AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE MISALIGNMENT EFFECTS IN JOURNAL BEARINGS

In this paper an investigation is made to evaluate the experimental pe rformance of misaligned cylindrical and three-lobe journal bearings. A three-bearing double-disc rotor system with a test bearing in the mid dle and driven by a variable speed DC motor through and electromagneti c coupling is used. Various parameters which have been studied are fri ction through coastdown analysis, unbalance response and film thicknes s. The system damping also has been evaluated. The film thickness decr eases, friction increases and system damping increases as the bearing misalignment increases. While the first, third and fourth harmonics vi bration response is found to be almost steady with a increasing degree of misalignment, the second harmonics vibration response tends to dec rease slightly.