CALCULATIONS OF TILTING-PAD THRUST BEARINGS

The application of thrust bearings in different engineering designs generates problems of thermal state, which generates the wear of the fixed or tilting pads of bearings. These problems can be avoided by means of proper methods and numerical algorithms of calculations of the bearing static characteristics, including the maximum oil film temperature. The knowledge of thermal state of bearings should assure safe, reliable, and durable bearing operation and is important for the designers of thrust bearings. This paper presents the results of calculations of some static characteristics of a tilting-pad thrust bearing, including its maximum oil film temperature. Numerical solution by means of finite differences was applied for the solution of geometry, Reynolds, energy, and viscosity equations. Adiabatic oil film laminar flow in the bearing gap was considered. The developed code of the computation of bearing performances creates a tool that leads to the solution of thermal problems. Different values of operating speeds were assumed.