Study on fatigue life evaluation of water lubricated rubber stern tube bearing

The study on how to use the water medium replacing mineral oil as the lubricating medium of the ship propulsion system, is the high efficient energy-saving of the mechanical transmission system and the frontage of the environmental protection scientific research. The water lubricated rubber stern tube bearing is a very important supporting part of the ship propulsion system, its reliability life will directly affect the safe navigation, covert performance and operating costs of ship. The fatigue life of rubber stern tube bearing is one of the most important indexes. This paper simplifies the contact stress model between the water lubricated rubber stern tube bearing and the stern tube. It designs a simulation program for the fatigue life of the bottom rubber bearing plate whose contact stress is the most complex, lubrication condition is the most harsh, reliability life is the shortest, and which determines the reliability life of the ship water lubricated planar rubber stern tube bearing. It is believed that the knowledge gained in this study will provide the theoretical data for researching on reliability life theory of ship water lubricated rubber stern tube bearing and guide for when repair or change the ship water lubricated rubber stern tube bearing in shipping service industry.