Theoretical and experimental study of mechanical losses in automotive turbochargers

The aim of the present work is to show an approximation, through an experimental an theoretical study, to quantify the mechanical losses in a turbocharging system. These are linked to the dynamics in the turbo shaft bearings, both axial and radial. Theoretical and experimental methodologies are presented in order to develop a mechanical losses model. The experimental work consists on a measurement campaign in quasi-adiabatic operating conditions, while in the theoretical part, a mathematical model is developed taking into account the radial and axial bearings. The model uses some assumptions in order to solve the Navier-Stokes equations, leading to a simplified model which includes viscosity and the Reynolds number of the oil film formed on the bearings. The proposed model has shown a good agreement with the experimental dataThe authors of this paper wish to thank M.A. Ortiz and V. Ucedo for their invaluable work during the experimental setup and campaign, F.J. Arnau, Ph.D, for its excellent job maintaining and expanding Open WAMs code base and M.A. Reyes-Belmonte for all his hard and rigorous work extrapolating turbine maps and preparing and launching the simulations. This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion through grant number DPI2010-20891-C02-02.Serrano Cruz, JR.; Olmeda González, PC.; Tiseira Izaguirre, AO.; García-Cuevas González, LM.; Lefebvre, A. (2013). Theoretical and experimental study of mechanical losses in automotive turbochargers. Energy. 55:888-898. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.04.0428888985