Effect of non-Newtonian behaviour of lubricant and bearing flexibility on the performance of slot-entry journal bearing

This work describes the theoretical study concerning the effect of non-line ar behaviour of the lubricant on the performance of a slot-entry journal be aring, The analysis considers the generalized Reynolds equation governing t he flow of lubricant having variable viscosity in the clearance space and t he three dimensional elasticity equations governing the displacement field in the bearing shell, and equation of flow of lubricant through slot restri ctor. The non-Newtonian lubricant is assumed to follow the cubic shear stre ss law (<(tau)over bar>+(K) over bar<(tau)over bar>(3)=<((gamma) over dot)o ver bar>). Bearing performance characteristics have been presented for a ty pically selected values of non-linearity factor ((K) over bar) and deformat ion coefficient ((C) over bar(d)). It has been observed that the combined e ffect of non-linearity factor ((K) over bar) and bearing flexibility ((C) o ver bar(d)) affects the performance characteristics of slot-entry journal b earing quite significantly. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.