Niels Heinrichson

On the Design of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

Department of Mechanical Engineering Technical University of Denmark

On the Design of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings Department of Mechanical Engineering Technical University of Denmark by Niels Heinrichson ISBN 87-90416-22-8

Preface
This thesis is submitted as partial fulllment of the requirements for awarding the Danish Ph.D. degree. The work has been carried out from August 2003 to October 2006 at the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MEK), Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The project was supervised by associate professor Dr.-Ing. Ilmar Ferreira Santos. The experimental part of the work was carried out during a four month stay at Alstom Power (Switzerland) Ltd., Hydrogenerator Technology Center, Birr, Aargau, Switzerland. I would like to thank Alstom for the opportunity to use their test facilities. And in particular I would like to thank Dr.-Ing. Axel Fuerst and Dipl.-Ing. Kamil Matyscak for their help and for good discussions during my stay.

Technical University of Denmark Lyngby, October 2006

Niels Heinrichson

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Abstract
Pockets are often machined in the surfaces of tilting-pad thrust bearings to allow for hydrostatic jacking in the start-up phase. Pockets and other recesses in the surfaces of bearing pads inuence the pressure distribution and thereby the position of the pivot resulting in the most advantageous pad convergence ratio. In this thesis, a theoretical approach is applied in the attempt to quantify the inuence of recesses in the pad surfaces. The recesses may be relatively deep and enclosed as is the case with pockets designed for hydrostatic jacking. Such recesses are characterized by low friction and a small pressure build-up. As in parallel-step bearings the recesses may also have a depth of the same order of magnitude as the oil lm thickness. Such recesses are characterized by a strong pressure build-up caused by the reduction of the ow area at the end of the recess. Numerical models based on the Reynolds equation are used. They include the effects of variations of viscosity with temperature and the deformation of the bearing pads due to pressure and thermal gradients. The models are validated using measurements. Tilting-pad bearings of standard design are studied and the inuences of the bearing length-towidth ratio, pad deformation and injection pocket size are quantied. Suggestions for the design of energy efcient bearings are given. The results show that correctly dimensioned, bearings with oil injection pockets have smaller friction coefcients than bearings with plain pads. Placing the pockets in the high-pressure zones close to the trailing edges of the bearing pads causes a substantial reduction in the friction coefcient. The design of the recess sizes and positions leading to the largest improvements is studied and design suggestions for various pad geometries are given. Parallel-step bearings theoretically have smaller friction coefcients than tilting-pad bearings. A design of a tilting-pad bearing is suggested which combines the benets of the two types of bearings in a tilting-pad bearing with inlet pockets. This design results in a substantial reduction of the friction loss. Both this bearing and the bearing design with enclosed recesses in the highpressure regions of the pads suffer from a higher sensitivity to the position of the pivot. The design of such bearing is therefore no trivial task.

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Resum e

(in Danish)

Der frses ofte lommer i overaderne af skoene i aksiale vippeskolejer for at muliggre hydrostatisk bring ved opstart af rotoren. Lommer og andre fordybninger i overaderne af lejeskoene p virker trykfordelingen og dermed den position af kippunktet, som giver den mest fordelagtige a smrelmskile. I denne afhandling anvendes en teoretisk fremgangsm de i et forsg p at kvana a ticere indydelsen af fordybninger i overaderne af lejeskoene. Fordybningerne kan vre relativt dybe og indesluttede i skoens overade, s ledes som det er tilfldet med lommer, der anvendes til a hydrostatisk bring. Den slags fordybninger er karakteriseret ved lav friktion og en lille trykstigning. Som i Rayleigh-step lejer kan fordybningerne ogs have dybde af samme strrelsesorden som a olielmstykkelsen. S danne fordybninger er karakteriseret ved en kraftig trykopbygning som flge a af reduktionen i strmningsareal ved enden af fordybningen. Numeriske modeller baseret i Reynoldsligningen er anvendt. De inkluderer effekterne af variationer af viskositeten med temperaturen og deformationer af lejeskoene som flge af tryk og temperaturgradienter. Modellerne valideres ved eksperimenter. Vippeskolejer af standard design undersges, og indydelsen af lejernes lngde-til-bredde forhold, skodeformation og strrelsen af lommer til hydrostatisk bring kvanticeres. Forslag til design af energieffektive lejer gives. Resultater viser, at hvis sko med lommer dimensioneres korrekt, har de lavere friktionskoefcienter end sko uden lommer. Hvis lommerne placeres i hjtryksomr a derne tt p skoenes bagkanter, kan der opn s en betydelig mindskelse af friktionskoefcienten. a a Positionen og strrelsen af lommen, som resulterer i de strste forbedringer bestemmes og designforslag for forskellige skogeometrier anfres. Rayleigh-step lejer har en teoretisk lavere friktionskoefcient end vippeskolejer. Der foresl s a et design af vippeskolejer, som kombinerer fordelene ved de to typer lejer i vippeskolejer med indlbslommer. Dette design resulterer i en betydelig reduktion af friktionstabet. B de dette leje a og lejedesignet med indesluttede lommer i hjtryksomr derne af skoene lider af hjere flsomhed a overfor positioneringen af dens sfriske understtning. Designet af s danne lejer er derfor ingen a triviel opgave.

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Contents
Preface Abstract Resum (in Danish) e Nomenclature 1 Introduction 1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Historical Development . . . 1.3 Objectives and Contributions 1.4 Organisation of the Report . i iii v ix 1 1 1 3 5 7 9 10 11 13 15 16 16 16 17 17 18 18 21 23 23 27 30

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2 Mathematical Modelling 2.1 Levels of Modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Governing Equations (3-dimensional formulation) 2.2.1 Fluid lm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 Heat transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 Deection of bearing pad . . . . . . . . . 2.2.4 Bearing equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.5 Miscellaneous relations . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Governing Equations (2-dimensional formulation) 2.3.1 Fluid lm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2 Heat transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.3 Deection of bearing pad . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Numerical Description and Solution Method . . . 2.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3 Validation of Models 3.1 Comparison with Published Experimental Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Comparison to Measured Data for a Large Sized Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Experimental Results 4.1 Test Facility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Measuring System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Comparison between Experimental and Theoretical Results 4.4.1 Pressure proles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.2 Oil lm thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.3 Lift-off oil lm thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.4 Thermal bending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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35 36 36 40 41 41 44 48 50 51 53 53 57 60 63 63 64 66 69 74 75 76 77 79 79 83 87 89 90 93 95

Analysis of Standard Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings 5.1 Inuences of Oil Injection Pockets and Thermal Bending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 The Inuence of the Length-to-Width Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Shallow Recesses 6.1 1-Dimensional Double Incline Bearings . . . . . . . 6.2 Rectangular Parallel-Step Bearing Pads . . . . . . . 6.3 Rectangular Double Incline Bearing Pads . . . . . . 6.4 Double Incline Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings . . . . . 6.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses 7.1 Comparison to CFD-Model Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.1 1-dimensional isothermal analysis of a linear bearing 7.2.2 Analysis of a bearing with rectangular bearing pads . 7.2.3 3-dimensional analysis of tilting pad thrust bearing . 7.2.4 The inuence of recess depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.5 Recesses used for hydrostatic jacking . . . . . . . . 7.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary and Conclusion

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Bibliography

viii

Nomenclature
Latin Symbols
B c dHertz E Ffriction Fz H h h0 hp , hs hle , hte K k, kpad k1 , k2 Lend Lpad Lpiv Lrecess Mr , M , Mr , MT Mres mi , me Nu p pinj Qgen Qgr , Qout oil,le , Qoil,te Q Qcond,p , Qgen,p r r1 , r2 rmean , rp , rpiv Re ST pad mean arc length oil specic heat diameter of Hertzian pressure distribution Youngs modulus of pad material friction force axial load on bearing convection heat transfer coefcient oil lm thickness oil lm thickness at pivot point pocket (recess) depth, step height oil lm thickness at leading edge, trailing edge pad convergence ratio, hle /hte 1 oil, pad thermal conductivity oil specic constants dening viscosity minimum distance between recess and trailing edge pad mean arc length pivot position in the dir. of motion (rectangular pad) length of elliptical recess (minor axis) pad bending, twisting and thermal bending moments resulting moment at pivot point mass ow into pocket, mass ow out of pocket Nusselt number pressure oil injection pressure bearing friction loss groove heat loss, heat ow out of the computational domain heat ow in oil at leading edge, trailing edge conduction into pocket from the pad, pocket friction loss radial coordinate pad inner radius, pad outer radius pad mean radius, radius of circular pocket, pivot radius recess Reynolds number, Uhp / Source term in the 2-dimensional energy equation ix [m] [J/kg/K] [m] [N/m2 ] [N] [N] [W/m2 /K] [m] [m] [m] [m] [-] [W/m/K] [-] [m] [m] [m] [m] [Nm] [Nm] [kg/s] [-] [N/m2 ] [N/m2 ] [W] [W] [W] [W] [m] [m] [m] [-] [W]

T T0 , Ta , Tc , Tp , Tle Tbab , Tback tpad , tplate U ui , ue Vr , V Vinj , Voil vr , v , vz Wf ric , Winj Wpad , Wrecess w xoffset z zpad

temperature inlet oil, oil bath, collar, pocket oil, leading edge temperature pad babbitt, pad back temperature (used in 2D calculations) pad thickness, pad plus support thickness collar speed at mean radius internal energy in inlet and exit oil to and from the recess Kirchhoff shear stresses injected oil ow, cooling oil ow velocity components in r, and z directions friction work at collar surface, oil injection work pad width, width of elliptical recess (major axis) deection of pad in the direction of zpad offset of pivot from nominal position coordinate in the direction of lm thickness coordinate in the direction of pad thickness

[K] [K] [K] [m] [m/s] [N] [N] [m3 /s] [m/s] [W] [m] [m] [m] [m] [m]

Greek Symbols
r , p pad 0 , piv recess 0 , p roll angle, pitch angle of pad pad thermal expansion coefcient friction coefcient (Friction force / Load) oil density angular coordinate pad angle, pivot angle angular position of the centre of the recess inlet oil, pocket oil viscosity Poissons ratio angular velocity of collar [rad] [K1 ] [-] [kg/m3] [rad] [rad] [rad] [Ns/m2] [-] [rad/s]

Nondimensionalised quantities
h p Q r T V inj vr v vz W w z z pad h/h0 2 ph2 /(r1 0 ) 0 3 Q/(r1 0 2 0 ) r/r1 T /T0 2 Vinj /(h0 r1 0 ) vr /(r1 ) v /(r) vz /(h0 ) 3 W /(r1 0 2 0 ) w/h0 z/h zpad /tpad

r p

r r1 /h0 p r1 /h0 /0 /0

Abbreviations
TEHD Thermo-Elasto-Hydrodynamic
Refers to a numerical model considering the combined effects of hydrodynamic pressure generation, viscosity variations due to temperature changes and pad bending due to pressure and thermal gradients in the bearing pad.

THD

Thermo-Hydrodynamic
Refers to a numerical model considering the combined effects of hydrodynamic pressure generation and viscosity variations due to temperature changes.

ISO

Isothermal
Refers to a numerical model considering the effects of hydrodynamic pressure generation.

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Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Motivation
Tilting-pad bearings are frequently used in large energy converting machinery (electrical engines, power plants etc.). In hydro power plants tilting-pad thrust bearings are used for carrying the weight of the generators and turbines. The friction in the thrust bearings is responsible for a large amount of the energy losses in hydro power plants. Operated correctly tilting-pad bearings have an almost innite lifetime as wear can be completely avoided. Correctly dimensioned the bearings operate in the hydrodynamic lubrication regime and are only subjected to boundary and mixed lubrication if they are loaded at start-up of the rotor. Using hydrostatic jacking for lifting up the rotor at start-up ensures a full oil lm at all operating conditions. Due to the rising energy prices the possibilities of reducing the friction in hydro power plants are receiving increased attention. The energy savings due to reduced friction can often fully depreciate the initial cost of new bearings in few years when retrotting an existing power plant with new bearings. The long life expectancy of the tilting-pad bearings allow for more intricate bearing low friction constructions at higher initial costs. The reduction of friction is therefore of special interest in the design of large tilting-pad thrust bearings. Research questions which are taken up in the present work are related to the necessity of accurate mathematical modelling of the operating conditions of thrust bearings and to the study of design options reducing the friction.

1.2 Historical Development

The pivot pad bearing was invented by Anthony G. M. Michell in 1905 and independently by Albert Kingsbury in 1910 in a slightly different version. Tilting-pad bearings have the great advantage over hle xed incline bearings that the pad convergence ratio K = hte 1 is a function of the position of the pivot only. K is independent of the operating conditions (when thermal effects and side leakage are negligible). The load carrying capacity depends strongly on K and xed incline bearings therefore do not work well under varying operating conditions. This problem was solved by the introduction of the pivot-pad bearing. A schematic illustration of a tilting-pad thrust bearing is seen in gure 1.1. Michells construction was based on a line pivot not allowing for radial pivoting. Kingsbury used a 1

Introduction

Figure 1.1: An illustration of a tilting-pad bearing and the terminology used in this report. spherical pivot, which allows the bearing-pad to tilt in all directions to compensate for misalignment between the pad and the rotor. Due to this additional advantage of Kingsburys design the spherically pivoted bearing is in more widespread use and it is the type of pivot pad, which is considered in this report. The present day bearing designs are very similar to the original design. In gure 1.2 some examples of modern tilting-pad thrust bearings are shown. To enhance the performance some modications of the design have been introduced over the years. Levelling systems have been introduced to ensure equal loads on all pads. In large bearings crowning of the pads due to thermal gradients between the oil lm side and the backside of the pads may constitute a problem due to a negative inuence on the oil lm thickness distribution. In order to reduce thermal crowning circular supports, internal cooling of the pads or sandwich constructions have been introduced by bearing designers. Other designers have eliminated the pivot and positioned the pad on a bed of springs allowing for a thinner pad in which the thermal deection is opposed by pressure bending induced by the springs. Traditionally, bearings are operated in an oil bath under fully ooded conditions. In slow speed bearings movement of the oil in the oil bath does not induce a large energy loss. In high-speed bearings however the churning loss may constitute a signicant part of the total friction loss. In such bearings oil is often directly sprayed onto the collar in the groove between the pads or supplied through leading edge grooves. In large applications starting up a loaded rotor from zero velocity causes high temperatures to develop due to dry friction and the white metal surface may melt. To avoid this, hydrostatic jacking is often used. In recent years attention has turned to using polymer materials such as Polyetheretherketones (PEEK) as coating materials instead of white metal because of their low friction coefcients against steel. Hydrostatic jacking may then be avoided.
The top row pictures are downloaded from the internet: left: [Link]/pdfs/[Link], middle: [Link]/ data/page/550/[Link], right: [Link]/product/images/[Link], The bottom row pictures are curtesy of: Alstom Power (Switzerland) Ltd.

1.3 Objectives and Contributions

Figure 1.2: Thrust bearings with different features: Leading edge grooves(top left), spray lubrication(top middle), load equilization(top right), PEEK coated pad (bottom left), oil injection pockets (bottom right) . The improvements in the design of tilting-pad thrust bearings have been aided by the developments in the theoretical description. The analyses of hydrodynamic thrust bearings have predominantly been based in the Reynolds equation (Reynolds, 1886) for the pressure distribution. With the increasing capacity of computers numerical models have been developed including the inuences of viscosity variations along and across the lubricating lm (Sternlicht et al., 1961; Huebner, 1974b; Fust, 1981; Kim et al., 1983) and the inclusion of the deformation of the bearing pads due to pressure and thermal gradients (Sternlicht et al., 1961; Ettles, 1976, 1980; Pistner, 1996). Heat transfer phenomena have been analysed (Ettles, 1976; Vohr, 1981; Heshmat & Pinkus, 1986; Ettles & Anderson, 1991) and the inuence of turbulence in high speed bearings (Huebner, 1974a; Capitao, 1974; Jeng et al., 1986; Hashimoto, 1990) has been studied.

