Analysis of Aerodynamic Journal Bearings With Small Number of Herringbone Grooves by Finite Element Method

Abstract

A numerical study of gas herringbone grooved journal bearings is presented for small number of grooves. The compressible Reynolds equation is solved by use of the Finite Element Method. The nonlinearity of the discretized equations is treated with the Newton-Raphson procedure. A comparison of the results for a smooth bearing with previously published results is made and the domain of validity of the Narrow Groove Theory is analyzed. Load capacity, attitude angle, and stiffness coefficients are given for various configurations: groove angle and thickness of grooves, bearing number, and that for both smooth and grooved member rotating.