Assessment on the Static Characteristic of the Journal Bearing with Aerated Oil Film

Theoretical and experimental assessments are conducted to analyze how the aerated oil film affects the lubrication performance of the journal bearing in this paper. The lubrication model of the journal bearing with aerated oil is built by introducing the viscosity and density models of the lubricating oil based on the original Reynolds equation; the influence of aeration rates of lubricating oil on the lubrication performance of the journal bearing is studied through the test rig developed independently in our laboratory. Numerical simulation and experimental results verify that the four quotient parameters of bearing studied in this paper which include maximum oil film pressure, friction power consumption, bearing capacity and leak flow increase with the increasing aeration rate.