is only valid for ẽ > 0.999 which is when surface
contact appear, otherwise Fc = 0.
An other parameter that have a strong influence of the bearing clearance is the e↵ect of
thermal expansion. This e↵ect is determined by the thermal expansion coefficient ↵. The
temperature dependent radial clearance takes the form (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015c)
DB,room (1 + ↵B (T Troom )) DJ,room (1 + ↵J (T Troom ))

C(T ) = , (2.7)
2
where T is the instantaneous temperature, Troom is the room temperature, used as reference
and DB,room , DJ,room are the diameters of the bearing and journal at room temperature
(Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015c). Unfortunately, thermal expansion is not considered in
this work. But it is good to know that it has a large e↵ect on the clearance.
2.1.4 E↵ect of grooves and holes
The journal and bearing surfaces are not entirely plain and smooth, but contain oil supply
holes and grooves at the journal and bearing surfaces to make lubrication possible. These
holes and grooves are pressurized and hence have an immediate e↵ect on the fluid flow
rate, the journal orbit and thus the load from the journal on the bearing shell (Gamma
Technologies Inc, 2015a).
Holes and grooves decrease the area for the bearing shell to carry the journal load which
leads to an increased oil pressure and a decreased minimum oil film thickness (Gamma
Technologies Inc, 2015c).
Figure 2.3 show the e↵ect of hydrostatic pressure force, Fh , due to holes and grooves.
This pressure force add to the load force, FL and contribute to journal movement in the
10 Chapter 2. Theory
opposite direction of the hole or groove location. Equation (2.6) is modified again to take
Fh into account and reads (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015c)
F p + F f r = FL Fc + Fh . (2.8)
In many applications the hydrostatic pressure force is negligible compared to the larger
load from cylinder pressure. However if the grooves or holes are large enough they can have
a significant e↵ect on the total load.
There exist plain journal bearings with more than one groove and more than one hole
and combinations of these (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015c). In this project the cases
with one single feed hole, several holes, partial grooves with an angular extent of 200 and
combinations of these, will be considered.
Fh Fh
Figure 2.3: The e↵ect of pressurized holes and grooves in bearing shells. The left figure show
the e↵ect of a single hole whilst the right figure show the e↵ect of a groove at the upper shell
(dashed line) with an angular extent of 180 (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015b).
2.1.5 Oil flow rate
The determination of oil flow rate in plain journal bearings involves two separate forms,
hydrodynamic oil flow rate Qh and the feed of oil flow rate Qp (Martin, 1998). The hydro-
dynamic oil flow rate is the flow resulting from the journal motion relative to the bearing
shell i.e. rotation and translation, whilst the feed of pressure oil flow rate is flow from
pressure sources such as holes and grooves at the bearing surface (Martin, 1998). Common
mistake is to add Qh and Qp for a total oil flow rate
Q = Qh + Qp , (2.9)
since this most likely results in to high flow rates. A slight modification of equation (2.9)
has been suggested by Martin (1983) and the relation between Qh and Qp in his work is
tuned through comparisons to the exact solution for thin film fluid flow (Reynolds equation
defined in (2.26)). Martin (1983) proposed the Martin equation
p
QM = Qh + Qp 0.3 Qh Qp , (2.10)
and the Modified Martin equation, in which the flow prediction is supported by experimental
data (Martin, 1998),
Q = QSM Q1p S
, (2.11)
for the total oil flow rate Q. The factor S is a correlation factor depending on type of bearing
and bearing geometry, i.e. S vary with number, size and shape of feed holes and grooves
. For a bearing with a single feed hole opposite to the load direction the proposed value is
S = 0.6. This value of S has been determined numerically by solving Reynolds equation for
a wide spread of bearing width to diameter ratios with feed holes and grooves at di↵erent
locations and sizes (Martin and Xu, 1993). Equation (2.11) is suited for main bearings and
connecting rod large end bearings.
A method was derived by Martin and Xu (1993) to calculate the S factor automatically
which is useful during simulations. For a single feed hole, the feed oil volume flow rate is
✓ ◆3 ✓ ◆1.75
C 3P h d
Qp = 0.675 + 0.4 , (2.12)
µ C WB
where C, P , h, d, WB and µ is the bearing radial clearance, total oil film pressure, oil
film thickness, hole diameter, bearing width and oil viscosity (Martin, 1983). For a partial
circumferential groove with an angular extent  270 the following relation is used
02 ⇣ ⌘3 2 3 1
!J
3
C P B6 1.25 0.25 WB 7
DB
Qp = @4 ⇣ ⌘0.333 5 f1 + 4 ⇣
WB
⌘ 5 f2 C
A. (2.13)
µ 6 1 WB!
6 W
J
!J
B
1
Functions f1 and f2 described by Martin (1983) in equation (2.13) are determined by

equation (2.14) and (2.15) where the angles ✓1 and ✓3 can be found in figure 2.4.
f1 = (1 + e cos ✓1 )3 + (1 + cos ✓3 )3 (2.14)
⇥ ⇤ ✓3
f2 = ✓ + 3e sin ✓ + e2 (1.5✓ + 0.75 sin 2✓) + e3 (sin ✓ 0.333 sin3 ✓) ✓1
(2.15)
✓2
✓3 = ✓1 + ✓2
hmax
✓1
hmin
Figure 2.4: Angles ✓1 and ✓3 for the calculation of the feed flow rate, equation (2.13), for
a bearing with a partial circumferential groove (dashed line) with maximum 270 angular
extent (Martin, 1983).
The hydrodynamic flow rate, based on research by Goenka (1984), is predicted from
the fit to the so called Mobility method which is described more in section 2.4.1. The
hydrodynamic flow rate Qh takes the form
C 3F
Qh = 4 M WB , (2.16)
D 2 µ DB
where M WB is defined as the dimensionless Mobility vector, C is the bearing clearance, D

D
is the bearing diameter, F is the the total bearing load and µ is the oil dynamic viscosity
(Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a). As mentioned in section 2.1.3, the flow rate relates to
clearance by Q ⇠ C 3 . This behavior is shown in equations (2.12), (2.13) and (2.16).
In this work, main bearings with a groove of 200 angular extent, connecting rod large
end bearings and connecting rod small end bearings with a single feed hole are studied. A
reasonable result to aim for regarding the oil flow rates in these type of journal bearings is
that the oil flow rate through connecting rod large end bearing is between 5-25% of the oil
flow rate through main bearing (Harrison, 2015).
2.2 Pressure and pressure drop
Prediction of the total pressure, P , in a oil system are determined using the following formula
(Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a)
✓ ◆
⇢u2 M2 M4
P =p+ 1+ + (2 ) , (2.17)
2 4 24
compared to the commonly used (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a) incompressible Bernoulli’s
equation. GT-SUITE uses the more accurate formula for all pressure calculations. This way
of calculating takes the compressibility of the oil into account and hence describe more ac-
curately a fluid, in which, density is changing, than for a incompressible fluid in which the
density held constant. In equation (2.17), p, ⇢, u, M, and describe the static pressure,
static density, oil velocity, Mach number and the specific heat ratio. Static pressure is the
state variable that is calculated by the solver, whereas total pressure is calculated ”after-
the-fact” simply as a post-processing convenience from results of static pressure, velocity,
and fluid properties (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a).
Pressure drop is often a prior of interest when considering flow networks (Gamma Tech-
nologies Inc, 2015a). This quantity is defined as the di↵erence in pressure between two
locations and the common notation for pressure drop is P . A di↵erence in pressure be-
tween two locations in flow networks forcing the fluid to flow from one another. This is
shown graphically in figure 2.5.
P1 Q P0
V P1 > P0
Figure 2.5: Volume flow rate, Q, forced by a pressure di↵erence, P = P1 P0 , inside an

