Design of bearings on the basis of thermohydrodynamic analysis

Abstract

The steady state thermal behaviour of hydrodynamic bearings can be characterized by two unique dimensionless temperature rise parameters κ1 and κ2. Using these parameters, the results of extensive thermohydrodynamic simulations can be generalized for design purposes. The objective of this paper is to develop appropriate expressions for rapid estimation of the maximum temperature and the effective temperature as well as the bearing performance parameters. A series of examples is provided, illustrating the utility of these expressions for thrust and journal bearing designs.