Study on dynamic characteristics for high speed water-lubricated spiral groove thrust bearing considering cavitating effect

Abstract The purpose of this paper was to study dynamic characteristics for high-speed water-lubricated spiral groove thrust bearing considering cavitating effect. A lubrication model was established with multiple gas-liquid interface effects, the evolution of bubble volume caused by breakage and coalescence of bubbles was quantitatively described using the population balance equation. Dynamic characteristics of the spiral groove thrust bearing (SGTB) were predicted. An experimental rig was developed to measure the dynamic coefficients of the SGTB. The result shows that, when spiral angle is in small range, direct stiffness coefficients of the SGTB with the cavitating effect are larger than those without cavitating effect. The cavitating effect has less influence on the damping coefficients than the stiffness coefficients.