Effects of Journal Roundness Phase and Amplitude on Lubrication of Engine Bearings with Consideration of Straightness

Manufacturing tolerances are inevitable in nature. For the bearings used in internal combustion engines, the manufacturing tolerances of roundness, which is of the micron scale, can be very close to the bearing radial clearance, and as a result the roundness could affect the lubrication of the bearings and thus affecting the friction loss of the engine. However, there is insufficient understanding of this mechanism. This study aims to find out the effects of the amplitude and the phase of journal roundness in the shape of ellipse on the lubrication of engine bearings. The elastohydrodynamic (EHD) theory is applied to model the bearing since the EHD model takes account of the elastic deformation of the journal and the bearing shell. The analysis of the DOE results shows the existence of roundness can be beneficial to the lubrication in some cases. The roundness phase determines whether the existence of roundness will lead to an increase or decrease of friction loss, and the roundness amplitude determines the variation range of the friction power loss. The coupling effects of roundness and straightness are also studied. It is shown that coupling does exist between the two geometrical tolerances and needs to be considered in tolerance design.