arbitrary volume V . Q flows from high pressure to low pressure.
2.3. Journal and bearing rotation 13
A change in pressure arise when there are forces acting on the flow, for example friction
from the pipe wall, pipe bends (changed direction in the flow network), flowsplits (the flow
seperates into two or several pipes) or similar flow resistances (Gamma Technologies Inc,
2015a). Pressure drop, P , and volume flow rate, Q, are related with following general
expression
1 p
P ⇠ Q2 or Q⇠ P f (V ), (2.18)
f (V )
where f (V ) is a function describing the arbitrary flow geometry.
2.3 Journal and bearing rotation
2.3.1 Pipe motion
The bearings in the heavy-duty engine considered in this work are supplied with oil through
drilled pipes inside the engine parts (Williams and Cordell, 2010). The oil is sucked from
the sump, located under the engine, by the oil pump and then oil is distributed to all engine
parts. One part is the main gallery. The main gallery is a long drilled pipe inside the
engine block parallel to the crankshaft and oil source for the bearings studied in this report
(Williams and Cordell, 2010). Figure 2.6 show the feed from the main gallery to one of the
main bearings.
!J
Feed from main gallery
Crankshaft ac
Main bearing Drilling
ac
Figure 2.6: Feed from main gallery to one of the main bearings and the drilling through the
crankshaft which rotates at the engine speed (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015c).
Figure 2.6 also shows the drilled pipe through the crankshaft. The function of this
drilling is to feed one of the connecting rod large end bearings with oil. The crankshaft is
rotating with the engine angular velocity, !J , and so is the drilling (Gamma Technologies
Inc, 2015c). This rotation has a direct e↵ect on the oil flow in that pipe. The rotation is a
plain circular motion of the pipe, and since the velocity of the crankshaft is changing, the
circular motion give rise to a centripetal acceleration, ac , acting on the oil in the direction
towards the axis of rotation (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015c). There are several rotating
drilled pipes in the considered engine and therefore, these are considered in the bearing
models in section 3.3.
2.3.2 Connecting rod bearing motion
The crankshaft is rotating at angular velocity !J relative to the fixed main bearing. The
connecting rod large end bearing is attached to the crankshaft and rotates with the same
angular speed. However, the connecting rod large end bearing is not fixed and rotates with
a second angular velocity !B with respect to its center of gravity. This second rotation
is necessary for the piston to have a vertical motion inside the cylinder (Auto Technology,
2012).
Figure 2.7 illustrates movements of the connecting rod large end bearing. The figure
describes a connecting rod attached to a moving piston at one end and a rotating crankshaft
at the other (Auto Technology, 2012).
l
!B
r
!J
Figure 2.7: The circular motion of the bearings attached on the crankshaft (Auto Technology,
2012).
To the right in figure 2.7 there are two constant lengths, the connecting rod length, l,
and the crank throw radius, r. These two lengths are often described as a radius to length
ratio (Auto Technology, 2012), this ratio is determined by
r
= , (2.19)
l
and < 1 is often true (Auto Technology, 2012). This is true for the engine studied in this
work. The length a in figure 2.7 depends on either angle or and we can therefore express
as a function of as
a = r sin = l sin ! sin = sin . (2.20)
Using the trigonometric identity sin2 =1 cos2 , right hand side of equation (2.20) is
modified to
q
cos = 1 2 sin2 . (2.21)
Next step is to take the time derivative on both sides in equation (2.21). Both and are
time dependent and the time derivative is
2
sin cos ˙
sin ˙= p . (2.22)
2 2
1 sin
Knowing that sin = sin from equation (2.20), ˙ = !J and ˙ = !B the final expression
for the connecting rod large end bearing angular velocity, !B , reads
2.4. Journal bearing modeling methods 15
cos !J
!B = p . (2.23)
1 2 sin2
All variables on the right hand side of equation (2.23) are known in this study, is determined
by equation (2.19), !J is a know shaft angular velocity and the angle is cyclic and adopt
values between 0   360 (Auto Technology, 2012). The connecting rod large end
bearing angular velocity !B is considered in the bearing models in section 3.3.
2.4 Journal bearing modeling methods
GT-SUITE uses stored data from already computed solutions based on higher level finite
element simulations of the Reynolds equation (defined in (2.26) in section 2.4.2) for thin
fluid films. This procedure allows modeling of hydrodynamic journal bearings with a few
various numerical approaches (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a). The stored computed data
is called maps. There are two main numerical methods for mapping results from the so-
lutions of the Reynolds equation, the Mobility method and the Impedance method. These
methods use stored data in the form of widely available maps, containing solutions with
di↵erent bearing width to diameter ratios, which make the calculations quite robust and
efficient (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a).
The method concepts are based on early work by Booker (1965) and later the work by
Goenka (1984) and contributions from a several researchers until today.
Direct calculation of Reynolds equation is also a possible choice in GT-SUITE (Gamma
Technologies Inc, 2015a) and in this project, the map based mobility method will be com-
pared to direct calculations of Reynolds equation. Mobility method and Reynolds equation
will be described with more details in sections 2.4.1 and 2.4.2.
2.4.1 Mobility method
Mobility method is notable for its less expensive computations and rather satisfying results
comparable to higher order computation methods, for example finite element methods. The
mobility method use bearing characteristics, such as diameter, width and clearance, stored
in the form of two vectors, described in equation (2.24). Since the information is stored,
pressure distributions are not calculated and the equations of motion are in explicit manner,
therefore iterative calculations are avoided completely (Booker, 1971). Unfortunately, the
mobility method require additional assumptions for the flow and bearing characteristics.
Bearings that fulfill these assumptions are referred to as ”ideal bearings” (Booker, 2013).
The assumptions for ideal bearings are the following:
• perfect cylindrical bearings without oil feed holes or other geometric irregularities.
• rigid geometries
• angular alignment of journal and bearing
• axially uniform surface geometry
• circumferentially uniform surface geometry
• uniform lubricant viscosity and density
• pressure independent lubricant viscosity
• ambient axial boundary pressures
• ambient cavitation pressure
• newtonian lubricant
However, even if the above assumptions are needed, still the solutions by mobility meth-
ods are good approximations to non-ideal bearings, for example if the bearing has non-
uniform surface geometry in the form of grooves and/or oil feed holes. As long as the loaded
region of the bearing has a circumferential geometry, the mobility method can be applied
exact (Booker, 2013).
The mobility method is applicable if the load force on the bearing is known and the
velocity and eccentricity of the journal is unknown. The non-dimensional mobility vector
M W and pressure vector P W (defined in (2.24) and (2.25)) for every value in a graphical
DB DB
predetermined map, will now be described (Booker, 1971). Mobility vector, M W which
DB
is a non-dimensional squeeze converted from the general rotational problem with a non ro-
tating journal will move during an applied load force FL (Goenka, 1984). However, for a
rotating journal these non-dimensional quantities are related to a known applied load force
FL through the equations
de 4 |F | C 3
dt
=
µW DB 3 M DWB + ! ⇥ e (2.24)
and
2 |F |
PM = PW , (2.25)
W D B DB
where de/dt is the journal center velocity, PM is the maximum oil film pressure, located near
the minimum oil film thickness in figure 2.2, and ! the average relative angular velocity of
journal and bearing shell. For further information of how to calculate the eccentricity ratio
e, journal velocity de/dt and the non-dimensional vectors, it is recommended to study the
work by Booker (1971).
2.4.2 Reynolds equation
A more accurate computation of fluid flow in plain journal bearings require repeated solu-
tions of the partial di↵erential Reynolds equation. Booker (1965) studies the 2D Reynolds
equation which determine lubricant pressure distribution, p, as a function of journal angular
velocity, !J , bearing geometry D, bearing clearance, C, and lubricant viscosity, µ, with
following expression
 ✓ ◆2 
@ 3 @p D @ @p
(1 + e cos ✓) + (1 + e cos ✓)3
@✓ @✓ 2 @y @y
✓ ◆2  ✓ ◆
D de d
= 12µ cos ✓ + e !J sin ✓ , (2.26)
2C dt dt
with the axial boundary condition p(✓, ±W/2) = 0, where W is the bearing width, it de-
scribes the same relationship as the equation (2.24) and (2.25) based on the mobility and
pressure maps. Variables ✓, , e = "/C and !J in equation (2.26) are shown in figure 2.8.
" is often scaled with bearing clearance C to e = "/C.
2.4. Journal bearing modeling methods 17
FL
!J
"
Figure 2.8: Fluid film geometry for a dynamical loaded plain journal bearing (Yu and Sawicki,
2002).
Repeated calculations at each time step is required, which leads to higher computational
cost compared to the mobility method (Booker, 2013). When the pressure distribution is
known, the load FL that can be supported by the oil film is achieved by integrating the
pressure. Necessary assumptions for the flow and bearing characteristicswhen solving the
Reynold’s equation are gathered below.
• rigid geometries
• perfect cylindrical bearings
• angular alignment of journal and bearing
• axially uniform surface geometry
• newtonian lubricant
• pressure independent lubricant viscosity
Chapter 3
Method
This chapter will introduce the plain journal bearings considered in this work, their physical
shapes and how the bearings are supplied with oil in a Volvo 13L engine. Then a few bearing
models with GT-SUITE will be investigated. The properties of the used lubricant will also
be described.
3.1 Material and geometry
3.1.1 Oil properties
The lubricant used in the present study is a 10W30 oil (Wramner, 2014). The name 10W30
describe a multi-grade oil and the two numbers, 10 and 30 describe the viscosity of the oil at
two given temperatures (AMS oil, 2012). The latter W stands for winter and number in front
describe the oil viscosity, in centistokes, at a cold temperature, typically when the engine
is o↵ and it is cold outside. When it is cold the oil gets thicker and at high temperatures,
typically when the engine is on and hot, the oil gets thinner (AMS oil, 2012). Therefore,
to ensure that the oil flow easily at low temperatures and protect against wear at high
temperatures, the multi-grade oil reduces the di↵erences between high and low viscosities
(AMS oil, 2012). To summarize, the oil should not be to thick when it is cold and to thin
when it is warm, which explains the name multi-grade oil (AMS oil, 2012).
Table 3.1 show the measured constants (Wramner, 2014), stated in equations (2.2) to
(2.4) and figure 3.1 below illustrate the temperature dependency of the oil properties for the
10W30 used in the Volvo 13L engine.
Table 3.1: Values of the constants for the 10W30 oil (Wramner, 2014).
Constant Unit Value

