Analysis of a non-constant gap externally pressurized conical bearing withtemperature and pressure dependent viscosity

The present paper analyses an externally pressurized non-constant gap conic al bearing rotating with a uniform angular velocity. The lubricant is assum ed to be incompressible and its viscosity varies with both pressure and tem perature. Although the inertia effect due to lubricant flow has been neglec ted, rotational inertia is taken into account. The governing system of coup led momentum and energy equations, in conical coordinates, is solved numeri cally using the finite difference method, to determine various bearing char acteristics. The effect of the viscosity-pressure exponent, <(gamma)over ba r>, on various characteristics of the bearing has been studied. It is seen that variation of <(gamma)over bar> does not produce any significant change in the load capacity for convergent and constant gap conical bearings. For the divergent gap also, no significant difference is seen when the gap is slightly divergent. However, for highly divergent gaps, the load capacity i ncreases with an increase in <(gamma)over bar>. It is also seen that variat ion in <(gamma)over bar> does not produce any significant change in torque of the bearing.