Effect of lubricant compressibility and variable viscosity on the performance of three-lobe journal bearing

Different configurations of journal bearings have been extensively used in turbomachinery and power generating equipment. Three-lobe bearing is used due to its lower film temperature and stable operation. In this study, static performance of such a bearing has been investigated at different eccentricity ratios considering lubricant compressibility and variable viscosity. The effect of variable viscosity was considered by taking the viscosity as a function of the oil film thickness while Dowson model is used to consider the effect of lubricant compressibility. The effect of such parameters was considered to compute the oil film pressure, load-carrying capacity, attitude angle and oil side leakage for a bearing working at (epsilon from 0.6 to 0.8) and (viscosity coefficient from 0 to 1). The mathematical model as well as the computer program prepared to solve the governing equations were validated by comparing the pressure distribution obtained in the present work with that obtained by EL-Said et al. A good agreement between the results has been observed with maximum deviation of 3%. The obtained results indicate a decrease in oil film pressure and load-carrying capacity with the higher values of viscosity coefficient while the oil compressibility has a little effect on such parameters.