Abstract

Tilting pad journal bearings(TPJBs) are widely used for high speed rotating machinery owing to their rotordynamic stability and thermal management feature. With increase in the rotating speed of such machinery, an increasingly important aspect of TPJB design is the prediction of their thermal behaviors. Researchers have conducted detailed investigations in the last two decades, which provided design tools for the TPJBs. Based on these previous studies, this paper presents a thermohydrodynamic(THD) analysis model for TPJBs. To calculate pressure distribution, we solve the generalized Reynolds equation and to predict the lubricant temperature, we solve the 3D energy equation. We employ the oil mixing theory to calculate pad inlet temperature; further, to consider heat conduction via the pad, we solve the heat conduction equation for the pads. We assume the shaft temperature as the averaged oil film temperature and apply natural convection boundary conditions to the pad side and back surfaces. To validate the analysis model, we compare the predicted pad temperatures with those from previous research. The results show good agreement with previous research. In addition, we conduct parametric studies on a TPJB which was used in a gas turbine simulator system. The predicted results show that film temperature largely depends on the rotating speed and oil supply condition.

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