A Study of the Mechanism of Lubrication in Porous Journal Bearings: Effects of Dimensionless Oil-Feed Pressure on Static Characteristics Under Hydrodynamic Lubrication Conditions

Abstract

The static characteristics of porous journal bearings under hydrodynamic lubrication conditions are theoretically investigated assuming that the oil is fed through their outside diameters under a small pressure. The angular extent of the oil film formed in the bearing clearance is numerically solved on the basis of the following postulate: when the oil film extent reaches steady state, the inflow of oil into the bearing clearance through the porous matrix due to the oil-feed pressure must make up for the oil leakage from the ends through the clearance gap and that into the porous matrix due to the hydrodynamic pressure in the film. Numerical results show that the dimensionless oil-feed pressure significantly influences the static characteristics. Experiments are also conducted for confirmation after the theoretical examination.