The effects of material and structure of main bearing caps on crankshaft lubrication of diesel engine

The elastic deformation of the crankshaft and engine block has important effects on lubrication performance of main bearings of the diesel engine. But the effect of main bearing caps was rarely analyzed. The purpose of this article is to analyze and compare the tribological performances of main bearings of a 20-V medium-speed diesel engine with different materials and structures of main bearing caps. A coupled multi-elastic body and elasto-hydrodynamic model is established for a 20-V medium-speed diesel engine. The deformations of engine block, crankshaft and bearing caps are simulated with finite element modal condensation method. The bearing lubrication analysis is based on the extended Reynolds equation considering the deformation of contact surface and solved by finite difference method. Two materials and four structures of the main bearing cap are analyzed with the coupled model. The distribution of oil film pressure, thickness and bearing thermal loads are obtained and analyzed. The main bearing cap of iron is better than steel on bearing lubrication performance. With the lower edge stiffness of bearing cap, the maximum oil film pressure of bearing can be reduced by 13%. Meanwhile, the bearing thermal load can be reduced by 53%. The results show that when the bearing cap material is iron and with large trough on both sides of bearing cap, the peak value of edge pressure and the average heat load of main bearing can be reduced effectively under the premise of ensuring stiffness.