Study of Anisothermal Short Journal Bearings With non-Newtonian Lubricants

The equations describing the flow of simple non-Newtonian oils in short journal bearings are solved approximately for low eccentricity ratios and small viscosity variations with temperature. An approximate method for predicting the temperature distribution is compared with available experiments and appears to give realistic results. It is also shown that the reduction in friction coefficient observed by Dubois, Ocvirk, and Wehe in experiments with non-Newtonian fluids cannot be explained by accounting for through-film viscosity variations.