Bump Foil Bearings Research Articles

Load carrying performance of the 2nd and 3rd generation journal bump foil bearings including two dimensional stiffness variations

Journal bump foil bearing (JBFB) is the key component in high-speed turbomachinery. In this paper, load carrying performance of the 2nd and 3rd generation JBFBs with axial and circumferential stiffness variations are investigated applying a curve shell model. A nonlinear algorithm is employed to impose contact/separate and stick/slide constraints to foil structures. An effective inverse method is proposed to design the circumferential variations of bump radii, obtaining evidently wider area (over 110°) where higher film pressure distributes. Reduced stiffness of edge bump strips increases bearing load capacity and frictional energy dissipation particularly for the misaligned rotor. Results indicate the 3rd generation JBFB can achieve over 60% load capacity improvement compared to the 1st generation bearing with uniform bump structure.

Investigations of the Bump Foil Bearing With Thick Top Foil Based on Contact Mechanics

AbstractTraditional bump foil bearing, though widely used, is considered to have the problem of inadequate load capacity due to the effect of foil sag between adjacent bumps. In this paper, the thick top foil is applied to cope with the heavy load conditions, which has one order of magnitude larger top foil thickness than traditional top foil. Thick plate and curve shell models are developed to calculate the load-carrying performance of thick top foil bearing based on contact mechanics, and the sag ratio is introduced to describe the degree of foil sag and estimate the bearing load capacity. The impacts of top foil thickness on the stiffness of bearings in different sizes as well as on the adaptability to rotor tilt are discussed. The results indicate that the thick top foil (tt = 2 mm) bearing performs a nearly 100% enhanced load capacity at small gas film thickness whether rotor tilts or not. Thick top foil will increase the bearing stiffness of small size (d = 35 mm) and tends to have little influence on large-size bearing stiffness (d = 70 mm).

Frictional analysis on stiffness and damping characteristics of bump foil gas bearings

Gas foil bearing has been used in high-speed turbomachinery for its high speed, high adaptability, and eco-friendly. The stability of the rotor bearing system is greatly enhanced due to the flexible foil support structure. In the foil supporting structure, vibration energy of the rotor bearing system can be absorbed by the Coulomb friction dissipation. In order to evaluate the frictional dissipation on bearing performance, a quasi-2-dimensional mechanical model is proposed considering the Coulomb friction. The Coulomb damping dissipation characteristics of the bearing in operating conditions are analyzed by coupling gas film. Frictional analysis is conducted on the bump foil bearing with different structural parameters, such as bump height, foil thickness, friction coefficient and number of bump foil strips. The stiffness of the foil bump is less affected by the base load. In the process of foil bearing design, the optimal friction coefficient, bump height should be properly selected in favor of either foil bearing stiffness or damping characteristics. In addition, the overall performance of bump foil bearing is strongly affected by the number of bump foil strips.

Influence of contact friction on static characteristics of multileaf bump foil bearing

In order to reveal the influence mechanism of foil contact friction on the multi-leaf bump foil bearing performance, a deformation simulation model is established under the contact constraint of multi top foils and bump foils, and the analysis of the fluid-structure interaction is realized by combining with the Reynolds equation of compressible gas. The influence of the nonlinear variation of foil stiffness caused by contact friction on the static characteristics of the bearing under different bearing numbers is numerically analyzed. The results show: the foil stiffness increases nonlinearly with the foil deformation and presents the characteristic of circumferential non-uniformity. With the increase of the deformation of foil, the influence of friction coefficient on the foil stiffness is more significant. Within the parameters studied in this paper, the friction coefficient increases from 0 to 0.5, the bearing capacity increases first and then decreases when the bearing numbers is small; the bearing capacity increases monotonically when the bearing numbers is large, the higher the bearing numbers, the more significant the growth rate. The attitude angle increases with the increase of friction coefficient, and the bearing becomes more and more unstable. When the bearing numbers is large, we should pay more attention to the influence of friction on bearing performance. The computed model emphasizing nonlinear stiffness in this paper is close to the realities, and the results can provide guidance in the design of multi-leaf bump foil bearing.

