Thermal behaviour analysis of plain journal bearing influence of oil film viscosity on the journal characteristics

A numerical procedure is developped in order to analyse the " Tridimensional Thermohydrodynamic " behaviour of a bearing under static loading. The Reynolds equation, the energy equation in the film and the heat transfert equation in the solids are simultaneously solved using a Newton-Raphson procedure and the finite element modelisation. The numerical procedure developped incorporates a cavitation algorithm based on JFO model, which automatically predicts film rupture and reformation in the bearings. In the present study, the obtained results from this model are compared to experimentals results and numericals results from THD 2D model. The evolution of the thermal fields are presented and discussed. The comparisons showed that the THD 3D model with the cavitation algorithm is more performant than THD 2D model.