Thermo-hydrodynamic lubrication analysis of journal bearings using a simplified THL model and prediction of onset speed of instability (Application of adiabatic boundary condition to the journal side)

Abstract

Journal bearings are an important mechanical element of rotating machines and support the rotor system by oil film reaction forces. As rotational speeds increase, the shear heat of the oil film causes a significant temperature distribution on the journal surface. As a result, bending of the shaft occurs and vibration modes called Morton effect are generated. The Thermo Hydrodynamic Lubrication (THL) model is used for analyzing of lubricant, and one of the authors has modified and applied it as a simple unsteady model to efficiently analyze the temperature, viscosity, and pressure distribution of the oil film , maintaining computational accuracy. In this paper, the simplified THL model is modified with the boundary condition that both the bearing and journal are adiabatic (ADIADI) in order to construct an accurate and efficient analytical model of the Morton effect in the rotor system. The journal vibration is assumed to be small, and dynamic coefficients of journal bearing are derived considering the temperature distribution. Eigenvalue analysis is performed using these dynamic coefficients to predict the onset speed of instability of the rotor system. The validity of the eigenvalue analysis is verified by direct numerical integration simulation.

Keywords

• rotordynamics
• tribology
• journal bearing
• thermohydrodynamic lubrication
• equilibrium position
• dynamic coefficients
• stability threshold speed