Numerical analysis of steady-state performance of misaligned journal bearings with turbulent effect

A theoretical analysis has been carried out to investigate into the effect of turbulence and journal misalignment on the steady-state characteristics of hydrodynamic journal bearings lubricated with micropolar fluid. The governing non-dimensional Reynolds equation applicable to turbulent micropolar lubrication has been solved numerically to obtain the film pressure distribution which was then used to determine the load carrying capacity, attitude angle, misalignment moment, end flow rate and frictional parameter. The turbulent shear coefficients have been computed by using the turbulent model proposed by Ng and Pan. The results suggest that the effect of turbulence is to increase the load carrying capacity and misalignment moment of the misaligned journal bearings, and this effect is more pronounced for micropolar fluid as compared to Newtonian fluid.