Investigation of the performance of a hydrodynamic journal bearing with two interfacial slippage zones on the stationary sleeve surface

An analysis is presented for the performance of a hydrodynamic journal bearing where the interfacial slippage occurs, respectively, in two different areas with different sleeve surface properties on the whole lubricated stationary sleeve surface, based on the limiting interfacial shear strength model. The calculations were made for widely varying operational parameter values. It was found that for a good bearing performance, the fluid-sleeve surface interfacial shear strength in the bearing inlet zone should be lower than that in the bearing outlet zone, and the envelop angle of the interfacial slippage zone in the bearing inlet zone should be larger than the critical value, which is significantly increased with the increase of the eccentricity ratio; Normally, for the same operating condition, the carried load of the present bearing is about half that of the classical mode of the bearing (without any interfacial slippage), while the friction coefficients on the shaft and sleeve surfaces in the present bearing are no more than 25% of those in the classical mode of the bearing. The present bearing has the merits of easier manufacturing, low friction coefficients and energy conservation.