Tribology International 37 (2004) 841–848

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Hydrodynamic lubrication analysis of journal bearing considering

misalignment caused by shaft deformation
Jun Sun
, Gui Changlin
School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, No. 193 Tun Xi Road, Hefei, Anhui 230009, China

Received 12 August 2003; received in revised form 28 February 2004; accepted 7 May 2004

Abstract

Hydrodynamic lubrication characteristics of a journal bearing, taking in to consideration the misalignment caused by shaft
deformation, are analyzed. Film thickness expression of the misaligned journal bearing is inferred. Film pressure, load-carrying
capacity, attitude angle, end leakage flow-rate, frictional coefficient, and misalignment moment of a journal bearing are calculated
for different values of misalignment degree and eccentricity ratio. The results show that there are obvious changes in film pressure
distribution, the highest film pressure, film thickness distribution, the least film thickness, and the misalignment moment when
misalignment takes place. Therefore, it is necessary to consider misalignment caused by shaft deformation when analyzing the
lubrication of journal bearing.
# 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Shaft deformation; Misalignment; Journal bearing; Lubrication analysis

1. Introduction the calculation of lubrication of journal bearing. In

Of late, lubrication of journal bearing is being ana-
lyzed more comprehensively. Many more influencing
factors, such as surface roughness effect, thermal effect,
and non-Newtonian lubricant, etc., are considered in
the analysis. The calculated results are more perfect.
But, malfunctions, such as scratch, still appear fre-
quently in factually used journal bearing. Therefore, it
is necessary to study other factors more deeply that
exist in practice and have influence on the lubrication
performance of a journal bearing.
The shaft and journal bearing are usually calculated
individually in the design of mechanism which involves
shaft and journal bearing, as shown in Fig. 1, while the
interaction between shaft and journal bearing is not
considered. The load acting on the shaft by the journal
bearing is assumed as a concentrative force or an even
distributing force in the calculation of stress, etc., for
the design of shaft, and the axis of journal is assumed
to be parallel to the center line of the bearing hole in
practice, there are interactions and interplays between
the shaft and the journal bearing in work [1]. The shaft
becomes deformed when acted by a force, as shown by
the dotted line in Fig. 1, which results in the misalign-
ment of the journal in bearing hole; thus the lubricat-
ing state of the journal bearing may be influenced. On
the other hand, the form of the load acting on the shaft
by the journal bearing is determined by the factual dis-
tribution of film pressure, and influences directly the
stress distribution and intensity of shaft. Therefore, in
order to make the calculation of shaft and journal
bearing close to the factual condition, so that a reason-
able design of each can be acquired, the interaction
effect between each deferent mechanical behavior of
shaft and journal bearing should be considered. That

Tel.: +86-0551-2909711; fax: +86-0551-2903450.
E-mail address: sunjun@mail.hf.ah.cn (J. Sun). Fig. 1. Map of combined work of shaft and journal bearing.

0301-679X/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.triboint.2004.05.007
842 J. Sun, G. Changlin / Tribology International 37 (2004) 841–848