The Influence of Ambient Pressure on the Measured Load Capacity of Bump-Foil and Spiral-Groove Gas Thrust Bearings at Ambient Pressures up to 69 Bar on a Novel High-Pressure Gas Bearing Test Rig

Abstract This paper will show the influence of ambient pressure on the thrust capacity of bump-foil and spiral-groove gas thrust bearings. The bearings were operating in nitrogen at various pressures up to 69 bar and were tested to failure. Failure was detected at various pressures by incrementally increasing the thrust load applied to the thrust bearing until the bearing was no longer thermally stable, or until contact was observed by a temperature spike measured by thermocouples within the bearing. These tests were performed on a novel thrust bearing test rig that was developed to allow thrust testing at pressures up to 207 bar cavity pressure at 260 °C while rotating at speeds up to 120,000 rpm. The test rig floats on hydrostatic air bearings to allow for the direct measurement of applied thrust load through linkages that connect the stationary thrust loader to the rotor housing. Test results on a 65 mm (2.56 in.) bump-foil thrust bearing at 100 krpm show a marked increase in load capacity with gas density, which has not previously been shown experimentally. Results also show that the load capacity of a similarly sized spiral-groove thrust bearing are relatively insensitive to pressure, and supported an order-of-magnitude less load than that observed for the bump-foil thrust bearing. These results are compared with analytical predictions, which agree reasonably with the experimental results. Predicted power loss is also presented for the bump-foil bearing; however, measured power loss was substantially higher.

Experimental Evaluation of Bearing Characteristics of Bump Mesh Foil Bearing

Foil bearings are a type of gas bearing consisting of a thin metal top foil supported from behind by an elastic body. Therefore, the bearing characteristics of a foil bearing are highly dependent on the support structure, and there is a need to improve the damping and lifting performance. In this study, a new support structure, bump mesh foil, was proposed to achieve both damping and lifting performance, and its elastic properties at rest and lifting properties during shaft rotation were experimentally evaluated. The experimental results showed that the damping performance of bump mesh foil bearing was improved while having enough the same lifting performance as bump foil bearing.

Performance behaviours of a self-acting gas journal bearing with a new bore design

A new bore design of a self-acting gas journal bearing has been conceived for enhancing the load carrying capacity and dynamic stability parameters as compared to conventional bump-foil bearing. The new bore design involves the synergistic presence of bump foil and rigid sector segments. The governing equations have been discretized employing FVM/FDM followed by the solutions of the algebraic equations using Gauss-Siedel iterative scheme. Based on the investigations performed with new bore, 5–260% increase in minimum film thickness and 80–175% improvement in stability parameters have been achieved for the range of operating parameters adopted in present study in comparison to conventional bump-foil journal bearing.

Influence of geometric parameters on the bump foil bearing performance

High-speed rotating system development has drawn considerable attention of the researchers, in the recent past. Foil bearings are one of the major contenders for such applications, particularly for high speed and low load rotating systems. In foil bearings, process fluid or air is used as the working medium and no additional lubricant is required. It is known from the published literature that the load capacity of foil bearings depend on the operating speed, viscosity of the medium, clearance, and stiffness of the foil apart from the geometric dimensions of the bearing. In case of foil bearing with given dimensions, clearance governs the magnitude of pressure developed, whereas stiffness dictates the change in radial clearance under the generated pressure. This article deals with the effect of stiffness, clearance, and its interaction on the bump foil bearings load-carrying capacity. For this study, four sets of foil bearings of the same geometry with two levels of stiffness and clearance values are fabricated. Experiments are carried out following two factor-two level factorial design approach under constant load and in each case, the lift-off speed is measured. The experimental output is analyzed using statistical techniques to evaluate the influence of parameters under consideration. The results indicate that clearance has the maximum influence on the lift-off speed/ load-carrying capacity, followed by interaction effect and stiffness. A regression model is developed based on the experimental values and model is validated using error analysis technique.

