Orthogonally Displaced Bearings — I

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Abstract
Journal bearings with cross sections consisting of circular arcs with centers displaced from the geometric bearing center along the mid-radius of the arc or lobe have been in use for many years. Examples are the “elliptical” bearing and the “three-lobe” bearing, the advantage sought being increased stability under light loads without the reduced oil flow accompanying a reduced clearance ratio. This paper is directed toward the apparently neglected possibility of displacing the lobe centers of two-lobe bearings orthogonally with respect to the mid-radius of the lobe. Analysis shows that when the lobe displacement is in a direction opposite to the shaft surface motion, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the bearing is centrally loaded, shaft stiffness orthogonal to the load vector is substantially increased. At the same time, vertical stiffness remains essentially unchanged. Minimum film thickness is decreased, particularly at low loads, while oil flow is increased. The analysis was carried out for a bearing having in cross section two arcs each subtending an angle of 150°, an L/D ratio of 1/2, and with the arc centers each displaced from the geometric center by half the radial clearance.

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