Effects of convective fluid inertia on the EHD lubrication of journal bearings
by
Juliana Javorova
Bulgaria, Sofia, University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy

In the analysis of elastohydrodynamic journal bearings the effect of fluid inertia is generally neglected in view of its negligible contribution compared with viscous forces. However, there is a necessity to evaluate its effect at moderate values of the modified Reynolds number.

The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate the influence of convective inertia forces of the lubricant on the load capacity of finite journal bearing under isothermal and isoviscous condition.

The 2-D steady state EHD problem is investigated for the case of elastic layer on rigid foundation, such the displacements are calculated without linear approximations. To this end a new, more precise method of determination of the deflections is used.

The generalized Reynolds equation is obtained by averaged acceleration methods. The differential equation is solved numerically by successive over-relaxation in a finite difference grid.

Keywords: elastohydrodynamic (EHD) lubrication, convective fluid inertia, averaged acceleration method

Date received: March 10, 2004

Copyright © 2004 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # canw-02.