ON THE BREAKDOWN UNDER CONTACT CONDITIONS OF REYNOLDS-EQUATION FOR GAS-LUBRICATED BEARINGS

Fbr the analysis of gas lubricated bearings, Reynolds equation is avai lable in a number of forms-the original version, first-order modified second-order modified, one-and-a-half order modified, and Boltzmann-Re ynolds. All of these variants are asymptotically examined for instance s in which local contact occurs in a bearing. These asymptotics serve to identify the order of the respective singularities in pressures, an d thus imply the possible consequences of using a particular version o f Reynolds equation in the presence of contact.