Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.

in)

6.2 Hydrodynamic Oil-Lubricated Journal Bearings

Journal bearings consist of a circular section length of shaft (journal) rotating inside a bearing bush
that is normally circular. The journal diameter is usually 99.8 99.9% of that of the bush, and the
clearance space between the two in partially filled by the lubricating fluid. At zero rotational speed,
under a steady load, the journal rests at the bottom of the clearance space. When it rotates, oil is
dragged along by the journal due to the oil viscosity and a thin film of oil is built up between the
journal and bush so that under normal operating conditions there is no surface-to-surface contact.
When designing for steady loads the problem is to ensure that there is sufficient film clearance to take
up the effects of the surface undulations and likely changes in load during the machines life. To
ensure that the bearing is not prone to self-excited vibrations, with these factors in mind, most journal
bearings operate at steady state eccentricity ratios (journal eccentricity/radial clearance) of about

0.6 0.7. Journal bearing can have a significant effect on a machines vibration characteristics. The
oil film behaves like a complicated arrangement of springs and dampers and so influences the
machine critical speeds and imbalance response. Moreover, bearing fluid film forces can cause rotor
instability, which results in serious levels of self-excited vibration (e.g. oil-film whirl). The most
common forms of journal bearing are given in Figure 6.12.

Plain cylindrical

3 lobe

Circumferential

Partial arc

4 lobe

Offset halves

Lemon bore

Tilting pad

Figure 6.12 Various geometric shapes of hydrodynamic bearings

Plain Cylindrical bearings
This type of bearings are simplest to manufacture and the most common in use. Oil inlet port (and
outlet port when present) is frequently on the bearing horizontal center line and may be either circular
(hole entry) or in the form of an axial groove type of recessed pocket to aid oil distribution. The
plain bearing is able to carry very heavy loads except in the direction towards the oil feed pocket.

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

Circumferential Groove Bearings

An alternate form of the plain cylindrical bearing is the circumferential groove bearing in which the
surface is effectively divided into two half-bearing in which the surface is effectively divided into two
half-bearings by a circumferential oil distribution groove. This type of bearing is frequently used
when the direction of the load may change significantly. However the magnitude of the load, which
can be applied, is less than half of that of the plain bearing.

Partial-Arc Bearings
In another variation of the plain cylindrical bearing the lower part of the bearing bush bore is relieved.
Typically, 60 1200 of included arc of surface are left to carry the load whose direction is virtually
constant. The advantage obtained by relieving the bush bore is to reduce friction losses in the bearing
whilst retaining most of the bearing load-carrying capacity.

Lemon Bore Bearing

It is effectively two partial arc bearings mounted in opposition to each other, and is manufactured by
removing material from the interface between the upper and lower halves of what was originally a
circular bearing. The resulting bearing has a load-carrying capacity, which is more resistant to oil-film
whirl. The stiffness and damping in the horizontal direction are relatively low.

Three-Lobe and Four-Lobe Bearings

They provide greater resistance to oil-film whirl and relatively large oil-film stiffness and damping
values, which are dependent on the orientation of lobes. Their load-carrying capacity is only about
half of that of the partial arc bearing.

Offset Halves Bearings

Able to support loads which are slightly less than those carried by the partial arc bearing. It has high
oil-film stiffness and damping. It has very high resistance to oil-whirl but suitable for machines which
rotate in one direction only.

Tilting Pad Bearings

It has 100% resistant to oil-film whirl. It contains number of arcs, each of which is independently
mounted on a fulcrum whose axis of rotation runs parallel with that of the journal. The pads are thus
able to find their own equilibrium alignment position during bearing operation. It is most costly to
manufacture and has a load-carrying capacity which is only about half of that of the plain cylindrical
bearing. It is generally used only when oil-film whirl cause a problem.

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

6.2.1 Basic Concepts and Assumptions of Bearing Models

For a given bearing and rotational speed, lubrication theory may be used to calculate the reaction
forces on the journal from the lubricant film are functions of the displacements of the journal from
bearing center and of the instantaneous journal center velocities and accelerations. Hence, for small
amplitude motions, measured from the static equilibrium position (see Figure 1) of the journal (u0, v0),
a first order Taylor series expansion yields

x = u0 + k xx x + k xy y + c xx x
+ c xy y
+ m xx
x
+ m xy
y

y = v0 + k yx x + k yy y + c yx x
+ c yy y
+ m yx
x
+ m yy
y

where
x
k xy =
y

( u 0 , v0 )
x = f x m
x

(1)

