The study of a novel hydrostatic thrust bearing with a structurally elastic component: Theory and experiments

Abstract

A novel hydrostatic thrust bearing with a structurally compliant plate, operating in isothermal, steady-state conditions, is analysed theoretically and experimentally. A system consisting of the coupled equations for fluid flow and plate deformation was rendered numerically through a finite differences discretization. Experiments were used to validate the numerical results and to compare the performance of a compliant bearing with a rigid alternative. The results have shown a good correlation between the numerical model and experiments, as well as with a similar solution from the literature, proving that the compliant bearing yields to higher load carrying capacity and film stiffness.