Variable-viscosity effects in externally pressurized spherical oil bearings

Externally pressurized spherical bearings were analysed considering the rotational inertia of the lubricant and the variation of the lubricant viscosity along the flow. The equations of motion expressed in spherical coordinates were suitably reduced to describe the lubricant flow through the bearing clearance. A numerical solution of the resulting equations, in which the variation of viscosity with temperature was considered, was obtained using the finite-difference technique. The effects of bearing geometry, bearing speed, inlet oil temperature, bearing load, lubricant flow rate and frictional torque on pressure and temperature distributions under adiabatic flow conditions were investigated. Satisfactory agreement between experiment and the adiabatic solution was found for a high speed factor. The theory is applicable to both fitted and clearance-type spherical bearings.