x
c xy =
y

( u 0 , v0 )
y = f y m
y

x
m xy =

y

( u 0 , v0 )

and analogously the remaining bearing dynamic coefficients may be defined. In the matrix form of
equation (1) all diagonal terms are called direct coefficients and off-diagonal terms are called crosscoupled terms. The latter terms arise due to the fluid rotation within the bearing. is the reaction
force of fluid film on the journal, f is the external excitation force on the journal, m is the journal
mass, u0 and v0 are the static equilibrium position of the journal from the bearing center, x and y are
the displacements of the journal from its static equilibrium position, x
and y
are the instantaneous
journal center velocities and
x
and
y
are the instantaneous journal center accelerations, in the vertical
and horizontal directions respectively. The dot indicates the time derivatives and kij, cij and mij (i, j =
x, y) are bearing stiffness, damping and added-mass (also termed the virtual fluid-film mass or inertia)
coefficients respectively. The indices of the stiffness, damping and added-mass coefficients have the
following significance: the first index gives the direction of loading which produces the elastic
(damping/inertia) force and the second index gives the direction of the displacement
(velocity/acceleration). Because (u0, v0) is the equilibrium position, then u0 equals the static load, W.
The equilibrium position depends on a unique value of the dimensionless Sommerfeld number
( S = ( RL / W )( R / cr ) 2 ( L / D ) 2 ), where is the lubricant viscosity, is the journal rotational
speed, D is the bearing bore, R is the journal radius, L is the bearing length and cr is the bearing radial
clearance. The Sommerfeld number, S, defines the operating conditions (speed, lubricant viscosity,
static load and geometry). The dynamic coefficients are evaluated for a particular static equilibrium
position, which is a function of the Sommerfeld number, S, which means that for a given application,
they are functions of rotor speed. Moreover, bearing dynamic coefficients could be external excitation
frequency, , dependent.
It should be noted that equation (1) is a complete form of linearised fluid-film dynamic equation and it
contains twelve stiffness, damping and added-mass coefficients. Consistent with the assumptions
inherent in reducing the Navier-Strokes equations to the Reynolds equation, the conventional laminar,
thin film lubrication theory ignores the inertia forces in the fluid-film (Pinkus and Sternlicht, 1961;
Schlichting, 1960). This is theoretically justified for small values of the Reynolds number (of the
order of 1). On the other hand, the assumption of laminar flow ceases to be valid when there is
transition to either Taylor vortex flow or to turbulent flow which, for fluid-film cylindrical journal

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

bearing, occurs at a Reynolds number of approximately 1000 to 1500. Thus, there is an intermediate
range, say for values of Reynolds number of the order of 100, where added-mass effects may become
noticeable (several times the mass of the journal itself) without affecting the assumption of laminar
flow. The added-mass coefficients represent the mass of the bearing fluid-film (Reinhardt and Lund,
1975) but are significant only in exceptional cases and in most analyses the added-mass of the bearing
film are ignored. The stiffness and damping coefficients can be obtained by a finite difference
solution of the perturbed Reynolds equation (Lund and Thomsen, 1978).
From lubrication theory (ignoring inertia effects) damping coefficients are symmetric but stiffness
coefficients are not. Therefore principal directions do not exist (although this was assumed by Hagg
and Sankey (1956) and Duffin and Johnson (1966-67)), and in the experimental determination of the
coefficients, it is necessary to obtain two independent sets of amplitude-force measurements. Lund
(1987) emphasised the experimental measurement of the bearing coefficients and established more
uniform agreement with analytical calculations by considering the influence of thermal and elastic
deformations and practical problems of manufacturing and operating tolerances of bearing geometry,
clearance and lubricant viscosity. Although the load-displacement characteristics of a journal bearing
is evidently non-linear, the concept of linear dynamic coefficients is still used for modern rotor
dynamic calculations for unbalance response, damped natural frequencies and stability since
experience has demonstrated the usefulness of the coefficients. Clearly the applicability of these
techniques is dependent on small amplitudes of vibration at the journal (relative to the bearing
clearance).
For squeeze-film bearings the governing equation for the fluid-film reaction force has a similar form
to equation (1) with negligible stiffness coefficients and no static load.

x = m xx
x
+ m xy
y
+ c xx x
+ c xy y

y = m yx
x
+ m yy
y
+ c yx x
+ c yy y

(2)

Mittwollen et al. (1991) showed theoretically and experimentally that hydrodynamic thrust bearings,
which are often treated as an axial support, might affect the lateral vibration of a rotor-bearing system.
If no axial force is present, then the resulting reaction moments of a thrust bearing can be written in
terms of stiffness and damping coefficients (Jiang and Yu, 1999 and 2000)

x = k x + k x + c x
+ c x

y = k y + k y + c y
+ c y

(3)

where kx, etc. represent moment dynamic coefficients of the thrust bearing, and and are angular
displacements (slopes) in x and y directions, respectively.
All of the bearing models discussed thus far are linearised models. A few researchers have considered
non-linear bearing models and these will be described in appropriate places.

