Static and Dynamic Characteristics of Two-Lobe Hydrostatic Journal Bearing

The behavior of multi-recess hydrostatic journal bearings is now very well known because of stability and many numerical and experimental studies that have been carried out in this area. Noncircular or multi-lobe journal bearings are also used in high-speed machinery, gas turbines, and test equipments due to their excellent shaft stability characteristics and capability to suppress the whirl. Capillary and orifice are most commonly used restrictors for hydrostatic bearings because of simple manufacturing. The two-lobe bearings are among the commonly used noncircular journal bearings. The aim of this study deals with the theoretical investigation of a two-lobe six-recess hydrostatic journal bearing systems to present static and dynamic performance characteristics with different restrictors such as capillary, orifice, etc. and comparison of characteristics of capillary and orifice restrictor. Recent years have witnessed quite a substantial amount of research work in the area of fluid film lubrication. The analysis and design of two-lobe six-recess hydrostatic journal bearing is quite a complex process. There are various parameters such as bearing configuration, lobe position, type of restrictor, number of recesses, shape of recesses, lubricant supply pressure, external load, bearing operating and geometric parameters, etc., which influences this class of bearing quite significantly. The analysis of a two-lobe multi-recess hydrostatic bearing would become more realistic by incorporating physical effect of method of compensation device. Further, a designer may improve the performance of bearing by varying the number of recess.