• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.207-218
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• 2007

Turbocharger bearings are under the circumstance of high temperature, moreover rotated at high speed. It is necessary to be designed overcoming the high temperature. So the type of oil inlet port, the inlet oil temperature and the sort of engine oil should be designed, controlled and selected carefully in order to reduce the bearing inside temperature. In this study, the influence of aerated oil on a high-speed journal bearing is also examined by using the classical thermohydrodynamic lubrication theory coupled with analytical models for viscosity and density of air-oil mixture in fluid-film bearing. Convection to the walls and mixing with supply oil and re-circulating oil are considered. The considered parameters for the study of bubbly lubrication are oil inlet port's type, oil aeration level and shaft speed. It is found that the type of oil inlet ports and shaft speed play important roles in determining the temperature and pressure distribution, then the friction in a journal bearing at high speed operation. Also, the results show that, under extremely high shaft speed, the high shear effects on aerated oil and the high temperature effects are canceled out each other. So, the bearing load and friction show almost no difference between the aerated oil and pure oil.