Modelling and Simulation of Aerostatic Thrust Bearings

This paper demonstrates the modelling and simulation comparison of the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple type aerostatic thrust bearings on the basis of load-carrying capacity(LCC) and stiffness. The equations Navier-Stokes (N-S) are used to solve the internal distribution of pressure in computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulation environment. An axisymmetric model, which minimizes the computational time and increases efficiency, is used to evaluate the static characteristics of a porous, orifice, and multiple restrictors of aerostatic bearings. Our numerical analysis and empirical results show the agreement with the significant effect of material and geometrical parameters on the LCC and stiffness. The thickness of the air film is less than 10μm, the multiple orifice restrictors have more LCC than porous and orifice restrictor. The porous restrictor's stiffness is larger than orifice and multiple restrictors. The LCC of porous and orifice is notably smaller than multiple orifice restrictors. Additionally, it is analyzed that LCC of porous, orifice, and multiple orifice restrictors can be improved with an increase in the supply of air pressure.