Hydrodynamic and Thermal Behavior of Journal Bearings using Upwind Petrov-Galerkin FEM

Abstract

A novel approach to modeling plain journal bearings is presented. The journal is assumed to be cut open at the oil supply groove and modeled in Cartesian coordinates. The streamline upwind Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) finite element method is used to develop the three-dimensional model. The model is validated using Boncompain, Costa, and Dowson's experimental data and compared to Khonsari's analytical method. The maximum deviation from the measured temperatures is 10 per cent for Costa's data and the predictions of 51.2°C from the model are 0.3°C lower than Dowson's experimentally measured peak temperature. The model shows rapid convergence, stabilizing in only three iterations. The cavitation interface thermal boundary conditions need not be specified. Side leakage predictions are within 2.8 percent of the measured value whereas Martin's analytical method achieves an accuracy of 11.2 percent