Analysis on Dynamic Performance of Hydrodynamic Tilting-Pad Gas Bearings Using Partial Derivative Method

Tilting-pad gas bearings are widely used in high-speed rotating machines due to their inherent stability characteristics. This paper advances the analytical method for prediction of the dynamic performances of tilting-pad gas bearings. The main advantage of the analytical method is that the complete set of dynamic coefficients of tilting-pad gas bearings can be obtained. The predictions show that the perturbation frequency has the strong effects on the dynamic coefficients of gas bearings. In general, at lower perturbation frequency, the equivalent direct stiffness coefficients increase with frequency, whereas equivalent direct damping coefficients dramatically reduce. For higher perturbation frequency, the dynamic coefficients are nearly independent of the frequency. Moreover, the equivalent dynamic coefficients of four-pad tilting-pad gas bearing obtained by the method in this paper are in good agreement with those obtained by Zhu and San Andres [(2007), “Rotordynamic Performance of Flexure Pivot Hydrostatic Gas Bearings for Oil-Free Turbomachinery,” ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 129(4), pp. 1020–1027] in the published paper. The results validate the feasibility of the method presented in this paper in calculating the dynamic coefficients of gas-lubricated tilting-pad bearings.