6.2.1 Reynolds Equation and Approximate Solutions

The characteristic of hydrodynamic bearings can be derived theoretically by correctly modeling the
bearing fluid film. The equation which does this was derived by Reynolds (1886) and is (Cameron,
1981)

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

h3 p h3 p

+
= 6 U ( h) + 2 ( h)

x x y y
t
x

(6.23)

where x locates the distance around the bearing circumference of the point under consideration
(measured from some arbitrary datum), y is the position in the axial direction, is the lubricating
density, is the dynamic viscosity, h is the film clearance, p is the lubricant pressure, U is the
tangential velocity of the journal surface and t is the time. The film clearance is very small compared
with the journal diameter and so the effects of curvature can be ignored for the purposes of evaluation
of the lubricant pressure variation. For the purpose of mathematical modeling, the lubricant film may

Film thickness, h

be considered as through it were unwrapped from around the journal as indicated in Figure 6.8.

R
J

Axial position

Angular position,

2R
Circumferential position, x

Figure 6.8 Hydrodynamic bearing static equilibrium film thickness

In Figure 6.8, is the angular position around the bearing measured from JB produced, is the
attitude angle, L is the bearing length, B is the bearing center, J is the journal center, R is the journal
radius and B J = e is the eccentricity. In most applications the lubricant density does not vary
substantially throughout the oil film. Its viscosity might vary; a constant effective viscosity based on
the lubricant thermal balance may be used for calculations. With above assumptions and for steady
state operation (i.e.

h
= 0 ) we get from equation (6.23)
t

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

3 p 3 p
h
h
+ h
= 6 U

x x y y
x

(6.24)

Above equation describes the variation of lubricant pressure in both the axial and circumferential
directions. An approximate solution (closed form) may be obtained by using the short bearing
(Ocvirk, 1952) approximation (where pressure variation in the circumferential direction is assumed to
be negligible compared with that in the axial direction and so

p
is set to zero). The eight linearized
x

stiffness and damping coefficients depend on the steady state operating conditions of the journal, and
in particular upon the angular speed. For the short bearing, the dimensionless bearing stiffness and
damping coefficients, kij = kij cr W , cij = cij cr W , and i, j = x, y, as a function of the steady
eccentricity ratio, , of the bearing are given as (Smith, 1969, Journal Bearings in Turbo Machinery)

k xy =

k yx =

cxx =

c yy =

2 2 2 2 (16 2 ) 4 Q ( )
1

k yy =

2 + ( 32 + 2 ) 2 + 2 (16 2 ) 4 Q ( )

(1 ) {

+ 2 ( 2 8 ) 2 Q ( )

4 2 + ( 32 + 2 ) 2 + 2 (16 2 ) 4 Q ( )

(1 )
2

k xx = 4 2 2 + (16 2 ) 4 Q ( )

2 2 + 2 ( 24 2 ) 2 + 2 4 Q ( )

(6.25)

(1 2 )

with

Q ( ) =

{ (1 ) + 16 }
2

cxy = c yx = 8 2 + 2 ( 2 8 ) 2 Q ( )

12

To determine stiffness and bearing coefficients of a short bearing, the Sommerfeld number

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

S=

DLN r
W

cr

(6.26)

is first determined, where W is the load on the bearing, r is the bearing radius, D is the journal
diameter, L is the length of bearing, is the viscosity of lubricant at operating temperature,

(= 2 n) the angular speed of journal, n is the number of revolutions per seconds and cr is the
radial clearance. The eccentricity ratio of the journal center defined as, = e c r , where e is the
journal eccentricity. We can then determine the eccentricity ratio under steady state operating
conditions by
2
1 2 )
(
L
S =
D 2 (1 2 ) + 16 2
2

(6.27)

For the long bearing approximation (where the pressure variation in the axial direction is assumed
to be negligible compared with that in the circumferential direction and so

p
is set to zero). This
y

approximation also enable closed-form solution of equation (6.26) to be obtained, provided that
appropriate boundary conditions (Figure 6.9) are selected to enable evolution of the constants of
integration. (Cameron, 1981; Pinkus and Sternlickt, 1961 and Rao, 1993).