1.3 Objectives and Contributions

The inuence of certain design features on the operating conditions of tilting-pad thrust bearings have only been treated peripherally in the scientic literature. Leading edge tapers are sometimes used to assist the build-up of the oil lm during start-up. Oil injection pockets may be machined

Introduction

in the pad surfaces at the pivot points in order to facilitate hydrostatic jacking at start-up. These are features which inuence the pressure distribution and thereby the oil lm thickness. The works presented in the scientic literature dealing with the combined effects of hydrodynamic pressure build up, temperature variations and deformations of the pads assume sector shaped pads without cutouts in the surfaces. The interest in accurately determining the operating conditions of tilting-pad thrust bearings and the desire to reduce the friction lead to the following research questions: The rst research question which is taken up, deals with the inuence of oil injection pockets on the operating conditions and dimensioning of tilting-pad thrust bearings. The second research question is concerned with, whether improvements in the performance, i.e. a lower friction coefcient and higher load carrying capacity can be achieved by applying features like deep or shallow cutouts in the surfaces of the bearing pads. In order to answer these questions a numerical model is developed. It includes the components developed in the past, i.e. hydrodynamic pressure build up, temperature variations along and across the lubricant lm and bearing pads and the deformation of the pads due to pressure and thermal gradients. It includes options to vary the geometry of the surfaces of the pads so that inlet pockets and enclosed pockets of various geometry, size and depth can be studied. The model also allows for injection of oil in the surfaces of the pads, such as it is used for hydrostatic jacking. The focus of the work is on reducing the friction. The friction force in a tilting-pad bearing can be quantied as the shear stress in the lubricating oil at the rotor surface integrated over the rotor surface area. Many approaches can be taken in the search for ways to reduce the friction loss. Designing bearings capable of operating at lower lubricant lm thicknesses and thereby reducing the bearing area, choosing a lubricant with improved physical properties or changing the lubricant supply method (New, 1974; Mikula & Gregory, 1983; Mikula, 1988) are approaches which can lead to lower friction coefcients. In the present report the focus is limited to the design of the bearing pads. Parameters such as the oil properties, oil lm thickness and thermal conditions are considered given by the design specications. The attention is on correctly dimensioning pads of standard design for small friction coefcients and on suggesting modications to the design, which result in further reductions of the power loss. The major contributions of this work relate to the following: The elaboration of a numerical model based on the Reynolds equation extends three dimensional thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic (TEHD) analysis of tilting-pad thrust bearings to include the effects of high pressure injection and recesses in the bearing pads. The validation of the model through experiments. Apart from predicting the behaviour of tilting-pad thrust bearings to the same level of accuracy as similar models published in the scientic literature it is shown that the model can predict the behaviour of bearings with enclosed recesses. The ability of the model to predict the start-up behaviour of bearings subjected to hydrostatic jacking is similarly validated.

1.4 Organisation of the Report

Combining the parallel-step bearing with the tilting-pad bearing in a design with inlet pockets coverings 60-80 % of the surface areas is suggested. Provided the pivot is positioned correctly the modied bearing pads operate at lower friction coefcients than standard pivot-pad bearings. Machining a deep recess (one or more orders of magnitude deeper than the oil lm thickness) in the surface of a bearing pad creates a low friction zone inside the pad. It is shown that a substantial reduction in friction compared to conventional bearing designs is possible when designing tilting-pad bearings with deep recesses in the high pressure regions. Design charts are presented stating recess dimensions, recess positions and the corresponding pivot locations leading to small friction coefcients.

1.4 Organisation of the Report

The outline of the thesis is as follows: Chapter 2: Describes and derives the mathematical models which are used to study tilting-pad thrust bearings. The models are based in the Reynolds equation and employ 2- or 3-dimensional treatment of the temperature distribution in the oil lm and in the pad. Whether 2- or 3dimensional modelling is used depends on the geometry of the studied lubricant ow. Chapter 3: The models derived in chapter 2 are validated against measurements published in the scientic literature for a bearing with a plain pad surface. Furthermore, a case study of a large sized bearing with oil injection pockets at the pivot points is performed. Oil lm thickness measurements are available for comparison. A study of the sensitivity of the bearing operating conditions to the pocket dimensions is performed. Chapter 4: Measurements of oil lm thickness and pressure proles at four different radii are performed on individual pads in a test-rig. A pad with a leading edge taper and a conical oil injection pocket are measured at various operating conditions. A plain pad is measured for reference. The measurements are compared to theoretical results and serve to validate the numerical model with respect to the description of the pressure changes in the pocket area. Chapter 5: This chapter studies tilting-pad thrust bearings of standard design. The inuence of oil injection pockets placed at the pivot point as well as the inuence of thermal bending on the optimal positioning of the pivot point is studied. Furthermore, the inuence of the pad length-to-width ratio on the bearing power loss is investigated. Chapter 6: Correctly designed parallel-step bearings have smaller friction coefcients than tiltingpad bearings. The possibility of designing a bearing combining the good qualities of the two types of bearings is investigated. It is suggested to machine a shallow inlet pocket in the surfaces of the bearing pads. It is shown that a substantial reduction in the power loss can be achieved.

Introduction

Chapter 7: Deep low friction recesses are introduced in the bearing pads. The recesses create low friction zones in the high pressure region of the pads. It is shown that a substantial reduction in the friction loss can be achieved if the pads and the recesses are correctly dimensioned. Chapter 8: Summarises the research presented in the report and outlines the main conclusions.

Chapter 2 Mathematical Modelling

The analysis of lubrication problems is usually based on the Reynolds equation which can be derived through an order of dimension analysis from the Navier-Stokes equations. If only the lowest order terms are retained, these can be introduced in the continuity equation which is then integrated across the uid lm to give the Reynolds equation. This was rst shown by Reynolds (1886) for a uid with constant properties. Various researchers have since extended the equation to include compressibility and variations in uid properties along or across the uid lm. Notably, Dowson (1962) introduced a general extension of the equation to include varying uid properties both along and across the uid lm. The energy equation similarly reduced to contain only the lowest order terms may be solved for the temperature distribution. It is common practice to use a 2-dimensional at plate approximation to calculate the bending of the bearing pads stemming from pressure and thermal gradients. Models which include the combined effects of hydrodynamic pressure generation, viscosity variations due to temperature changes and pad bending are termed thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic (TEHD) models. Many authors have dealt with modelling of hydrodynamic thrust bearings. Sternlicht et al. (1961) presented the rst 2-dimensional TEHD analysis of a pivoted thrust pad assuming adiabatic conditions and laminar ow. Design charts (Raimondi & Boyd, 1955; Sternlicht & Arwas, 1962) based on 2-dimensional isothermal and TEHD calculations are still used in bearing analysis today. Models including 3-dimensional treatment of the oil temperature include (Huebner, 1974b; Kim et al., 1983; Ettles & Anderson, 1991). Vohr (1981) presented a model for predicting the operating temperature and leading edge temperature. The inuence of turbulence in tilting-pad-thrust bearings has been studied (Capitao, 1974; Jeng et al., 1986; Hashimoto, 1990). Capitaos 2-dimensional work predicts twice the load carrying capacity and three times the power loss as would have been predicted through pure laminar modelling. It is generally accepted that the ow can be considered laminar for a modied Reynolds number Rx = 0 u0 h2 /(0 l0 ) < 1. 0 With the increasing focus on hybrid journal bearings, models of such bearings have been presented in recent years (San Andres, 1995; Santos & Nicoletti, 1999). They treat temperature as a bulk ow property. The ow pattern in bearing pockets and its inuence on the pressure distribution has been investigated by the use of Navier-Stokes equation solvers (Ettles & Donoghue, 1971; Braun & Dzodzo, 1995; Helene et al., 2003; Brajdic-Mitidieri et al., 2005). Shinkle & Hornung (1965) showed experimentally and numerically that the pocket ow can be considered laminar for Re < 1000. The inuence of pocket size in a centrally pivoted bearing was investigated by Hemmi 7

Mathematical Modelling

& Inoue (1999) using an isothermal model. Some ow phenomena which occur in bearings are not convincingly treated by the Reynolds equation. Stagnation of oil at the leading edge of a pad creates an inertial pressure rise in front of the leading edge (Heckelman & Ettles, 1987; Rhim & Tichy, 1989; Kim & Kim, 2002). Similarly, the changes in ow velocity inside a recess in a bearing pad create inertial pressure changes which are neglected using the classical simplications employed in lubrication theory (Ettles & Donoghue, 1971). Due to such limitations there is a trend towards employing Navier-Stokes equation solvers in the analysis of bearing uid ow. The majority of such studies have been isothermal and restricted to the study of xed geometry ows. The studies have served the purpose of studying isolated phenomena such as inertial effects in hydrostatic injection ows. A number of these studies were mentioned in the previous paragraph. No analysis using Navier-Stokes equation solvers has been performed for the purpose of determining the operating conditions of full tilting-pad bearings. At present the computational effort necessary to analyse problems involving long thin oil lms, temperature changes and the movement and bending of the solid surfaces renders the use of 3-dimensional ow modelling very time consuming. In recent years some focus in the theoretical description of bearings has turned to the description and inclusion of inertial effects. It has been proposed to include local effects of inertia at uid lm thickness discontinuities, for instance at the step in a parallel-step bearing, in a Reynolds equation formulation of the ow problem. Arghir et al. (2002) applied the approach to an oil lubricated double incline step bearing. In a parallel-step bearing the concentrated inertia effect results in a pressure drop at the step because of the acceleration of the uid at the step. Dobrica & Fillon (2006) applied the approach to a 3-dimensional THD-model of such a bearing of 64 cm2 surface area operating using a VG32 oil at U=30 m/s and a minimum oil lm thickness of 20 m. Their results showed a pressure drop at the step due to concentrated inertia of 1 % of the maximum pressure. This affects the characteristics of the bearing very little. At higher speeds the effects are larger. No comparative study between experimentally and theoretically determined pressure distributions validating the accuracy of including inertia by a concentrated inertia approximation has been published. Experimental work on micro texturing have shown a potential for improving the load carrying capacity by the inclusion of shallow recesses in the surfaces of bearings, seals and cylinder liners (Etsion & Klingerman, 1999; Etsion et al., 2004). Recently, Glavatskikh et al. (2005) presented measurements showing a reduction in friction and higher oil lm thickness when equipping a tiltingpad thrust bearing with texturing. Arghir et al. (2003) showed that inertial effects are instrumental in improving the load carrying capacity and in textured bearings can therefore not be analysed using the Reynolds equation. In the work presented in this report a Reynolds equation formulation of the ow problem is applied. All effects of inertia are neglected.

2.1 Levels of Modelling

Figure 2.1: Illustration of the ow phenomena in the recess areas. Left: A bearing with a deep recess (3-dimensional grid). Right: A bearing with a shallow recess (2-dimensional grid).

2.1 Levels of Modelling

Models of different levels of detail are used in this report. 1-dimensional models for pressure are used in places to examine the potential of a specic geometry. 2-dimensional models for pressure are used in isothermal versions (ISO) or including 2-dimensional temperature calculations (2D-THD) and with the calculation of 2-dimensional thermal bending of the pad (2D-TEHD). 2-dimensional models for pressure are used including 3-dimensional temperature calculations (3D-THD) and with the calculation of 2-dimensional thermal bending of the pad (3D-TEHD). The 3-dimensional models yield a more detailed picture of the temperature distribution than the 2-dimensional models. Heat transfer phenomena can thereby be determined more accurately. Furthermore, the thermal bending of the pad is much more accurately determined. In the remainder of this report recesses of different depth are studied. They can be divided into two categories which have different properties. A class of recesses termed deep recesses are considered. The depths of the deep recesses are generally two or more orders of magnitude larger than the oil lm thickness. Another class of recesses are termed shallow recesses. The depths of the shallow recesses are of the same order of magnitude as the oil lm thickness. Flow wise the two classes of recesses differ in that there is recirculation ow in the deep recesses while no recirculation in the shallow recesses is predicted by the Reynolds equation. Figure 2.1 schematically shows the two different ow situations. In the studies performed on deep recesses the recesses are enclosed in the bearing surfaces and they have a relatively small surface area (< 20 %) compared to the total bearing area. The recirculation in a deep recess results in a large amount of mixing of the oil in the volume of the recess. Therefore, the temperature inside the volume of the recess is considered uniform. A 3dimensional description of the temperature is used in the oil lm outside of the recess area. This is schematically shown in gure 2.1(left). A 3-dimensional treatment of the temperature inside
The equation set used in the 1-dimensional models is not given in this report. The description and derivation of 1-dimensional models can be found in for instance Hamrock et al. (2004).

10

Mathematical Modelling

Figure 2.2: The coordinate system used for the 3-dimensional calculations. the recess area would involve a large effort in the construction of the computational grid, raise the computation time and make it difcult to study recesses of various geometries. In the studies involving shallow recesses the uid inside a recess does not mix as it does in a deep recess. The assumption of a uniform recess temperature is therefore not valid. A 3-dimensional formulation would require a grid which stretches into the volume of the recess. A grid as seen in gure 2.1(left) which is stretched with the oil lm thickness does not deal well with oil lm thickness discontinuities. A more intricate grid is necessary. This would restrict the study of various recess geometries. It is therefore chosen to use a 2-dimensional formulation in which the energy equation is integrated over the thickness of the oil lm. In section 2.2 the derivation of a 3-dimensional formulation is elaborated. Subsequently in section 2.3 the equation set is reduced to a 2-dimensional formulation.

2.2 Governing Equations (3-dimensional formulation)

The bearing is assumed to be operated using a Newtonian and incompressible uid and under conditions where the ow is laminar and body forces and effects of inertia are negligible. Viscosity is considered to vary with temperature only. All other uid properties are considered constant. The 3-dimensional formulation is employed for deep recesses when there is recirculation in the volume of the recess. The recirculation results in a large amount of mixing of the oil in the volume of the recess. The temperature inside the volume of the injection recess is considered uniform. Figure 2.2 shows the coordinate system used. The governing equations are nondimensionalised using the

2.2 Governing Equations (3-dimensional formulation)

11

following variable transformations: r z zpad h w r1 , r= , z = , z pad = , h= , w= , r = r , 0 r1 h tpad h0 h0 h0 r1 vr v vz T p = p , v r = , v = , vz = , = , T = , h0 r1 r h0 0 T0 ph2 Vinj Q W , Q= 3 , W = 3 p = 2 0 , V inj = 2 r1 0 h0 r1 0 r1 0 20 r1 0 2 0 =

(2.1)

2.2.1 Fluid lm
Subject to the standard reductions and boundary conditions applied in uid lm lubrication, the momentum equations are integrated twice across the oil lm to give the velocity components in the - and r-directions. The z component is determined using the continuity equation.
z h p z zdz h p F 1 1 dz v = + +1 2 2 0 r 0 F 0 0 r F 0 0 z z zdz dz 2 p 2 p F 1 h vr = h r 0 r F 0 0 z z 1 1 h z h vz = rhv r dz hv dz + z v r + v r r 0 0 0 r 0 1 2 2

(2.2) (2.3) (2.4) (2.5)

F0 =
0

dz hp + , F1 = p h

1 0

hp zdz 1 hp + + 2 p h 2h

Introducing the r and velocity components in the continuity equation and integrating across the oil lm following the approach suggested by Dowson (1962) the Reynolds equation for 2dimensional pressure in the oil lm becomes: 1 G0 1 1 3 p 3 p G1 rh G1 h = h 1 + 2 2 r r r 0 r 0 F0
1 z 0 1 z 0

v z,inj

(2.6) (2.7)

G0 =
0

dz hp dz + h zdz hp dz + h

1 0

hp dz + 2 2h p
1

G1 =
0

hp zdz 1 hp + 3 +3 2 6p h h

F1 G0 F0

(2.8)

vz,inj is the nondimensionalised injection velocity at z = 1 + hp . At all edges, the pressure is set to zero. Subject to a known viscosity distribution, equation (2.6) can be solved to give the pressure distribution in the oil lm. The assumption of zero pressure at the leading edge is not strictly valid. The oil entering the pad is stagnated at the entrance to the pad resulting in a positive pressure at the leading edge. (Heckelman & Ettles, 1987; Rhim & Tichy, 1989; Kim & Kim, 2002) have theoretically and experimentally

