Multiaxial life prediction of hydrodynamic plain bearings

¹ Institute for Materials Applications in Mechanical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany
² Institute for Machine Elements and Systems Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany

^* Corresponding author: h.wuensch@iwm.rwth-aachen.de

Abstract

Journal bearings are installed in turbomachinery and in all kind of components related to drive technology. All of these applications expect a high degree of reliability. The functional interaction of shaft, lubricant and bearing shell result in a multiaxial stress state within the bearing lining. However, the life assessment of the bearing material exposed to these multiaxial loads is mostly neglected in the design process. The presented research work formulates a complete methodology for a long-term fatigue assessment, based upon the Quadratic Failure Hypothesis (QFH) This approach satisfies the invariant requirements of coordinate transformation, takes into account positive and negative stresses and is applicable to non-proportional multiaxial loads in 3-dimensional geometric configurations.