| Abstract: | In this paper, the effect of surface roughness on the performance characteristic of porous inclined stepped composite bearings is studied. A generalised form of surface roughness is mathematically modelled by a stochastic random variable with non‐zero mean, variance and skewness. The generalised average Reynolds‐type equation is derived for the rough porous inclined stepped composite bearings with micropolar fluid. The closed‐form expressions are obtained for the fluid film pressure, load‐carrying capacity and frictional force. The results are presented for three different types of bearing system. The numerical computations of the results show that the negatively skewed surface roughness pattern increases fluid film pressure and load‐carrying capacity and decreases the coefficient of friction, whereas adverse effects were found for the positively skewed surface roughness pattern. Further, the rough porous inclined stepped composite bearing provides the largest load‐carrying capacity and the least coefficient of friction as compared with the porous plane slider and porous composite tapered concave bearings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