Lubricant pressure, p

Reynolds condition

dp
= 0 when p =0
d

Half Sommerfeld condition

(set p = 0 if computed p < 0)
Angular position
Full Summerfeld
condition
(p=0 at =0 & =2

Figure 6.9 Boundary conditions used in journal bearing analysis

6.2.2 Finite Bearings

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

Real bearings are neither infinitely long nor infinitely short. Most bearings have a length to diameter
ratio in the range 0.5 to 1.5, so although the approximate solutions described above may be used in
preliminary design calculations, final design studies will often require a more realistic analysis. For a
more general solution of the Reynolds equation it is necessary to use numerical method. Most
common numerical technique used in hydrodynamic journal bearing analysis is the finite difference
method, because of its relative simplicity and because of the ease with which it can be adopted to suit
most bearing geometries. In the first instance the problem should be reduced to a two dimensioned
one by considering the oil film to be unwrapped from around the journal. The oil film is then divided
into a number of sections of finite size by describing it in terms of mesh nodes, as indicated in Figure
6.10. In between each nodes described, a number of further points are considered, for example those
surrounding the node i, j are shown in Figure 6.11. Since the Reynolds equation describes the
behavior of the lubricant at any location in the fluid film, it can be written for every specific node
contained within the finite-difference mesh.

i, j+1
i, j

Axial
position

i, j+1/2

i-1, j

i+1, j
Further points
considered

i, j-1

Circumferential position

Node point designation

Figure 6.10

Figure 6.11

Equation (25) may be written for the node i, j as

pi , j +1 pi , j

i, j +

x 2

1
2

pi , j pi , j 1

i, j

1
2

x 2

+h

1
i+ , j
2

pi +1, j pi , j
y 2

1
i , j
2

pi , j pi 1, j
y 2

h
= 6 U

i, j +

1
2

i, j

1
2

which can be simply written as

pi , j = k1 + k2 pi +1, j + k3 pi 1, j + k4 pi , j +1 + k5 pi , j 1

where h

i, j +

1
2

(6.28)

is the film thickness between (i, j) and (i, j + 1) nodes and k1, k2 etc. are constants whose

values are known for every nodes. Equation (6.28) may then be written for every node in the mesh,
except for those where the lubricant pressure is already known (for example at the nodes representing

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

the ends of the bearing where the lubricant pressure must be equal to the ambient pressure). These
equations can then be solved simultaneously. Alternatively, an iterative method of solution may be
employed such as successive relaxation where the value of the pressure at each node is determined
successively according to the most up-to-date values of the terms on the right-hand side of the
equation (6.28) (initially, all pressure might be set to zero). This evaluation of pressure is repeated for
all nodes several times over until the change in the value of lubricant pressure at any node is no
greater than a small fraction of 1% of the lubricant pressure. At first consideration it may appear to be
difficult to impose the correct Reynolds conditions, because of the uncertainty of where the lubricant
pressure becomes zero. It appear that only the half-sommerfeld conditions can be imposed by setting
any negative pressure to zero, after solution has been found. However, if a second iteration procedure
or solution of simultaneous equations, is carried out with these pressure set to zero then different
nodes will be found to have sub-zero pressure (negativeve pressure). This process may be repeated
until there is no change in the lubricant film edge position. In the case of iterative procedures the
process can be speeded up by assigning any sub-zero pressure to be zero as and when the arc
evaluated. When this process is completed it is found that, because the Reynolds equation is a
continuous function, the final pressure distribution corresponds to the Reynolds boundary conditions
with the constraint of

p
= 0 at the trailing edge of the lubricant film automatically catered for. Once

the lubricant pressured have been evaluated for a particular journal attitude angle and eccentricity (i.e.
then film thickness will be known), the corresponding forces provided by the lubricant on the journal
may be evaluated by integrating numerically all of the element forces associated with each node. For
example, each node pressure is considered to contribute to force on the journal over an area X &

Y surrounding it, when integrating using a trapezium rule.

pi,j

Y
Various
node
positions

The shading indicates the area

over which pressure pi,j is
considered to act

Some node
position around
the bearing
circumference

Figure 6.12 A closer view of the grid and node around circumference

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

Thus, if the node is situated at some angle to the horizontal direction as shown in Figure 6.12, then
the lubricant force on the journal in the horizontal direction (from left to right) is

