Influence of wear on the performance of a 2-lobe multirecess hybrid journal bearing system compensated with membrane restrictor

In the present paper, an analytical study concerning the influence of wear on the performance of a membrane compensated 2-lobe four-pocket hybrid journal bearing system has been presented. The modified Reynolds equation governing the flow of lubricant in the clearance space of a journal bearing system was solved using FEM and Newton–Raphson method. The numerically simulated results clearly indicates that the performance of the bearing is greatly affected by wear. A judicious selection of parameters such as δ  , δ¯w and C¯m may provide better bearing performance.

Research Highlights
► The Reynolds equation governing the flow of lubricant in the clearance space of bearing was solved using FEM.
► Simulated results were presented for a wide range of external load and wear depth parameter.
► The performance of 2-lobe hybrid journal bearing depends on the kind of flow control device used in the system. Performance of bearing is greatly affected by wear depth parameter and offset factor.