12

Mathematical Modelling

treated this phenomenon and have derived empirical expressions for the pressure. The pressures predicted by the different expressions vary signicantly and a comparison to the experimental results stated in chapter 4 have shown that none of the expressions approximate the inlet pressure condition well at a large interval of velocities. In large slow speed bearings the leading edge pressure is usually insignicant and the approximation of zero pressure is adequate. The implications of neglecting inertia in a deep recess are discussed in chapter 7. Keeping the diffusive term in the zdirection only and reducing the dissipative terms following Dowson (1962) the conservative energy equation for the oil lm reduces to: 1 v T 1 v z T 1 v r rT z h v r T z h v T + + = r r 0 h r z 0 h z h z 2 2 k 1 2T 0 r1 v r r 2 v + + 2 ch2 h2 z 2 cT0 h2 h2 z z 0 0 h

(2.9)

The temperature in the recess is calculated from a control volume formulation using the approximations that there is zero thermal diffusion on the oil lm/recess boundary and that the temperature on the solid wall is equal to the recess temperature. 0= mi ui me ue + Qgen,p + Qcond,p (2.10)

Qgen,p designates the heat generated in the recess, and Qcond,p designates the heat conducted from the pad. ui and ue designate the internal energy (du = c dT ) in the inlet and exit ows into and out of the recess. Using that the mass ows out of and into the recess are equal ( me = mi ) due to continuity and expanding the terms in equation (2.10), it can be rewritten to give the recess temperature: T p = V inj +
Ai

vr

h v h + vz dA + r r
2 0 r1 cTin h2 0

V inj T inj +
1+hp

vr
Ai 2

h + r

v h + v z T i dA + r
1+hp 1 1+hp 1 1+hp 1

p h
Ap 1

1
2

r2 h
2 2

v z dz =
2

dz dAp p r
2

kpad tpad h0 c
3

Ap

h T z pad

v r z

dz + dA (2.11)
2

z pad =0 2

1 h h
2

v r z v z F1 F0

1 1 hp F1 2 + hhp + hp hhp 2 p 3 h F0
2

+ (hp + 2hhp )

F1 F0

(2.12)

r2
2

1 p dz = 0 +
2 (hp

1 1 hp 2 + hhp + hp + 2 2 p r 3 h
2

hhp

F1 1 p 1 2F 1 hp 1 hp hp + + 2hhp ) 2 2 2 +2 0 p F 0 h F0 F0 h h

(2.13)

Ap is the area of the recess and Ai is the area in which there is inow to the recess from the oil lm. Ti is the oil lm temperature at z = 1 which is determined by solution of equation (2.9). Equation

2.2 Governing Equations (3-dimensional formulation)

13

(2.12) and equation (2.13) are expansions of the terms in equation (2.11) for the generated heat in the recess. In equation (2.9) upwinding is used for the discretization of the convective terms. No boundary conditions are therefore needed at = 1, r = 1 and r = r 2 where the ow direction is out of the computational domain. At = 0, T = T le . The leading edge temperature T le is determined in section 2.2.2 of the report. At z = 0, T = T c which is considered constant in both r and . T c must be stated as an input to the model. In the z-direction, diffusion is neglected at the boundary to the recess volume. No boundary condition is therefore needed inside the recess area at z = 1 when v z > 0. T p provides the boundary condition when v z < 0. The pad temperature gives the boundary condition outside the recess area. The collar temperature depends on the thermal boundary conditions on the backside of the collar. These can vary depending on how the bearing is built in. To keep the model general and simple it is therefore chosen to state the collar temperature as an input.

2.2.2 Heat transfer

Equation (2.14) describes heat transfer in the pad. On the oil/pad-surface, equation (2.15) states the boundary condition on temperature. At the free sides of the pad, the boundary conditions are given in the form of convection coefcients, H (equation 2.16), where Ta is the oil bath temperature and n represents the normal to the surface. At the inner and outer radial surfaces, a laminar boundary layer solution is used assuming the free stream velocity to be equal to the collar velocity (equation 2.17). Ettles & Anderson (1991) state the correlation given in equation (2.18) for the convection coefcient at the back of the pad. They also state that experiments indicate the values of H at the leading and trailing surfaces to be twice as high as the value at the back of the pad. These values are used due to the absence of more detailed experimental results. 0= T 1 r r r r
z pad =0

1 2T r2 2 T + 21 2 0 r 2 2 tpad z 2 pad
z=1

(2.14) (2.15) (2.16) (2.17) (2.18)

T z pad

ktpad T kpad h0 h z T n

H(T T a ) = kpad Hr = Hback

0.332k 1 1 c r 2 pad r 2 Re 2 P r 3 , Re = 1 , Pr = k r1 r0 r1 (1 + r2 )pad = 25.5(r1r)0.7 (0 )0.2 L0.4 , Lpad = pad 2

Following the general procedure of Vohr (1981) T a and T le can be determined to full equilibrium of thermal energy for the entire bearing and for the groove between pads. Assuming that all the generated heat ows into the oil bath and is mixed with the cold oil, the oil bath temperature Ta is determined from the heat generated in the oil due to viscous shear Qgen . The generated heat is calculated as the work used to turn the collar plus the work used to inject the oil in the recess. The oil injection work is calculated neglecting changes in kinetic energy and the inuence of restrictors

14

Mathematical Modelling

in the ow. Winj can therefore be determined directly from the pressure change in the injection ow. Ta = 1 + W f ric
3 r1 0 2 0 Qgen , cVoil T0 r1 r2 1 r3 v = h0 1 h z 0

Qgen = W f ric + W inj ddr , r1 W inj = V inj pinj h0

(2.19) (2.20)

z=0

pinj is the pressure in the oil lm at the oil injection pipe determined from the Reynolds equation. The heat balance in the groove is not readily determined. Heat is convected to the collar at the trailing edge of the pad where the exit oil is hot. At the leading edge of the pad, however the collar may conduct heat to the oil. Heat is convected from the hot exit oil to the colder oil bath. All these phenomena are difcult to quantify and few experimental results are available in the literature. Vohr (1981) states an average experimental value of the groove convection coefcient Hgr,V ohr = 2960 W/m2 /K for a bearing of r1 = 0.43 m, r2 = 0.585 m and gr,V ohr = 0.105 rad operating at V ohr = 15.71 rad/s. Vohrs result is extrapolated using laminar ow theory stating the convection coefcient to be proportional to the square root of velocity divided by the distance between pads. The groove heat transfer Qgr can then be determined through equation (2.21). Equation (2.23) states energy conservation on a control volume. With the additional assumption that no thermal energy is transported in the radial direction in the groove, Tle can be found through equations (2.24), (2.25) and (2.26). Equation (2.26) denes the distribution of leading edge temperature in the z -direction. The equation is chosen for reasons of numerical stability and accuracy and has no physical basis. It ensures continuity of temperature at the collar surface. Continuity of temperature at the collar surface is important for the global conservation of energy. When a leading edge taper is present in the analysed bearing, a uniform temperature distribution is used. In this case, there is back ow at the leading edge and most of the inow to the bearing occurs close to the collar. T0 r1 2 0
r2

Qgr =

Hgr (T c T a )rgr dr
1

(2.21) (2.22) (2.23) (2.24) (2.25) (2.26)

Hgr = Hgr,V ohr

gr,V ohr gr V ohr

1 r2

Qoil,le = Qoil,te Qgr T0 c Qoil,le = (T T a )v hdrdz , at = 0 0 0 1 1 r2 oil,te = T0 c Q (T T a )v hdrdz , at = 1 0 0 1 T le = T c + (T c T le,pad )(z 2 2z)

The treatment of heat transfer coefcients is coarse and does not take differences in support design into account. equation (2.14) is stated for a pad of uniform thickness although a multilayered design is often used in large bearings to reduce thermal deections. As described in section 2.2.3

2.2 Governing Equations (3-dimensional formulation)

15

the numerical model allows for the analysis of thermal bending of pads of variable thicknesses. The restriction given by the description of heat transfer is that such a pad of variable thickness is composed of a main pad of uniform thickness and a supporting structure. The main pad is treated in three dimensions while heat transfer through supporting structures is considered one dimensional in the zpad -direction only. Generally, only a small amount (5 25 %) of the generated heat is transported through the pad. Inexact treatment of heat transfer phenomena therefore only induces small errors on the pad and oil temperatures.

2.2.3 Deection of bearing pad

The deection of the pad is modelled following Gould (1988) using a at plate approximation for a plate of variable thickness. A plate of variable thickness is modelled in order to accommodate supporting structures, which are tightly xed to the main pad. An example of the implementation of the equation system on a pad with a rmly xed circular support is given in chapter 3.2. The equation system has not been nondimensionalised as it does not simplify the description. Force equilibrium in the zpad -direction yields: 0= 1 (rMr ) M (rMr ) Mr + M + 2 + + Mr + p r r r r (2.27)

Introducing Mr , M and Mr as given by equation (2.29)(2.33), equation (2.27) transforms into a fourth order differential equation in pad deection w. A pad with a point pivot is restricted by w = w/r = w/ = 0 at the pivot point. The boundary conditions at the free edges of the plate are stated in equation (2.28). The Kirchhoff shear stresses and bending moments are zero, and at the four corners the twisting moments are zero. tplate denotes the thickness of the plate. 0 = V (r, 0), 0 = M (r, 0), 0 = V (r, pad ), 0 = M (r, pad ), 0 = Vr (r1 , ), 0 = Mr (r1 , ), 0 = Vr (r2 , ), 0 = Mr (r2 , ), (2.28) 0 = Mr (r1 , 0), 0 = Mr (r1 , pad ), 0 = Mr (r2 , 0), 0 = Mr (r2 , pad ) Mr = D 2w 1 w 1 2w + + 2 2 MT r 2 r r r 1 w 1 2w 2w M = D + 2 2 + 2 MT r r r r 1 w Mr = D(1 ) r r tplate E tplate MT = (zpad )T dzpad 1 0 2 Et3 plate D= 12(1 2 ) 1 1 2w MT Vr = D (2 w) + (1 ) 2 r r r r r (2.29) (2.30) (2.31) (2.32) (2.33) (2.34)

16 2 1 w 1 2 V = D ( w) + (1 ) 2 r r r 1 MT r

Mathematical Modelling

(2.35)

For a pad of constant thickness equation (2.27) reduces to the well known plate equation: 2 (2 w) = p 1 2 MT D D (2.36)

2.2.4 Bearing equilibrium

The lm thickness is calculated as a geometrical relation between the roll and pitch angles and the lm thickness at the pivot point. Linearizing to only contain rst order terms yields equation (2.37). The pressure distribution is integrated over the pad area to give the resulting force (equation 2.38) and the moments in two perpendicular directions around the pivot point (equation 2.39 and 2.40). h = 1 r [r piv r cos(pad ( piv ))] p r sin(pad ( piv )) + w
r2 1

(2.37) (2.38) (2.39) (2.40)

0 = F res =
1 r2 0 1

prddr F z pr2 sin(pad ( piv ))ddr

0 r2 1

0 = Mx =
1

0 = My =
1 0

pr[r cos(pad ( piv )) rpiv ]ddr

Solving these equations for a given pressure distribution, pad deection and load yields the distribution of oil lm thickness.

2.2.5 Miscellaneous relations

Viscosity is calculated as a function of temperature using an expression by Roelands (Hamrock et al., 2004). = 10[k1 (1+
T 273.15 k2 ) 4.200] 135

(2.41)

in which the constants k1 and k2 are determined from the measured viscosity of the oil.

2.3 Governing Equations (2-dimensional formulation)

The equation set stated in chapter 2.2 is reduced to a 2-dimensional form. As shown in gure 2.3 the nondimensional oil lm thickness h in these equations includes the recess depth. The energy equation for the uid lm is integrated over the oil lm thickness to give a bulk ow formulation. Heat transfer in the pad is considered a 1-dimensional problem in which heat transfer to the surroundings is assumed to take place at the back of the pad only. This simplies the determination of the thermal moment causing the bending of the pad.

2.3 Governing Equations (2-dimensional formulation)

17

Figure 2.3: The coordinate system used for the 2-dimensional calculations.

2.3.1 Fluid lm
Assuming viscosity to be a function of r and only, the Reynolds equation reduces to the following: 1 h p 1 h 1 rh p + = + v z,inj 2 2 12r r r 12pad r 2pad The energy equation integrated over the oil lm thickness h: 1 h rT p 1 h T p 1 + hT = 2 2 12r r r 12pad r 2pad
2 r1 0 h p 2 cTin h0 12 r 3 2 3 3 3 3

(2.42)

2 12pad r 2

r2 ST + cTin h0 h

(2.43)

where ST contains the energy added through heat transfer at z = 0 and at z = 1. ST is determined in section 2.3.2. The boundary conditions on the equations (2.42) and (2.43) are as stated in section 2.2.1.

2.3.2 Heat transfer

Heat transfer through the pad is treated in a simplied way by only modelling heat transfer at the back of the pad and treating conduction in the pad as a 1-dimensional problem. This formulation

18

Mathematical Modelling

is used in combination with the 2-dimensional integrated energy equation for the oil lm. The oil temperature in this formulation is considered uniform in the z-direction and the Nusselt number, Nu = 7.55 (Kays & Crawford, 1993) for a fully developed velocity prole between parallel plates is used to calculate the convection heat transfer coefcients at pad and collar. The ST -term in equation (2.43) thereby becomes: ST = tpad 1 kNu 4h + + (T Ta ) (T Tc ) kNu kpad Hback 4h
1

(2.44)

Equation (2.20) for the bearing friction loss reduces to: r1 W f ric = h0
r2 1 0 1

r3 1 h p + 1 ddr , h 20 r 2

r1 W inj = V inj pinj h0

(2.45)

2.3.3 Deection of bearing pad

Subject to a linear temperature distribution through the pad equation (2.32) reduces to the following expression: t2 E plate (Tbab Tback ) 12(1 )

MT =

(2.46)

in which Tbab designates the temperature on the oil lm / pad interface and Tback designates the temperature on the oil bath side of a pad.

2.4 Numerical Description and Solution Method

The equation system is solved on a nite volume grid which may be uniform in all the transformed variables. Alternatively it may be designed to follow the edges of a recess in the bearing pad surface and with increased control volume density close to the the recess edges. The 2-dimensional thermal deection of the bearing pad is always solved on a uniform grid. Variables are interpolated between the grids. Second order discretizations are used for the derivatives except for the convective terms in equation (2.9) which are discretized using upwinding. A detailed description of the resulting equation system is not given here as standard nite volume formulations are used. 2-dimensional grids are used for pressure and pad deection equations. 3-dimensional grids for the temperature equations. Details of the computational grid are graphically shown in gure 2.4. To accommodate abrupt changes in oil lm thickness, h is calculated on the cell faces as well as in the cell centres. Integrals are evaluated using the composite trapezoidal rule. For hydrostatic jacking oil is usually injected at the centre of the injection pocket. In the numerical formulation the volume ow of injection oil is specied as a boundary condition. In the numerical implementation of equation (2.6) oil is injected only in the control volume which is closest to the injection pipe. Thus vz,inj = V inj /(rdrd).

2.4 Numerical Description and Solution Method

19

Energy Equation (r-plane):

v z (r,n , vr,s , v,e , v,v , zk ) T(i+1,j,k) T(i+1,j1,k) v

v ,e ((i,j) , p(i,j+1) , zk ) p

T(i,j,k)

T(i,j1,k)

Reynolds Equation:

v r,s ((i,j) , p(i1,j) , zk ) p F 0,w ((i,j,1...nz ) , (i,j1,1...nz ) , hw(i,j) ) G0,w ((i,j,1...nz ) , (i,j1,1...nz ) , hw(i,j) ) G1,w ((i,j,1...nz ) , (i,j1,1...nz ) , hw(i,j) ) F 0,s ((i,j,1...nz ) , (i1,j,1...nz ) , hs(i,j) ) G0,s ((i,j,1...nz ) , (i1,j,1...nz ) , hs(i,j) ) G1,s ((i,j,1...nz ) , (i1,j,1...nz ) , hs(i,j) )

p(i,j+1)

p(i,j)

p(i1,j+1)

p(i1,j)

Energy ows into the recess:

2

v z(i,j,nz + 1 ) T(i,j,nz ) A
2

v z(i,j2,nz + 1 ) Tp A
2 2

v z(i,j+1,nz + 1 ) T(i,j+1,nz ) A

v z(i,j1,nz + 1 ) Tp A

k=nz

T(i,j+1,nz )

T(i,j,nz )

T(i,j1,nz ) T(i,j2,nz )

k=nz -1

Figure 2.4: Selected details of the computational grid. Top: The energy equation: r and velocities are evaluated at the cell faces. zvelocities are calculated at the cell centres and interpolated to the lower and upper faces. Middle: The Reynolds equation: F 0 , G0 and G1 are evaluated at the cell faces. Bottom: The energy uxes from the oil lm into the recess control volume.

