A transient thermoelastohydrodynamic study of steadily loaded plain journal bearings using finite element method analysis

The present paper proposes an advanced bidimensional model necessary to calculate the temperature field in a journal bearing submitted to both rapid and slow start-ups. The model takes into account realistic thermal boundary conditions at fluid film-solid interfaces, The thermoelastic deformations of both the journal and of the bush are also considered and a special attention is paid to the ruptured zone of the film. The Finite Element Method (with upwind techniques whenever necessary) is employed to solve the equations implied by the model. Finally, the theoretical predictions were validated by comparison with experimental data.