Effect of bearing materials on journal bearings under TEHL with lubricant based on Carreau model

Abstract

This work presents a transient analysis of journal bearings under thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) based on the Carreau model. The effects of the elastic modulus of the bearing liner have been investigated using numerical simulations. A time-dependent modified Reynolds equation and an adiabatic energy equation based on the Carreau model have been formulated and numerically solved to examine the performance of the journal bearings. The results show that the minimum film thickness and the friction coefficient both increase with decreasing bearing liner elastic modulus. In contrast, the dimensionless load carrying capacity, dimensionless maximum film temperature, and dimensionless maximum film pressure all decrease with decreasing bearing liner elastic modulus. The stability regions tend to decrease in size for journal bearings under TEHL, especially for journal bearings composed of soft materials.