• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.39-45
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• 1998

Reynolds equation, which describes behavior of fluid film in journal bearings, basically satisfies mass conservation. But, boundary conditions usually used with this equation, e.g. half Sommerfeld or Reynolds boundary conditions, cannot fulfill this natural law of conservation. In the case of connecting rod bearing, where applied load is dynamic and its magnitude is relatively large, such unrealistic boundary conditions have serious influence on calculation results, especially on lubricant flow rate or power disspation which are important parameters in thermal analysis. In this paper, mass-conserving boundary condition was applied in the finite element analysis of connecting rod bearings. Lubricant flow rate and power dissipation rate were calculated together with journal center locus, minimum film thickness and maxmium film pressure. These computation results were compared with those of the case of Reynolds boundary condition. Balance between inlet and outlet flow rate was well achieved in the case of mass-conserving boundary condition.