155

2010,22(2):155-163
DOI: 10.1016/S1001-6058(09)60041-X

HYDRODYNAMIC AND ELASTOHYDRODYNAMIC STUDIES OF A

CYLINDRICAL JOURNAL BEARING*
ATTIA HILI Molka, BOUAZIZ Slim, MAATAR Mohamed, FAKHFAKH Tahar, HADDAR Mohamed
Mechanics Modelling and Production Research Unit, (U2MP), National School of Engineers of Sfax (ENIS),
BP.1173, 3038, sfax, Tunisia, E-mail: molka_hili@yahoo.fr

(Received August 27, 2009, Revised January 18, 2010)

Abstract: In this article, the effect of the bearing elastic deformation on the performance characteristics of a cylindrical journal
bearing is analyzed. The variety of simulation models covers hydrodynamic (HD) and elastohydrodynamic (EHD) lubrication
theories. The Reynolds equations governing the flow in the clearance space of the journal bearing are obtained by considering the
effect of mass transfer across the fluid film. The finite element method with an iteration scheme was employed to solve both the
Reynolds equation and the three-dimensional elasticity equation representing the displacement field in the bearing shell. The
converged solutions for the lubricant flow and elastic deformation vector are obtained. Dynamic characteristics of the journal bearing
are computed for HD and EHD theories. Numerical simulation results show that the flexibility of bearing liner has a significant
influence on the performance of a cylindrical journal bearing. Indeed, the elastic deformations of the bearing liner extend the pressure
area in the bearing and increase the minimum film thickness. Although, dynamic coefficient, load capacity and attitude angle
decrease.
Key words: Reynolds equation, hydrodynamic (HD) and elastohydrodynamic (EHD) lubrication theories, dynamic coefficients,
relative eccentricity, deformation coefficient

1. Introduction 
Elastic deformation of the bearing liner under
hydrodynamic pressure changes the fluid film profile,
modifies the pressure distribution and therefore
changes the performance characteristics of journal
bearings. Some investigations in the field of tribology
have been directed to hydrodynamic (HD) and
elastohydrodynamic
(EHD)
analysis
because
significant changes in the bearings performance
characteristics have been observed due to the
flexibility of bearing liner under heavy load.

* Biography: ATTIA HILI Molka (1979-), Female, Ph. D.,
Assistant Professor
Corresponding author: BOUAZIZ Slim,
E-mail: slim_u2mp@yahoo.fr

Therefore, to obtain an optimum design of a journal

bearing system, the flexibility of bearing liner must
also be considered along with the bearing geometric
and operating parameters. A comparison between HD
and EHD theories should be made. When bearings are
subjected to heavy load, the bearing deformation may
quite often affect the clearance space geometry of the
bearing. Thus, performance characteristics become
significantly different from those computed in HD
theory where the bearing liner is assumed to be rigid.
Several literatures are available on the HD and EHD
analysis of cylindrical journal bearing for Newtonian
lubricants[1-3]. Byoung and Kyung determined the
static characteristics of a journal bearing with
micropolar fluids[4]. Das et al.[5] presented the
dynamic characteristics of hydrodynamic journal
bearings lubricated with micropolar fluids. The
modified Reynolds equation was derived using the

156

micropolar lubrication theory. By applying the

first-order perturbation of the film thickness and
steady-state film pressure, the dynamic characteristics
in terms of the components of stiffness and damping
coefficients, critical mass parameter and whirl ratio
were obtained. Liu et al.[6] solved simultaneously the
governing Reynolds and elasticity equations by using
both the finite difference and finite element methods.
The predicted transient film thickness was compared
with the estimation based on the quasi-static analysis.
Narayanan et al.[7] determined static and dynamic
characteristics of circular rigid bearings with
micropolar fluids.
Jerzy and Rao[8] investigated the variation of
nonlinear stiffness and damping coefficients in a
journal orbit with respect to its equilibrium position.
Sukumaran Nair and Prabhakaran Nair used the finite
element technique to solve the modified Reynolds
equation. The lubricating oil containing additives and
contaminants was modelled as micropolar fluid[9].
Recently, Prabhakaran Nair et al.[10] showed that
for any eccentricity ratio and deformation coefficient,
load-carrying capacity of a two-lobe journal bearing
increases with the increase in volume of concentration
of additives. Furthermore, for a fixed value of mass
transfer rate the load-carrying capacity increases with
increase in volume concentration of additives at any
value of deformation coefficient and eccentricity ratio.
The existing literature shows that most authors
concerned with the study of static and dynamic
performances by changing the geometry of the bearing
or the characteristics of the lubricant. In the present
work, performance characteristics in terms of pressure
distribution, film thickness, dynamic coefficients,
carrying load capacity and attitude angle of HD
journal bearing are computed and compared to EHD
lubrication. The effect of deformation of the bearing
liner on these characteristics is further analyzed.

