Numerical study of a hydrodynamic journal bearing with herringbone grooves for oil leakage reduction

Abstract

Hydrodynamic journal bearings and herringbone-grooved journal bearings were numerically analyzed using finite volume-based computational fluid dynamics software. Navier–Stokes equations were solved to describe pressure and velocity distributions in three dimensions. Values of the Sommerfeld number were calculated as a benchmark case for a hydrodynamic journal bearing. The predicted values of the Sommerfeld number are comparable to theoretical results from engineering tribology literature. For a hydrodynamic journal bearing, it is found that there is a positive correlation between the maximum pressure and the eccentricity ratio. For a hydrodynamic herringbone-grooved journal bearing, the peak pressures are found to occur at the tips of the grooves. It is further found that a herringbone-grooved design can reduce average axial velocity at the outlet by 84%, compared to a hydrodynamic journal bearing without eccentricity. This design could also address the oil leakage issue occurring often in hydrodynamic bearings. These findings may be useful for oil leakage reduction in a hydrodynamic herringbone-grooved journal bearing design.