Heshmat, H. and Gorski, P.T. “Mixing Inlet Temperatures in Starved Journal Bearings,” 13th Leeds-Lyon Tribology Symposium, Leeds, U.K., September 1986, Paper III (iii), Trib. Series 11, Elsevier Publication edited by Dowson et al., (1987), pp.73-79.
Cold and hot oil mixing at the inlet to a hydrodynamic bearing has been an unresolved and critical problem in determining bearing performance; this is aggravated in the case of starved bearings by the fact that the ratio of recirculating hot oil to cold supply oil is higher than in fully lubricated bearings. the paper provides an experimental investigation of the levels of inlet temperatures in journal bearings for the case of insufficient oil supply. Aside from the customary functional dependence on operating conditions, the additional parameter considered here is the degree of starvation which ranges from full lubrication to only some 10% of the required supply. A correlation is offered that provides an estimate of the expecting mixing temperature in terms of known geometric and operational parameters.