Lubrication Regime Classification of Hydrodynamic Journal Bearings by Machine Learning Using Torque Data

Hydrodynamic journal bearings are used within a wide range of machines, such as combustion engines, gas turbines, or wind turbines. For a safe operation, awareness of the lubrication regime, in which the bearing is currently operating, is of great importance. In the current study, highspeed data signals of a torque sensor, sampled with a frequency of 1000 hz in a time range of 2.5 s, obtained on a journal bearing test-rig under various operating conditions, are used to train machine learning models, such as neural networks and logistic regression. Results indicate that a fast Fourier transform (fft) of the highspeed torque signals enables accurate predictions of lubrication regimes. The trained models are analysed in order to identify distinctive frequencies for the respective lubrication regime.