Research Report 4: A New Flow Visualization Apparatus for Studying Journal Bearing Lubrication

Abstract

Flow Visualization of the lubricant film in bearings has proved to be a powerful technique for revealing the complex nature of cavitation, a phenomenon not readily studied by other means. The method has been exploited by Cole and Hughes (I)^† and others to obtain valuable information on the cavitation in journal bearings, viewing the lubricant through a glass bearing sleeve. This approach has the advantage that it is easy to apply, but it has limitations. In particular the effects of bearing deformation and of irregularities in bearing shape, e.g. mismatch of the two halves of a split bearing, are not readily simulated and the behaviour of heavily loaded bearings cannot easily be studied.