Performance Characteristics of Cavitated Noncircular Journal Bearings in the Turbulent Flow Regime

Abstract

In this paper, the characteristics of noncircular bearings, considering the effects of turbulence and cavitation, are numerically analyzed. Four bearing profiles are considered: circular, worn-circular, two-lobe and elliptical. To model the turbulence, the linearized lubrication theory of Ng and Pan is used. Reynolds' equation is suitably modified to account for both turbulence and cavitation. The equation is incorporated into the Elrod cavitation algorithm. This numerical procedure, which conserves mass throughout the bearing, implicitly incorporates the JFO boundary conditions at rupture and reformation boundaries. JFO theory is considered to accurately model cavitation in moderately to heavily loaded bearings. Performance predictions are compared to results presented in a variety of earlier papers.