Effect of non-Newtonian behaviour of lubricant and bearing flexibility on the performance of slot-entry journal bearing

This work describes the theoretical study concerning the effect of non-linear behaviour of the lubricant on the performance of a slot-entry journal bearing, The analysis considers the generalized Reynolds equation governing the flow of lubricant having variable viscosity in the clearance space and the three dimensional elasticity equations governing the displacement field in the bearing shell, and equation of flow of lubricant through slot restrictor. The non-Newtonian lubricant is assumed to follow the cubic shear stress law (<(tau)over bar>+(K) over bar<(tau)over bar>(3)=<((gamma) over dot)over bar>). Bearing performance characteristics have been presented for a typically selected values of non-linearity factor ((K) over bar) and deformation coefficient ((C) over bar(d)). It has been observed that the combined effect of non-linearity factor ((K) over bar) and bearing flexibility ((C) over bar(d)) affects the performance characteristics of slot-entry journal bearing quite significantly. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.