Nomenclature

E modulus of elasticity for shaft material

F load capacity of bearing
Fj frictional force on journal surface
Fx x component of load capacity
Fz z component of load capacity
J inertial moment of shaft section
L length of bearing
M misalignment moment
Mx x component of misalignment moment
Mz z component of misalignment moment
P force acted on the center of shaft
Q total end leakage flow-rate of lubricant
Q1 end leakage flow-rate of lubricant from front-end plane
Q2 end leakage flow-rate of lubricant from rear-end plane
R bearing radius
U velocity on circumferential direction of journal
c nominal radial clearance
e bearing eccentricity
e0 eccentricity at the mid-plane of bearing (y ¼ L=2)
e0 magnitude of the projection of the axis of misaligned journal on the end plane of bearing
h nominal film thickness
l length of shaft
n rotational speed of journal
p film pressure
u component of velocity U on circumferential direction of bearing
v component of velocity U on axial direction of bearing
x coordinate axis which is vertical with y and z coordinates (shown in Fig. 2)
y coordinate axis along the axial direction
z coordinate axis along the vertical direction
U attitude angle of bearing load
UM attitude angle of misalignment moment
a angle between w0 and the rear center line of journal
c angle of journal misalignment (that is the angle between the axis of journal and the line which passes
the axis of journal and is parallel to the central line of bearing)
e0 eccentricity ratio at mid-plane of bearing
g lubricant viscosity
h angular coordinate
h1 angle of start point of hydrodynamic film
h2 angle of end point of hydrodynamic film
lj frictional coefficient on surface of journal
w angle of the line of centers with z coordinate
w0 angle of the line of centers with z coordinate at mid-plane of bearing
xj angular velocity of journal

is, the influence of shaft deformation, etc., should be
considered in the lubrication analysis of the journal
bearing, and the action of load caused by factual film
pressure of the journal bearing should be considered in
the calculation of shaft stress, etc.
Besides the interaction between each deferent mech-
anical behavior of shaft and journal bearing, being one
of the aspects of the study, this article also discusses
the hydrodynamic lubrication performance of journal
bearing at steady state when the shaft deformation is
caused by force, resulting in journal misalignment in
the bearing hole. The influence of the extent of mis-
alignment degree of the journal on the performance of
the journal bearing is analyzed.
 J. Sun, G. Changlin / Tribology International 37 (2004) 841–848
2. Analytical formulation
2.1. Angle of journal misalignment in bearing hole
caused by shaft deformation
Fig. 1 shows the combined work of the shaft and the
journal bearing. The force acting on the center of the
shaft causes the shaft deformation; hence the journal
misalignment takes place in the bearing hole. Based on
the calculations of deformation of beam acted by the
concentrative force, the angle of journal misalignment
in the bearing hole can be given by
Pl 2
c¼
16EJ
where c is the angle of journal misalignment in bearing
hole, P is the force acting on the center of shaft, l is the
length of shaft, E is the modulus of elasticity for shaft
material and J is the inertial moment of cross-section
of shaft.
2.2. Film thickness
Fig. 2 shows a misaligned bearing and an analytical
coordinate system. C, C1 and C2 are intersections of
journal axis with mid-plane, front-end plane and rear-
end planes of bearing.
The film thickness of an aligned bearing can be
expressed by
h ¼ c þ ecosðh  wÞ
where e and w represent the eccentricity vector of the
journal.
For a misaligned bearing, the different cross-section
across axis of bearing has a different location of jour-
Fig. 2. A misaligned bearing.
843
nal center. Therefore, if Eq. (1) is used to express film
thickness, e and w in Eq. (1) are the functions of the y
coordinate.
If (x1, 0, z1) and (x2, L, z2) are supposed to be the
coordinates of C1 and C2, coordinates x and z of jour-
nal center in cross-section having y coordinate are
given by
y y
x ¼ ðx2  x1 Þ þ x1 ; z ¼ ðz2  z1 Þ þ z1
L L
thus
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
e ¼ x2 þ z2 ð2Þ
v 0 v
w ¼ ð1  sign zÞ  90 þ sign z  sign x  w  180 ð3Þ
where sign x is the symbol function, defined by
sign x ¼ x=jxj, and w0 ¼ arctgjx=zj.
Therefore, if the location of journal in bearing is
expressed by coordinates [(x1, 0, z1), (x2, L, z2)] of the
intersections of the journal axis with two end planes of
bearing, the film thickness of a misaligned bearing can
be given by Eq. (1) combined with Eqs. (2) and (3).
In order to describe the status of misalignment, simi-
lar to the approach mentioned in Refs. [2–6], the film
thickness of a misaligned bearing can also be given by
 