8
A Pa s 6.683e
B C 1065
C C 114
kg
⇢0 m3 869
1 4
f3 C 7.365e
T0 C 15
J
b1 kgK 1938
J
m1 kgK 2 3.902
W 1
b2 mK 1.352e
W 5
m2 mK 2 7.250e
18
3.1. Material and geometry 19
1000 0.05 950

Dynamic viscosity Volvo 13L Dynamic viscosity Volvo 13L Density Volvo 13L
Dynamic viscosity GT-SUITE Dynamic viscosity GT-SUITE Density GT-SUITE
800 0.04
900
ρ [kg/m 3 ]
η [Pa s]
η [Pa s]
600 0.03
850
400 0.02
800
200 0.01
0 0 750
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 50 100 150 200 -50 0 50 100 150 200
T [°C] T [°C] T [°C]
3000 0.16
Specific heat capacity Volvo 13L Thermal conductivity Volvo 13L
Specific heat capacity GT-SUITE Thermal conductivity GT-SUITE
0.15
κ [WK -1/m]
2500
c [JK-1/kg]
0.14
2000
0.13
1500 0.12
-50 0 50 100 150 200 -50 0 50 100 150 200
T [°C] T [°C]
Figure 3.1: The solid lines describe temperature dependency of dynamic viscosity, density,
thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity for the 10W30 oil used in Volvo 13L engine
(Wramner, 2014). The dashed lines show the properties for a 10W30 oil included in GT-
SUITE’s library of substances.
Oil viscosity is decreasing exponentially with temperature seen at the upper left in
figure 3.1. When comparing flow results with other simulations, it is important to have
similar temperature dependency of viscosity since the viscosity play a large role in the
results (equations (2.12) to (2.16)).
The 10W30 oil included in GT-SUITE’s library of substances is shown in the same figure
(dashed lines). One can conclude that the two oils have similar viscosities for temperatures
above T = 30 and the included oil already is a good approximation to the oil determined
by Wramner (2014). Temperatures below T = 30 sometimes occure at engine startups in
winter (AMS oil, 2012), but such temperatures is not considered in this work.
However, di↵erences in density, thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity are
indicated between the two oils. These di↵erences can have an e↵ect of the flow results and
it is worth to make a user defined oil with the properties corresponding to the 10W30 oil
used in Volvo 13L engine (Aihara, 2015). A user defined oil is created, based on the 10W30
oil by Wramner (2014), and the results in this study are generated using this oil.
3.1.2 System diagram
Figure 3.2 below, shows a part of an oil system diagram corresponding to the main gallery of
a Volvo 13L engine (Williams and Cordell, 2010). It is a schematic view of the main gallery
and the oil feed from the main gallery to the plain journal bearings inside the engine block.
The engine investigated is a 13 liter 6 cylinder inline 4 stroke diesel engine which consists
of a total of 7 main bearings and 6x2 connecting rod bearings, 2 for each cylinder. The solid
lines in the diagram correspond to pipe drillings where the oil is fed to the bearings whilst
the dashed lines illustrates the oil leakage from the bearings to the engine oil sump.
Main Gallery
CRSEB2 CRSEB5
CRSEB1 CRLEB2 CRSEB3 CRSEB4 CRLEB5 CRSEB6
MB1 MB2 MB3 MB4 MB5 MB6 MB7
CRLEB1 CRLEB3 CRLEB4 CRLEB6
Figure 3.2: System diagram of a part of the oil system for a Volvo 13L engine. The diagram
illustrate the main gallery and the oil feed to the bearings inside the engine block (Williams
and Cordell, 2010).
20 Chapter 3. Method
The 7 main bearings are supplied with oil through drilled pipes in the engine block from
the main gallery. Except for main bearing 4, defined in figure 3.2 (Williams and Cordell,
2010), the connecting rod bearings are supplied with oil from each main bearing, through
drilled pipes in the crankshaft and in the connecting rods. All bearings are in this way
supplied with oil and after each bearing, oil flows to the sump through bearing leakage
(Williams and Cordell, 2010).
In this study, only main bearing 1, connecting rod large end bearing 1 and connecting
rod small end bearing 1, defined in figure 3.2, will be studied. From this point, I will refer
to these three bearings without numbering.
3.1.3 Geometries
The plain journal bearings found in the system diagram in figure 3.2 will now be described
in detail. The geometries, length, diameter etc. for main and connecting rod bearings are
listed in table 3.2. Later the locations for oil feed holes and grooves will be described as well
as how the oil is supplied to and between the bearings.
Figure 3.3 shows the angle convention used, all angles corresponding to the bearing
geometry in the present work has its reference point at ✓ = 0 as shown.
Table 3.2: Geometry data for main and connecting rod bearings, the data is taken from CAD
corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine. MB, CRLEB and CRSEB are defined in section 1.6.
Description MB CRLEB CRSEB

