Non-Newtonian fluids effects on the steady-state performance of two-lobe journal bearings

This research aims to investigate the behavior of non-Newtonian fluid obeying the power law model in a laminar flow regime for a two-lobe journal bearing. The investigation involves calculating the static characteristics in terms; of load-carrying capacity, attitude angle, friction coefficient, friction force, and side leakage, for various values of the power law index and different eccentricity ratios. To determine the static characteristics, the pressure distributions are obtained by the numerical solution of the modified Reynolds equation considering the effect of non-Newtonian behavior of the fluids using the finite difference method. This study reveals that increasing both the eccentricity ratio and power law index produce an increase in the load-carrying capacity, friction force, and side leakage while lead to a decrease in the attitude angle and friction coefficient for the two-lobe journal bearing. In addition, compared to Newtonian fluid the results show that the using of non-Newtonian fluids as lubricants improves the static characteristics of the two-lobe journal bearing especially for the shear-thickening lubricants.