The analysis of the one-dimensional journal bearing leads to an interesting integral that is continuous but has an analytic singularity involving the inverse tangent at π/2. This difficulty was resolved by a clever and non-intuitive transformation attributed to Sommerfeld. In this technical brief we show that the transformation has its origin in the geometry of the ellipse and Kepler’s equation that is based upon his observations of the planets in the Solar system. The derivation of the transformation is a problem or exercise in Sommerfeld’s monograph, Mechanics. The transformation is the relation between the two angles that characterize the ellipse, the closed orbit of a body in a central inverse square force field. The angle measured about the focus is the true anomaly (angle) and the angle measured about the center is the eccentric anomaly (angle). We establish the analogy between the orbital radius in terms of the eccentric anomaly and the film thickness of the journal bearing in terms of its central angle.
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July 2002
Technical Notes
The Foundation of the Sommerfeld Transformation
Clarence J. Maday, Professor,
Clarence J. Maday, Professor,
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7910
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Clarence J. Maday, Professor,
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7910
Contributed by the Tribology Division for publication in the ASME JOURNAL OF TRIBOLOGY. Manuscript received by the Tribology Division February 28; 2001 revised manuscript received July 3, 2001. Associate Editor: J. A. Tichy.
J. Tribol. Jul 2002, 124(3): 645-646 (2 pages)
Published Online: May 31, 2002
Article history
Received:
February 1, 1928
Revised:
July 3, 2001
Online:
May 31, 2002
Citation
Maday , C. J. (May 31, 2002). "The Foundation of the Sommerfeld Transformation ." ASME. J. Tribol. July 2002; 124(3): 645–646. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1467596
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