Width 37 mm 47.8 mm 26-47.5 mm
Diameter 108 mm 99 mm 58 mm
Number of holes/grooves 1/1 1 1
Groove width 8.9 mm - -
Groove depth 1.5 mm - -
Groove angular extent 200 - -
0
✓
Bearing shell
Journal
Figure 3.3: Angle convention used for bearing and journal grooves and holes (Gamma Tech-
nologies Inc, 2015b).
The three plain journal bearings studied, main bearing, connecting rod large end bearing
and connecting rod small end bearing, are found in figure 3.4 (a-c). The three bearings have
di↵erent sizes and shapes and this section will present all needed data for each of the three
bearings.
The shape of the connecting rod small end bearing shown in figure 3.4(c) is not symmet-
ric as the main bearing and the connecting rod large end bearing showed in figures 3.4(a-b).
The width of the connecting rod small end bearing vary and the width is smaller at the top
than at the bottom. Figure 3.5 show the width of the connecting rod small end bearing as a
function of the bearing angle ✓. This alternating width for connecting rod small end bearing
is taken into account in model 2 in section 3.3.2.
(a) Main bearing (b) Connecting rod large(c) Connecting rod small
end bearing end bearing
Figure 3.4: The bearings studied. Pictures are taken from CAD corresponding to the Volvo
13L engine. Note that the scales of the bearings in figure (a)-(c) are not correct.
48
46
44
42
40
W CRSEB [mm]
38
36
34
32
30
28
26
0 90 180 270 360

θ [°]
Figure 3.5: Width of the connecting rod small end bearing, measured as a function of the
angle with 0 and 360 located at the top of the bearing. Bearing data is taken from CAD
corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine.
The main bearing is supplied with oil through a hole located at ✓ = 315 in the bearing
shell from main gallery, and it has also a groove located in the upper bearing shell, shown
in figure 3.4(a). The groove has an angular extent of 200 from ✓ = 260 to ✓ = 100 .
Connecting rod large end bearing and connecting rod small end bearing has only one circular
oil feed hole each located in their bearing shells at ✓ = 70.8 and ✓ = 202.3 respectively.
The journals inside the main bearing and the connecting rod large end bearing previously
described also have oil feed holes at the surfaces. These holes are inlets or outlets of the oil
pipe drillings inside the crankshaft and inside the connecting rods described in figure 3.2.
The same angle convention in figure 3.3 will be used to describe the position for the holes on
the journal surfaces and the values are determined at top dead center (upper most position
for the piston). For the journal inside the main bearing there are two holes, one at ✓ = 45
and one at ✓ = 225 . For the journal inside the connecting rod large end bearing the hole is
located at ✓ = 150 .
3.1.4 Bearing split lines
The location where the main bearing upper and lower shells meet, a chamfer appear, see
figure 3.6. This chamfer is referred to as a ”split line” in this report and a CAD picture of
the main bearing split line corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine is shown in figure 3.6.
The clearance width, C is increased at a small angular extent due to the split lines.
This is shown in figure 3.7 where the radial clearance are plotted as a function of bearing
Figure 3.6: One of the split line located at 90 where the main bearings upper and lower
shells meet. The picture is taken from CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine.
angle, ✓ for main bearing and connecting rod large end bearing. Note that the connecting
rod small end bearing consists of only one bearing shell and do not have any split lines, see
figure 3.4(c).
split line at 90 ° split line at 90 °
CCRLEB [mm]
CMB [mm]
89.7 90 90.3 89.65 90 90.35

θ [°] θ [°]
split line at 270 ° split line at 270 °

CCRLEB [mm]
CMB [mm]
269.7 270 270.3 269.65 270 270.35

θ [°] θ [°]
(a) Main bearing (b) Connecting rod large end bearing
Figure 3.7: (a) Main bearing radial clearance as a function of bearing angle. The split lines
are located at 90 and 270 with a 0.6 angular extent. (b) Connecting rod large end bearing
radial clearance as a function of bearing angle. The split lines are located at 90 and 270
with a 0.7 angular extent. The data is taken from CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L
engine.
The split lines are included in the GT-SUITE models described in section 3.3. The
bearing radial clearance width as a function of bearing angle is manually inserted and the
radial clearance width vary along the bearings as is shown in figure 3.7. Since the split lines
increase the clearance widths, they have an impact on the oil flow rate, Q ⇠ C 3 as described
in section 2.1.5. It is therefore an important feature to consider when predicting the oil flow
in plain journal bearings.
The calculation of non-constant radial clearance width for the Mobility method, defined
in section 2.4.1, is described by the two following two expressions
360
1 X
Ch = Ci (3.1)
360 i=1
and
360
! 32
1 X 3
Cp = C , (3.2)
360 i=1 i
where Ci is the instantaneous clearance width. Ch and Cp describes the clearances corre-
sponding to the two flow calculations Qh and Qp (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a) defined
in section 2.1.5. The clearance Ch in equation (3.1) summarizes the clearance at 360 evenly
distributed points around the bearing and then divides the sum with 360. The clearance Cp
in equation (3.2) summarizes the clearance to the power of three for the evenly distributed
points and then divide by 360. Then taking all of that to the power of 3/2.
Since the split lines are located on a small angular extent of the inner surface of the
main bearing and connecting rod large end bearing, see figure 3.7, and since the clearance
at the split lines is much larger than the standard clearance (Federal Mogul Motorparts,
2003), (Kastensson, 2013), equation (3.1) and (3.2) will result in a large mean clearance
width and thus a large oil volume flow rate since Q ⇠ C 3 (Aihara, 2015). Figure 3.8 show
a more accurate way of modeling the bearing split lines when using the Mobility method.
Hsl
CSAsl
Wsl
(a) GT-SUITE GUI (b) cross sectional area of the split line
Figure 3.8: An illustration of the more accurate modeling approach for the split lines. Figure
a) show how this model looks in GT-SUITE, and figure b) show the cross sectional area,
CSAsl , of a split line defined in figure 3.7 with width Wsl and height Hsl .
The split line model shown in figure 3.8(a) determines the flow from the main gallery
to the main bearing groove and through the split line component and then forward to the
oil sump. The split line component in 3.8 describes the cross sectional area of the split line
as shown in figure 3.8(b) and this cross sectional area can be described by a pipe with a
equivalent diameter (Gamma Technologies Inc, 2015a). The calculation of the equivalent
diameter Deq is described in the five steps below.
• split line angular extent: AEsl
• split line width: Wsl = ⇡DB AE sl

360
• split line height: Hsl
• cross sectional area: CSAsl = 12 Wsl Hsl

q
• equivalent diameter: Deq = CSAsl ⇡4
This way of modeling the bearing split lines is therefore considered in the models in
section 3.3, when using the the Mobility method, since it is more accurate. However, in
model 3 in section 3.3.3, the Reynold’s equation is solved and the earlier approach, with the
varying clearance around the bearing, is an accurate choice (Aihara, 2015).
3.2 Boundary data
Plain journal bearing modeling with GT-SUITE requires additional boundary data to cal-
culate the journal movement inside the bearing shell. The rotation of the journal is de-
termined by the engine speed and often measured in revolutions per minute (rpm). The
journal translation is determined by the load due to pressure in the cylinder chambers forc-
ing the movement of the piston and the connecting rod. The load is also depending on the
weights of the pistons and connecting rods and their inertia due to the rotation. Two ways
of implementing these bearing loads in GT-SUITE will be described.
3.2.1 Bearing load due to cylinder pressure
The first approach for the load calculation is to use cylinder pressure. For the engine studied,
cylinder pressure for one engine cycle, 0 < < 270 , for typical engine speeds, 600 rpm
< !J < 2600 rpm, is shown in figure 3.9.
600rpm Peak pressure