The problem is solved using an iterative procedure as depicted in the owchart in gure 2.5. The Newton-Raphson method is used for adjusting p , r and h0 until the residuals of the equations (2.38), (2.39) and (2.40) are below some threshold. The Reynolds equation may predict negative pressures in some control volumes, for instance as a result of a diverging oil lm at the trailing edge corners due to thermal crowning. In such cases cavitation is to be expected. Numerically the problem is treated by setting negative pressures equal to zero. This is a simple approximation, which does not satisfy the equation of continuity. However,

20

Mathematical Modelling

Figure 2.5: Flow chart for the programme.

cavitation does not usually occur in tilting-pad thrust bearings with pivots offset from the centres of the pads, and when it appears in the calculations it is in the study of bearings operating at unusual operating conditions. The discretized Reynolds equation and plate equation constitute linear systems of equations and are solved using direct methods. The discretized energy equations for oil and pad and their boundary conditions constitute a nonlinear system of equations. Oil lm temperature, viscosity and oil bath temperature are calculated simultaneously using a point iterative Gauss-Seidel SOR solver. The rst sweep of the equations causes the temperature distribution to be overestimated. This causes the pad deection to be overestimated. As a result the oil lm thickness distribution and viscosity distribution in the next sweep may cause the energy equation to diverge. To overcome this problem only a fraction of the calculated deection is applied to the oil lm distribution. A loop increases the fraction to one. The grid size can be successively doubled to save computation time. The programme includes an option to adjust the pad surface area by the use of a Newton iteration so that the minimum oil lm thickness has a prescribed value. A restriction on the minimum oil

2.5 Conclusion

21

lm thickness is often used as a design criteria. Similarly, the radial position of the pivot point can be adjusted by the use of a Newton iteration so that the minimum oil lm thickness is located at the centre of the trailing edge. Calculations have shown that designing for this criteria gives close to the optimal performance when prescribing a minimum oil lm thickness.

2.5 Conclusion
In this chapter two numerical models for tilting-pad thrust bearings have been derived. Both models are based on the Reynolds equation for pressure and involve the calculation of temperature in oil and pad and the inuence of the bending of the pad due to pressure and thermally induced moments. The oil bath and leading edge temperatures are calculated through control volume expressions for conservation of energy. The collar temperature must be stated as an input parameter. This restriction on the model is imposed to avoid modelling heat transfer phenomena through the collar, rotor and adjoining components. A model involving a 3-dimensional description of the temperature eld is elaborated. The model allows for the inclusion of deep recesses with recirculation ows in the pad surfaces and for high pressure oil injection through the surfaces of the bearing pads. The assumptions of the Reynolds equation are not valid for the ow in a deep recess, which is one or more orders of magnitude deeper than the surrounding oil lm. In addition, depending on the operating conditions, the recess ow may be turbulent. However, the pressure variations inside the recess are small and assuming inertial effects to be negligible the errors induced on the calculated pressure distribution are small. The description of the thermal conditions inside the recess is simplied by treating the volume of the recess as one control volume of constant temperature. The generated heat inside the volume of the recess is much smaller than in the thinner oil lm and the recirculation ow results in a large amount of mixing justifying this description. The 3-dimensional formulation does not provide a good description of bearings in which there are shallow recesses in the bearing pads. In such recesses there is no recirculation and the assumption of a uniform mixed temperature is not valid. Allowing the 3-dimensional grid to stretch into the recess is not feasible due to the discontinuity of the oil lm at the recess edges. For such problems a 2-dimensional formulation is elaborated in which the energy equation is integrated over the thickness of the oil lm. The 2-dimensional treatment of the temperature eld does not deal well with regions of back ow and the study of recesses are therefore limited to those sufciently shallow not to generate recirculation. The principal disadvantage of a 2-dimensional over a 3-dimensional formulation of the ow in standard bearing pads without recesses, is in the less exact calculation of the temperature gradients at the pad and collar surfaces. The calculation of the heat transfers through the solid components is therefore less accurate and more importantly, especially in large bearings, the calculation of the thermal crowning of the pads is less accurate due to the lack of knowledge of the temperatures on the pad / oil interface. In chapter 3 and chapter 4 the models are validated using measurements.

22

Mathematical Modelling

Chapter 3 Validation of Models

To validate the numerical models theoretical results are compared to different sets of experimental data. Glavatskikh (2000, 2001) has published experimental data for a 228 mm outer diameter sixpad bearing. The data include extensive measurements of temperatures below the babbitt surface and oil lm thickness measurements at the leading and trailing edges of the pad. Glavatskikhs measurements are used to validate the models for a bearing without recesses in the bearing surface. Calculations using isothermal, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional adiabatic models and models in which heat transfer and pad bending is included are performed. The variations in the results between the different models are discussed. Furthermore, a comparison between theoretical results and measurements conducted on a 2.2 m outer diameter bearing in operation in the Bieudron hydro power plant in Switzerland is performed. The bearing has oil injection pockets at the pivot points covering 3.6 % of the total bearing area . In chapter 4 experiments are presented to further validate the models. Comparisons between theoretical and experimental pressure proles are performed with and without oil injection pockets in the bearing surface and with and without constant volume ow high-pressure oil injection. Furthermore, a validation of the theoretically predicted pressure bending and thermal crowning of the bearing pads is performed.

3.1 Comparison with Published Experimental Data

Simulation results are compared to experimental data presented by (Glavatskikh, 2000, 2001) concerning a 228 mm outer diameter six-pad bearing. The pads are supported by spherical pivots and coated with a babbitt layer less than 1 mm thick. Data for the considered bearing, operating conditions and measurements are given in table 3.1 and gure 3.1. The measurements of temperature and oil lm thickness are performed in separate bearing pads. Calculations of the bearing are conducted using a grid of 3030 control volumes in the radial and circumferential directions - and in the case of 3-dimensional models 10 control volumes in the z-direction of the oil lm and 10 in the zpad -direction of the bearing pad. A uniform collar temperature of 61C is used. The results are stated in table 3.2. Illustrations of the numerical results are given in gure 3.2. In table 3.2 a measured value of power loss is stated. It represents the total

The measurements are supplied by Alstom Power (Switzerland) Ltd.

23

24

Validation of Models

number of pads inner radius outer radius pivot radius pad angle pivot angle pad thickness oil type viscosity at 40C viscosity at 100C density thermal capacity thermal conduc. axial load shaft speed Inlet temperature Oil ow

6 57.15 mm 114.3 mm 85.725 mm 50.0 30.0 28.58 mm VG46 39.0 mPas 5.4 mPas 855.0 kg/m3 2090 J/kg/K 0.13 W/m/K 52265 N 1500 rpm 40C 15 L/min

(a) lm thickness measurements

(b) temperature measurements

Table 3.1: Data for the bearing.

Figure 3.1: Locations of measurements are shown. Temperatures are measured in the pad 3 mm below the babbitt layer.

power loss in the bearing and contains losses from the friction between the pads and the collar and losses stemming from the churning of the oil in the oil bath. The calculated power loss does not include churning losses. It can therefore not be directly compared to the measured value. The 3-dimensional TEHD model predicts a power loss 15 % lower than the measured value. The oil lm thickness at the trailing edge is 10 % too high. At the leading edge it is 22 % too small. Calculated temperatures at the leading edge are close the measured ones. At the trailing edge they are 2 to 4 K lower than the measured ones. The temperature rise from the leading to the trailing edge is 15 % smaller than the one measured. The temperature rise from bearing inlet to the trailing edge of the pad is 23.3 K which is 9 % less than the measured value. Considering the fairly simple treatment of the heat transfer phenomena in the oil bath the calculated temperatures are quite accurate. However, the small temperature rise from the leading to the trailing edge of the pad suggests than one or more of the heat transfer coefcients used in the calculations are too high. The discrepancies in the oil lm thickness show that the calculated pitch angle, p is too small. This may partly be caused by a calculated pad deection which is too small. The pad is considered to be a at plate of uniform thickness while in reality it has cutouts (Glavatskikh, 2000) at the leading and trailing edges giving larger deections. Also the pad is considered to be initially at while it may be slightly crowned due to machining inaccuracies (Glavatskikh et al., 2002). The pressure at the leading edge is set to zero. The velocity boundary layer at the collar surface is however much larger than the oil lm thickness at the leading edge. Therefore, the oil is stagnated as it approaches the pad leading to an inlet pressure build-up before the leading edge. Assuming

3.1 Comparison with Published Experimental Data experi- HDmental ISO1 value 61 2DTHD1 adiab. 76.5 52 53 51 62 68 67 58 20 2D- 2D3DTHD TEHD THD1 adiab. 61.0 61.0 70.9 69.6 78.9 69.9 68.5 50.8 49.3 49.5 48.1 49.7 48.3 62.2 61.0 62.9 61.7 64.9 63.6 47.2 55.6 47.2 24.7 25.5 24.5 58.4 71.8 58.3 19.9 21.4 19.5 2.71 2.66 3D- 3DTHD TEHD 61.0 70.0 69.1 55.8 56.9 55.6 62.1 65.0 66.5 30.2 19.8 36.0 17.9 3.19 61.0 68.9 67.8 52.4 52.4 50.5 61.0 63.9 65.1 45.5 22.1 58.9 19.7 2.73

25

Tc [C] Tmax [C] Tmax,babbitt [C] T1 [C] T2 [C] T3 [C] T4 [C] T5 [C] T6 [C] h1 [m] h2 [m] hmax [m] hmin [m] Power loss [kW]

43.6 27.2 53.0 23.8

48.8 25.0 60.2 19.6

3.2

1 Table 3.2: Comparison of experimental and numerical results. Tle = 2 (Tc +Tin ) in the models marked with1. In the other models Tle is determined by energy conservation. Tc =61C is the condition necessary to close the numerical problem.

Lines of constant film thickness [m]

20 25
35

Lines of constant pressure [MPa]

Lines of constant temperature [oC]

67 66

65

30

4.5

40 45 50
55

3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5

2
1 0.5

64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 531 5 52 0 9 5 4 4847 46 5 4

Figure 3.2: Simulation results showing lines of constant oil lm thickness (left), lines of constant pressure (middle) and lines of constant pad surface temperature(right).

an inlet pressure larger than zero results in a larger pitch angle reducing the error at the leading edge. A parameter which strongly inuences the leading edge lm thickness is the leading edge temperature prole. Choosing a uniform temperature in z raises the value of h1 by 8 %. This is due to a higher temperature on the pads surface at the leading edge. This generates a higher deection

26 3D-TEHD 2D-TEHD

Validation of Models

15 15 30 30 60 60 120 120 15 15 30 30 60 60 120 120 (5 + 5) (10 + 10) (20 + 20) (40 + 40)

hmin [m] hmax [m] Tmax [C] Tmax,bab [C] Qgen [kW] Qout [kW]

20.020 60.881 68.835 67.508 2.6975 2.7598

19.714 58.870 68.897 67.754 2.7259 2.7475

19.665 59.082 68.950 67.836 2.7262 2.7380

19.650 59.149 68.985 67.868 2.7262 2.7335

21.681 70.689 69.505 68.829 2.6499 -

21.420 71.807 69.578 68.483 2.6558 -

21.355 72.185 69.622 68.296 2.6565 -

21.324 72.235 69.662 68.208 2.6570 -

Table 3.3: Grid convergence study: Energy ows are stated per 6 pads, i.e. a full bearing. Qout represents the sum of all heat ows out of the computational domain.

of the pad due to higher thermal gradients. Simulations show that the combined effects of inlet pressure build-up and increased deection due to the effects mentioned above cannot fully explain the errors in oil lm thickness. Some effects which are not included in the model may inuence the results. There is the possibility that the measuring probes themselves affect the measurements. The eddy-current sensors are embedded in the pad. This involves removal of the babbitt surface over and around the sensors. This area is covered with epoxy. A total of four sensors are located in the pad. The epoxy surfaces cover approx. 10 % of the bearing surface. Two of the sensors are located close to the trailing edge. If the areas in which they are located have a reduced load carrying capacity this would in effect correspond to a pivot point located closer to the trailing edge with a higher tilting-angle as a result. Discrepancies similar to those reported here between measured and theoretical tilting-angles are reported by Glavatskikh et al. (2002) in a comparison between a 3-dimensional TEHD model and measurements conducted using the same test bearing. In comparison to the results of the 3-dimensional TEHD model the isothermal model overestimates the minimum oil lm thickness by 23 %. Considering the simplicity of the model this result is quite good. The 2-dimensional models only slightly over predict the maximum babbitt temperature and minimum oil lm thickness compared to the the 3-dimensional models. They estimate pitch angles which are much higher than those calculated by the 3-dimensional models. The pitch angles are close to the one which is experimentally determined. The 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional adiabatic models predict oil lm and temperature distributions which only differ slightly. The difference between the models as heat transfer is included is therefore a result of the different accuracy in the description of heat transfer phenomena. And the seemingly more accurate oil lm thickness calculations in the 2-dimensional case must therefore be considered to be an accidental effect of less accurate boundary conditions on the energy equation in the z-direction. Both 2- and 3-dimensional modelling provide good results for the minimum lm thickness hmin although the predicted pitch angles are very different. The reason is that hmin is insensitive to changes in boundary conditions which strongly inuence the pitch angle. A higher pitch angle demands a higher mean oil lm thickness because of equilibrium with the applied load. Raising the pitch angle while keeping the minimum oil lm thickness constant provides a higher mean lm thickness. This effect in combination with a higher side leakage causes hmin to be insensitive to

3.2 Comparison to Measured Data for a Large Sized Bearing

27

raising p for the bearing in question. To determine the minimum oil lm thickness and the maximum babbitt temperature a 2-dimensional model seems to be sufcient for the considered bearing. A 2-dimensional integrated description is meaningful only if streamlines are nearly parallel. If the pitch angle is large reverse ow may occur at the leading edge. In cases where reverse ow is signicant a 2-dimensional model does not accurately determine the temperature distribution. Grid convergence studies showing the convergence of key variables for both the 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional TEHD models are shown in table 3.3. For both models the variables are seen to converge as the grid sizes are increased. In the 3-dimensional study the values of generated friction work at the collar surface and the heat transported out of the computational domain converge towards each other. The 3030 grid which is used in the calculations is shown to be sufcient for the study of the problem.

3.2 Comparison to Measured Data for a Large Sized Bearing

The 3-dimensional TEHD model is applied to a thrust bearing of the Bieudron hydro power plant in Switzerland. Theoretical values of oil lm thickness are compared to measurements. A comparison is approximate as details of the thermal conditions of the bearing are scarce rendering it necessary to estimate the collar temperature. An earlier theoretical treatment of this bearing was performed by Santos & Fuerst (2003). Only the steady-state behaviour of the bearing at nominal operating conditions is analysed. I. e. the high-pressure oil injection is turned off. Figure 3.3(left) shows a picture of the instrumented bearing pad. Measurements of the oil lm thickness are performed at the leading and trailing edges in the positions marked with h1 , h2 , h3 and h2

h3

h4

h1

Figure 3.3: Left: The instrumented pad. Right: The dimensions of the ring support (in mm). The dotted line indicates the smoothing function used for the plate thickness. A 3 mm babbitt layer coats the pad.

