Hydrodynamic performance of lubricated journal bearings with axial and spiral oil feedings

The performance characteristics of hydrodynamically lubricated journal bearings are dealt with in this paper, thermal aspects are considered and axial groove and spiral oil inlet feeding conditions are assumed. A finite journal bearing was assumed and, by the aid of numerical solutions, the Reynolds equation coupled with the energy equation in finite difference form could be solved to give an adiabatic solution. A specially devised computer program has been adopted to compute the hydrodynamic pressure and temperature distributions and to predict the performance characteristics under isothermal and thermal conditions. The results indicated that axial oil feeding allows a higher load-carrying capacity at a lower frictional resistance compared with the spiral oil inlet.