950rpm
1458rpm
1800rpm
2100rpm
2600rpm
P cylinder
P cylinder
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720 600 950 1458 1800 2100 2600
φ [°] ωJ [rpm]
Figure 3.9: Cylinder pressure profiles for di↵erent engine speeds (left figure). Note that the
piston’s top dead center take place at 360 . Peak pressure values as a function of engine
speed !J (right figure). These values are measured at 100% engine torque for each engine
speed. The data is corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine. Due to confidential materials in
this work, the values on the y-axis are not present.
Along with piston and connecting rod weights and inertia, the total loads on the bearings
are calculated by GT-SUITE. The details behind this calculation will not be described in
this study and assuming that it is done properly.
3.3. Models 25
3.2.2 User defined bearing load
In the second approach, the user explicitly define bearing loads, for example using calculated
loads from another simulation tool, which is the case in this study. Figure 3.10 show the
load on one of the main bearings, FM B , as a function of crank angle, for !J = 600 rpm
calculated by a 1D simulation software called AVL EXCITE.
FMB
F x AVL EXCITE
F y AVL EXCITE
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
Figure 3.10: Load on the main bearing calculated by AVL EXCITE. The solid and the
dashed line determine the load in x- and y-direction respectively. These bearing loads are
also determined for 100% engine torque for each engine speed. Note that top dead center
appear at = 0. Due to confidential materials in this work, the values on the y-axis are not
present.
1000
Journal speed
ω [rpm]
500 CRLEB speed
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
Figure 3.11: Connecting rod large end bearing angular velocity is !J = 1000 rpm. Due to
confidential materials in this work, the values on the y-axis are not present.
When using the second approach, the motion of the connecting rod large end bearing
is not calculated by GT-SUITE, but the user has to define this motion. The motion is
harmonic and the values are generated from equation (2.23). An example with a journal
angular velocity !J = 1000 rpm is shown in figure 3.11.
3.3 Models
Three bearing models made in GT-SUITE will now be described. Model 1 is a 1D model,
based on the Mobility method, including the main bearing and the connecting rod large
end bearing defined in figure 3.2. Model 2 is an expansion of model 1 and cover also the
connecting rod small end bearing. Model 3 is based on the Reynold’s equation and considers
only the main bearing.
3.3.1 Model 1: Two bearings
Figure 3.12 illustrate model 1. To the right, a 3D CAD picture of the main gallery, main
bearing and connecting rod large end bearing of the Volvo 13L engine. How these are
modeled in GT-SUITE is shown to the left. Brief information regarding all the components
showed in figure 3.12 will be explained here.
(a) GT-SUITE GUI (b) CAD
Figure 3.12: A 1D model of main bearing and connecting rod large end bearing. The left
picture is taken from the GT-SUITE GUI and the right picture is taken from CAD corre-
sponding to the Volvo 13L engine.
Since the main bearing is fixed in the engine block and the connecting rod large end
bearing rotate with the journal, pipe drillings dr2, dr3 and dr4 inside the journal will also
rotate. Therefore, one of the connections, co1 and co2, will be attached to the main bearing
groove at a time even when the journal is rotating. The groove is filled with oil at a static
pressure at all times and in this sense, connecting rod large end bearing is always supplied
with oil due to the pressure di↵erence between the static pressure in the groove and the
pressure in the oil sump. The oil can only flow through one of the two connections, co1 and
co2, at a time. This feature is depicted in the GT-SUITE model, to the left in figure 3.12.
The status of co1 and co2 is set to on or o↵, and alternate continuously when the journal
rotates. For example, if connection co1 is turned on and co2 is turned o↵, the oil flow to
the left in the flow scheme in figure 3.12.
Pipe drillings dr2, dr3 and dr4 rotates with the journal and the oil inside is therefore
e↵ected by a centripetal force directed towards the axis of rotation, read section 2.5.1 for
more details. The resulting acceleration acting on the oil is taken into account in this model.
3.3.2 Model 2: Three bearings
The second 1D model has only slightly di↵erent built compared to the previous. In the
second model, the connecting rod small end bearing is also considered. The main di↵erence
is that there will be flow inside the connecting rod from the large end to the small end. Figure
3.13 illustrate the second model and one can see the additional components corresponding
to connecting rod small end bearing compared to the model without connecting rod small
end bearing in figure 3.12.
3.3. Models 27
Figure 3.13: A 1D model of main bearing, connecting rod large end bearing and connecting
rod small end bearing. The left picture is taken from the GT-SUITE GUI and the right
picture is taken from CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine.
In the second model there is one more connection component, co3 that is needed for the
transport of oil between large end bearing and small end bearing inside the connecting rod.
Since dr4 is rotating with the journal, the outlet of dr4 and inlet of dr5 meets only once
every journal revolution. This means that the supply of oil to small end bearing will result
in small pulsations instead of continuous feed flow. In the same way, co3 is active only when
the openings, outlet of dr4 and inlet of dr5 meet.
General for both models is that the oil flows from main gallery to the main bearing.
Then some of the oil goes further to the connecting rod large end bearing and some of the
oil flows between journal and bearing shell, leaking to the oil sump. The oil flow calculation
in the bearings is based on the mobility method mentioned in section 2.4.1 for both models.
3.3.3 Model 3: 2D model
In this model, only the main bearing is studied. As said earlier, the main di↵erence compared
to model 1 and model 2 is that in model 3, the Reynold’s equation (2.26) needs to be solved
at each node on a 2D geometric mesh. Figure 3.14 is showing model 3.
Figure 3.14: A model of the main bearing. The left picture is taken from the GT-SUITE
GUI and the right picture is taken from CAD corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine.
The GT-SUITE model to the left in figure 3.14(a) contains five components (red from
the top to the bottom): the bearing load, similar to the one shown in figure 3.10; journal
angular velocity; journal object where the journal mass and inertia is determined, default
values were chosen; main bearing geometry; ground (keeps the bearing fixed relative to the
bearing housing).
The main bearing geometry component includes the bearing diameter, bearing width,
the groove geometry, the clearance width including the split lines based on the approach
shown in figure 3.7. In this bearing component, the groove pressure and the ambient pressure
was chosen. The ambient pressure is the pressure in the oil sump in this case and is chosen
to be equal to the atmospheric pressure. Figure 6.1 is illustrating a 2D triangular mesh
of the inner surface of the main bearing shown in figure 3.14(b). Figure 6.1(a) show the
automatic generated mesh from GT-SUITE and figure 6.1(b) show the additional nodes that
was manually inserted near the split lines. The total number of nodes for the whole bearing
showed in figure 6.1 was 1041.
(a) mesh (b) mesh near split line
Figure 3.15: A 2D geometric mesh generated on the inner surface of the main bearing.
Chapter 4
Results
This chapter will present the results generated in this work using the models in section 3.3.
The results are organized in five studies: Study 1: Bearing load comparison, Study 2: E↵ect
of bearing split lines, Study 3: Match reference data, Study 4: Connecting rod small end
bearing, Study 5: Mobility method and Reynold’s equation.
4.1 Studies
4.1.1 Study 1: Bearing load comparison
The first study in this work was to investigate the bearing loads. Figure 4.1 to 4.4 show the
loads F as a function of the crank angle for main bearing and connecting rod large
end bearing at a constant engine speed !J . The engine speeds considered are !J =
600, 950, 1800, 2100 rpm and loads for each engine speed are showed in each of the four
figures 4.1 to 4.4. The bearing loads presented are calculated by the present software GT-
SUITE compared to corresponding bearing loads calculated by a similar software called AVL
EXCITE. The load direction is divided into the components x and y defined in figure 2.2.
For the same reason as in figure 3.9 to 3.11 in section 3.2, values on the y-axis for the results
shown in this section will not be present.
The bearing loads calculated by GT-SUITE for the lower engine speeds 600 rpm and
950 rpm showed in figures 4.1 and 4.2 are similar to the reference loads calculated by AVL
EXCITE especially for the connecting rod large end bearing. The main di↵erence is that the
loads by AVL EXCITE have an oscillating behavior compared to the loads by GT-SUITE
which has a smoother behavior. This is especially pictured for the main bearing loads. The
maximum loads for both 600 rpm and 950 rpm are the same for both calculations and take
place at the same crank angle.
Figure 4.3 and 4.4 show that the connecting rod large end bearing loads between the
two calculations also are similar for the higher engine speeds. For the higher engine speeds,
!J = 1800 rpm and !J = 2100 rpm, the oscillations are not present. But for the higher
engine speeds the main bearing loads calculated in the present work are far o↵ compared to
the reference loads by AVL EXCITE.
29
30 Chapter 4. Results
FMB
F x AVL EXCITE
F y AVL EXCITE
F x GT-SUITE
F y GT-SUITE
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
F x AVL EXCITE
F y AVL EXCITE
F x GT-SUITE
F y GT-SUITE
FCRLEB
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
Figure 4.1: Main bearing load and connecting rod large end bearing load with respect to crank
angle at the engine speed !J = 600 rpm for AVL EXCITE and GT-SUITE.
FMB
F x AVL EXCITE
F y AVL EXCITE
F x GT-SUITE
F y GT-SUITE
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
F x AVL EXCITE
F y AVL EXCITE
F x GT-SUITE
F y GT-SUITE
FCRLEB
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
4.1. Studies 31
FMB
F x AVL EXCITE
F y AVL EXCITE
F x GT-SUITE
F y GT-SUITE
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
F x AVL EXCITE
F y AVL EXCITE
F x GT-SUITE
F y GT-SUITE
FCRLEB
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
F x AVL EXCITE
F y AVL EXCITE
F x GT-SUITE
F y GT-SUITE
FMB
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
F x AVL EXCITE
F y AVL EXCITE
F x GT-SUITE
F y GT-SUITE
FCRLEB
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ [°]
Figure 4.5 show the oil volume flow rate Q for the main bearing and the connecting rod
large end bearing at 8 engine speeds with 8 corresponding pressures in the main gallery that
represent the studied Volvo 13L engine. The two bearing load solutions that were previous
shown have been considered one at a time and a comparison of the oil volume flow rate Q
is presented.
MB Loads by AVL EXCITE