28

Validation of Models

h4 . The bearing operates using a VG32 mineral oil under fully ooded conditions in combination with a guide bearing. A conical pocket with radius, rp and maximum depth, hp,max centred at the pivot point allows for hydrostatic lift off. There is a 10 mm, 3 taper at the leading edge. Data for the bearing and oil are: nopads = 6, 0 = 45.31, piv = 27.24, r1 = 0.527 m, r2 = 1.098 m, rpiv = 0.8125 m, rp = 0.065 m, hp,max = 2.27 mm, 40o C = 27.1 mPas, 80o C = 6.8 mPas, = 848 kg/m3, c = 2090 J/kg/K, k = 0.13 W/m/K, Fz = 4.94 MN, = 44.9 rad/s, Ta 40C. The collar temperature is unknown. A value of Tc = 56C is used. At this temperature, simulations show that approximately 7 % of the generated heat ows out through the collar. The sensitivity of the solution to changes in the value of Tc is examined later. The bearing pad is rmly mounted on a ring support with a 2 mm gap between pad and support. The geometric data for the pad and support are given in gure 3.3(right). Both pad and support are of steel. As described in chapter 2.2.2 heat transfer in the main pad is considered 3-dimensional while a 1-dimensional description is used for the circular support. As the oil of the gap has a much lower heat transfer coefcient than steel, little heat is transferred across the gap justifying the simplied treatment of heat transfer in the support. Equation (3.1) gives the boundary condition on equation (2.14) inside the area of the support. The solution of equation (2.27) requires continuous rst derivatives of D, and therefore a smoothing function is introduced to give the plate thickness shown in gure 3.3(right). 1 Hback,eff = 1 Hback + 0.15 m 0.002 m + ksupport koil (3.1)

The Reynolds number in the pocket Re = rhp / is approx. 4000 at the maximum depth. This indicates turbulence in the deep parts of the pocket enhancing the uid mixing. Shinkle & Hornung (1965) showed that the transition to turbulence occurs at Re 1000. A grid with a nal size of nr n (nz + nzpad ) = 30 30 (10 + 10) control volumes is used in the simulations. In table 3.4 a grid convergence study is performed. For three different grid sizes, the study presents key operating parameters for the bearing. The parameters are: friction loss Qgen , total heat ow out of the computational domain Qout , the maximum oil temperature Tmax and the oil lm thicknesses h1 and h3 . Furthermore, pocket specic variables are studied. These are: mass ow into and out of the pocket mi and me , the generated heat in the pocket Qgen,p , the heat conducted from the pad to the pocket Qcond,p and the pocket temperature Tp . The study is performed both with and without a leading edge taper. The results without a leading edge taper are presented to study the convergence of the heat ows. All other calculations presented in this paper are conducted with a leading edge taper. The generated friction loss and the total heat ow out of the computational domain converge slowly towards each other. This is due to the leading edge taper, which causes the grid to be very distorted at the leading edge and causes back ow. Consequently, the inow to the computational domain occurs in only a few control volumes close to the collar. These inaccuracies on the heat ows do not however inuence the other bearing parameters signicantly and a 3030(10+10) grid is considered adequate for the calculations. The heat ows converge more rapidly towards the values of generated work when no leading edge taper is present in the bearing. There is little difference between Qgen and Qout with a grid of 6060(20+20) control volumes indicating that the energy equation is implemented correctly. The generated (Qgen,p ) and conducted (Qcond,p ) heat

3.2 Comparison to Measured Data for a Large Sized Bearing Uniform grid - with 10 mm taper 15 15 30 30 60 60 (5 + 5) (10 + 10) (20 + 20) General parameters Qgen [kW] 49.37 49.24 49.38 out [kW] Q 63.79 59.54 54.26 Tmax [C] 84.97 83.58 83.00 h1 [m] 421.7 425.2 427.4 h3 [m] 77.65 76.30 76.80 Pocket parameters mi [kg/s] 2.569104 2.547104 2.774104 me [kg/s] 2.447104 2.528104 2.770104 gen,p [W] Q 254.8 280.4 305.4 cond,p [W] Q -75.98 -43.46 -57.90 Tp [C] 63.12 62.52 61.77 Uniform grid - without taper 15 15 30 30 60 60 (5 + 5) (10 + 10) (20 + 20) 48.78 49.95 84.64 417.5 78.18 2.650104 2.526104 251.2 -83.17 62.42 49.86 50.10 82.92 414.0 76.91 2.602104 2.583104 282.6 -49.42 61.31 50.15 50.20 82.81 418.0 77.01

29

2.797104 2.793104 305.6 -64.95 61.15

Table 3.4: Grid convergence study: Energy ows are stated per pad. Qout represents the sum of all heat ows out of the computational domain. mi and me refer to the mass ow terms of equation 2.10. Tc h1 h2 h3 h4 Tmax [C] [m] [m] [m] [m] [C] measurement: n/a 430 173 66 202 n/a simulation with pocket included: 56 425.2 111.6 76.3 122.1 83.6 46 428.9 116.4 88.2 128.2 79.6 66 421.1 108.4 66.4 117.9 88.6 simulation without pocket included: 56 423.5 114.4 77.7 123.6 83.7 Tmax,babbitt [C] n/a 81.5 78.1 87.7 82.7 Qgen [kW] n/a 295.5 327.5 272.0 298.8

Table 3.5: Comparison of experimental and numerical results. Tc is a boundary condition.

in and into the pocket are seen to converge slowly. This is due to the relatively few control volumes covering the pocket. Qgen,p and Qcond,p are however small compared to the generated heat for the whole pad Qgen . Therefore, the errors are inconsequential. The pocket temperature converges with increasing grid size. The mass ows into and out of the pocket converge towards each other. This indicates a correct implementation of the pocket equations. In table 3.5 the simulation results are compared to measurements. For comparison, a pad without an oil injection pocket is also calculated. Additional simulations at varying rotor temperatures are shown as well. A comparison to the measurements shows that the maximum lm thickness h1 is estimated well by the model. h3 is slightly overestimated and h2 and h4 are heavily underestimated.

30

Validation of Models

The discrepancies on the values of h2 and h4 may be due to thermal bending of the collar, which is not included in the model. The theoretical results for pads with and without a pocket differ little. The effect of the pocket on the oil lm thickness is small as it covers only 3.6 % of the bearing surface area. When introducing a pocket in the surface the position of the centre of pressure moves towards the centre of the pad causing a higher tilting angle to compensate. The recirculation ow in the pocket causes the temperature downstream of the pocket to be reduced. The maximum babbitt temperature is reduced only slightly by the mixing as it is positioned at a radius outside of the downstream ow of the pocket. The calculations at collar temperatures of Tc = 46C and Tc = 66C are performed to study the sensitivity of the solution to this unknown parameter. Changes in Tc strongly inuence the minimum oil lm thickness while the inuence on the maximum lm thickness is small. In gure 3.4 the theoretical distributions of oil lm thickness, pressure and pad surface temperature are shown. The results are compared to those for a bearing with a plain bearing surface. In the following a theoretical study of the inuence of the pocket dimensions is performed. In gure 3.5 the inuence of changing the pocket depth and radius is analysed. Figures 3.5(a)(d) show pressure proles, minimum and maximum oil lm thickness and friction loss for different pocket radii. The curves are intended to allow designers of bearings with injection pockets to asses the inuence of pockets on these key parameters. In gure 3.5(e)(h) the inuence of the pocket depth on the same parameters is analysed. For the given bearing conguration an increase in pocket depth results in improved performance (reduced friction loss and increased minimum oil lm thickness) up to hp,max 0.15 mm 1.1h0. At this value of hp,max the pressure at the trailing edge of the pocket reaches a maximum - a pressure build-up similar to that of a Rayleigh-step bearing and a ow situation where no recirculation ow in the pocket is predicted by the formulation used. At higher pocket depths recirculation occurs, the pocket does not contribute to the pressure build-up and the loss of bearing area results in a loss of oil lm thickness. A similar behaviour is seen when treating a cylindrical pocket of constant depth having the best performance at hp 0.08 mm 0.6 h0 . For decreasing pocket depth, the simulation results converge towards values different from the values obtained when no pocket is present. This is partly due to the different thermal conditions on the pad, as the pad surface in the pocket area is set equal to the pocket temperature. However, mainly it is due to numerical errors, which decrease with decreasing control volume sizes. The results indicate that machining shallow recesses in the bearing surface could enhance the performance of tilting-pad thrust bearings. Simulations show this to be true also for a bearing in which the pivot position has been optimized for minimal power consumption.

3.3 Conclusion
Comparisons between measurements made in two different bearings and the models presented in chapter 2 have been performed. Calculations have been carried out to compare with experimental data available in the literature. These are data for steady-state operation of a bearing of 228 mm outer diameter. Simulations show that an isothermal model predicts the minimum oil lm thickness within 30 % of the actual value.

3.3 Conclusion

31

Lines of constant oil film thickness [m] hmin=77.8m h =431.0m

max

Lines of constant oil film thickness [m] hmin=78.9m h =429.1m

max

10

10

12

0 15
175
0 20

12
0 25
0 30 0 5 5 32 3 5 0 37 40

15
17 5 20

5 22

22

5 25 27

5 27

0 5 30 0 5 35 32 5 0 37 40

Lines of constant pressure [MPa] Pmax=6.10MPa

Lines of constant pressure [MPa] Pmax=6.41MPa

6 5.5 5 4 3 2

4.5 3.5 2.5

1.5

5 4 3 2
1

5.5 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5

0.5

0.5

Lines of constant pad surface temperature [oC] Tmax,surf=82.4oC 0 82 8 6 7 78 2 74 7 0 68 7 66 64 62 60 58 56 54 52

Lines of constant pad surface temperature [oC] Tmax,surf=82.7oC2 8 78 80 74 76 70 72 66 68 62 64 0 58 6

56
52

54
50

48

50

50

Figure 3.4: Predicted contours of lm thickness (top graph), pressure (middle graph) and pad surface temperature (bottom graph) for the studied thrust bearing pads. Left graphs concern the bearing with injection pockets. Right graphs show results for the plain bearing pad. Operating conditions: = 44.9 rad/s, Fz = 4.94 MN.

48

50

32

Validation of Models

7 rp=0 mm 6 5 4 3 75 % 2 1 0 0
79

7 hp,max=0.00 mm 6 5 4 3 75 % 2 1 0 0
80.5

r =40 mm
p p

h h h h

p,max p,max p,max

=0.05 mm =0.15 mm =0.50 mm =5.00 mm

r =65 mm

Pressure [MPa]

rp=115 mm

Pressure [MPa]

rp=90 mm

hp,max=1.00 mm
p,max

25 %

50 %

25 %

50 %

10

20

[]

30

40

10

20

[]

30

40

hmin [m]

hmin [m] hmax [m] Qgen [kW]

78 77 76 75 74 440

80.0 79.5 79.0 78.5 78.0 77.5 432

hmax [m]

438 436 434 432 430 300 298

430 428 426 424 300 298 296 294 292 7 10

Qgen [kW]

296 294 292 290 288 0

d
20 40

h
10
6

rp [mm]

60

80

100

10

10

10

hp,max [m]

Figure 3.5: Figure showing the inuence of varying the pocket width (left) and pocket depth (right). Figure (a) shows the pressure distribution at the 25 %, 50 % and 75 % radial positions for various pocket radii rp . The pocket radius is varied between zero and 115 mm. In this gure the maximum pocket depth hp,max = 2.27 mm is kept constant. Below, the corresponding minimum oil lm thickness (b), maximum oil lm thickness (c) and friction loss (d) are presented. Figure (e) shows the pressure distribution at the 25 %, 50 % and 75 % radial positions for various maximum pocket depths hp,max . The maximum pocket depth is varied between zero and 5 mm. In this gure the pocket radius rp = 65 mm is kept constant. Below, the corresponding minimum oil lm thickness (f), maximum oil lm thickness (g) and friction loss (h) are illustrated. The horizontal lines in the graphs (f)(h) represent values obtained for a plain pad without a pocket.

3.3 Conclusion

33

2-dimensional and 3-dimensional models both determine the minimum oil lm thickness within 15 % and the temperature rise from inlet to trailing edge within 7 % of the measured values. The temperature distribution is most accurately determined by the 3-dimensional TEHD model. The 3dimensional models do not improve the accuracy of the theoretical predictions of oil lm thickness for this bearing. Furthermore, the 3-dimensional TEHD model has been applied to the analysis of an existing bearing of large dimensions. The bearing has oil injection pockets at the pivot points. The calculations have been performed at nominal operating conditions with the high pressure injection turned off. The pocket has a surface area of 3.6 % of the total pad area and results in a 1.2 % decrease of the minimum oil lm and a 2.2 % increase in the pitch angle compared to a plain bearing pad. Mixing of the oil in the pocket results in cooling of the pad surface downstream of the pocket. The maximum babbitt temperature is only slightly affected by this cooling effect as the hot spot is not located directly downstream of the pocket. The sensitivity of the results to variations of the diameter of the conical pocket has been studied and the inuence on key operating parameters are stated. Similarly, the effect of varying the pocket depth has been analysed. A shallow pocket is shown to improve the performance of the bearing. It contributes positively to the pressure build-up as it has characteristics similar to those of parallelstep bearings. A deep pocket has a negative effect on the performance due to the loss of bearing area. Further validation of the models with regard to the inuence of oil injection pockets and highpressure oil injection is presented in chapter 4, in which a comparison of theoretically and experimentally determined pressure proles is performed. Further validation of the numerical behaviour of the models when using variable grid sizes are performed through grid convergency studies presented in chapters 5, 6 and 7 for different pad geometries.

34

Validation of Models

Chapter 4 Experimental Results

Few papers documenting the inuence of injection pockets on the behaviour of tilting-pad bearings have been published. Hemmi & Inoue (1999) presented data documenting the tilting angle as a function of speed for a tilting-pad thrust bearing subject to hybrid lubrication. The pad has two cylindrical injection pockets at the circumferential centre. Yuan et al. (2001) presented a comparison of experimental data and numerical predictions for a large spring-supported thrust bearing with centrally placed ring-shaped injection pockets. The numerical predictions were based on a model developed by Ettles (1991). (Yuan et al., 2001; Ettles, 1991) do not, however, present details of the theoretical implementation of the injection pockets. This chapter presents a comparison between theoretical results and experimental data obtained in a test-rig for two different bearing pads of approximately 100 cm2 surface area. One pad has a leading edge taper and an injection pocket. The other is a plain pad without taper or injection pocket. The oil lm thickness is measured at the four corners of the pads and pressure is measured in the collar at four different radii. Measurements are carried out at various loads and velocities, with and without constant volume ow, high-pressure oil injection. The test-rig is capable of testing individual pads, not full bearings. Therefore, the thermal boundary conditions such as rotor temperature and leading edge temperature are different from those of full bearings. The test-rig is located at Alstom Power (Switzerland) Ltd., Birr, Switzerland. Earlier Mahieux (2005) published a comparison of data for babbitt, PTFE and PFA coated pads obtained in the test-rig. Results are given in the form of graphs showing the oil lm thickness at the four corner points as functions of load and velocity. Curves of the distribution of pressure are presented for selected measurements showing the change in the pressure proles as load and velocity is changed. All presented experimental data are compared to the corresponding theoretical values calculated using the 3-dimensional numerical model. Some boundary conditions to the model are adjusted to comply with experimentally determined values. This approach is chosen in order to isolate the comparison between the experiments and the model results to those phenomena which are of interest. For instance, the inlet pressure to a pad is set as a boundary condition in order to compare the pressure proles along the pad circumference as the primary objective of the comparison is to study the effect of the oil injection pocket.

35

36

Experimental Results

Figure 4.1: Operational principle. The collar diameter is 0.72 m.

4.1 Test Facility

The operational principle of the test rig is shown in gure 4.1. Two pivot pads are hydraulically pressed against opposite sides of a collar. The load is supplied through spherical supports allowing the pads to tilt freely. Movement of the pads in the plane parallel to the babbitt surface is restricted. The oil used is a VG46 mineral oil: 40o C = 40.1 mPas, 100o C = 6.0 mPas, 20o C = 872 kg/m3, c = 2090 J/kg/K, k = 0.13 W/m/K. A piston compressor provides a constant volume ow oil injection, which can be varied from 0 to 400 cm3 /min per pad. Measurements are conducted on the lower pad.

