Gas foil bearings can operate in extreme conditions such as high temperature and high rotating speed, compared to traditional bearings. They also provide better damping and stability characteristics and have larger tolerance to debris and rotor misalignment. Gas foil bearings have been successfully applied to micro- and small-sized turbomachinery, such as microgas turbine and cryogenic turbo expander. In the last decades, a lot of theoretical and experimental work has been conducted to investigate the properties of gas foil bearings. However, very little work has been done to study the influence of the foil bearing pad configuration. This study proposes a robust approach to analyze the effect of the foil geometry on the performance of a six-pad thrust foil bearing. In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for a parallel six-pad thrust foil bearing is created. In order to predict the thermal property, the total energy with viscous dissipation is used. Based on this model, the geometry of the thrust foil bearing is parameterized and analyzed using the design of experiments (DOE) methodology. In this paper, the selected geometry parameters of the foil structure include minimum film thickness, inlet film thickness, the ramp extent on the inner circle, the ramp extent on the outer circle, the arc extent of the pad, and the orientation of the leading edge. The objectives in the sensitivity study are load capacity and maximal temperature. An optimal foil geometry is derived based on the results of the DOE process by using a goal-driven optimization technique to maximize the load capacity and minimize the maximal temperature. The results show that the geometry of the foil structure is a key factor for foil bearing performance. The numerical approach proposed in this study is expected to be useful from the thrust foil bearing design perspective.
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August 2018
Research-Article
Effect of Foil Geometry on the Static Performance of Thrust Foil Bearings
Gen Fu,
Gen Fu
Laboratory for Turbomachinery
and Components,
Department of Biomedical Engineering
and Mechanics,
Virginia Tech,
Norris Hall, Room 107,
Virginia Tech 495 Old Turner Street,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
e-mail: gen8@vt.edu
and Components,
Department of Biomedical Engineering
and Mechanics,
Virginia Tech,
Norris Hall, Room 107,
Virginia Tech 495 Old Turner Street,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
e-mail: gen8@vt.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Alexandrina Untaroiu,
Alexandrina Untaroiu
Laboratory for Turbomachinery and
Components,
Department of Biomedical
Engineering and Mechanics,
Virginia Tech,
Norris Hall, Room 107,
Virginia Tech 495 Old Turner Street,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
e-mail: alexu@vt.edu
Components,
Department of Biomedical
Engineering and Mechanics,
Virginia Tech,
Norris Hall, Room 107,
Virginia Tech 495 Old Turner Street,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
e-mail: alexu@vt.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Erik Swanson
Erik Swanson
Search for other works by this author on:
Gen Fu
Laboratory for Turbomachinery
and Components,
Department of Biomedical Engineering
and Mechanics,
Virginia Tech,
Norris Hall, Room 107,
Virginia Tech 495 Old Turner Street,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
e-mail: gen8@vt.edu
and Components,
Department of Biomedical Engineering
and Mechanics,
Virginia Tech,
Norris Hall, Room 107,
Virginia Tech 495 Old Turner Street,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
e-mail: gen8@vt.edu
Alexandrina Untaroiu
Laboratory for Turbomachinery and
Components,
Department of Biomedical
Engineering and Mechanics,
Virginia Tech,
Norris Hall, Room 107,
Virginia Tech 495 Old Turner Street,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
e-mail: alexu@vt.edu
Components,
Department of Biomedical
Engineering and Mechanics,
Virginia Tech,
Norris Hall, Room 107,
Virginia Tech 495 Old Turner Street,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
e-mail: alexu@vt.edu
Erik Swanson
1Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Structures and Dynamics Committee of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. Manuscript received August 28, 2017; final manuscript received October 4, 2017; published online April 12, 2018. Editor: David Wisler.
J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. Aug 2018, 140(8): 082502 (9 pages)
Published Online: April 12, 2018
Article history
Received:
August 28, 2017
Revised:
October 4, 2017
Citation
Fu, G., Untaroiu, A., and Swanson, E. (April 12, 2018). "Effect of Foil Geometry on the Static Performance of Thrust Foil Bearings." ASME. J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. August 2018; 140(8): 082502. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4038693
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