CRLEB Loads by AVL EXCITE
MB Loads by Cylinder Pressure
CRLEB Loads by Cylinder Pressure
Q MB and Q CRLEB
ωJ
Figure 4.5: Oil volume flow rate for main bearing and connecting rod large end bearing at
8 engine speeds with corresponding main gallery pressures for the Volvo 13L engine. The
presented result is a comparison between the two di↵erent bearing load calculations.
The main bearing flow rate deviates with 6% in average between the two load calcula-
tions, whilst the flow rate for the connection rod large end bearing di↵er with 21% at the
lowest considered engine speed and 39% at the highest. Flow rate for connecting rod large
end bearing calculated by GT-SUITE is lower for all engine speeds. This solution indicate
that the flow for connecting rod large end bearing is 19% of the flow through main bearing
and in this sense verifies the statement by Harrison (2015) in section 2.1.5 that it should lay
between 5-25%.
4.1. Studies 33
4.1.2 Study 2: E↵ect of bearing split lines
Two ways of modeling the bearing split lines where considered in this work and defined in
section 3.1.4. Either, the split lines are modeled with a clearance profile where the clearance
width is changing around the bearing, or the split lines are modeled as a pipe with dimensions
based on the cross sectional area and volume of the split lines. The former of these two was
not recommended (read section 3.1.4) when the Mobility method was applied, but both
ways were considered anyway to see the e↵ect on the flow rates Q. A comparison of the oil
volume flow rate results for the main bearing based on the two ways of modeling the split
lines are showed in figure 4.6.
No split lines
Clearance profile
Cross sectional area
Q MB
ωJ
Figure 4.6: Main bearing oil volume flow rate using two di↵erent methods to describe the
bearing split lines. In this case, 8 engine speeds with corresponding main gallery pressures
for the Volvo 13L engine have been considered.
Figure 4.6 shows that there is a significant di↵erence in flow rates between the two ways
of modeling the split lines when using the Mobility method. On average, modeling the split
lines with the clearance profile increases the flow rate with 220% in contrast to 13.3% when
the split lines are modeled as a pipe based on the cross sectional area and volume.
4.1.3 Study 3: Match reference data
A large part of this work was to compare the present flow results with reference bearing
simulation data done in a similar system analysis software called BEAN. Simulations for
three engine speeds and three oil temperatures have been done in order to study the oil
volume flow rate Q for various pressure drops P . The flow solutions from these simulations
are showed in figure 4.7 and since the reference data is confidential, values for temperature
and engine speed are referred to as low, medium and high. These results are also shown in
appendix B in a larger size. For both GT-SUITE and BEAN simulations, the bearing loads
calculated by AVL EXCITE are applied.
Low RPM Medium RPM High RPM
MB BEAN MB BEAN MB BEAN

MB GT MB GT MB GT
CRLEB BEAN CRLEB BEAN CRLEB BEAN
Q MB and Q CRLEB
Q MB and Q CRLEB
Q MB and Q CRLEB
CRLEB GT CRLEB GT CRLEB GT
Low T
∆P ∆P ∆P

MB GT MB GT MB GT
Q MB and Q CRLEB
Q MB and Q CRLEB
Q MB and Q CRLEB
Medium T
∆P ∆P ∆P

MB GT MB GT MB GT
Q MB and Q CRLEB
Q MB and Q CRLEB
Q MB and Q CRLEB
High T
∆P ∆P ∆P
Figure 4.7: Oil volume flow rate, Q for various pressure drops, P for the main bearing
and the connecting rod large end bearing. The results represent three oil temperatures and
three engine speeds. The presented results are solutions calculated by GT-SUITE and BEAN
based on bearing loads calculated by AVL EXCITE.
At high temperatures and low engine speeds, the oil volume flow rate calculated by
GT-SUITE are closest to the reference data for both main bearing and connecting rod large
end bearing. This is seen in subfigure 7 in row 3 and column 1 in figure 4.7. An increased
engine speed or a decreased oil temperature causes a larger gap between the solutions.
The flow rate solution for the main bearing at high engine speed and medium oil tem-
perature, subfigure 6 in row 2 and column 3 in figure 4.7 were further investigated. In
figure 4.8, the main bearing flow rate calculated using model 3 in section 3.3.3 based on the
Reynold’s equation is added. The solution from the Reynold’s equation (defined in (2.26 in
section 2.4.2)) getting a bit closer to the reference solution, but it is still far o↵.
MB BEAN
MB GT Mobility method
MB GT Reynolds eq
Q MB
∆P
Figure 4.8: Main bearing oil volume flow rate Q versus pressure drop P at high engine speed
and medium oil temperature. Solution by the Mobility method and the Reynold’s equation
compared with the reference data by BEAN.
4.1. Studies 35
4.1.4 Study 4: Connecting rod small end bearing
In model 2 in section 3.3.2 the connecting rod small end bearing was also considered in the
simulations. For various engine speeds !J , the oil volume flow rate Q was calculated for
each of the three bearings and the result is illustrated in figure 4.9.
Total
MB
CRLEB
Q CRSEB
ωJ
Figure 4.9: Oil volume flow rate Q for the main and the connecting rod bearings for several
engine speeds !J . The flow rates for each bearing are added together and the total oil volume
flow rate is described by the upper most line.
Figure 4.9 is showing the oil distribution between the three bearings. Further calcu-
lations indicates that the flow distribution is as follows: the main bearing flow is 86% of
the total flow, the connecting rod large end bearing flow is 13% of the total flow and the
connecting rod small end bearing is 1% of the total flow.
Figure 4.10 show the oil volume flow rate as a function of crank angle for connecting
rod small end bearing. In this result one can see that the feed of oil appear in the form of
pulsations. These pulsations appear twice and take place just before and just after piston
top dead center. Thus the model of the oil feed from the connecting rod large end bearing
to the connecting rod small end bearing described in section 3.3.2 is therefore verified.
Q CRSEB
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ[°]
Figure 4.10: Oil volume flow rate as a function of crank angle for connecting rod small end
bearing. The oil feed pulsations are clearly seen and appear a few times in every revolution.
4.1.5 Study 5: Mobility method and Reynold’s equation
The oil volume flow rate for the main bearing calculated by the Mobility method is shown
in figure 4.11. The figure illustrates the flow rate for a case with and without consideration
of the bearing split lines. The contribution of the split lines is determined by the more
accurate modeling approach defined in figure 3.8. The generated results in figure 4.11 are
from the following studied case.
A constant engine speed was chosen to !J = 2100 rpm and a constant oil temperature
at T = 110 C. The pressure in the main bearing groove was also held constant at P = 3
bar. Since the pressure in the oil sump is assumed to be P = 1 bar, the pressure drop is
dP = 2 bar.
Q MB
Mobility method, no split lines