Fig.1 Geometry of hydrodynamic journal bearing

2. Governing equations
2.1 Reynolds equation
The hydrodynamic pressure and the bearing
deformation effects are interdependent, the problem
involves simultaneous solution of the Reynolds
equation and three-dimensional linear elasticity
equations. The geometry of a hydrodynamic journal
bearing is shown in Fig.1.
Under the hypothesis of thin fluid film, it is
assumed that the flow is laminar and that inertia is
negligible. The fluid is Newtonian and incompressible,
and the density, specific heat, thermal conductivity
and heat transfer coefficients are assumed to be
constant.
The oil pressure distribution is obtained by
solving numerically the generalized Reynolds
equation is given by
3 wp
3 wp
w
w
h + ur 
h + ur 
+ O2
=



wT
wT
wz
wz

w  h + ur 
wT

+12

w  h + ur 

(1)

wW

where

z=

z
h
R
, h = , O = , W = Zt ,
C
C
L

h = 1+ H cos T , H =
p C
p=
PZ R

e
,
C

ur =

ur
,
C

with x and y are the coordinates in the lubricating

plane, C is the radial clearance, h is the oil film
thickness, R and L are respectively the bearings
radius and length, Z is the angular velocity of the
journal, t is the time, T is the angular coordinate,
e is the bearing eccentricity, ur is displacement of
bearing liner in the radial direction, P is the
lubricant viscosity and p is the oil film pressure.
The parameter with a bar on its top indicates a
non-dimensional parameter.
2.2 Finite element formulation
The flow field in the clearance space of the

157

bearing is discretized into four nodded isoparametric

elements[11,12]. The bearing liner is divided into 72
elements in the circumferential direction and 22
elements in the axial direction. The discretization of
the flow field is given by Fig.2.

the elasticity matrix, e = 1, 2,! , ne and ne

denotes the number of element.
The displacement vector of the bearing liner is

uT (r ,T , z )
^G ` = ur (r ,T , z )
u ( r , T , z )
z

(3)

where uT , ur and u z are displacements of bearing

liner respectively in the circumferential, radial and
axial directions.
The displacement field in non-dimensional form
can be written as
Fig.2 Discretization of the flow field

uT
e

{G } = ur = [ N ] j ^d `
u
z
j

The bearing liner is a finite length cylinder

subjected to hydrodynamic loading due to the fluid
film pressure on its internal surfaces. The distribution
of fluid film pressure is such that it deforms the
bearing in all directions. The bearing liner is
discretized by eight nodded hexahedral isoparametric
elements. The discretization of the bearing liner is
shown in Fig.3.

(4)

where [ N ] j is the element shape function matrix

and

^d `

is the nodal displacement vector of an

element, given by

^d ` = > u
e

, ur1 , u z1 ,....., uT n , urn , u zn @

T1

(5)

in which n is the number of nodes per element.

The element equations are obtained by
minimizing potential energy for each element. So we
can write

G E pe

wui
e
ne
G E p

=0

e =1 wvi
G E e
p
wwi

Fig.3 Discretization of bearing liner

Using the linear elasticity theory, the expression

of the potential energy of an element when bearing is
subjected only to surface traction forces T , is written
as[13]

Ep =

[T ] {G } rdT dz
e

(6)

1
[G ]e [ J ]Te [ D]e [ J ]e {G }dV 
2
Ve
e

Using the above conditions, the equation system is

reduced to
(2)

where {G } is the displacement vector of the bearing

liner, [T ] is the traction forces, [ J ] is the operator
matrix relating to strains and displacements, [ D] is

ne

[ J ]

Te

[ D]e [ J ]e rdT drdz 

e =1

> N @ >T @
Te

rdT dz

(7)

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The element equation may be written in the matrix

form as

[k ]e ^d ` = ^ F `
e

(8)

>F @

ne

W x = p e cos T dT dz

where

>K @

2.4 Load capacity

After giving the pressure field, the nondimensional load capacity is obtained by using the
following relations:
(13)

e =1

= [ J ]Te [ D]e [ J ]e rddrdz

= > N @

Te

>T @

(9)

rdT dz

(10)

[ k ] ^d ` = C d ^ F `

(11)

where [k ] is the stiffness matrix,

^d `

is the

displacement vector, Cd = PZ  R / C  eb / Eb R is a
non-dimensional deformation coefficient, which takes
into account the flexibility of the bearing liner[10], with
eb being the bearing liner thickness and Eb being
3

^F `

is the nodal force vector

generated by the pressure field.

