Empirical Design Procedure for the Thermohydrodynamic Behavior of Journal Bearings

This paper describes an empirical procedure for predicting the performance of journal bearings based on experimental thermohydrodynamic consideration. The developed relationships are utilized to construct design nomograms for evaluating a modified Sommerfeld number which can replace the isoviscous Sommerfeld number in evaluating the performance characteristics of the bearing for any given oil and inlet temperature. The procedure is simple to implement and would consequently provide the designer with an alternative predictive method to consider in selecting the bearings parameters for critical applications.