L
h ¼ c þ e0 cosðh  w0 Þ þ tg c y  cosðh  a  w0 Þ
2
ð4Þ
where e0 and w0 represent the eccentricity vector of the
ð1Þ
journal at the axial mid-plane of bearing, a is the angle
between the journal rear center-line projection and
eccentricity vector e0, c is the angle of journal misalign-
ment, which is the angle between the axis of journal
and the line which passes the axis of journal and is
844 J. Sun, G. Changlin / Tribology International 37 (2004) 841–848

parallel to the central line of bearing, and can be calcu- 2.4. Load capacity and attitude angle
lated by
As shown in Fig. 2, the load components at x and z
 0
e coordinates are found from
c ¼ arctg
L
ð L ð h2
where e0 is the magnitude of the projection of the axis Fx ¼  pR sinh dh dy ð6aÞ
0 h1
of misaligned journal on the end plane of bearing.
ð L ð h2
2.3. Reynolds equation Fz ¼  pR cosh dh dy ð6bÞ
0 h1
The Reynolds equation of journal bearing lubri-
Load F and attitude angle U are then as follows:
cation under steady-state load is given below [7] qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
    F ¼ Fx2 þ Fz2 ð7Þ
@ @p @ @p @h @h
h3 þ R2 h3 ¼ 6guR þ 6vR2 g
/ ¼ ð1  sign Fz Þ  90 þ sign Fz  sign Fx  /0
v
@h @h @y @y @h @y ð8Þ
ð5Þ 0
where / ¼ arctgjFx =Fz j
where p is the film pressure, R is the bearing radius,
2.5. End leakage flow-rate
u and v are the components of velocity on circumfer-
ential and axial directions of journal bearing, which The lubricant flow-rate Q1 from the front-end plane
can be given by of bearing, and the lubricant flow-rate Q2 from rear-
end plane of bearing are given by
u ¼ Ucosc; v ¼ Usinc
ð 2p 3 
h @p 
where U is the velocity on circumferential direction of Q1 ¼    R dh ð9aÞ
0 12g @y y¼0
journal, and can be given by ð 2p 3 
h @p 
Q2 ¼    R dh ð9bÞ
U ¼ Rxj 0 12g @y y¼L

The total end leakage flow-rate of lubricant is then

Eq. (5) is solved by the finite difference method. The
given by
center difference formulae are used for nodes in solving
region, and the front difference or rear difference for- Q ¼ Q1 þ Q2 ð10Þ
mulae are used for nodes on the boundary of solving
region. Because the film pressure is asymmetric about 2.6. Frictional coefficient
the mid-plane at axial direction in a misaligned bear-
ing, the full length of the bearing at the axial direction The frictional force on the journal surface can be
v
and 360 at the circumferential direction are selected to computed from
be the solving region. The equal interval grid is adop- ð L ð 2p  
h @p Ug
ted at circumferential and axial directions. The solving Fj ¼ þ R dh dy ð11Þ
0 0 2 R@h h
region is divided into 120 nodes in the circumferential
direction, and 45 nodes in the axial direction. The frictional coefficient on the journal surface is
The pressure finite difference equation is solved by
then given by
the iterative method combined with an over-relaxation
factor (1.7) to accelerate the convergence. The pressure Fj
lj ¼ ð12Þ
boundary conditions are F

@pðh2 ;yÞ 2.7. Misalignment moment

pðh;0Þ ¼ pðh;LÞ ¼ 0; pðh1 ;yÞ ¼ 0; pðh2 ;yÞ ¼
@h
¼0 As shown in Fig. 2, the required moment for steady-
state operation of a misaligned journal bearing is calcu-
where h1 and h2 are the angles of the start and end lated directly from the film pressure distribution. Two
point of a hydrodynamic film for each axial plane. components of the moment vector at x and z coordi-
 J. Sun, G. Changlin / Tribology International 37 (2004) 841–848 845