2.3 Boundary conditions
The bearing liner is assumed to be contained in a
rigid housing (see Fig.1). Thus the outer surface of the
bearing liner, which is in contact with the inner
surface of the housing, does not deform, implying that
the nodes in contact with the rigid surface are
restrained from moving.

uT i 0

u r i = 0
u 0
zi

(14)

e =1

By using non-dimensional form, the following global

system equation is obtained:

Youngs modulus,

ne

W y = p e sin T dT dz

(12)

where i is the number of nodes on the bearing liner

of rigid housing interface.
The following boundary conditions are used to
obtain the pressure field in the bearing:
(1) Pressure at the journal bearing edges is equal
to zero: p >T , z = r( L / 2)@ = 0 .
(2) By using the Reynolds hypothesis, the
pressure is zero in the areas where the pressure
gradient in the circumferential direction becomes zero:
p T , z  = 0 with wp/wT T , z  = 0 .
The application of these conditions imposes the
use of the Christopherson assumption[14] negative
pressure is set to zero in each iteration.

The load carrying capacity is given by

2 1/ 2

W = W x +W y

(15)

The angle between the central line and the load

line is known as attitude angle and is given by

tan ) = 

Wy
Wx

(16)

2.5 Fluid film stiffness coefficients

The non-dimensional fluid
coefficients are defined as[10]

Axx
A
yx

wW x

Axy
wx
= 

wW y
Ayy

wx

film

stiffness

wW x

wy
wW y

wy

(17)

where W x and W y are the non-dimensional film

force components respectively in the x- and
y-directions.
2.6 Fluid film damping coefficients
The damping coefficients are defined as[10]

Bxx
B
yx

wW x

Bxy
wx
= 

wW y
Byy

wx

wW x

wy
wW y

wy

(18)

where x and y are the journal centre velocities

respectively in the x- and y-directions.
3. Solution procedure
3.1 HD analysis
The finite element method is used

to

solve

the

159

Table 1 System parameters

Parameter
Oil dynamic viscosity, P
Radial clearance, C
Bearing radius, R
Bearing length, L
Angular velocity of the journal, Z
Stiffness coefficients, Axx , Axy , Ayx , Ayy
Damping coefficients, Bxx , Bxy , Byx , Byy
Time, t
Bearing eccentricity, e
Relative eccentricity, H
Oil film thickness, h
Minimum fluid film thickness, hmin

used to compute the pressure field for a rigid bearing.

Performance characteristics in terms of load capacity,
minimum film thickness, stiffness coefficients,
damping coefficients and attitude angle are calculated
at various relative eccentricities.
3.2 EHD analysis
For EHD analysis, an iterative process is
repeated until the required convergence is achieved.
The converged nodal pressures are then used to
calculate the nodal displacements. The film thickness
is modified by considering the radial component of
the nodal displacements to get the solution of the
nodal pressures. Iterations are also required to obtain
performance characteristics for a wide range of values
of the deformation coefficient which takes into
account the flexibility of the bearing liner.
4. Results and discussions
The
static
and
dynamic
performance
characteristics of a rigid cylindrical journal bearing
with Newtonian lubricants are computed and
compared with the EHD theory taking into account
the flexibility of the bearing liner. System parameters
are presented in Table 1.

Oil film pressure, p

Bearing liner thickness, eh
Youngs modulus of the bearing liner, Eb
Load carrying capacity, W
Attitude angle, )
Stationary coordinate system, ( x, y, z )
Displacements of bearing liner in the circumferential, radial
and axial directions, uT , u r , u z
Angular coordinate, T
Deformation coefficient, C d
Stiffness matrix for bearing liner, [k ]
Elasticity matrix, [ D ]
Nodal force vector, {F }
Displacement components vector, {d }

constitutive equations. The Gauss-Seidel iterative

scheme with over-relaxation is employed to solve the
Reynolds equation[15,16]. The boundary conditions are

Fig.4 Distribution of film pressure p

4.1 Pressure field

Pressure fields and pressure areas in the bearing
are respectively presented in Figs.4 and 5. We note

160

that in the EHD theory, the pressure ranges from 45o

to 180o while in the HD theory, it covers only about
50.

