Oil Film Angular Stiffness Determination in a Hydroelectric Tilting Pad Thrust Bearing

Tilting pad thrust bearings are designed to transfer high axial loads from rotating shafts to the static support structure. In the present paper, formulation of Reynolds’ equation for the bearing is done in two dimensions (planar). A finite difference method is used to convert the terms of the Reynolds’ equation in to a set of simultaneous linear algebraic equations. A solution procedure for finding value of the pressure in the oil film is described. Numerical integration of the pressure values gives the load distribution. Subsequently, the study of angular stiffness of the film is done by varying the value of the oil film thickness and calculating torques at three different film shapes 1, 2 & 3 of the pad. The angular stiffness, differential displacement and load pertaining to the 3-2 pair are calculated for 0.5%–20% variation of h_o. The results obtained show that the values of Kt* and K* converge asymptotically.