Abstract: Rotating machines plays a vital role in modern industries from small scale to huge power plants. The soul of the rotating machine is shaft and entire load of the shaft is taken by the bearings. Bearing health plays a significant role in the performance of rotating machines either machine consumes power or generates power. This article presents the experimental investigation of journal bearing performance with a helical groove cut on the journal. The results of the investigation on a bearing with a helical groove on the journal (load capacity, oil temperature, and oil flow rate) were compared with those obtained for a standard bearing with a plain journal. The previous computer simulation results, indicated that a groove of appropriate dimensions on the journal intensifies axial oil flow and does not impair load capacity. The complete experiment was performed on the bearing apparatus. The results shows that the shaft have grooves on its surface delivers better performance than that of standard plane shaft. The shaft having grooves controls the temperature rising at various speed of the shaft and generate less torque in comparison to the shaft that have no grooves. This investigation shows that the dimension of the groove plays a vital role in improving the bearing life and its performance because an appropriate size groove can control the temperature rising at higher speed without effecting the load bearing capacity of the bearing.  

Keywords: Journal bearing, Helical groove, Frictional torque