Effects of solid contaminants on journal bearing performance

The presence of solid contaminants in the oil lubricating a bearing can result in excessive wear and hence reduced life. The details of an experimental study in progress are reported in this paper. This includes a concise literature review, the experimental strategies to be adopted in investigating the role of different additives in wear prevention in journal bearings and minimum oil film thickness in their lubricated contact. A computer code has also been developed to predict minimum oil film thickness and to compare it with the values measured experimentally.