Study on Flow Mixing Effects in a High-Speed Journal Bearing

Turbulence in journal bearing operation is examined and the thermal variability is studied for isothermal, convective and adiabatic conditions on the walls under aligned and misaligned conditions. Also, the effects of a contraction ratio at the cavitation region and the mixing between re-circulating oil and inlet oil on the fluid field of oil film are included. An algorithm for the solution of the coupled turbulent Reynolds and energy equations is used to examine the effects of the various factors. Heat convection is found to play only a small role in determining friction and load under no mixing condition. However, under realistic mixing condition, the heat convection cannot be ignored. The wall temperature and heat transfer have been found to be of secondary important factors to the mixing effectiveness at the groove and the final mixture temperature.