Fh = pij cos ij xy

(6.29)

j =1 i =1

and that in the vertical direction (upwards) is

Fv = pij sin ij xy

(6.30)

j =1 i =1

where i is the axial node positions (Total n such nodes) and j is the circumferential node position
(total m such nodes). The above equations for lubricant forces acting on the journal should also
include the tangential friction forces, in most cases however, the friction forces are small when
compared with the pressure forces. For bearing designed to carry vertical loads only (for example
gravity loads) the relationship between eccentricity ratio and journal attitude angle may be
determined by investigating different values of for a given value of until the value of Fn is found
to be zero. This trial and error method enables corresponding value of , and Sommerfeld number
S to be found. The steady-sate journal loci for plain cylindrical bearings and their relationship with
sommerfeld number are shown in Figure 6.13. Where L is the bearing length, D is the bearing
diameter, W is the load on the baring, R the bearing radius, C is the radial clearance and N the shaft
rotational speed in rev./sec.

Eccentricity ratio

0.1 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

900

L/D=0.5
Eccentricity ratio
=e/c

0.5

L/D=1.0

600
L/D=1.0

0.25

300 , Altitude angle

00
10-2

10-1

Sommerfeld number S =

10
2

DLN R
W

cr

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

Figure 6.13 Typical variation of (a) eccentricity ratio with Sommerfeld number and (b) eccentricity
ratio with journal altitude angle for plain cylindrical bearings for L/D = 0.5 and 1.0

6.2.3 Friction
Friction forces in fluid film bearings arise out of the energy dissipation associated with the shearing
of the fluid film. From the elementary fluid mechanics the shear stress at some point in a fluid layer is
given by

du
dz

(6.31)

where z is in film thickness h direction, is fluid dynamics viscosity and

du
is velocity gradient
dz

across the fluid film. In a hydrodynamic the velocity gradient term arises partly from the variation in
pressure around the journal causing lubricant flow and partly as result of the journal rotation
dragging lubricant around the clearance space. Thus, for a point at the journal surface equation
(6.31) becomes

1 dp h U
+
dx 2 h

(6.32)

The first term in the bracket is the pressure-induced term and the second term is the velocity-induced
term. The total drag force on the journal is then given by ( x = Rd )

Fd =

2
+ d dp h

U
Rd
+

L 0 Rd 2
0 h Rd dy

2
2

(6.33)

where pressure-induced component is assumed to be present only when the lubricant pressure is
positive i.e. over the region 0 < < + d. The velocity-induced component is present wherever there
is lubricant, for example all around the clearance space (with reasonable approximation). It is possible
to develop closed-form expressions for the integral in equation (6.33) in the case of the infinitely long
and infinitely short bearings (Pinkus and Sternlicht, 1961). In the case of finite bearings the
integration may be carried out numerically and expressed as

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

n l
n m
hij dp
KRU
RU
xy +
xy
xy +
j =1 2 dx ij
i =1 j =1 hij
i =1 j =l hij
l

Fd =
i =1

(6.34)

where l is the node corresponding to the edge of the pressurized section of the lubricant film
(circumferential node position). Equation (6.34) is a slight variation of equation (6.33) in that the last
term of (6.34) now allows for the break up of the lubricant film, where K is a constant whose value is
less than unity. The magnitude of K may be determined empirically, and is the concern of current
research. This feature of real lubricant film is not allowed for in equation (6.33).

6.2.4 Lubricant Flow Rate

In case of both the infinitely short and infinitely long bearing there is a lubricant pressure variation in
the axial direction for 0 < < 2 causing a flow of lubricant out of the ends of the bearing. This flow
rate, allowing for both ends of the bearing, is given by basic fluid mechanics theory as

Q=2

h 3 dp
Rd
12 dy

(6.35)

For the finite bearing, using a trapezium rule for integration for the finite difference mesh shown in
Figure 6.10, we have

h 3 ij dp
x
j =1 12 dy ij
m

Q = 2

(6.36)

A typical variation of the flow rate is shown in Figure 6.14.

