Analysis of hydrodynamic journal bearings with non-Newtonian power law lubricants by the finite element method

Additives cause commercial lubricants to behave as non-newtonian fluids. The effect of this non-linear behaviour on the performance characteristics of finite-width journal bearings was investigated using the power law model. The Navier-Stokes equations representing the flow field in the clearance space of a bearing using newtonian fluids were solved in cylindrical coordinates by the finite element method using Galerkin's technique and the non-newtonian effect was introduced by modifying the viscosity term at each iteration