Pivoted Plane Pad Bearings: A Variational Solution

Abstract

It is known that the solution of Reynolds’ equation for the plane pad bearing presents no theoretical, but much computational, difficulty. In this paper, after a classical separation of variables is effected, the eigenvalue problem that arises is replaced by a Rayleigh-Ritz matrix. Then it is shown that the design variables of the bearing—all of which depend on integrals of the pressure—can be calculated quite accurately from inner products involving two vectors and a function of the Rayleigh-Ritz matrix, without solving any eigenvalue problem.