An Experimental Study of Annular Flows With Applications in Turbulent Film Lubrication

Abstract

Experiments are reported on turbulent flows in air, in a large-scale bearing model of 6-ft dia, 2-ft length, 0.54-in. film thickness. Simulation of tilted pads, short journal bearings, and stepped pads is described. Pressure distributions are reported along with velocity and turbulence-intensity profiles. Wall shear stress is computed from the velocity profile measurements. The variations of these factors are compared with available data for plane Couette flow, wall law flow, and pressure flow in pipes, and the relationships among these are discussed. In addition, large pressure jumps at discontinuities are reported, and are shown to provide a major influence on the overall pressure distributions.