A Novel Method for Load Estimation of a Finite-Length Journal Bearing Lubricated by a Power Law Fluid

Within the applications of tribology, several machines have performance behavior strongly coupled with the behavior of one or more journal bearings. Applications of these machines exist where they must operate with non-Newtonian fluids, which complicates the analysis of the bearing behavior. Computationally inexpensive approaches to this analysis can lead to an increase in accuracy of the analysis of the overall functioning of the machines involved in these processes. Current literature, though, does not provide an accurate numerical approach based on the assumptions of the Reynolds equation for the case of a power law fluid. This study seeks to establish the accuracy of different Reynolds-type equations for power-law fluids by examining the case of an infinitely-long journal bearing, for which an analytical solution is derived. The error in load prediction of these Reynolds-type equations is found to be up to two times what the analytical solution predicts. This study then provides a novel approach for mitigating this error when finding the load supported by a finite-width journal bearing lubricated by a non-Newtonian fluid with applications to external gear machine simulations.