INERTIA EFFECT IN EXTERNALLY PRESSURIZED THRUST BEARING WITH CONVERGING AND DIVERGING FILM USING VISCOELASTIC LUBRICANT

Inertia effects in an externally pressurized bearing with variable film thickness using a visco-elastic lubricant are considered. The three cases of converging, uniform and diverging films are presented. The performances of these films are compared. It is observed that the diverging film bearing has the least load capacity and the converging film bearing has the most load capacity. The elastic elements in the lubricant reduce the pressure and load capacity. The effect of inertia is to increase the load capacity and pressure for uniform film bearing whereas it decreases in the case of converging and diverging film bearings. The volume flow rate decreases with the increase in the angle that the rotor makes with the stator. It is worth to note that for Newtonian lubricant with inertia, the volume flow rate Q is determinable if alpha (Reynolds number) is very small for bearings with converging film and uniform film. The results are shown by means of graphs and tables.