PERFORMANCE OF 3-LOBE PRESSURE-DAM BEARINGS

The use of multi-lobe bearings, considered to be more stable than ordi nary circular bearings in industry is increasing daily. Studies have s hown that performance can be further improved if pressure dams are inc orporated into these bearings. Analysis of two-lobe pressure dam beari ngs has been reported in the literature. The present work was carried out to assess the performance of a three-lobe bearing with pressure da ms. The results show that the performance of a three-lobe pressure-dam bearing is far superior to that of an ordinary three-lobe bearing.