Influence of Surface Roughness on Non-Newtonian Thermohydrostatic Performance of a Hole-Entry Hybrid Journal Bearing

A general solution scheme to account the surface roughness and the cross-film viscosity variation of lubricant due to its non-Newtonian behavior and rise in fluid-film temperature for the analysis of fluid-film bearings is presented. The combined influence of surface roughness, non-Newtonian behavior of lubricant and thermal effects of the performance of hole-entry hybrid journal bearing system has been investigated. The surface roughness, especially stationary roughness (i.e. rough bearing and smooth journal) with transverse pattern was found to partially compensate the loss in load carrying capacity due to the thermal and/or non-Newtonian behavior of lubricant effects quite significantly. It limits 18.86% loss in load carrying capacity due to the thermal effect to only 1.6% and 33.99% loss due to the combined influence of non-Newtonian lubricant and thermal effect to 16.76%.