Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Simulation of Oil-Jet Gear Interaction

In this paper the complex two-phase flow during oil-jet impingement on a rotating spur gear is investigated using the meshless Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. A comparison of single-phase SPH to multi-phase SPH simulation and the application of the Volume of Fluid method on the basis of a two-dimensional setup is drawn. The results of the different approaches are compared regarding the predicted flow phenomenology and computational effort. It is shown that the application of single-phase SPH is justified and that this approach is superior in computational time, enabling faster simulations. In a next step, a three-dimensional single-phase SPH setup is exploited to predict the flow phenomena during the impingement of an oil-jet on a spur gear for various jet inclination angles. Thereby, a significant effect of the inclination angle on the oil spreading and splashing process is revealed. Finally, a qualitative comparison to an experimental high-speed image shows good accordance.