Effect of cylindricity on the tribological performance of heavily loaded slow-speed journal bearing

Theoretical and experimental studies have been conducted to analyze the effect of cylindricity on performance of a heavily loaded slow-speed journal bearing. The design of experiments has been employed to quantify the effect of bearing clearance and cylindricity on the wear. Since the initial experimental results did not establish any definitive trend, the effect of running-in was considered and the sliding distance required for reaching steady wear was estimated by conducting tests on lubricity tester employing conformal block and disc configuration. Further experiments incorporating the running-in were then conducted on journal bearing test rig. The wear coefficient was determined using the steady wear data obtained experimentally on the lubricity tester. A mathematical model was formulated to estimate wear of the bearing incorporating the actual cylindricity. The theoretical and experimental results corresponded well indicating a strong dependence of wear on the bearing cylindricity at the contact zone.