Abstract
In recent years, gas-lubricated bearings have aroused a great amount of interest. The interest is centered on the advantages of gas bearings for four major applications: (a) High-temperature devices, for which there is yet no lubricant available. (b) Radioactive atmospheres, where conventional lubricants may break down. (c) Applications sensitive to contamination, such as jet engines, where fouling from lubricating oil becomes serious. (d) Low-friction devices—an especially important advantage because of the trend to high-speed machinery.
This paper presents a numerical solution for finite-width journal bearings and results of experiments conducted with air-lubricated hydrodynamic journal bearings. Comparison is made between theoretical and experimental results. Design formulas and recommendations for future studies also are included.
