ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE STABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF GAS-LUBRICATED TILTING-PAD JOURNAL BEARINGS,

Abstract : The gas-lubricated tilting-pad journal bearing has been successfully developed to meet the requirements imposed by ground-based and space-power machinery. Satisfactory performance in applications such as gas circulators, Brayton cycle turbocompressors and turboalternators, and many others is a direct consequence of the well balanced analytical and experimental programs conducted both in the U.S.A. and the U.K. Experience indicates that prediction of steady-state performance only, however accurate, is insufficient to provide adequate insight into actual machine operation or to minimise hardware development problems. Dynamic performance, in terms of the interactions between rotor, bearings, and bearing-support system, must be carefully evaluated as part of the analytical procedure and the results filtered into the final design. In addition, the influence of pibot configuration, pre-load, materials, etc., must be established and carefully incorporated into each application. (Author)