A new bearing concept, the wave journal bearing, has been developed to improve the static and dynamic performance of a hydrodynamic journal bearing. This concept features a wave in bearing surface. Not only straight but also twisted wave journal bearings are investigated numerically. The performances of straight and twisted bearings are compared to a plain journal bearing over a wide range of eccentricity. The bearing load and stability characteristics are dependent on the geometric parameters such as the number of waves, the amplitude and the starting point of the wave relative to the applied load direction. The bearing performance is analyzed for various configurations and for both cases of smooth and wave member notation. The wave journal bearing, especially for the twisted one, offers better stability than the plain journal bearing under all eccentricity ratios and load orientation.