Effect of bump structural friction on the performance of bump foil bearing and rotor dynamic behavior: Experimental study

Air foil bearings are a kind of self-acting lubricated bearing, which have potential applications in high-speed turbomachinery. Air foil journal bearings have simple structure that consists of top foil, bump foil, and bearing sleeve, and use gas as working fluid. However, the relative motion of top foil and bump foil, bump foil and bearing sleeve occurs when dynamic pressure is generated as long as there is spinning of shaft. Thus, the friction between each part of bearing should be considered when modeling. Many papers have theoretically shown the effect of Coulomb friction between top foil and top foil, bump foil and bearing sleeve on the static and dynamic performances of air foil journal bearing by developing many bump foil structural models. The results show that this foil structural Coulomb friction can significantly make bump foil stiffer. However, the improvement of the Coulomb friction effect through experiments is quite difficult and there is no study regarding this so far. The purpose of this paper is to certify the Coulomb effect on bearing performance by using experimental method. Two bump foil journal bearings are manufactured with different bearing sleeve surface roughnesses. Foil structure stiffness, bearing lift-off speed, and rotor dynamic behavior supported by two sets of bearings are measured and compared.

Experiments and predictions on the performance of double-bump foil bearings: Effects of bearing loads and height difference between bumps

The concept of multilayer bump foils was introduced in the design of bump foil bearings to produce a double-bump foil bearing, which can provide increased load capacity and damping by adding another bump foil in the underlying structure. The height difference between the upper and lower bumps is a crucial parameter in the design and application of such structure. In this study, two double-bump foil bearings with various height differences between bumps are designed and fabricated to compare with an ordinary bump foil bearing. Three bearings are examined via static and dynamic load tests to estimate the structural stiffness and equivalent viscous damping. Test results indicate that lower bumps can enhance both the structural stiffness and equivalent viscous damping. A theoretical link-spring model, which exhibits good agreement with the data obtained from the static load test, is adopted to analyze the effect of height difference between bumps on gas film thickness and gas pressure of double-bump foil bearings. Results show that lower bumps of the double-bump foil bearing with a smaller height difference become active more easily and are more likely to form a stable double-bump supporting structure.

Assessment of thermal effects on the levitation speed of bump foil bearings made of low cost spring steel

The demand for higher speeds and torque capacity from micro turbines, heat pumps and turbochargers has necessitated the development of high temperature resistant foil bearings. This paper focuses on investigating the effects of successive thermal cycles on the levitation speed of bump foil bearings made up of low cost spring steel. Bump foil bearings were designed for high stiffness of 1.64 MN/m2. Rotor dynamic analysis indicated highest frequency of 4790.5 Hz corresponding to second flexure mode of rotor bearing system up to which it remained stable. The bump foil bearing fabrication procedure was established and rotor was tested under suitably designed bearing rig. The orbital analysis indicated that levitation speed decreased with increase in temperature. During second and third thermal cycle, at lower rotor speeds drastic variations in amplitude of vibrations and uneven waveforms were indicative of unbalance condition of rotor. With further increase in rotor speeds, the rotor - bump foil bearing system attained the balanced state indicative of safe design.

A hybrid (permanent magnet and foil) bearing set for complete passive levitation of high-speed rotors

This paper presents the design and development of a hybrid bearing set for complete passive levitation of a typical rotor. A hybrid bearing set consists of permanent magnet thrust bearing and radial discrete bump foil bearings. The permanent magnet thrust bearing is made up of three pairs of ring magnets arranged in rotation magnetized direction. The mathematical model to determine the force and stiffness in rotation magnetized direction configuration is presented using Coulombian model and vector approach. Bump foil bearings are designed and developed for rotor weight to provide the radial support to the rotor system. The proposed bearing set with rotor is analysed using finite element analysis for rotor dynamic characteristics. The experiments are conducted on the fabricated rotor-bearing configuration by rotating the rotor up to the speeds of 40,000 r/min. The system response is acquired using advanced rotor-dynamic data acquisition system. The experimental results show that the rotor is completely airborne and stable at the desired speed.