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

Dimensionless flow rate, 2Q/(UcL)

L
= 0.25
D
L
= 0.5
D

L
= 1.0
D

Eccentricity Ratio, = e / c
Figure 6.14 Variation of flow rate with eccentricity ratio

6.2.5 Dynamic characteristics

Hydrodynamic bearing films are flexible, i.e. when a dynamic load is applied to the bearing, as a
consequence of imbalance for example, the journal is caused to orbit about the static equilibrium
position which it would otherwise take up when carrying only a static load. The effective stiffness and
damping associated with this flexibility of the lubricating film have a most significant effect on
system critical speeds, on forced response and on system stability. For these reasons it is important to
be able to evaluate the bearing dynamic characteristics at the design stage. The approach which is
usually adopted is to consider there to be some small displacements dx and dy of the journal away
from its static equilibrium position, in the horizontal and vertical directions respectively. The journal
center is also assumed to possess velocities dx
and d
y in horizontal and vertical directions
respectively (whereas under the action of only a steady load its velocity would be zero). The effects of
these changes in the state of the journal on the lubricant film forces are then evaluated. When there is
no dynamic load on the journal, the lubricant steady-sate film forces in the horizontal and vertical
directions could be expressed as functions of the journal displacements, x and y, and velocities, x
and

y
, away from the bearing center; that is

Fx = f1 ( x, y, x
, y
)

and

Fy = f 2 ( x, y, x
, y
)

(6.37)

where x
and y
are both zero. When there are changes in these displacements and velocities as
described above, the new values of lubricant film forces will be Fx + dFx and Fy + dFy respectively.

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

These forces may also be expressed using equation (6.37) as a four-variable Taylor series, neglecting
small terms, as

Fx + dFx = f1 ( x, y, x
, y
) + dx

Fx
F
F
F
+ dy x + dx
x + dy
x
x
y
x

y

(6.38)

and

Fy + dF y = f 2 ( x, y, x
, y
) + dx

Fy
x

+ dy

Fy
y

+ dx

F y
x

+ dy

Fy
y

(6.39)

The change in the lubricant film forces are then given by

Fx
F
F
F
+ dy x + dx
x + dy
x
x
y
x

y

= k xx dx + k xy dy + cxx dx
+ cxy dy

dFx = ( Fx + dFx ) Fx = dx

(6.40)

and

Fy
F
+ dy
y
x
y
x

y

= k yx dx + k yy dy + c yx dx
+ c yy dy

dFy = ( Fy + dFy ) Fy = dx

Fy

+ dy

Fy

+ dx

(6.41)

where kij and cij are known as the oil-film stiffness and damping coefficients respectively, i and j can
take values of x and y. It is these quantities, which must be known in order to calculate the overall
system response to imbalance and stability. Values of kxx and kyx may be found by calculating the
lubricant film forces Fx1 and F y1 when a small displacement dx is imposed on the journal (from its
static equation position) with dy , dx
, and d
y all set to zero. The process is then repeated with a
displacement of dx to calculate Fx2 and Fy 2 . The stiffness coefficients kxx and kyx are then given by

k xx =

Fx1 Fx2
2dx

and k yx =

Fy1 Fy2
2dx

(6.42)

Similarly, values of the other stiffness and damping coefficients may be evaluated by imposing small
variations in dy , dx
, and d
y on the journal, and investigating their effect on the lubricant film
forces, as

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

k xy =

Fx3 Fx4
2dy

k yy =

Fy3 Fy4

2dy

cxx =

Fx5 Fx6
2dx

;
(6.43)

c yx =

Fy5 Fy6
2dx

cxy =

Fx7 Fx8
2dy

c yy =

Fy7 Fy8
2dy

It should be noted that when proceeding in the manner described above care should be taken when
formulating Reynolds equation (6.24) in finite difference form, as the quantity

h
is no longer zero
t

when dx
or d
y are non-zero, and appropriate value of U is also dependent on dx
and d
y . Solutions
for several types of bearing have been carried out (Lund et al., 1965; Homer, 1960, Someya, 1988). In
addition to the spring and damping coefficients introduced above, some authors have suggested the
use of inertia coefficient and moment coefficients. Although such coefficients usually have only a
small effect on bearing dynamics. Inertia coefficients can be defined as

Fx ( x, y, x
, y
,
x
,
y
) = 0

and

F y ( x, y, x
, y
,
x
,
y
) = 0

(6.44)

Hence

dFx = +

Fx
F
dx

+ x dy

= + mxx dx

+ myx dy








x
y

(6.45)

where m is the inertia coefficients. Moment coefficients can be defined as

Fx ( x, y, , , x
, y
,
,
) = 0

(6.46)

Hence

dFx = +

Fx
F
.d + x .d + = + kx d + kx d +

(6.47)

dM x = +

M x
M x
.d +
.d + = + k d + k d +

(6.48)

and

where k , k x ,  are moment stiffness coefficients.

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