Saleh, AhmedAhmedSalehGilges, MarkusMarkusGilgesLehmann, BenjaminBenjaminLehmannJacobs, GeorgGeorgJacobs2024-04-122024-04-122024-04-048th International Symposium on Marine Propulsors (smp 2024)978-82-691120-5-4https://hdl.handle.net/11420/46455Climate change causes increasing ship activity in polar regions, leading to more frequent propeller-ice collisions. These collisions result in extreme impulse loads on aft stern tube bearings, potentially causing bearing wear and failure. Existing studies often overlook variations in bearing surface roughness and contours during the running-in phase, leading to incorrect mixed-friction regime calculations. This study presents a new approach to calculate running-in wear in the aft stern tube bearings of the research vessel SA Agulhas II. It combines downscaled experiments and numerical simulations to determine postrunning-in phase surface roughness. The study reveals the significant influence of the running-in phase on wear risk of the bearing, especially for operating conditions near the transition from mixed to fluid friction regimes. However, for operating conditions causing severe mixed-friction regimes, the influence of the running-in phase on the wear risk is minimal. The highest wear risk occurs for rotational speeds of 90-100 rpm and ice-induced propeller torques of 650-700 kNm. This wear risk assessment can serve as a foundation for operator guidance and maintenance plans to ensure safe vessel operation in ice-covered waters.enhttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/Stern tube bearingsWear modelRunning-in phaseElasto-hydrodynamic simulation (EHD)Bearing down scalingEngineering and Applied OperationsConference Paper10.15480/882.931810.15480/882.9318Conference Paper