Mobility method, split lines
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ[°]
Figure 4.11: Oil volume flow rate Q for main bearing with respect to crank angle . The
Mobility method has been used for the calculations and the cases with and without bearing
split lines are shown.
Taking into account the split lines, the volume flow rate QM B is 16.3% larger on average
than in the case, not considering the split lines.
A comparison between the Mobility method and the Reynold’s equation have also been
studied for the same !J , T , P and dP that was described above. For the calculation of the
Reynold’s equation, the generated mesh shown in figure 6.1 has been used.
Figures 4.13, 4.14 and 4.12 show three results from this case. The results are oil volume
flow rate Q, minimum oil film thickness hmin and maximum oil film pressure Pmax for the
main bearing.
The oil volume flow rate in the upper figure in 4.12 based on Mobility method di↵er with
2.7% on average with respect to the more accurate Reynold’s equation. This comparison
consider no bearing split lines. However, the results in the lower figure in 4.12 are based on
the Reynold’s equation and consider the e↵ect of the bearing split lines. The di↵erence in
oil volume flow rate is 18.2% higher when the bearing split lines are included.
4.1. Studies 37
Q MB
Reynolds eq.
Mobility method
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

Q MB φ[°]
Reynolds eq. no split lines

Reynolds eq. split lines
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ[°]
Figure 4.12: Oil volume flow rate, Q for main bearing with respect to crank angle . The
upper figure show the result for the Mobility method compared to the Reynold’s equation.
The lower figure show the e↵ect of the bearing split lines using Reynold’s equation.
Reynolds eq.
Mobility method
h min
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ[°]

h min
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ[°]
Figure 4.13: Minimum oil film thickness, hmin for main bearing with respect to crank angle
. The upper figure show the result for the Mobility method compared to the Reynold’s
equation. The lower figure show the e↵ect of the bearing split lines using Reynold’s equation.
Figure 4.13 show the minimum oil film thickness hmin as a function of the crank angle
. A significant di↵erence between the the two methods is present in the upper figure. The
maximum values of the minimum oil film thickness di↵er with 36.2%. In the lower figure in
4.13 the result is based on the Reynold’s equation and there is no significant di↵erence for
the minimum oil film thickness with split lines included.
The results for maximum oil film pressure in figure 4.14 show the same trend between
the two methods. Comparing the highest values of the maximum pressure bewteen the two
methods, the oil film maximum pressure based on the calculations of Reynold’s equation is
19.2% larger.
Reynolds eq.
Mobility method
P max
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ[°]

P max
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720

φ[°]
Figure 4.14: Maximum oil film pressure, Pmax for main bearing with respect to crank angle
. The upper figure show the result for the Mobility method compared to the Reynold’s
equation. The lower figure show the e↵ect of the bearing split lines using Reynold’s equation.
Chapter 5
Discussion
In this chapter the result from the five studies will be discussed. This section is organized in
the same way as the the previous section, starting with Study 1: Bearing load comparison,
Study 2: E↵ect of bearing split lines, Study 3: Match reference data, Study 4: Connecting
rod small end bearing, Study 5: Mobility method and Reynold’s equation.
5.1 Analysis of the studies
5.1.1 Study 1: Bearing load comparison
Since the information of how the bearing load calculations are performed by AVL EXCITE
is limited, a detailed analyzis of the comparison of the bearing load calculations between
AVL EXCITE and GT-SUITE was not possible. Thus, the appearance of the oscillating
behavior of the bearing loads by AVL EXCITE is hard to understand. The bearing load
calculation by GT-SUITE is based on cylinder pressure, at 100% torque, and piston and
connecting rod geometries corresponding to the Volvo 13L engine. I assume this is also the
case for the loads calculated by AVL EXCITE, otherwise the results showed in figures 4.1,
4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 are not useful. Additional information concerning the configuration of the
implementation of the bering load calculation is needed to analyze the comparison further.
I have a theory about the appearance of the oscillations in the reference loads corre-
sponding the main bearing. Since the oscillations has a cyclic behavior, it could relate to
the cyclic behavior of the power strokes for the engine studied. The engine studied is an
inlined 6 cylinder 4 stroke diesel engine and during one cycle ( = 0 to = 720 ) for this
engine, one explosion for each cylinder appears. For example, the oscillations in figure 4.1
corresponds to the explosions from the other 5 cylinders. Probably the reference loads by
AVL EXCITE take all cylinders into account in the calculations which is not the case in my
models with GT-SUITE.
If we take a closer look at the main bearing loads for !J = 2100 rpm in figure 4.4,
one can see that the peak for the load in y direction by AVL EXCITE does not appear
near = 0. Since the peak for the load in y direction is located near = 0 for all other
engine speeds, this result is not convincing. The largest peak in y direction should take
place directly after the piston’s top dead center and the piston moves fast downwards due
to an explosion of the compressed mixture of air and fuel. This take place at = 0 and the
fast movement increases the load on the bearings.
The di↵erences between the bearing load solutions for higher engine speeds can also
be seen in figure 4.5. The deviation between the bearing loads escalated with an increased
engine speed and so is the oil volume flow rates in figure 4.5 since the relation between flow
rate Q and load F is partially determined with equation (2.16).
39
40 Chapter 5. Discussion
5.1.2 Study 2: E↵ect of bearing split lines
Modeling the split lines with a clearance profile that vary around the bearing when using
the Mobility method was not a good choice since the calculations of the clearance width
was performed in an averaged fashion according to equations (3.1) and (3.2). From these
calculations, the clearance went too large and the flow rate, which can be seen in figure 4.6,
adopt too high values due to the dependency between flow and clearance, Q ⇠ C 3 .
Since the split lines crosses the bearing at the location where the groove in the upper
main bearing shell is filled with oil at all times, an additional leakage with a constant flow
rate will appear. Modeling this leakage with a pipe based on the volume and cross sectional
area of the split lines was a more accurate way.
According to Kastensson (2013) these split lines play a large role and can increase the
flow rate with 20% and it is therefore important to consider this additional leakage. The
additional leakage in this work increased the flow rate with 13.3% for the main bearing
using the more accurate approach. Mentioned in section 3.1.4 and shown in figure 3.4, the
connecting rod large end bearing has also split lines. But, in contrast to the main bearing,
the connecting rod large end bearing has no groove and therefore an additional leakage for
the connecting rod large end bearing could not be modeled when using the Mobility method.
In this work, Reynold’s equation was considered for the main bearing only and if also
the connecting rod large end bearing is considered with the Reynold’s equation in the future,
the split lines could also here have an e↵ect on the flow rate.
5.1.3 Study 3: Match reference data
The flow rate results generated in this work for various pressure drops, oil temperatures
and engine speeds are far from close to the reference flow rate results. The information
about the reference simulations done in BEAN is limited and it is hard to analyze why
there are di↵erences in the solutions in figure 4.7 and 4.8 compared to GT-SUITE. The
only information we have is that we know that both BEAN and GT-SUITE bearing models
use the same bearing loads for these calculations. There exist no measurement data of the
flow in the studied bearings and therefore the knowledge is based on simulations which can
predict the wrong solutions. In this sense, the reference data by BEAN is not necessary
correct and by the same reasoning, not the results by GT-SUITE either.
The present models are taking care of pipe motion and friction in the pipe drillings
between the bearings. The connecting rod large end bearing motion is also considered.
These e↵ects is not taken care of in the reference simulation data. In this sense, the bearing
models in this study reproduces the reality more than the reference simulations. But since
there seem to be no expectations regarding what bearing flow results that is reasonable, we
can not say which of BEAN and GT-SUITE that predicts the oil volume flow rate best.
5.1.4 Study 4: Connecting rod small end bearing
There exist no reference flow data regarding the oil supply to the connecting rod small end
bearing for the Volvo 13L engine. However, for future bearing analyses regarding main and
connecting rod bearings it could be interesting to have an intuition about the amount of
oil that flow to the connecting rod small end bearing and how much this bearing e↵ect the
results.
Knowledge regarding the oil supply to connecting rod small end bearing is also lim-
ited, since there exist only reference simulation data on the oil flow for main bearing and
connecting rod large end bearing. Since it is a drilling inside the connecting rod from the
connecting rod large end bearing to the connecting rod small end bearing, the small end
bearing is expected to be supplied with oil. But is the form of small pulsations, twice during
an engine cycle, the most efficient way or can it be done in another way? If a continuous
feed of oil to the connecting rod small end bearing is more efficient, it could be done by
including a groove in the connecting rod large end bearing shell similar to the main bearing
groove.
5.1. Analysis of the studies 41
5.1.5 Study 5: Mobility method and Reynold’s equation
When comparing the flow results from the Mobility method against the results from the
Reynold’s equation, a clear di↵erence is indicated. We know from section 2.4.2 that the
solution from Reynold’s equation is more accurate than the solution by the Mobility method
since the Reynold’s equation taking geometric irregularities such as grooves and holes into
account. If one neglect the three peaks for the flow rate solution in figure 4.12, the di↵erence
between the flow calculated by Mobility method and the flow calculated by the Reynold’s
equation deviates with 2.7% on average. There are also di↵erences between the solutions
for minimum oil film thickness in figure 4.13 and maximum pressure in figure 4.14.
The results from the Reynold’s equation are based on the triangular mesh shown in
figure 6.1. It should be interesting to try a little more refined mesh near the split lines to
see if it could have an e↵ect on the flow results. But since the function that generates the
mesh in GT-SUITE was not that trivial to use and since the maximum number of nodes
was limited to 5000, di↵erent meshes was not considered.
There exist a possibility to study the tilting of the journal relative to the bearing shell.
But since the limitation of number of nodes was required and a limitation in time, journal
tilting was not considered in this work.
Chapter 6
Conclusions
The time has come to end this report, and it will be done in the form of a short summary
of the achievements generated in this work followed by a few suggestions of future studies.
6.1 Summary of achievements
It has been shown that it is possible to study the oil flow in plain journal bearings with GT-
SUITE using the two modeling approaches based on the Mobility method and the Reynold’s
equation. Since GT-SUITE is a software for system analysis, there is a large scope of systems
that can be modeled and problems that can be solved. Two examples of such problems that
where possible to model are discussed in sections 2.3.1 and 2.3.2.
Comparing the aim and goal presented in section 1.2 with the results achieved in this
work, we can conclude that these are fulfilled. The main goal in this study was to build two
bearing models to simulate the oil flow in plain journal bearings and examine if the flow
results were consistent with known reference data. A few bearing flow models have been
builded based on the Volvo 13L engine and are gathered in this report. Based on these
models, flow results are generated and compared with reference data. But, there is still
work to do to make the results trustworthy since there is a lack of knowledge regarding how
much flow that is reasonable in the bearings. A missing part in this work, which is essential
are the bearing flow measurements. These measurements is needed to verify the flow rate
results of the present simulations.
One of the main results achieved in this work is that when considering the split lines for
the main bearing in the models in section 3.3 the oil volume flow rate for the main bearing
is increasing with 13-16%. The result has also shown that an appearance of 2.7% di↵erence
in the oil volume flow rates between the Mobility method and the more accurate method
based on the Reynold’s equation occur.
A clear di↵erence is indicated between the flow results from the Mobility method and
the Reynold’s equation and the main di↵erence is that when using Reynold’s equation,
geometric irregularities such as holes and grooves are considered in a correct way.
42
6.2. Future Work 43
6.2 Future Work
Based on the results achieved in this work and the discussion and conclusion above, a few
suggestions of future work that can be made have been listed below.
• Analyze di↵erences between GT-SUITE and BEAN and AVL EXCITE models regard-
ing the oil supply between the bearings, bearing and pipe geometries and bearing load
calculations.
• Finer mesh near the split lines will probably give more accurate understanding of the
oil flow, since this was not possible at the moment with GT-SUITE and the limitation
of 5000 nodes was required. Two examples of finer 2D meshes are showed in figure
6.1. If it is not possible to use more nodes than 5000 in the future with GT-SUITE,
then maybe another software should be used.
• Run 3D CFD simulations of the oil flow in the three bearings in this work separately.
This would give an even more accurate understanding about the flow and other fea-
tures, for example tilted journals could be modeled.
• Obtain flow measurements to validate the simulations results. Today there seem to be
no experience regarding what bearing flow results that is reasonable. Obtaining flow
measurements gives a hint of how high the flow rate in the bearings are for a given
pressure drop. Next step is to correlate the simulations and taking advantage of this
hint.
(a) Main bearing (coarser mesh) (b) Split line

