Analysis of hydrodynamic journal bearings having non-Newtonian lubricants

Abstract

Commercial lubricants, due to the presence of different types of additives, behave like non-Newtonian fluids. The effect of this nonlinear behaviour on the performance characteristics of finite-width journal bearings is investigated using the Eyring model for the shear stress and shear strain rate. the finite element method using Galerkin's technique has been used to solve the momentum equations and the continuity equation in cylindrical coordinates, representing the flow field in the clearance space of a journal bearing system using Newtonian fluids; the non-Newtonian effect is introduced by modifying the viscosity term for the model in each iteration. The results of static performance characteristics for finite-width journal bearings having non-Newtonian lubricants have been obtained.