4.2 Measuring System

Oil lm thicknesses are measured by eddy current sensors mounted at the four corners of the pad, h1 , h2 , h3 and h4 as illustrated in gure 4.2. Four transducers placed in the collar at four different radii, p1 , p2 , p3 and p4 measure the hydrodynamic pressure distribution. Thermocouples are build in 3 mm below the collar surface at the radii: 283.0 mm, 298.5 mm, 314.0 mm, 329.5 mm and 345.0 mm. The pad dimensions and the positions and sizes of the lm thickness and pressure probes are shown in gure 4.2. Two different babbitt (85% Pb, 14% Sb) coated steel (DIN CK45, ASTM 1045) pads are measured. One pad has a leading edge taper and an oil injection pocket at the pivot point. The babbitt coating is 4 mm thick and all edges have a 1 mm chamfer. The other pad is measured for reference. It has no taper, no injection pocket and the edges are not chamfered. The babbitt coating has a thickness of 2.5 mm. The spherical pivot has a radius of curvature of 300 mm. Figure 4.3 shows pictures with details of the test-rig, sensors and bearing pads. The load is determined by measurement of the pressure in the hydraulic load system. 2048 samples of pressure and oil lm thickness are made during one turn of the rotor, approximately 114 pressure samples during one pass of the pad. The eddy-current sensors are mounted in holders, which are xed to the pad by each two bolts as seen in gure 4.3(middle-right). The leading edge holder is of 5 mm moulded plastic. The trailing edge holder is of 2.5 mm aluminium. The pad holder is movable in the radial

4.2 Measuring System

37

Figure 4.2: Left: The position of sensors and the dimensions of the pad with an injection pocket are shown. all edges have a 1 mm chamfer. Top right: Positions of the pressure sensors in the collar. They are positioned approximately 0.1 mm below the surface. Bottom Right: Cross section of the injection pocket. A brass insert provides the injection piping.

direction in order to ease the changing of bearing pads. The radial positioning is done by eye. The distance of the outer edge of the pad from the shaft centre can therefore vary 0.5 mm from the nominal value of 360 mm. Prior to the measurements the eddy-current sensors are calibrated outside the test-rig using a micrometer screw and subsequently in the test-rig by measuring the output voltages with and without a disk of known thickness between the pad and the collar. Based on these measurements the maximum uncertainty of the distance measurements is estimated to be 2 %. The pressure sensors were calibrated when installed, not prior to this set of experiments. A discrepancy between the measured values of the applied load and the pressure distribution is recorded as can be seen in the results section of the paper. The measured value of applied load is 4 10 % higher than the integrated value of measured pressure over the pad. This discrepancy leads to a 2 5 % uncertainty on the calculated values of oil lm thickness compared to the experimental values. An example of oil lm measurements at the trailing edge of the pad is seen in gure 4.4(top). The 2048 measurements cover the circumference of the collar. The change in oil lm thickness is a measure for the unevenness of the collar. The measurements with the four sensors vary approx. 4065 m with standard deviations of [12, 17, 11, 16] m for the sensors [h1 , h2 , h3 , h4 ]. The distance measurements represent the

38

Experimental Results

Figure 4.3: Top left: The test-rig. Top middle: The user interface. Top right: Pad shown in a dismounted pad holder. Middle left: A view into the test-rig with a dismounted pad. Middle right: A view of the trailing edge. The distance sensors and the oil injection pipe is seen. Bottom: Pictures of the tested pads taken after the measurements. The plain pad has a ground down surface nish.

4.2 Measuring System

39

80 60
h[m]

pressure measurements

h3 h4

40 20 0 calibration point 500 1000 Sampling point 1500 2000

Offset value[m]

370 360 350 340 330 140

h4 offset measurement used for calibration 2 m mean value of offset value of the offset measurement used

120

100 80 60 40 Offset measuring point

20

Figure 4.4: Top: An example of trailing edge lm thickness measurements (sensors h3 and h4 ). There are 2048 sampling points for one turn of the rotor. The position for the pressure measurements and the position for calibration of the distance sensors are stated. Bottom: Distance from collar to sensor h4 at 143 evenly spaced points on the collar circumference. The pad is pressed against the collar. Offset measurement 123 is used for calibration of the distance sensors.

distances from the sensors to the collar surface subtracted calibration values measured with the pad pressed against the collar. Figure 4.4(bottom) shows the distance from an eddy-current sensor to the collar at 143 evenly spaced positions around the collar circumference. The pad is pressed against the collar. The graph shows variations similar to those of the 2048 lm thickness measurements. To accurately determine average values of oil lm thickness the offset values used for calibration of the sensors are always determined in the same position of the collar (measuring point no. 123). The measured offset in this position does not represent the mean offset distance from the collar. The calibration-offset value is therefore corrected to represent the mean distance. E.g., 2 m is added to the calibration-offset value for sensor 4 as described in gure 4.4(bottom). With these corrections, the mean value of the 2048 sampling points represents the average lm thickness. The calibration is done at the operating temperature as the axial position of the sensors move up to 0.5 m/K when changing the oil bath temperature due to thermal expansion of the sensor holders and bolts. Data are presented for pads operating at 40C oil bath temperature, loads of 15 and 40 kN and velocities varying from the minimum possible for each load to a maximum of 1000 rpm. The pad with an injection pocket is measured without and with 400 cm3 /min constant volume ow oil injection. At each operating condition, the measurements are carried out when the thermal conditions have stabilized. Thermal equilibrium is achieved within a couple of minutes.

40 approx. 0.1 mm U xoffset

Experimental Results

Fz

Ffriction Ffriction tpad /2

tpad

Mres Fz dHertz Figure 4.5: Illustration of the forces acting on the pad. The pressure distribution in the oil lm and the Hertzian pressure distribution between the spherical support and the pad are indicated. The centres of the pressure distributions are shown as Fz . The centres are offset by xoffset . A resulting moment Mres in the pivot point is therefore necessary.

4.3 Simulations
Simulations are carried out for comparison. The pad with a pocket is simulated as a pad of 0 = 19.64, piv = 11.82, r1 = 269 mm, r2 = 359 mm and a 9 mm taper at the leading edge. Thus, the dimensions of the test pad are reduced by the 1 mm chamfer on all edges. The pad is modelled as a solid steel plate of 40 mm thickness. The inuence of the babbitt layer is neglected. All other dimensions are as stated in gure 4.2. The boundary conditions are as follows: The collar temperature is set equal to the mean value of the ve experimental collar temperature measurements. The scatter between the ve measurements is generally less than 1 K. The leading edge temperature prole is set uniformly equal to the collar temperature. As both the laminar velocity- and temperature boundary layers grow to thicknesses much larger than the leading edge oil lm thickness it is reasonable to assume the temperature variations in the axial direction to be small justifying the choice of boundary condition. A grid of 3030(10+10) control volumes is used. The force and the moment acting at the centre of the spherical pivot can be calculated from the experimentally determined pressure curves. The curves are extrapolated to a grid covering the pad and numerically integrated. As will be shown in the results section of this paper the moment is not zero as it is assumed in the theoretical description of the problem. Figure 4.5 shows a schematic illustration of the forces acting on the pad. The measured pressure proles indicate centres of pressure located to the trailing edge side of the pivot point. Assuming the Hertzian pressure distribution on the interface between the spherical pivot and the pad to be symmetrical around the centre of the pivot there must be a resulting moment Mres acting at the pivot point. As an example, the forces and moments are stated for the operating conditions: Fz = 40 kN, = 1000 rpm. The force determined from the numerical integration of the pressure curves is Fz = 37.3 kN and the resulting moment is Mres = 108 Nm. From the theoretical solution the friction force is calculated to be Ffriction = 133 N

4.4 Comparison between Experimental and Theoretical Results

41

generating a moment of 2.7 Nm in the same direction as that of the pressure distribution. It is 2.5 % of Mres and its inuence is negligible. The diameter of the Hertzian pressure distribution between the pad and the spherical support is calculated to be dHertz = 8.5 mm. The resulting moment may be generated by external forces acting on the pad but not included in the analysis or it could be a result of an offset of the centre of pressure of the Hertzian pressure distribution. The origin of Mres is not known. In this report however, it is treated as an offset of the pivot point, which for the presented example is xoffset = 2.9 mm representing 2.6 % of the pad length. The rolling motion of the pad on the spherical pivot will move the pivot position in the direction of the leading edge and give a negative value in the gure. This effect is negligible as it moves the pivot point only a few tenths of a millimetre. Five sets of measurements with the plain pad at the same nominal operating conditions (16 kN, 400 rpm) have been made. In between the measurements, the pad was built out of the test-rig. The calculated offsets: [3.9, 2.4, 2.9, 2.7, 3.8] mm vary by 1.5 mm. The reason for the offsets could be construction tolerances in the moving parts of the supporting structure. Possibly the hydraulic piston positions itself at an angle in the cylinder causing the spherical pivot to be angled as well. A chain of tolerances of the necessary magnitude is however not found. The values of Fz and piv used as input parameters for the calculations are determined to comply with the experimental results. The values are calculated using numerical integration as described in the previous paragraph. Similarly, the inlet pressure is adjusted to comply with the experimentally determined value. This approach is chosen because the main aim of comparing measurements with calculations is to validate the numerical model with regard to its ability to determine the pressure distribution when a pocket is present in the pad surface. The adjusted input parameters are external to the oil lm and using the nominal values makes it difcult to evaluate the effect of the pocket because the shapes of the theoretically and experimentally determined pressure proles are different. For comparison however, data are also presented using the nominal values of Fz and piv .

4.4 Comparison between Experimental and Theoretical Results

4.4.1 Pressure proles
Pressure proles for selected measurements are compared to theoretical values in the gures 4.6 to 4.8. Figure 4.6 shows curves for the plain pad operating at 15 kN, 600 rpm. In gure 4.6(a) the nominal values of load and pivot position are used in the calculations. In the calculations of gure 4.6(b) the pivot is moved 2.1 mm towards the trailing edge to achieve moment equilibrium with the measurements and the load is reduced to the experimentally determined value. The discrepancies between the measured and theoretical pressure proles are much smaller when the pivot point is moved and the applied load adjusted. Similar good agreement between the theoretically and experimentally determined pressure curves is found for the plain pad at all other operating conditions treated in this report. The gures 4.7 and 4.8 show theoretical pressure proles obtained using input parameters adjusted to give zero moment and force differences between calculations and measurements. The input data for these corrected simulations are stated later. In gure 4.7 curves are shown for the pad with a pocket with the high-pressure injection turned off. The inuence of the pocket is larger at small oil lm thicknesses, i.e. at high loads and low speeds. The pocket stretches from approx. piv = 10 piv = 14. There is a signicant pressure

42

Experimental Results

3.5 3.0 Pressure [MPa] 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0

p1 -simulation p2 -simulation p3 -simulation p4 -simulation p1 -measured p2 -measured p3 -measured p4 -measured

Fz,sim=15.00 kN speed=600 rpm Tc=43.8 oC piv=12.00o

3.5 b 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5

Fz,sim=14.22 kN speed=600 rpm Tc=43.8 oC piv=12.38o

0.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 [] [] Figure 4.6: Comparison of measured (red lines) and simulated (blue lines) pressure proles for the plain pad. Calculations in (a) are performed with nominal operating conditions. In (b) the pivot point is moved and the load reduced to give force and moment equilibrium with the measurements. The line legend shown in the left gure also applies to the gures 4.6(b), 4.7 and 4.8. build-up in this area at a load of 15 kN. At 40 kN where the depth of the pocket is larger relative to the oil lm thickness the build-up is smaller. The theoretical and the experimental curves do not correspond as well to each other as in the case of the plain pad. The general shapes of the pressure proles are described well at Fz = 15 kN. The measurements with sensors 3 and 4 are higher than the ones with sensors 1 and 2. This indicates that the pad is pivoted so that the oil lm thickness at the outer radius is smaller than at the inner radius. At high loads, the simulated pressure proles are less accurate. The predicted maximum pressure is smaller than the experimental value by 10 % as the model under predicts the pressure rise after the pocket. In gure 4.8 oil is injected at a volume ow of 400 cm3 /min. At the load of 15 kN shown and at all presented velocities the pressure curves are well described by the theoretical model. Again, the measured pressure proles indicate that the pad is tilted to give a smaller oil lm thickness at the outer radius. In gure 4.8(a) the constant pressure indicating the position of the pocket is seen to have a larger circumferential extend for sensor 3 compared to sensor 2. This indicates that the pad is positioned slightly inaccurately in the radial direction. The simulated pressure proles shown in gures 4.7 and 4.8 under predict the inuence of the pocket. This is especially clear at high loads whereas the discrepancies are small at low loads. Inside the pocket, the measured pressure rises little followed by a steep rise after the pocket. The theoretical model predicts a steeper pressure rise inside the pocket and subsequently a lower pressure rise after the pocket. As the pressure proles for the plain pad show good agreement with the theoretical results it is natural to assume that the discrepancies seen in gure 4.7(c) and (d) are results of a poor description of the pocket inuence by the model used. In gure 4.9, however, a comparison of measured pressure proles is made for three different pads. Results for a pad without a pocket but with a taper are included. The pad is seen in gure 4.10. It has a surface nish similar to that of the pad

4.4 6.0 Comparison between Experimental and Theoretical Results 4.0 3.5 Pressure [MPa] 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 12.0 10.0 Pressure [MPa] 8.0 6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0
Fz,sim= 36.30 kN speed= o 400 rpm Tc=44.6 C piv=12.37 o Fz,sim= 13.92 kN speed= 400 rpm Tc=43.5 oC piv=12.05 o

43

4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 12.0 d 10.0 8.0 6.0 4.0 2.0
Fz,sim= 37.33 kN speed=1000 rpm Tc=46.2 oC piv=12.26 o Fz,sim= 14.33 kN speed=1000 rpm Tc=44.1 oC piv=11.93 o

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 c

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

0.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 [] [] Figure 4.7: Comparison of measured and simulated pressure proles for selected operating conditions for the pad with an injection pocket. with an injection pocket. The pressure proles for the plain pad with an inlet taper behave in a way similar to those for the pad with a pocket. In both cases a drop and subsequently a rise in pressure is seen at = 14 16 for the sensors 1 and 4. This may be a result of the unevenness of the collar as it is described in gure 4.4. The plain pad without taper has a higher hmax /hmin ratio and it is therefore less likely that the unevenness of the collar will result in a diverging oil lm for this pad. The unevenness of the collar has an increasing inuence as the oil lm thickness becomes smaller and it may therefore contribute to the discrepancies between the theoretical and experimental results, which are seen in gures 4.7(c) and 4.7(d). Furthermore, the surface nish may inuence the results. The plain pad without a taper has grinding tracks in the direction of motion. These tracks inhibit the ow perpendicular to the tracks and thereby reduce the pressure uctuations seen in the measurements of the other two pads. The simplied ow description, which follows from using the Reynolds equation, neglects terms that may signicantly inuence the ow in the pocket. Changes in inertia at the edges of the pocket

44

Experimental Results

5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0

Fz,sim=14.26 kN speed=20 rpm Tc=41.8 oC piv=12.25o

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 c

5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0

Pressure [MPa]

Fz,sim=14.06 kN speed=100 rpm Tc=41.6 oC piv=12.22o

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 d

Pressure [MPa]

Fz,sim= 13.91 kN speed= o 200 rpm Tc=41.8 Co piv=12.19

Fz,sim= 13.87 kN

speed= o 400 rpm Tc=42.8 Co piv=12.21

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 [] [] Figure 4.8: Comparison of measured and simulated pressure proles for selected operating conditions when oil is injected at a ow rate of 400 cm3 /min. result in reduced pressure at the leading edge of the pocket and a rise in pressure at the trailing edge. This is a result of the recirculation ow in the pocket accelerating the oil entering the pocket. Ettles & Donoghue (1971) discussed this. Simulations for 15 kN, 1000 rpm show an acceleration of the oil at the mean radius from an average speed of 0.45U before the pocket leading edge to more than 0.95U. The inuences of inertial changes are likely to increase in importance as loads are lowered and speeds are raised. The discrepancies between the theoretical and experimental pressure curves do not, however, increase with the velocity and it is concluded that the large discrepancies seen in gures 4.7(c) and 4.7(d) are results of other factors than inertial effects.