nates are defined below more the angle of misalignment, the more is the differ-
ð L ð h2   ence of distribution of the film pressure of a misaligned
L
Mx ¼ p y R cosh dh dy ð13aÞ journal bearing and an aligned journal bearing. The
0 h1 2 highest film pressure is in the center of length in an
ð L ð h2   v
L aligned journal bearing (c ¼ 0 ), but that of the highest
Mz ¼ p y R sinh dh dy ð13bÞ film pressure moves to the end plane in a misaligned
0 h1 2
journal bearing. The more the angle of misalignment,
and the total moment and its direction angle can be the closer to the end plane is the location of the highest
calculated as follows: film pressure. In addition, the distribution of film
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pressure also relates to the orientation of journal mis-
M ¼ Mx2 þ Mz2 ð14Þ alignment in the bearing. The single peak value of film
v
pressure appears at a ¼ 0 , but the two peak values of
/M ¼ ð1  sign Mz Þ  90 þ sign Mz  sign Mx  /0M ð15Þ
v
v
film pressure appear at a ¼ 90 . Furthermore, the more
where /0M ¼ arctgjMx =Mz j the angle of misalignment, the more the value of the
The integral in Eqs. (6), (9), (11) and (13) for calcu- highest film pressure. The value of the highest film
lating the load capacity, end leakage flow-rate, fric- pressure of misaligned journal bearing increases by 10
tional coefficient and misalignment moment is times or more than that of the aligned journal bearing
computed by the Simpson equation, and the partial when the angle of misalignment is increased to a value
v v
derivative is computed by the four-point difference (c ¼ 0:01 in Fig. 3 and c ¼ 0:03 in Fig. 4) which is
equation. close to the maximum (at which the journal and the
bearing will come into metal-to-metal contact).
The least film thickness hmin, load capacity F, atti-
3. Results and discussion tude angle U, end leakage flow-rate Q, frictional coef-
ficient lj, and misalignment moment M of a misaligned
In order to analyze the influence of different angles journal bearing at different angle c of misalignment
of journal misalignment, orientation of journal mis- against eccentricity ratio e0 are shown in Fig. 5. The
alignment and eccentricity ratio of bearing on the more the e0 , the less the hmin, the more the F, the more
lubrication performance of the bearing when journal the U; the more the Q, the less the lj; and the more the
misalignment takes place in the bearing hole caused by M. c has an obvious influence on hmin. The more the c,
different loads acting on the shaft, according to the fac- the less the hmin. It is because the distribution of film
tual load P acting on the shaft, the following para- thickness in the misaligned journal bearing has chan-
v
meters are chosen for calculation. w0 ¼ a ¼ 0 and 90 ;
v
ged. The film thickness of the aligned journal bearing is
e0 ¼ 0:2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7 and 0.8; when a ¼ 0 ,
v the same at the axial direction of bearing for a certain
v v v v v angular coordinate, but the film thickness of mis-
c ¼ 0:004 , 0.007 and 0.01 ; when a ¼ 90 , c ¼ 0:01 ,
v v aligned journal bearing is different at the axial direction
0.02 and 0.03 . The bearing parameters and lubricant
of bearing. The least film thickness of the misaligned
properties are given in Table 1.
journal bearing is located at the end plane of bearing. c
A study of comparison with the lubrication analysis
v has little influence on F, U, Q and lj. But c has some
of the aligned journal bearing (c ¼ 0 ) is carried out.
influence on U, Q and lj when the value of e0 is small.
The comparison condition is that the values of e0 and
At this time, the more the c, the more obviously the U,
w0 for the misaligned journal bearing are the same as Q and lj increase. c has some influence on F and U
those of e and w for the aligned journal bearing. when the value of e0 is large. At this time, the more the
Distribution of film pressure of a misaligned journal c, the more the F and U increase. c has more influence
bearing at different angles and orientation of misalign- on M; c especially has an obvious influence on M when
ment is shown in Figs. 3and 4. Distribution of film the value of e0 is more. The more the c, the more M
pressure of a misaligned journal bearing is different increases.
v
from that of an aligned journal bearing (c ¼ 0 ). The

