Numerical Analysis of a Journal Bearing with Chemical Roughness

Abstract

In this paper, performances of an oil-lubricated journal bearing are investigated with special attention paid to slip occurrence. The chemical roughness at which slip occurs is introduced. The slip length model which is a theoretical scheme for taking the slip occurrence into hydrodynamic lubrication theory is applied to the analyses by a finite volume treatment of the Reynolds equation that deals with the geometry of a journal bearing. The calculated results are compared with other literature under certain eccentric state, and verified in terms of Sommerfeld number and the friction force. The study shows that the presence of judicious chemical roughness in deterministic way can result in a significant improvement in decreasing power loss of the bearing performance.