On the Development of Negative Pressure in Oil Film and the Characteristics of Journal Bearing

The stability and vibration characteristics of turbo-rotors running in journal bearings depend strongly on the characteristics of journal bearing determined by the oil film pressure and negative pressure developed in journal bearings. This paper is concerned with clarifying the development of this negative pressure and its influences by taking into account air bubbles in oil film, especially the surface dilatational viscosity, which decelerates the compression and expansion of air bubbles. Deceleration of the bubble expansion under negative pressure helps the bubbles to withstand greater negative pressure. When the negative pressure is developed in the oil film, the locus of center of journal running in bearing deviates from the well-known semi-circle like shape, and the journal center is pushed outwards and horizontally under vertical static load. This means that the stability of a turbo-rotor will be reduced when negative pressure is developed.