MODELING THE THERMOHYDRODYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF HIGH-SPEED JOURNAL BEARINGS

The paper describes a numerical investigation into the effect of tempe rature boundary conditions and viscous dissipation on the behaviour of two- and three-lobe bearings. Model results are compared with experim ental data and introduce the need to include temperature fade at the d ownstream edge of the lobe. This has been included as a temperature pr escription and good agreement has been achieved between numerical and experimental results for a three-lobe geometry. For the two-lobe beari ng, setting viscous generation to zero in the caviated film gave the b est agreement with experiment. This supports the hypothesis that the l ubricant adheres to the journal and is carried by it in the caviated f ilm. The model was also introduced successfully for the three-robe bea ring confirming its general applicability. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd