Noise analysis of oil-lubricated journal bearings

The objective of the paper is to provide a procedure for calculating the noise of oil-lubricated journal bearings. In order to obtain acoustical properties of the bearing, a non-linear analysis including rotor imbalance is performed for a rotor-bearing system. Sound pressure levels of the bearing are obtained through frequency analysis of pressure fluctuations calculated from the non-linear analysis using a transmission theory of plane waves. Results show that the sound pressure level of the bearing increases with the rotational speed of the rotor, although the whirl amplitude of the rotor is decreased at high speed. The noise-estimating procedure presented in the paper could be an aid in the evaluation and understanding of acoustical properties of oil-lubricated journal bearings.