Structural and Rotordynamic Force Coefficients of a Shimmed Bump Foil Bearing: An Assessment of a Simple Engineering Practice

High speed rotors supported on bump-type foil bearings (BFBs) often suffer from large subsynchronous whirl motions. Mechanically preloading BFBs through shimming is a common, low cost practice that shows improvements in rotordynamic stability. However, there is an absence of empirical information related to the force coefficients (structural and rotordynamic) of shimmed BFBs. This paper details a concerted study toward assessing the effect of shimming on a first generation BFB (L = 38.1 mm and D = 36.5 mm). Three metal shims, 120 deg apart, are glued to the inner surface of the bearing cartridge and facing the underside of the bump foil strip. The shim sets are of identical thickness, either 30 μm or 50 μm. In static load tests, a bearing with shims shows a (nonlinear) structural stiffness larger than for the bearing without shims. Torque measurements during shaft acceleration also demonstrate a shimmed BFB has a larger friction coefficient. For a static load of 14.3 kPa, dynamic loads with a frequency sweep from 250 Hz to 450 Hz are exerted on the BFB, without and with shims, to estimate its rotordynamic force coefficients while operating at ∼50 krpm (833 Hz). Similar measurements are conducted without shaft rotation. Results are presented for the original BFB (without shims) and the two shimmed BFB configurations. The direct stiffnesses of the BFB, shimmed or not, increase with excitation frequency, thus evidencing a mild hardening effect. The BFB stiffness and damping coefficients decrease slightly for operation with rotor speed as opposed to the coefficients when the shaft is stationary. For frequencies above 300 Hz, the direct damping coefficients of the BFB with 50 μm thick shims are ∼30% larger than the coefficients of the original bearing. The bearing structural loss factor, a measure of its ability to dissipate mechanical energy, is derived from the direct stiffness and damping coefficients. The BFB with 50 μm thick shims has a 25% larger loss factor—average from test data collected at 300 Hz to 400 Hz—than the original BFB. Further measurements of rotor motions while the shaft accelerates to ∼50 krpm demonstrate the shimmed BFB (thickest shim set) effectively removes subsynchronous whirl motions amplitudes that were conspicuous when operating with the original bearing.

Experimental research of oil-free support systems to predict the high-speed rotor bearing dynamics

In modern dissipated power generation systems, microturbines of power output ranging between 1 and 20 kW are applied. The development of a reliable bearing technology for high-speed small turbomachinery could be essential to these power-generating devices. In order to introduce this technology to common use, the optimal design selection from the viewpoint of machine reliability must be conducted. Therefore, one should analyze thoroughly the dynamics of the rotor-bearing-casing system in the whole operating range of the machine. The rotating system presented in the paper is supported in oil-free, airfoil bearings. Compliant surface foil gas bearings are a class of hydrodynamic bearings that use the ambient gas as their working fluid and thus require no dedicated lubrication systems, which makes their design much simpler. The article presents the development and experimental verification of a theoretical numerical model of the foil bearing for analysis of its dynamic characteristics (a sum of properties: two elastic elements connected in a series and their relative motion, friction that is related to this motion with respect to the elastic and cylindrical foils subjected to deformation) that will be an useable part of the study referring to numerical analyses oriented on developing a model of the high-speed rotor supported in bump-foil bearings.

Thrust Bump Air Foil Bearings with Variable Axial Load: Theoretical Predictions and Experiments

Thrust air foil bearings are critical components in high-efficiency turbomachinery, such as two-stage compressors subjected to large and irregular axial forces. In this article, a model of thrust bump foil bearings that predicts deflection with variable axial load is developed assuming no tilting effect of the thrust collar. To predict the air clearance, deflection of the elastic foundation was used in the air film height equation. Combined Dirichlet and Neumann-type boundary conditions were used for static load performance predictions. To verify the theoretical model, tests were performed with three different thrust air foil bearings with outer radii of 45, 50, and 55 mm. The rotating speed ranged from 10,000 to 25,000 rpm. From the test results, the model using nonlinear stiffness was in better agreement with the experimental results than the model using linear stiffness.

Static performance of hydrostatic air bump foil bearing

A few years ago, a hydrostatic air foil bearing using compression springs as elastic foundation was firstly introduced by Kim and Park [1]. This paper presents recent experimental results on load capacity of a new hydrostatic air foil bearing made of corrugated bump foils. The new hydrostatic air foil bearing was designed with higher structural stiffness than the first design by Kim and Park [1]. A new test rig was also designed and constructed to measure load capacity of the bearing at higher speeds. The new test results indicate the hybrid operation has similar load capacity to that of hydrodynamic operation at high speeds due to dominance of hydrodynamic pressure. However, comparative tests at low speed (10,000 rpm) showed noticeable increase of load capacity in hydrostatic air foil bearing, manifesting effective hydrostatic levitation feature at low speeds.

