A finite element method, which is based on the variational inequality approach, is introduced to calculate the oil film pressure distribution of a journal bearing. The cavitation zone is found by solving a linear complementary problem. By means of this approach a perturbation can be performed directly on the finite element equation and, consequently, the Jacobian matrices of the oil film forces are obtained concisely. The equilibrium position of the bearing at a given static load is found by the Newton-Raphson method and, as byproducts, dynamic coefficients are obtained simultaneously without any extra computing time. Numerical examples show that the method works satisfactorily. [S0742-4787(00)02302-X]

Issue Section:
Technical Papers
Keywords:
machine bearings, finite element analysis, variational techniques, liquid films, pressure control, perturbation techniques, Jacobian matrices, rotors, cavitation
Topics:
Bearings, Cavitation, Equilibrium (Physics), Jacobian matrices, Journal bearings, Pressure, Stress, Finite element analysis, Stiffness, Newton's method, Finite element methods
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