A Review of Performance of Textured Journal Bearing

Due to emerging concerns for energy-efficient and environment-friendly journal bearings, efforts are being made to improve their performance behaviours. Green tribology also aims to reduce friction and wear. In this direction, surface textures are employed on the surfaces of mating parts to minimize friction and enhance load-carrying capacity. Surface textures comprising numerous micro-geometries such as dimples, grooves or pits are found to be capable of increasing bearing performance. In this article, findings of numerical and experimental investigations on the performance of textured journal bearings have been summarized. It is found that the presence of texture on the bearing surface yields lower friction and higher load-carrying capacity. This article concludes by discussing the effect of texture parameters on the performance characteristics of the journal bearing.