Hydrodynamic Lubrication Analysis in Self-lubricating Journal Bearings with Power Law Fluid Model

The effect of non-Newtonian lubricants behavior using power law fluid model of self-lubricating porous journal bearings with sealed ends is analyzed. The nonlinear Reynolds equation is derived by considering both the fluid flow in the porous matrix and the lubricant rheological behavior where Darcy’s law and power- law model were used. Governing differential equations were solved numerically using the finite difference method. Static characteristics are obtained by considering three types of lubricants: dilatant n > 1, pseudo-plastic n < 1 and Newtonian fluids n = 1. Obtained results showed that the power law index has important effects on the performance of porous and non-porous bearings. An improvement in the fluid bearing characteristics (load capacity, pressure) is observed for dilatant fluids. The permeability of the porous structure has significant effects on the performance of porous journal bearings of finite length, particularly at higher eccentricity ratios.