Tutorial 7 - Design of a Journal Bearing

Goals:
Design a journal bearing.
Calculate important operating parameters of
hydrodynamic bearings.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Problem Statement
Given: A heated roll is used to evaporate water from pulp in the production of paper. This
roll is mounted onto a two inch diameter shaft for which a journal bearing needs to be
designed. The roller sees a total load of 1500 pounds, which is distributed evenly between
two identical bearings. The roll speed is 2000 rev/min and SAE 10 oil is readily available (it
is used throughout the paper mill and is in abundant supply). The oil inlet temperature is
thought to be around 110F. Because of clearance issues, the bearing width must be one inch
or less.
Find: 1.) The radial clearance of the bearing for optimum load carrying capacity. 2.) The
surface finish required on the bearing. 3.) The temperature rise, friction coefficient, flow
rate and side flow rate of oil through the bearing. (These are needed to prescribe heat
exchangers for the oil reservoir.) 4.)Comment on the importance of the inlet temperature,
that is, what effect on the bearing performance would occur if the inlet temperature were
130 F?

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Solution Outline
Preliminary Calculations
Determination of Bearing Characteristic
Number
Determination of required clearance
Determination of bearing parameters and
surface roughness
Effect of inlet oil temperatures
Concluding Remarks
Note: The approach presented is only one of many approaches which
can be pursued. Although the indicated steps are in a logical order, they
are not to be considered the essential order.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Preliminary Calculations
Since the bearing width is restricted to one inch or less, it will
be taken as one inch. The reason for this is that there is no
advantage from an operating standpoint to have a smaller
width, and if the bearing will be manufactured through a
grinding operation, the cost of finishing a one inch wide surface
on a large roller is insignificantly larger than a 0.75 inch
bearing, for example. Therefore, the diameter to width ratio
for the bearing is
2in

2
1in
j

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Determine the bearing characteristic number

and the dimensionless film thickness

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Determination of Bearing Characteristic Number

The bearing characteristic number is Bj=0.35.

The dimensionless film thickness parameter is hmin/c=0.42.

See the Next Slide for details of the analysis!

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Analysis Details
These values can be directly read from Figure 2.28, since it is known that the
diameter to width ratio is 2 and the bearing is to be designed for maximum load
carrying capability:

From the chart, the bearing number Bj is approximately 0.35 and the dimensionless
film thickness variable is hmin/c is 0.42. The bearing number will be used to obtain the
clearance once the average viscosity is calculated.
1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Determine the dimensionless coefficient of

friction variable for the bearing.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Dimensionless Coefficient of Friction Variable

The dimensionless coefficient of friction variable is rb/c=9.5.

See the Next Slide for details of the analysis!

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Analysis Details
The coefficient of friction can be read from Figure 12.30, since the bearing number
is known to be 0.35:

The dimensionless coefficient of friction variable can be seen to be around 9.5.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Determine the dimensionless volume flow rate

for the bearing.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Dimensionless Volume Flow Rate

The dimensionless volume flow rate is Q=5.1.

See the Next Slide for details of the analysis!

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Analysis Details
The dimensionless volume flow rate is obtained from Figure 12.31:

The dimensionless volumetric flow is 5.1.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Determine the side-leakage flow ratio.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Side Leakage Flow Variable

The side leakage flow variable is qs/q=0.73.

See the Next Slide for details of the analysis!

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Analysis Details
The side leakage flow variable can be obtained from Figure 12.32:

The value is qs/q=0.73.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Calculate the temperature rise in the lubricant in

the bearing and the average lubricant viscosity.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Temperature Rise and Lubricant Viscosity

The temperature rise is 113F.

The average lubricant viscosity in the bearing is =1.16 x 10-6 lbf-s/in2.

See the Next Slide for details of the analysis!

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Analysis Details
The dimensionless load on the bearing is
Wr*

Wr
750lbs

375psi
2rbwt 2 1in 1in

Therefore the temperature rise can be calculated

from Equation (12.91b):
r
0.103Wr*

0.103375 9.5
c

tm

113F
qs
5.1 1 0.5 0.73
Q 1 0.5
q

The average lubricant temperature is

then 110F + 113F/2=166F = 74C.
The oil viscosity is from Figure 8.13,
0=0.008Ns/m2, or using the
conversion from Table 8.2, 0=1.16 x
10-6 lbf-s/in2.
1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Calculate the required radial clearance, the

minimum film thickness and the required shaft
surface roughness.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Journal Information

The required radial clearance is 540 in.

The minimum film thickness is 230 in.
The maximum surface roughness is 23 in.

See the Next Slide for details of the analysis!

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Analysis Details
The required radial clearance, now that the viscosity is known, is obtained
from the Bearing number (Equation 12.85):
r w r 2
B j 0.35 0 b b t b ;c 0.00054
in 540 in
Wr c

The minimum film thickness is obtained from the dimensionless film

thickness parameter previously determined:
hmin
0.42;hmin0.420.00054
in230in

To maintain full film lubrication, the surface finish should be at most onetenth the film thickness, or 23in. Fortunately, this is obtainable through
standard grinding operations (see Table 8.1).
1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Calculate the friction coefficient of the journal

bearing.

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Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Friction Coefficient

The friction coefficient is 0.005.

See the Next Slide for details of the analysis!

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Analysis Details

The dimensionless friction coefficient has been previously obtained

as rb/c=9.5. Since the bearing radius is 1 in and the clearance is 540
in, the coefficient of friction is simply 0.005.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Comment on the importance of the inlet oil

temperature. Specifically, what effect would an
inlet temperature of 130F have on the bearing
performance?

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Inlet Temperature Importance

As can be seen from Figure 8.13, the effect of increasing the oil temperature would
be minimal for such a small temperature rise. However, if the viscosity were to fall
significantly, then the film thickness would be small enough to allow the film to
break down and have surface-to-surface contact. This would lead to quick failure of
the bearing.

Also, care must be taken so that the lubricant does not become excessively heated
and degrade chemically.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid

Concluding Remarks

The design of the bearing was relatively easy, using the figures from the
textbook. Fortunately, this problem did not require consideration of a
number of different bearing widths, which is normally the case in design.
Also, this problem resulted in clearances, surface finishes and bearing
dimensions which were reasonable and easily obtained, so the bearing
design did not require successive iterations.

1998 McGraw-Hill

Hamrock, Jacobson and Schmid