Load capacity of aerodynamic foil thrust bearings supported by viscoelastic material

In recent years aerodynamic bump foil bearings have attracted considerable attention for the field of oil-free turbomachines. However, the shape of the bump foils is usually very complicated and the manufacturing of these bump foils is very troublesome. Moreover, in foil bearings applied to turbomachines, such as compressors and blowers, it is not necessary to use flexible supports made of metals because the operating temperature does not rise much. Therefore, in this article, two types of taper-land foil thrust bearings supported by viscoelastic material are proposed for easier manufacturing of foil bearings. In this work the load capacity of the proposed foil bearings experimentally and numerically was investigated. It was confirmed that the proposed bearings could be easily manufactured and operate well as aerodynamic thrust bearings. In addition, it was found that inserting a metal plate between the top foil and the viscoelastic support at the land region could improve the load capacity, and that the load capacity of the proposed foil bearing reached 160 N at 20 000 r/min.

Static Characteristics of Aerodynamic Foil Thrust Bearing Supported by Visco-Elastic Material

Recently, aerodynamic bump foil bearings have attracted considerable attentions in oil-free turbo machines. However, the structure of bump foils is usually very complicated and it is difficult to fabricate these bump foils. This paper proposes a foil thrust bearing supported by visco-elastic material instead of bump foils. The structure of the proposed foil bearing is much simpler than that of a foil thrust bearing with bump foils. In this paper, the static characteristics of the proposed thrust foil bearing are numerically investigated and the experiment was conducted using manufactured test bearings. It was confirmed that the proposed foil thrust bearing could be easily manufactured and operate well as an aerodynamic thrust bearing.

Operating characteristics of the bump foil journal bearings with top foil bending phenomenon and correlation among bump foils

In many previous studies, the experimental results show the ripple traces of the post-test top foil due to the top foil deflection differences between the areas touched with and without bump foil. This phenomenon represents clearly the behaviour of the top foil motion. Therefore the top foil deflecting appearance should be taken into consideration for more reliable estimation of the bump foil bearing behaviour. However inherent top foil bending effect was ignored under assumption to the rigid body able to act only vertically. In this paper, a numerical analysis and its experimental investigation were studied with the intention to abstract the static and dynamic characteristics of the bump foil bearing considering the top foil bending effect and correlation among bumps. The bump and top foil inserted between the journal and the bearing housing have each mechanism as a shock absorber and journal supporter, and each mechanism was analysed using numerical method, respectively. In the case of the top foil, the deflection of that and Coulomb damping generated by relative friction was taken into consideration theoretically. In addition bump foil analysis was executed to be assumed to have a structure that flexible bumps with corrugated shape are connected with each other. This analysis verifies that the stiffness at the fixed end where the friction forces between the bearing housing and bump foil superpose is more than that at the free end. Using this structural analysis, the overall analysis of the bump foil bearing was executed through coupling process. In parallel, the experimental process was carried into execution with the bump foil bearing that L/D is 1. The rotating speed was from 10,000 up to 30,000 rpm and the load was 50 N. By comparing the analysis with the experimental results, the effects of the structural characteristics of bump foil were presented.

Dynamic characteristics of a flexible rotor system supported by a viscoelastic foil bearing (VEFB)

Foil bearings have been considered as an alternative to traditional bearings with the increasing need for high-speed, high-temperature turbomachinery. However, the lack of adequate load capacity and sufficient damping capacity is a key technical hurdle to super-bending-critical operation as well as widespread use of foil bearings in turbomachinery such as turbopumps, turbocompressors and turbochargers. A new foil bearing, ViscoElastic Foil Bearing (VEFB) is suggested in this paper. The super-bending-critical operation of the conventional bump foil bearing and the VEFB is examined, as well as the structural dynamic characteristics. The structural dynamic test results show that the equivalent viscous damping of the VEFB is much larger than that of the bump bearing and that the structural dynamic stiffness of the VEFB is comparable or larger than that of the bump bearing. The results of super-bending-critical operation of the VEFB indicate that the enhanced structural damping of the viscoelastic foil dramatically reduces the vibration near the bending critical speed. With the help of increased damping resulting from the viscoelasticity, suppression of the nonsynchronous orbit is possible beyond the bending critical speed.