AbstractThis paper looks at the performance of plain, longitudinally and transversely grooved journal bearings. An experimental apparatus was created to test the performance, in terms of frictional torque under static and dynamic loading, of each of the three bearing types, to try and understand whether grooving created a different film thickness. The tests were carried out for various combinations of load and speed. The results showed an agreement between theoretical and experimental values that gave some confidence in the experimental methods, and showed the frictional torques between the plain and longitudinally grooved bearings to be similar at all loads, and at lower rather than higher speeds, while those of the transversely grooved bearing differed from the others.