Influence of wear on the performance of capillary compensated hole entry hybrid conical journal bearing

Hybrid conical journal bearings have received great attraction by design engineers and researchers due to their incomparable performance. However, performance of these bearings is affected due to wear. This paper aims to present an analytical study concerning the performance of hole entry worn hybrid conical journal bearings.

The Reynolds equation governing the flow of lubricant in the clearance space along with the restrictor flow equations has been solved using finite element method.

The numerically simulated results of worn bearing performance parameters indicate significant change in the performance due to wear. Therefore, for semi cone angle γ = 25^°, the value of C¯₂₂ reduces by 24.6 per cent at the wear value of about 50 per cent of radial clearance for the given configuration of bearing.

The present results are original of its kind and surely useful to bearing designers and researchers in predicting actual performance of worn hole entry hybrid conical journal bearing.