Exact Two-Dimensional Theory of Spherical Spiral Groove Bearings

This paper is concerned with a method of obtaining exact solution for the flow of fluid film of spherical spiral groove bearing. The problem is analyzed for three cases where the centers of two elements of a bearing coincide, slightly offset vertically and arbitrarily offset vertically. Effects of bearing parameters on the load capacity are examined. A perturbation technique is applied for the case of slight offset of centers of two spheres, and the stiffness is calculated. For the case of large offset, a new iterative method is developed in this paper.