Thermohydrodynamic Behavior of a Slider Pocket Bearing

Pocket-pads or steps are often used in journal or thrust bearings, as a source for hydrodynamic pressure and dynamic stability. A literature review shows that, to date, only isoviscous and adiabatic studies of such geometries, involving film thickness discontinuities, were performed. This paper presents a full thermohydrodynamic (THD) numerical model, applied to the case of a slider pocket bearing.