Study of thermal profile and cavitation in a circular journal bearing

Abstract Thermohydrodynamic theory, often referred to as THD theory, considers the viscosity-temperature effect across the film and is increasingly being used to predict bearing performance with greater accuracy. Considerable information on prediction of the temperature of journal bearings is now available and a great majority of these results rely on theoretical models. The experimental investigation in this area is restricted and the available information indicates that some disagreement with theoretical predictions still remains. This fact has attracted the attention of many researchers and an attempt is made here to explain the reason for this discrepancy.