Wear Characteristics of Plain Hydrodynamic Journal Bearings During Repeated Starting and Stopping

Abstract

The onset and development of wear in plain hydrodynamic journal bearings under repeated cycles of starting and stopping has been studied experimentally. The wear which occurred caused easily discernable but localized changes in diametral clearance, surface finish, and roundness of the bearing's bore and these changes were measured after various numbers of operating cycles had been completed. Study of the location, within the bearings of the wear which arose, showed that it was caused entirely by the sliding which occurred during starting and that no significant contribution to the wearing process was made during stopping. It was also observed that, once an initial rapid phase of wearing was completed, the surface finish of the hardened steel shaft was reproduced in the regions of the bearing's surface which continued to be worn.