(coarser mesh)
(c) Main bearing (finer mesh) (d) Split line (finer

mesh)
Figure 6.1: Two 2D meshes of the main bearing inner surface. a) a coarser triangulation of
the main bearing inner surface; b) closer look at the coarser triangulation near split line; c) a
finer triangulation of the main bearing inner surface; d) closer look at the finer triangulation
near split line.
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Numerical Modeling of Plain Journal Bearings Within A Heavy-Duty Engine Oil System Using Gt-Suite

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Umeå University

Master of Science in Engineering Physics

Numerical Modeling of Plain Journal Bearings

Submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Supervisor: Anna Rimark, ÅF Industry AB Göteborg

Numerical Modeling of Plain Journal Bearings within a Heavy-Duty

Numerisk modellering av glidlager tillhörande en tung motors

Nyckelord: Ramlager, vevstakslager, last, Mobility, Reynold’s ekvation, GT-SUITE,

1.1.1 Software for system analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.1.2 1D CFD and 3D CFD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2 Motivation and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.4 Statement of Originality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2.1 Hydrodynamic lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.1.1 Plain journal bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1.3 Bearing radial clearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.1.4 E↵ect of grooves and holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.1.5 Oil flow rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.2 Pressure and pressure drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.3 Journal and bearing rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.3.1 Pipe motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.3.2 Connecting rod bearing motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.4 Journal bearing modeling methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.4.2 Reynolds equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.1 Material and geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.1.1 Oil properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.1.2 System diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3.1.4 Bearing split lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.2 Boundary data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.2.1 Bearing load due to cylinder pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.2.2 User defined bearing load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3.3.1 Model 1: Two bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3.3.2 Model 2: Three bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3.3.3 Model 3: 2D model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4.1.1 Study 1: Bearing load comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4.1.2 Study 2: E↵ect of bearing split lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4.1.3 Study 3: Match reference data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4.1.4 Study 4: Connecting rod small end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.1.5 Study 5: Mobility method and Reynold’s equation . . . . . . . . . . . 36

5.1 Analysis of the studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

5.1.1 Study 1: Bearing load comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

5.1.2 Study 2: E↵ect of bearing split lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5.1.3 Study 3: Match reference data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5.1.4 Study 4: Connecting rod small end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5.1.5 Study 5: Mobility method and Reynold’s equation . . . . . . . . . . . 41

6.1 Summary of achievements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

6.2 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

1.1 List of used subscripts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.2 List of non-dimensional parameters and variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3 List of dimension parameters and variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.1 An example of a simple 1D flow domain, where scalar quantities, such as

2.1 Visualization of a typical hydrodynamical lubricated plain journal bearing with

2.5 Volume flow rate, Q, forced by a pressure di↵erence, P = P1 P0 , inside

(a) Main bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

(b) Connecting rod large end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

(c) Connecting rod small end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

(a) Main bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

(b) Connecting rod large end bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22