Evolution of the lubrication regime of a cylindrical journal bearing in the starting phase

Purpose – The paper aims to analyze the evolution of the lubrication regime by studying the variation of friction coefficient with the rotational speed of the shaft and the impact of the applied load in the starting phase of a cylindrical journal bearing. The paper also aims to ensure that the oil layer is large enough for the rough edges of the outer layer of the bushing and the shaft cannot come into contact. The bearing is made of steel backing material and babbitted (88 per cent tin) on its inner surface. Design/methodology/approach – A numerical analysis is performed taking into account the thermal effect to better predict the operating performance of a hydrodynamic plain cylindrical journal bearing during the start-up and observe the variation of the heat production in bushing inner surface. The flow is modeled based on the Reynolds equation and discretized using the finite volume method. Findings – The evolutions of the start-up speeds of the bearing have remarkable influence on friction torque; av...