4.4.2 Oil lm thickness

Film thickness measurements and simulations are compared in gure 4.11. The gradients dh/d at the leading and trailing edges of the pad are used to linearly extrapolate the simulated oil lm

4.4 Comparison between Experimental and Theoretical Results

45

10.0 8.0 Pressure [MPa] p2 -measured 6.0 4.0 p1 -measured 2.0 0.0

10.0 8.0 p3 -measured 6.0 4.0 p4 -measured 2.0 0.0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 []

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 []

Figure 4.9: Comparison of measured pressure proles for pad without taper or injection pocket (dashed lines), pad with taper but no injection pocket (full lines) and pad with taper and injection pocket (dotted lines) operating without oil injection at 39 kN, 400 rpm. Left: p1 - and p2 measurements. Right: p3 - and p4 -measurements.

thicknesses to the measuring points. Simulation values are shown using nominal values (e.g. Fz = 15 kN, piv = 12) and also using values corrected to give zero force and moment decits between calculations and measurements (e.g. Fz = 14.2 kN, piv = 12.38). For the plain pad, the experimental values of leading edge oil lm thickness correspond well with the simulations. The model less accurately determines the trailing edge values. As the load is increased, the discrepancies become larger. Thus, for the plain pad, the simulated values of h3 and h4 are 9 m or 25% lower than the experimental values at 40 kN, 1000 rpm. Similar discrepancies are seen both with and without oil injection for the second pad. The reason for this discrepancy is probably a measuring error. As earlier stated the distance sensor holders move due to thermal elongation of the pad, sensor holders and bolts. The temperature in the pad increases with load and velocity and therefore the possible inaccuracy due Figure 4.10: Plain pad with taper. to this phenomenon also increases. Simulations predict the mean pad temperature at the trailing edge to be 63C at 40 kN, 1000 rpm. As the sensors move up to 0.5 m/K this corresponds to a 12 m inaccuracy on the measurements of the oil lm thickness. At these operating conditions, the measured oil lm thickness is approx. 30 m at the

46 velocity [rpm] Fload = 15 kN leading edge trailing edge Fload = 40 kN leading edge trailing edge 200 400 600 800 1000 error estimate [m] 1 2 2 2 2 3 5 6 7 7 2 3 2 7 3 9 3 11 3 12

Experimental Results

Table 4.1: Error estimates on the measured oil lm thickness trailing edge. The calculations are approx. 9 m smaller. The results deviate with 75 % of the estimated accuracy. Estimates of the error at all the operating conditions stated in the gure are given in table 4.1. The thermal conditions are similar for the two pads so the estimates apply to both. The errors seen in gure 4.11 on the trailing edge oil lm thickness are within the range given in table 4.1. The leading edge errors are larger than those predicted. For the pad with a pocket, the theoretical thicknesses of the oil lm do not correspond as well to measurements as those for the plain pad. At the trailing edge, the experimental values are higher at the inner radius than at the outer radius indicating that the pad is tilted radially. This was also seen in the pressure measurements in the gures 4.7 and 4.8. The theoretical values indicate a slight tilt in the other direction. The results with high-pressure injection in gure 4.11(c) and (f) show a reasonable agreement between the measured and calculated values of trailing edge oil lm thickness as the velocity goes towards zero. This good agreement is achieved with the input data corrected for force and moment decits. With the nominal values of load and pivot position, the trailing edge oil lm thickness is much higher. This shows that the behaviour of the pad during start-up with high-pressure oil injection is sensitive to the position of the pivot. Calculations predict oil lm thicknesses at zero velocity of [h3 , h4 ]15kN = [25, 24], [h3 , h4 ]40kN = [18, 18] at the nominal conditions while the values are [h3 , h4 ]15kN = [9, 7], [h3 , h4 ]40kN = [9, 8] at the corrected pivot locations. In gure 4.12 the inputs data for the numerical model are stated. Figure 4.12(a)(b) present the loads applied in order to achieve zero force decits between the measurements and the theoretical results. At 15 kN nominal load, the loads determined from the oil lm pressure measurements are 1 11 % smaller. The mean value in gure 4.12(a) is 6 % lower than the nominal value. At 40 kN nominal load, the loads determined from the pressure measurements are 4 9 % smaller. The mean value in gure 4.12(b) is 6 % lower than the nominal value. In gure 4.12(c) the offsets in the angular direction of the pivot point which are used in the simulations are stated. The offsets vary between 0.6 and 3.4 mm in the direction of the trailing edge. This corresponds to 0.5 3.1 % of the pad length. The resulting moment acting at the nominal position of the pivot point can be calculated from gure 4.12(a)(c). Figure 4.12(d) and (e) show the leading edge pressure and the rotor temperature used in the calculations. These input parameters are set equal to measured values. At high velocities, the leading edge pressure is smaller by approx. 25 % when the pad has a taper. In gure 4.13 simulation results are shown for a pad operating at 14 kN, 400 rpm. The volume of the pocket signicantly affects the temperature distribution. The effect is probably larger than it would be in most bearings because the collar temperature in the test-rig is relatively low in

4.4 Comparison between Experimental and Theoretical Results Pad without pocket
250 h1 h2 200

47 High pressure oil injection

h1 h2

Pad with injection pocket a

h1 h2

load

= 15 kN

Oil lm thickness [m]

Fload = 15 kN

150 F
load

F = 40 kN

load

= 15 kN

100

F
50 50

load

= 40 kN
F
load

= 40 kN

45

h3 h4

Fload = 15 kN

h3 h4

Fload = 15 kN

h3 h4 F = 15 kN

Oil lm thickness [m]

40 35 30 25 20 15 Fload = 40 kN

load

Fload = 40 kN

Fload = 40 kN

d
10 200 400 600 800 400 600 800

e Velocity [rpm] Velocity [rpm]

f
0 100 200 300 400 500

Velocity [rpm]

Figure 4.11: Comparison of measured and calculated oil lm thicknesses. (Full lines: Measurements. Dashed lines: Calculations using nominal values of Fz and piv . Dotted lines: the pivot point is moved and the load reduced for force and moment equilibrium with the measurements.) Top gures show leading edge lm thicknesses. Bottom gures present trailing edge values. Figures (a) and (d): Results for the plain pad. Figures (b) and (e): Results for the pad with a pocket. The oil injection is turned off. Figures (c) and (f): Results with 400 cm3 /min oil injection. Symbols: , O, + and represent measured values. Additionally, measurements are performed with intervals of 10 rpm from the minimum possible of 20 rpm to 120 rpm for the pad operated with oil injection.

48

Experimental Results

15 Fload, nominal = 15 kN

39 Fload, nominal = 40 kN

Fload [kN]

Fload [kN] a

14.5

38

14

37

13.5

b
0.3 47 15 kN 40 kN without pocket with pocket injection 46

Pleading edge [MPa]

Pivot offset [mm]

0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0.0 0

3 2 1

Tc [C]

45 44 43 42 41 0 200 400 600 800

c
0 0 200 400 600 800

d
200 400 600 800

e Velocity [rpm]

Velocity [rpm]

Velocity [rpm]

Figure 4.12: Input data for the calculations in which the pivot point and the load are adjusted for moment and force equilibrium with the measurements. The nomenclature for all gures is dened in (d). Figure (a) illustrates the loads used when the nominal condition is a load of 15 kN. Data for various collar speeds and three bearing congurations are given: pad without pocket , pad with pocket but without high-pressure injection 2 and pad with pocket and 400 cm3 /min oil injection O. Figure (b) illustrates the same data for a nominal load of 40 kN. Figure (c) presents the pivot offsets resulting in moment equilibrium with the measurements. Figure (d) shows the leading edge pressures determined form measurements and used in the calculations. Figure (e) shows the measured collar temperatures used as a boundary condition in the calculations. comparison with the maximum temperature in the babbitt layer. An experimental study of the inuence of oil injection is presented in gure 4.14. The oil lm thicknesses measured with oil injection turned on are compared to those measured with no highpressure injection. At a load of 15 kN the oil injection raises the mean lm thickness by 14 m at 600 rpm and by 18 m at 400 rpm. At a load of 40 kN it raises the mean lm thickness by 3 m at 600 rpm and by 7 m at 400 rpm. The change in the tilting angle depends on the operating conditions. At both 400 rpm and 600 rpm, it results in a higher kip angle at a load of 15 kN. The kip angle is reduced at Fz = 40 kN when the high-pressure oil injection is turned on.

4.4.3 Lift-off oil lm thickness

In gure 4.15 a comparison between measured and theoretical lift-off height is shown. The measurements are performed by hydraulically pressing the pad against the collar and measuring the offset of

4.4 Comparison between Experimental and Theoretical Results

49

Lines of constant Lines of constant film thickness [m] pad deflection [m] 40 45 50 55 60 65 0 70 75 80 85 0.5 90 1 95 0 0 1.5 1 5 2 10 0 11 2.5 3 Lines of constant pressure [MPa] Lines of constant temperature [oC] 53 52 51 50 49 44 48 47 46

3.25 3 .75 2.5 22.25 5 2 1.7 5 1.5 1.2 1 0.75 0.5 0.25

45
44
43

Figure 4.13: Theoretical values of oil lm thickness, pad deection, pressure and babbitt temperature for a pad operating at: Fz = 13.92 kN, velocity= 400 rpm, piv = 12.05

the distance sensors. Subsequently the offset is measured with the high-pressure injection turned on. The differences between the offset values are shown in the gure. Eight measurements at random positions on the collar are performed at each load. The corresponding simulations are performed with a speed of 0.01 rpm, a collar temperature of 40 C and with the nominal values of load and position of the pivot. The results are higher than the experimental values. This is as expected as the unevenness of the collar causes a remaining layer of oil between the pad and collar when the initial offset measurement is performed. The errors between the theoretical values of oil lm thickness and the measured values are within the values of the standard deviations on the variation on the collar surface [12, 17, 11, 16] m for the sensors [h1 , h2 , h3 , h4 ] as they were calculated in section 4.2. Assuming the pivot located further towards the trailing edge could explain the differences in the measured and calculated trailing edge oil lm thickness. As was previously shown, the trailing edge lift-off lm thickness is very sensitive to small variations in the pivot location.

50

Experimental Results

175 h1 h2 150 Oil lm thickness [m] Fload = 15 kN

40 h3 h4 35 F load = 15 kN 30

125 25 100 20 75

15 Fload = 40 kN

Fload = 40 kN

50 0

200 400 Velocity [rpm]

600

10 0

200 400 Velocity [rpm]

600

Figure 4.14: Comparison of measured oil lm thicknesses with (full lines) and without (dashed lines) 400 cm3 /min oil injection. Left: Leading edge lm thicknesses. Right: Trailing edge values.

4.4.4 Thermal bending

The bending of the pad due to thermal gradients is measured using a strain gauge arrangement as seen in gure 4.16(top). 350 , 6 mm gauges with gauge factor k = 2.06 are used. They are compensated for the smallest available linear thermal expansion coefcient which has a value of = 0.5 106 K1 , approximately 4.5 % of the value for steel. The inuence of temperature on the measured strain is thereby minimized. The strain-gauges are arranged in two half bridges for respectively the inner radius and the trailing edge. The theoretical values of strain in the positions of the strain-gauges are calculated using Taylor expansions of the deections as described in gure 4.16(bottom). In gure 4.17 experimentally and theoretically determined values of strain in the positions of the strain-gauges are shown for two different speeds and loads varying from 15 kN to 65 kN. It is seen that the calculated strains obtained with a corrected pivot point are within a 20 % difference from the experimental values. The average deviation from the experimental values is 7 % . These results indicate that the at plate approximation used for the calculation of the bending of the pad yields results which are within a reasonable accuracy of the actual behaviour.

4.5 Conclusion

51

46 m m
140 h1simulation h2simulation h3simulation h4simulation h1measured h2measured h3measured h4measured

Lift off oil lm thickness [m]

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 5

34 m m
R =
2w x2 A

x 2

A d
A

x w

x
B
w x

30 mm 5mm
= Arccos 1 +
2x2 R2 +x2

A =

d x 2

10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Load [kN]

Figure 4.15: Lift off oil lm thickness.

Figure 4.16: Top: Picture showing the position of the strain gauges mounted at the inner radius and trailing edge. Bottom: Drawing showing the calculation of the strain in the position of the strain-gauges from the second derivative of the simulated values of pad deection w.

The inuence of thermal bending on the oil lm thickness as well as the pressure and temperature distributions for a pad operating at 15 kN, 400 rpm can be seen in gure 4.13 showing simulation values. The gure shows results for a pad with an injection pocket in order to show the inuence of the pocket on the pressure and temperature distributions. The values of deection for pads with and without injection pockets deviate little.

4.5 Conclusion
Oil lm thickness and pressure proles have been measured for two different thrust bearing pads of approximately 100 cm2 surface area. One is a plain bearing which is measured for reference. The other is a pad with a leading edge taper and a high pressure injection pocket which is measured with and without constant volume ow high pressure oil injection. The pads operate at loads of approximately 1.5 and 4.0 MPa and velocities of up to 33 m/s. The measurements have been performed in order to study the inuence of injection pockets on key bearing parameters and to validate a numerical model. Simulations and measurements of oil lm thickness agree well at low loads. As the load is increased discrepancies become larger at the trailing edge. This is due to a measuring error which is proportional to the difference between the oil bath and pad temperatures. For the plain pad operating at 15 kN, 400 rpm the calculated values are 2 m or 6 % lower than the measurements. At 40 kN,

52

Experimental Results

U=400 rpm, Ta=40oC

9 8 7 U=600 rpm, Ta=40 C

o

105 [-]

105 [-]

6 5 4 3 2 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

experiment simulation sim. with corrected p inner radius trailing edge

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

Load [kN]

Load [kN]

Figure 4.17: Comparison between measured and theoretically determined values of strain.

1000 rpm the calculated values are 9 m or 25 % lower than the measurements. The results when oil is injected at high pressure show that the start-up oil lm thickness depends strongly on the pivot location. The start-up behaviour is predicted well by the model. The pressure measurements indicate that there is a moment in the circumferential direction at the nominal position of the pivot point. As no external forces are found it seems that the pivot point is shifted towards the trailing edge compared to the nominal position. This is likely to be due to construction tolerances. When the pivot point used in the numerical model is shifted 0.6 3.4 mm (0.5 3.1 % of the pad length) in the direction of the trailing edge the theoretical pressure proles for both pads correspond well to those experimentally obtained for low loads. The inuence of the pocket is slightly under predicted at low loads, i.e. the calculations predict a slightly higher pressure rise over the pocket than documented by the experiments. At high loads the theoretical pressure proles correspond less accurately as the experiments document a strong pressure rise after the pocket, which is not predicted by the model. It is assessed that these discrepancies are due mainly to geometric inaccuracies of the collar surface although they may to some extend be due to the simplications employed in a Reynolds equation description of the pocket ow. Using a strain-gauge arrangement the deection of the bearing pad due to pressure bending and thermal gradients has been measured at various operating conditions. An average deviation of 7 % between the measured values of strain at the inner radius and at the trailing edge and the values theoretically determined from the model is recorded. It is concluded that the model determines the bending of the pads to a reasonable level of accuracy.

