Comparison of Different Hydrodynamic Bearings

Application ID: 43531


This example demonstrates how you can use modeling to investigate the performance of different hydrodynamic journal bearings. The model uses the Hydrodynamic Bearing interface, which solves the Reynolds equation to compute the pressure developed in a thin fluid film for four different bearing types: cylindrical, elliptical, split-halves, and multilobe.

Results include the fluid pressure profile on the bearings, plots of journal eccentricity versus load, the steady-state position of the journals, and the fluid thickness profile when the journal is concentric with the bearing. Moreover, fluid pressure and fluid velocity profiles are also plotted as surfaces unwrapped from the bearing.

In the tutorial, we compare variations in the equilibrium journal position and thickness profile of the fluid film. By comparing these quantities, we can find the optimal bearing under similar operating conditions.

This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products: