Development of Wear Modelling Capability for Self-lubricating Plain Bearings

The project will be supervised by Prof H P Evans, Dr R Pullin & Dr A Clarke

This project is in collaboration with SKF Aerospace, who specialise in the design and manufacture of high-technology self-lubricated plain bearings for aerospace applications. The bearings are extensively used in both fixed wing and helicopter applications, primarily in the movement of flight control surfaces. SKF plain bearings are also used in a range of industrial applications, including rail, military, racing and power generation applications.

These bearings feature a composite bearing liner material and this project aims to develop and validate a predictive wear model of the liner’s wear performance, whilst improving fundamental tribological understanding of these materials. Building on previous work undertaken at Cardiff to develop a wear model, this studentship would:

• Investigate and compare the current and future trends in aerospace bearings associated with performance requirements, material selection, processing and non-destructive testing opportunities.

• Characterise parameters such as wear rate and liner stiffness, essential in wear modelling, for both current and future bearing liner materials, via a program of experimental work focussed on gaining insights into the fundamental tribology underlying the wear behaviour of these materials.

• Develop existing models to predict wear behaviour for a range of kinematic and load conditions typical of aerospace bearings, and develop sensitivity analyses for the identification of key process variables under different operating conditions (i.e. sliding velocity, temperature, pressure etc.)

• Design and carry out a set of experiments for a selection of current and future liner technologies, in order to experimentally characterise the influence of operating conditions on wear performance. These tests will involve both coupon testing on liner material samples using test rigs available at Cardiff, and bearing level tests undertaken at SKF facilities.

• Correlate modelling and experimental results across a range of liner material types, bearing geometries and operating conditions, and provide error and sensitivity measures for the wear modelling tool.

• Produce a virtual suite of tools for future produce development, including process modelling and simulations, design nomograms, and liner life predictions.

This industrially-focussed PhD is part of a larger development project within SKF, and the student will be required to liaise and work with SKF engineers as the PhD progresses, to enable integration of other technologies and techniques into the developed system.

Candidates should hold or expect to gain a first class degree or a good 2.1 and/or an appropriate Master’s level qualification (or their equivalent).

Applicants whose first language is not English will be required to demonstrate proficiency in the English language (IELTS 6.5 or equivalent)