ELASTOHYDRODYNAMIC STUDIES OF 2-LOBE JOURNAL BEARINGS WITH NON-NEWTONIAN LUBRICANTS

An elastohydrodynamic study is presented of static and dynamic performance characteristics of two-lobe journal bearings with non-Newtonian lubricants. The Navier-Stokes and continuity equations were solved for Newtonian fluids using the finite element method in the cylindrical coordinates representing the flow field in the clearance space of a two-lobe journal bearing. The non-Newtonian effect was introduced by modifying the viscosity term for the model in each iteration. Deformation of the bearing shell was obtained by solving the three-dimensional elasticity equations. The static and dynamic characteristics are presented for wide range of WBAR, C(d)BAR and KBAR.