Transient Flow–Thermal–Structural Response and Candidate High-Risk Region Identification of an Axial Piston Pump Slipper Pair Under Variable Loading

Li, Jiabao; Xiong, Zhonggang; Liu, Zhong; Liu, Xintao; Liu, Sibo; Guo, Cong; Zhou, Xingyu; Hu, Wenqiang

doi:10.3390/lubricants14080285

Open AccessArticle

Transient Flow–Thermal–Structural Response and Candidate High-Risk Region Identification of an Axial Piston Pump Slipper Pair Under Variable Loading

by

Jiabao Li

^1,2,

Zhonggang Xiong

^2,3,*,

Zhong Liu

^1,2,

Xintao Liu

^2,4,

Sibo Liu

^1,2,

Cong Guo

^2,4,

Xingyu Zhou

^1,2 and

Wenqiang Hu

²

¹

School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China

²

Guangxi Key Laboratory of Special Engineering Equipment and Control, Guilin University of Aerospace Technology, Guilin 541004, China

³

Shandong Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology for Advanced Power Equipment, Weifang University, Weifang 261061, China

⁴

School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Lubricants 2026, 14(8), 285; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants14080285

Submission received: 2 July 2026 / Revised: 21 July 2026 / Accepted: 21 July 2026 / Published: 24 July 2026

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Abstract

In axial piston pumps under variable loading, the system-level excitation and local tribological responses of the slipper pair can become temporally and spatially decoupled. The scientific contribution of this paper is a phase-consistent chain that achieves three things: it resolves the central-pocket pressure boundary with a dual-orifice and dual-control-volume model instead of directly imposing piston chamber pressure, propagates this boundary through posture-dependent clearance to three-dimensional flow–thermal and single-slipper structural responses within the same local cycle, and screens candidate high-risk regions from the spatial proximity and phase relationship of multi-field cycle envelopes rather than from a single peak. The results show that the central pocket pressure exhibits peak attenuation, peak-time difference, and pressure-rate weakening relative to the piston chamber pressure. The steady peak attenuation ratio is

2.83

–

3.33 %

, while pressure-rate weakening under variable loading is

6.29

–

7.14 %

; the high-to-low unloading case gives the largest attenuation of

4.81 %

. Increasing steady load reduces the tilt amplitude and raises the minimum film thickness from about

13.024

to

13.452 μ m

, but the maximum temperature rise increases from

34.12

to

65.01 K

. A

10 %

cycle-envelope projection shows no common overlap among the film-thinning, oil-film temperature-rise, and structural-stress core high-response regions with pairwise overlap ratios of 0–

3.27 %

. This traceable chain supports comparative lubrication-safety screening; the identified zones remain numerical candidates rather than experimentally confirmed wear or failure regions.

Keywords: axial piston pump; slipper pair; transient variable loading; flow–thermal–structural coupling; temporal decoupling; edge-adjacent topology

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MDPI and ACS Style

Li, J.; Xiong, Z.; Liu, Z.; Liu, X.; Liu, S.; Guo, C.; Zhou, X.; Hu, W. Transient Flow–Thermal–Structural Response and Candidate High-Risk Region Identification of an Axial Piston Pump Slipper Pair Under Variable Loading. Lubricants 2026, 14, 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants14080285

AMA Style

Li J, Xiong Z, Liu Z, Liu X, Liu S, Guo C, Zhou X, Hu W. Transient Flow–Thermal–Structural Response and Candidate High-Risk Region Identification of an Axial Piston Pump Slipper Pair Under Variable Loading. Lubricants. 2026; 14(8):285. https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants14080285

Chicago/Turabian Style

Li, Jiabao, Zhonggang Xiong, Zhong Liu, Xintao Liu, Sibo Liu, Cong Guo, Xingyu Zhou, and Wenqiang Hu. 2026. "Transient Flow–Thermal–Structural Response and Candidate High-Risk Region Identification of an Axial Piston Pump Slipper Pair Under Variable Loading" Lubricants 14, no. 8: 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants14080285

APA Style

Li, J., Xiong, Z., Liu, Z., Liu, X., Liu, S., Guo, C., Zhou, X., & Hu, W. (2026). Transient Flow–Thermal–Structural Response and Candidate High-Risk Region Identification of an Axial Piston Pump Slipper Pair Under Variable Loading. Lubricants, 14(8), 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants14080285

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Transient Flow–Thermal–Structural Response and Candidate High-Risk Region Identification of an Axial Piston Pump Slipper Pair Under Variable Loading

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