Abstract
Abstract The upscaling of turbomachinery using gas foil thrust bearings is limited because of their limited load capacity and the thermal issues linked with very thin film thickness. The improvement potential of spiral grooves manufactured on the top-foil of such bearings is investigated in terms of load capacity and drag torque for a wide range of ramp depth, compressibility number and bearing compliance. Multi-objective optimization of grooves parameters allows to identify a trade-off between the drag reduction and the load capacity improvement. In some cases, load capacity improvements reach nearly 70% or drag torque at equal load diminishes by 40%. However, the results suggest that the ultimate load capacity of the bearing is reduced compared to plain gas foil thrust bearings.
Highlights
Gas Foil Thrust Bearings (GFTB) are widely used in oil-free airborne 3 applications such as microturbomachinery
The improvement potential of a grooved bearing compared to a plain one is the highest at low compressibility numbers and large relative ramp depth or inversely at high compressibility numbers and low ramp depths
Optimum groove geometries allow to decrease the drag torque of the thrust bearing by up to 40% compared to a plain Gas Foil Thrust
Summary
Gas Foil Thrust Bearings (GFTB) are widely used in oil-free airborne 3 applications such as microturbomachinery. While the first applications of 4 this technology were small-scale with modest loads, global research efforts are 5 being made toward the application of the compliant gas bearing technology 6 to upscaled systems, with larger loads, in order to broader the scope of 7 application of GFTB and oil-free bearings in general
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