On the Laminar Flow Characteristics of Conical Bearings. Part I—Analytical Approach

An analysis has been made of the characteristics of externally pressurized central recess conical bearings with nonconstant film thickness under the assumption of isothermal laminar flow of a viscous incompressible fluid. The flow in the narrow gaps that may be convergent, constant, or divergent has been approximately determined on the basis of the lubrication theory with convective inertia neglected except for that part which is due to rotation. The pressure distribution along the gap, the load capacity, and the torque of the bearings, were theoretically predicted. It was found that, while the gap is very narrow, both the load capacity and the torque for the convergent case decrease moderately, and for the divergent case increase significantly with respect to the constant gap bearing, provided with flow rate, rotational velocity and the film thickness at the outlet of the gap are the same.