A Study of Worn Hybrid Journal Bearing System With Different Recess Shapes Under Turbulent Regime

The objective of the present paper is to study analytically the influence of wear on the performance of a capillary-compensated, four-pocket, hybrid journal bearing system operating in a turbulent regime by considering various geometric shapes of recess. The present study deals with bearings having four different geometric shapes of recess, i.e., square, circular, elliptical, and triangular recessed bearings. The wear on the bearing surface is modeled using Dufrane’s abrasive wear model. The Reynolds equation based on Constantinescu’s turbulent lubrication theory has been solved using finite element method along with a restrictor flow equation as a constraint together with appropriate boundary conditions. The numerically simulated results have been presented for a wide range of nondimensional external loads, wear depth parameters, and Reynolds numbers. The numerically simulated results suggest that the combined influence of wear, turbulence, and geometric shape of recess significantly affects the bearing performance. It has been observed that a triangular recessed bearing provides a greater value of minimum fluid film thickness when operating in a turbulent regime. It is also noticed that direct fluid film stiffness coefficients get reduced significantly when bearings operate in a turbulent regime compared with a laminar regime. Further, it is observed that from the viewpoint of fluid film stiffness, a square recessed bearing is found to be most suitable when operating in a turbulent regime.