EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF CAVITATION IN A CIRCUMFERENTIALLY GROOVED JOURNAL BEARING SUBJECTED TO ROTATING LOADS.

This paper describes the observation of physical aspects of cavitation and film pressure profiles in a circumferentially grooved journal bearing subjected to rotating loads. Photographic evidence is presented to illustrate how the patterns of the cavity and pressure profile change in accordance with the combination of the rotation and precession of the journal. The correspondence of the pressure profile to the pattern of the cavity is discussed qualitatively through the flow field. This is related to the boundary conditions for the Reynolds equation. For particular cases without journal rotation, there can be found a pressure gradient in the fernlike or scaly cavity, which renders conventional cavitation models useless. A compressible full film model is proposed, and its feasibility is examined.