Steady-state performance of a circular journal bearing lubricated with a non-Newtonian fluid considering the elastic deformation of the liner

Abstract

In this work, a numerical study of the effect of elastic deformation on the static characteristics of a circular journal bearing operating with non-Newtonian fluids obeying to the power law model is presented. The modified Reynolds equation has been derived taking into consideration the effect of non-Newtonian behavior of the fluids. To obtain the pressure distribution, the Reynolds equation has been solved using finite difference technique with appropriate iterative technique incorporating Reynolds boundary conditions. The static performance characteristics for finite-width journal bearing in terms of the load-carrying capacity, the attitude angle, friction coefficient, and the side leakage have been studied for various values of the non-Newtonian power law index n and the elastic coefficient. The results show that the increase of the power law index produces a higher load-carrying capacity, a higher side leakage, a lower attitude angle, and a lower friction coefficient. From this study, it can be concluded that the elastic deformation has an important influence on the static characteristics of the journal bearing lubricated with a non-Newtonian fluid, and this influence is more significant for the journal bearing operating at larger values of the eccentricity ratio.