Influence of Hydrodynamic Journal Bearings With Multiple Slip Zones on Rotordynamic Behavior

This paper mainly reports stability investigations of rotors supported on fluid film journal bearings possessing multilocational slip-no-slip zones at the bush–film interface. The coupled solution of governing equations (Reynolds equation, energy equation, heat diffusion equation, lubricant rheological relation, and thermal boundary conditions) has been used to find pressure distributions in the lubricating film followed by evaluation of bearing coefficients. These coefficients have been used to determine stability limit speed (SLS) of the system and its robustness for both short (nearly inflexible) and long (flexible) rotors. Numerical simulations show that the pattern of pressure distribution with multiple slip-no-slip zones is similar to that obtained for multilobe bearings, resulting in substantial improvement of rotor–bearing stability irrespective of eccentricity ratio. A reduction in friction force (up to Sommerfeld number 1.8) and an increase in SLS and robustness compared to conventional bearings are observed when used with short rotors. Typically, up to six pairs of slip-no-slip zones improve SLS of the rotor–shaft system and robustness for short rotors, although more pairs deteriorate both. However, for long rotors, where dynamic rotor forces also act, these bearings provide marginal improvement in stability and robustness only for a small range of slip length.