Rotordynamics Unit 5:

Modeling Journal Bearings

Bernhard Bettig
Mechanical Design Research Lab
Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics Dept.
Michigan Technological University
Web site: http://www.me.mtu.edu/~mdrl
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Journal Bearing review

The journal bearing appears in the
dynamic finite element equations as
a linear spring and damper.

c xx
c
yx

c xy u& k xx
+
c yy v& k yx

k xy u Fx
=
k yy v Fy

Journal Bearing review

In order to determine the c and k coefficient
values, we must consider the fluid pressures
in the bearing.

Journal Bearing review

The fluid pressures can be calculated
using Reynolds equation:

Perturbation Solution
To determine the dynamic coefficients,
we can assume that the pressure is the
sum of the static pressure and variations
due to small motions of the shaft about
the static equilibrium position.

where:

Perturbation Solution
and:

Fluid Pressure Calculations

The boundary conditions for a
journal bearing are:
p = 0 at z = 0 and z = LB ,
p equals the feeding pressure at supply grooves,
p p
p=
=
= 0 at the film trailing edge
Z
(Reynolds boundary condition)
p = 0 at the static pressure boundary
7

Fluid Pressure Calculations

The fluid pressure distribution looks like:
Static (p0)
Perturbation
(px)
Perturbation
(py)

Fluid Pressure Calculations

The pressure distribution varies as a
function of e0/c, , and .

Fluid Pressure Calculations

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Fluid Pressure Calculations

The bearing force is assumed to be
comprised of the static force and
dynamic forces due to small shaft
motions.

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Fluid Pressure Calculations

The static force and dynamic coefficients
are found through integration:

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Fluid Pressure Calculations

13

Numerical Calculations
The pressures are solved numerically
using the finite difference method.
Control Volume

Neighboring
Control Volumes

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Numerical Calculations

15

Numerical Calculations

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Numerical Calculations

17

Numerical Calculations

18

Numerical Calculations

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Numerical Calculations
The integrations are performed by
summation of each control volume.

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Numerical Calculations

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Sample Questions
1.

The bearing from last week is discretized into a 20 x

20 grid of control volumes. The shaft is displaced 3
mm in the +X direction.
Consider a control volume centered at = 0 and Z =
LB/2. What is the new pressure, after the next
iteration, if the static pressure in this cell is 1.5 MPa
and the neighboring pressures are 1.2 MPa (east), 1.3
MPa (south), 0.7 MPa (west), and 0.8 MPa (north)?

2.

What contribution (in Newtons) does the pressure of

this control volume make to the total force (a) in the
X direction, (b) in the Y direction.

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