Fig.7 Circumferential variation of the film thickness in the

median plane

Fig.5 Pressure areas in the bearing

Fig.8 Effect of bearing deformation on minimum film thickness

Fig.9 Effect of deformation coefficient on film geometry

Fig.6 Film geometry

4.2 Film geometry

Variation of the oil film thickness is shown in
Figs.6 and 7. In the HD theory, the film thickness,
according to the circumferential direction, has a
sinusoidal shape with a minimum located at T = 180o.
In contrast, when the bearing liner is deformed, the
film geometry changes and it has two extrema: one is
located in the median plane and the other at the edges
of the bearing. The increase of film thickness in the
middle section and the displacement of its minimum

161

explain the drop of the maximum pressure and the

spreading of pressure field compared to the case of
HD theory (see Fig.7).

in Fig.8. These results show that the minimum

thickness of the film increases with the increasing of
C d . For a value of the relative eccentricity H = 0.7 ,
there is an increase of 57.6 % in the minimum
thickness of the film fluid. Figure 9 gives the variation
of the fluid film thickness in the circumferential plane

Fig.10 Stiffness coefficients

The change in the minimum thickness of fluid

film with the deformation coefficient C d for
different values of relative eccentricity is presented

Fig.11 Damping coefficients

162

for different values of the deformation coefficient. We

notice that when the value of C d increases, (1) the
thickness of the film in the middle section increases,
(2) the point of minimum thickness of the film is
moved out of contact. For a value of deformation
coefficient equal to 1, the film geometry is altered
under the effect of large elastic deformations of the
bearing. The fluid film thickness is four times larger
than that calculated by considering a rigid bearing
(with C d equal to 0).
4.3 Dynamic coefficients
Calculation of stiffness and damping coefficients
in journal bearing dynamic analysis is performed with
respect to the steady-state position. In the case of
small displacements of the journal centre, the HD and
EHD bearings are characterized by eight dynamic
coefficients of stiffness and damping. Figures 10 and
11 show the dynamic coefficients for HD and EHD
theories. It is clear that the elastic deformation reduces
the stiffness and damping of the bearing.
4.4 Load carrying capacity
The effect of deformation on the load carrying
capacity is presented in Fig.12. The results show that
while the relative eccentricity increses, the value of
the load decreases with the increase of the
deformation coefficient. The reductions are significant
at large deformation. It is considered that the load
carrying capacity decreases by 89.5 % for H = 0.2 ,
91.6 % for H = 0.4 and 93.8 % for H = 0.7 when
C d varies from zero to unity.

Fig.12 Effect of deformation coefficient on load-carrying

capacity

4.5 Attitude angle

The effect of deformation coefficient on the
attitude angle ) is shown in Fig.13. It is observed
that, when the relative eccentricity increases, the
attitude angle decreases for any values of deformation
coefficient.

5. Conclusions
The present analysis shows that for the accurate
modelling of the bearing behaviour, the elasticity of
the shell has to be ultimately considered. Indeed,
pressure distribution indicates that peak pressure
decreases in the EHD theory. This is due to the
deformation of the bearing liner. A similar trend was
observed by Sukumaran Nair et al.[9] in their
investigation for three-lobe journal bearing. The film
pressure area in the HD journal bearing is different
from that of an EHD journal bearing, since, the elastic
deformation of the bearing tends to enlarge the
pressure zone in the bearing.

Fig.13 Effect of relative eccentricity on attitude angle

The variation of static and dynamic

characteristics in terms of film geometry, dynamic
coefficients, load carrying capacity and attitude angle
are computed for both the HD and EHD theories when
the bearing operates at different eccentricity ratios.
Based on the results thus obtained the followings
conclusions are drawn:
(1) Appreciable increase in minimum film
thickness with the increase in flexibility of bearing
liner is also a favourable effect from the designers
viewpoint.
(2) For any eccentricity ratio, stiffness and
damping coefficients decreases in the case of EHD
journal bearing.
(3) Performance characteristics, such as the load
capacity and attitude angle, decrease when the bearing
liner flexibility increases and these changes are
significant especially when the flexible bearing
operates at high eccentricity ratio.
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