4. Conclusions
Table 1
Bearing parameters and lubricant properties (1) There are obvious changes in film pressure distri-
Journal radius R ¼ 30 mm bution, the highest film pressure, film thickness dis-
Bearing length L ¼ 66 mm tribution, and the least film thickness when the
Radial clearance c ¼ 0:03 mm misalignment of journal in the bearing hole caused
Rotational speed n ¼ 3000 r=min by shaft deformation takes place. When the angle
Lubricant viscosity g ¼ 9 mPa s
of misalignment increases, the location of the
846 J. Sun, G. Changlin / Tribology International 37 (2004) 841–848

Fig. 3. Distribution of film pressure p of a misaligned journal bearing (R ¼ 30 mm, L ¼ 66 mm, c ¼ 0:03 mm, n ¼ 3000 r=min, e ¼ 0:8,
v v v v
w0 ¼ a ¼ 0 ) at different angle c of misalignment: (a) c ¼ 0 , pmax ¼ 33:06 MPa; (b) c ¼ 0:004 , pmax ¼ 39:6 MPa; (c) c ¼ 0:007 ,
v
pmax ¼ 63:58 MPa; and (d) c ¼ 0:01 , pmax ¼ 415:35 MPa.

Fig. 4. Distribution of film pressure p of a misaligned journal bearing (R ¼ 30 mm, L ¼ 66 mm, c ¼ 0:03 mm, n ¼ 3000 r=min, e ¼ 0:8,
v v v v
w0 ¼ a ¼ 90 ) at different angle c of misalignment: (a) c ¼ 0 , pmax ¼ 33:06 MPa; (b) c ¼ 0:01 , pmax ¼ 32:95 MPa; (c) c ¼ 0:02 ,
v
pmax ¼ 34:95 MPa; (d) c ¼ 0:03 , pmax ¼ 143:34 MPa.
 J. Sun, G. Changlin / Tribology International 37 (2004) 841–848 847

Fig. 5. The least film thickness hmin, load capacity F, attitude angle U, end leakage flow-rate Q, frictional coefficient lj and misalignment moment
v
M of a misaligned journal bearing (R ¼ 30 mm, L ¼ 66 mm, c ¼ 0:03 mm, n ¼ 3000 r=min, w0 ¼ a ¼ 90 ) at different angles c of misalignment
against eccentricity ratio e0 .
848 J. Sun, G. Changlin / Tribology International 37 (2004) 841–848
highest film pressure moves towards the end plane
of bearing; at the same time the value of the high-
est film pressure obviously increases. The least film
thickness is located at the end plane of bearing in
the misaligned journal bearing, and the value of the
least film thickness decreases obviously when the
misalignment angle increases.
(2) The misalignment has little influence on load
capacity, attitude angle, end leakage flow-rate and
frictional coefficient.
(3) The more the angle of misalignment, the more
obviously the misalignment moment increases when
the value of eccentricity ratio is large.
As stated above, the journal misalignment in the
bearing hole has an obvious influence on film pressure
distribution, the highest film pressure, film thickness
distribution, the least film thickness, and the misalign-
ment moment. Therefore, in order to make the calcu-
lation of shaft and journal bearing close to the factual
condition, so that a reasonable design can be acquired
in the mechanism which involves shaft and journal
bearing, the interaction effect between different mech-
anical behavior of the shaft and the journal bearing
should be considered. That is, it is necessary to con-
sider the misalignment of journal caused by shaft
deformation when the lubrication of the journal bear-
ing is analyzed in the design of journal bearing, and the
effect of particular load caused by the factual film
pressure distribution of journal bearing is also con-
sidered in the design of shaft.
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