Misalignment Effects on the Lubrication Behavior of Crankshaft Bearings

It is well known that the crankshaft bearing loading conditions are of complex nature. Also at high loads, elastic and thermal distortion of the bearing solids occurs, moreover, under these harsh conditions, misalignment can occur during operation. Due to the complexity of the problem, few researches have been done to study the dynamic performance characteristics of crankshaft bearing under such conditions. In the present work, it is intended to investigate the effect of bearing parameters on hydrodynamic pressure, film thickness and friction losses in the crankshaft main bearing considering shaft misalignment and bearing distortion. The main conclusion of the research is that, it is essential to consider misalignment as it is greatly deteriorating the film thickness leading to higher frictional losses. It is also found that the degree of misalignment is having little effect on the bearing mean load capacity.