Design and Evaluation of an Automated Experimental Test Rig for Determination of the Dynamic Characteristics of Fluid-Film Bearings

Hydrodynamic journal bearings are applied in a wide range of both old and new, advanced rotating machinery designs. To maintain existing machinery, as well as to design new, state of the art machines, validated analytical models for these bearings are needed. This work documents the development and evaluation of an automated test rig for the evaluation of hydrodynamic journal bearings to provide some of the needed experimental data. This work describes the test rig in detail, including the results of experimental characterization of many of the test rig subsystems. Experimental data for a two axial groove bearing and a pressure dam bearing under steady load conditions are presented for a range of loads at two different shaft speeds. Experimental data and analytical results for dynamic loading are also discussed. The work concludes with a summary of the state of the test rig and recommendations for further work.