Chapter 5 Analysis of Standard Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

In this chapter bearings of conventional design with and without oil injection pockets at the pivot point are studied. An investigation of the inuence of various parameters on the friction loss, the load carrying capacity and the optimal position of the pivot point is performed. The inuences of pockets, of pad bending and of the pad length-to-width ratio is analysed. The 3-dimensional TEHD model is used. Calculations have shown that a good performance, i.e. close to the minimum friction loss for a given minimum oil lm thickness is achieved when the bearing pads tilt so that the minimum oil lm thickness is located at the centre of the trailing edge. This is generally not the case in a tilting-pad thrust bearing with the pivot located at the mean radius. In a bearing in which the thermal crowning of the pads is insignicant the minimum oil lm thickness may be located at the inner or outer trailing edge corner depending on the geometry of the pads. A Michell type bearing with a line pivot can be constructed with the pivot aligned with the trailing edge to fulll the criterion of minimum lm thickness at the mean radius. This corresponds to moving the pivot in the radial direction in bearings with spherical pivots. In order to generalize the results and study the improvement on the friction loss, calculations in which the pivot position is radially adjusted to achieve a minimum oil lm thickness at the centre of the trailing edge are performed as well as calculations with the pivot positioned at the mean radius. Although some boundary conditions do not in this case correspond to those employed in the analysis of a Michell type bearing the differences are small and the predicted performance in effect corresponds to the performance of a Michell type bearing with the pivot aligned with the trailing edge.

5.1 Inuences of Oil Injection Pockets and Thermal Bending

Bearing pads both with and without cylindrical oil injection pockets are investigated. Pads with two different pocket sizes are studied. The diameters of the pockets are chosen to span the sizes normally used for hydrostatic jacking. The inuence of the pivot position on the load carrying capacity and friction loss is investigated. Furthermore, the inuence of pad bending is analysed. Calculations are performed on an 8-pad example bearing with a pad length-to-width ratio of 53

54

Analysis of Standard Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

1.1 No pocket 10 cm pocket 20 cm pocket

Fload /Fload,max [-]

Qgen /Qgen,min [-]

No pocket 10 cm pocket 20 cm pocket 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7

0.95

1.08

1.06

0.9

1.04

0.85

1.02

0.8 0.5

1 0.5

0.55

0.6

0.65

0.7

Dimensionless pivot location piv /pad

Dimensionless pivot location piv /pad

Figure 5.1: The inuence of oil injection pockets. Left: Load carrying capacity at different pivot locations. Right: Power loss at different pivot locations. The results are nondimensionalized to give values of 1 in the optimum points.

0.9. The bearing operates using a VG32 mineral oil under fully ooded conditions. A cylindrical pocket with diameter dp and depth hp centred at the pivot point allows for hydrostatic lift-off. Data for the bearing and oil are: 0 = 37.5, r1 = 0.509 m, r2 = 1.091 m, rpiv = 0.800 m, hp = 2.0 mm, 40o C = 27.1 mPas, 80o C = 6.8 mPas, = 848 kg/m3, c = 2090 J/kg/K, k = 0.13 W/m/K, Fz = 5.00 MN, = 400 rpm, Ta = 40C, Tc = 55C. A variable sized grid with nr n (nz + nzpad )=2424(10+10) control volumes is used in the calculations. The average density of the volumes in the area of the pocket is 1.5 times higher than in the oil lm. Bearing pads with pockets of dp = 100 mm and dp = 200 mm and plain bearing pads (without pockets) are studied. Two different grids designated grid1 and grid2 are used for respectively the bearing with the small pocket and the bearing with the large pocket. Using the procedures explained in chapter 2.4 the effect of varying the dimensionless pivot location piv = piv /pad on the load carrying capacity and on the power loss is studied. A minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m is the criteria used in the calculations. Thus, for the study of load carrying capacity the load is adjusted to comply with this criterion. For the study of power loss the load is kept at 5 MN while the pad surface area is adjusted to comply with the criterion. A xed length-to-width ratio is maintained. Curves showing the nondimensional load carrying capacity and friction loss as functions of the pivot position are given in gure 5.1. The optimal pivot locations with respect to both maximum load carrying capacity and minimum power loss move towards the leading edge with increasing pocket size. Introducing a pocket in a bearing pad increases the pitch angle due to the change in pressure pattern. To compensate for this effect the pivot location should be moved towards the centre of the pad. In gure 5.1(left) the optimal load carrying capacity is seen to be achieved at piv,opt = 0.57 when a plain pad is analysed. piv,opt = 0.54 with a pocket diameter of 200 mm. In gure 5.1(right) the effect of pockets on the optimal position of the pivot point is seen to be larger

5.1 Inuences of Oil Injection Pockets and Thermal Bending

55

as it moves from piv,opt = 0.62 for a pad without a pocket to piv,opt = 0.58 when a pocket of dp =200 mm is machined at the pivot point. However, the optimum is relatively at. If designing a bearing without taking the pocket into account and positioning the pivot at piv = 0.62 the bearing with the 100 mm pocket will have a friction coefcient 0.2 % higher than the optimal while the coefcient for the pad with the 200 mm pocket will be approx. 2 % higher than the optimal value. This indicates that standard design charts for bearings without oil injection pockets can be used in the design process while still maintaining a near optimal design. Figure 5.2 shows the oil lm thickness, pad deection, pressure and pad surface temperature for the three different pads with the pivot location optimized for minimizing the power loss. The tilting angle decreases with the pocket size. The effect is however relatively small. The pressure distributions in the pocket areas are almost constant. The mixing in the pockets of the hot oil at the pad surfaces with the colder oil at the collar surface results in cooling of the pads downstream of the pockets. The effect only inuences the pads directly downstream of the pockets and as the hot spot is usually located at a larger radius close to the trailing edge it is not signicantly lowered by the mixing in the pocket. The effect of thermal deection of the pads is studied. The crowning of a pad can be controlled in different ways: changing the pad thickness, multi layer constructions, changing the backing material etc. Here, it is chosen to study the effect of varying the pad deection without considering the method of achieving such a variation. The deection fraction described in chapter 2.4 and gure 2.5 is used to control the amount of crowning. A deection fraction of 1 corresponds to the nominal conditions with the deection distribution shown in gure 5.2(bottom row). Figure 5.3 shows the nondimensional load carrying capacity and friction loss for the plain pad at four different deection fractions: 0, 0.2, 0.5 and 1, indicating ratios from no deection to the nominal crowning with a pad thickness of 0.3 m. The optima are much more clearly dened when the pads are considered rigid than when thermal crowning is included. This indicates that positioning the pivot correctly in the circumferential direction is more important in bearings with insignicant thermal bending than in the typically larger bearings where the oil lm distribution is strongly inuenced by thermal bending. The optimal position of the pivot point with respect to the load carrying capacity is strongly inuenced by the bending. Without bending piv,opt = 0.62 while it is piv,opt = 0.57 at the nominal conditions. The values of piv minimizing the friction loss is less inuenced by the crowning. piv,opt = 0.63 without deection, while it is approx. piv,opt = 0.62 at the other conditions. Designing the pivot location of a bearing without considering thermal deection therefore only results in a minor increase in the friction loss for this bearing geometry. At piv = 0.63 the friction loss with the nominal deection is 0.25 % higher than the minimum value. It should be noted that the inuence of the deection fraction on the optimal pivot location depends on the bearing geometry. Calculations with a 6-pad bearing with length-to-width ratios of 1.2 show a stronger variation with the deection. With respect to minimizing the friction loss piv,opt = 0.65 without thermal crowning while it is piv,opt = 0.615 when pad bending is included. In the following the deection fraction is varied between zero and one so that only a fraction of the deections shown in gure 5.2 are used in the calculations. The optimal pivot location and the corresponding minimum power consumption are seen in gure 5.4(a). In gure 5.4(b) the radial pivot location is adjusted so that the minimum oil lm thickness is located at the mean radius at the trailing edge. As is also seen in gure 5.3(right), gure 5.4(a-right) shows that with increased bending of the pad the optimal position of the pivot moves towards the leading edge of the pad. The

56

Analysis of Standard Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

12

15

5 12

0 15
1 75

10
0 20

12 5
17
2 00
0 25

Lines of constant oil film thickness [m] hmin=75.0m h =383.3m max 0 75 10

Lines of constant oil film thickness [m] h =75.0m min hmax=379.2m

10 0

Lines of constant oil film thickness [m] hmin=75.0m hmax=359.2m 75

75
22

0 20
5

0 15
0 25 0 30

0 25

5 22
27
0 30

27

5 32

30

22

5
5 32 50 3

5 350 5 37

5 27

5 5 32 3
Lines of constant pressure [MPa] Pmax=5.41MPa

Lines of constant pressure [MPa] Pmax=5.99MPa

Lines of constant pressure [MPa] Pmax=4.40MPa

5.5 5

4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5

4
3
2

4 3

4.5 3.5 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5

4 3

3.5 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5

Lines of constant pad surface temperature [oC] T =78.8oC max,surf 78 4 76 7 70 72 6 68 6 4 62 6

60

Lines of constant pad surface temperature [oC] T =78.8oC 8 max,surf 7 72 74 8 70 6 66 64

Lines of constant pad surface temperature [oC] o 76 Tmax,surf=77.6 C 72 70

76

74

68

62 60

58

58

56

54 52 50

56

66 64 62 60 58
56

54 52

54

48
Lines of constant pad deflection [m] wmax=56.6m

46 44

50

52
Lines of constant pad deflection [m] w =61.4m
max

48 46 44

52

50 48 6 4

Lines of constant pad deflection [m] wmax=65.1m

10

10
20

50

Figure 5.2: From left to right: Simulation results without a pocket, with a 100 mm pocket and with a 200 mm pocket. The simulations are performed with the pivot location minimizing the power loss. From top to bottom the gures show: oil lm thickness, pressure, pad surface temperature and pad deection.

60

50

40

50

40

30

40

30

20

10
30

20

5.2 The Inuence of the Length-to-Width Ratio

57

1.1 Deflection fraction=0.0 Deflection fraction=0.2 Deflection fraction=0.5 Deflection fraction=1.0

Fload /Fload,max [-]

Qgen /Qgen,min [-]

0.65 0.7

0.95

1.08

1.06

0.9

1.04

0.85

Deflection fraction=0.0 Deflection fraction=0.2 Deflection fraction=0.5 Deflection fraction=1.0 0.55 0.6

1.02

0.8 0.5

1 0.5

0.55

0.6

0.65

0.7

Dimensionless pivot location piv /pad

Dimensionless pivot location piv /pad

Figure 5.3: The inuence of thermal bending (Pad without injection pocket). Left: Load carrying capacity at different pivot locations. Right: Power loss at different pivot locations. The results are nondimensionalized to give values of 1 in the optimum points.

optimal value of deection is seen to be approximately 40 % of the nominal value. With this amount of bending the friction loss is 5 % lower than the loss when the pad is at. The example bearing is of a large size. In such bearings the deection has a large inuence on the oil lm thickness. In smaller mass-produced bearings the inuence of deection is smaller and sometimes negligible. It is however seen that an amount of bearing deection or pad curvature is preferable to a at surface. The reason is that curvature in the radial direction results in a better oil lm thickness distribution in which the minimum value is located somewhere around the centre of the trailing edge and not in either of the two trailing edge corners as is the case of a at pad. The bearing with 200 mm pockets produces a larger friction loss than the plain pad. The bearing with 100 mm pockets produces a smaller friction loss than the plain pad - at least for a range of deection fractions. The results indicates that introducing pockets in a bearing pad could lower the friction loss. The results of gure 5.4(b-left) show that when the radial tilt of the bearing is controlled a at pad not subjected to any curvature is preferable as it produces the smallest friction loss. The gure also shows that both pads with oil injection pockets have smaller friction coefcients than the pad without a pocket. With an 200 mm pocket the reduction in friction is up to 2.5 % relative to the plain pad. Figure 5.4(b-right) presents the corresponding pivot locations in the circumferential direction. These would be the optimal positions of the pivots if designing with line-pivots.

5.2 The Inuence of the Length-to-Width Ratio

The length-to-width ratio of the individual pads inuences the performance of the bearing due to the differences in the convergence of the oil lm. In the following the inuence of the length-to-width ratio is examined. Tilting-pad thrust bearings with 4, 5, 6, 8 and 12 pads are studied. The mean

58

Analysis of Standard Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

No pocket, grid 285 280 275 270 265 260 0

optimal pivot location piv /pad [-]

1

290 10 cm pocket, grid1 No pocket, grid2 20 cm pocket, grid

0.63 0.62 0.61 0.6 0.59 0.58 0.57 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Qgen [kW]

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Deection Fraction [-]

(a) Calculations with rpiv =0.80 m
No pocket, grid 270 265 260 255 250 245 0

Deection Fraction [-] optimal pivot location piv /pad [-]

0.64 0.63 0.62 0.61 0.6 0.59 0.58 0.57 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

275
1 1

10 cm pocket, grid

20 cm pocket, grid2

Qgen [kW]

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Deection Fraction [-]

Deection Fraction [-]

(b) rpiv is adjusted so that hmin is positioned at the centre of the trailing edge.

Figure 5.4: Left: Minimum obtainable power consumption with different pocket sizes and different values of pad deection. Right: The corresponding optimal pivot locations. radius is 0.8 m. The width of the bearings vary from 0.55 m to 0.65 depending on the number of pads and the angular extend of all the pads. All pads have a thickness of 0.3 m. In gure 5.5 power losses, optimal angular pivot positions and optimal radial pivot positions are shown. For rigid pads with the pivot positioned at the mean radius the optimal length-to width ratio is 1.2. This corresponds to a 6-pad bearing. The reason for this can be seen in 5.5(right) showing the radial position of the pivot point which leads to a minimum oil lm thickness at the centre of the trailing edge. The usual praxis of positioning the pivot at the mean radius fullls the criteria of a minimum oil lm thickness at the centre of the trailing edge at a length-to-width ratio of approx. 1.2. At lower length-to-width ratios positioning the pivot at the mean radius leads to a minimum

5.2 The Inuence of the Length-to-Width Ratio

59

400 380 360 r adjusted, pad deflection

0.70

0.54

optimal pivot location pivt /pad [-]

rpiv adjusted, no pad deflection

piv

4 pads 5 pads 6 pads 8 pads 0.66 12 pads

0.53

(rpiv r1 )/(r2 r1 ) [-]

rpiv=0.80 m, no pad deflection rpiv=0.80 m, pad deflection

0.68

0.52 0.51 0.50 0.49 0.48 0.47

Qgen [kW]

340 320 300 280 260 240 0.6

0.64

0.62

0.8

1.0

1.2

length-to-width

1.4 1.6 1.8 rmean 0 ratio (r2 r1 ) [-]

0.60 0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

length-to-width

1.4 1.6 1.8 rmean 0 ratio (r2 r1 ) [-]

0.46 0.6

1.0 1.4 1.8 rmean 0 [-] (r2 r1 )

Figure 5.5: The inuence of length-to-width ratio. Left: Minimum power loss. centre: The corresponding angular pivot locations. Right: Radial position of pivot point, when the oil lm thickness is aligned with the trailing edge.

oil lm thickness at the inner trailing edge corner while at high length-to-width ratios the minimum oil lm thickness is located at the outer trailing edge corner. Pads, which experience strong thermal crowning have higher optimal length-to-width ratios (approx. 1.41.8). This is also the case for bearings in which there is no radial tilting at the trailing edge. Figure 5.5(middle) shows the optimal circumferential pivot location. The optimal pivot location rst rises with the length-to-width ratio from a ratio of 0.6 to 0.8 then falls from a ratio of 0.8 to 1.4. From a ratio of 1.4 to 1.8 it rises sharply. The thermal bending of the pad increases with the pad length-to-thickness ratio and to achieve an advantageous pressure distribution the nondimensional pivot location moves towards the centre of the pad for higher length-to-width ratios. At a ratio of 1.8 this leads to cavitation at the trailing edge. That is disadvantageous for the power loss because the friction loss in the regions with cavitation is large while there is no contribution to the pressure build-up. The optimal position of the pivot is therefore closer to the trailing edge leading to a higher tilting angle and no cavitation. The optimal length-to-width ratio depends on the curvature of the pads. In the results discussed in the previous paragraph the bearing outer radius is approximately twice the inner radius. This is a typical value for mass-produced bearings. The ratio of outer to inner radius is rarely much larger than 2. It is however not unusual to use bearings in which this ratio is much smaller than 2. A ratio of 1 corresponds to a rectangular pad. Such bearings commonly use 16 or more pads of much lower circumferential curvature. In order to illustrate the variation in the optimal length-to-width ratio depending on the pad curvature a rectangular pad is studied. The rotor temperature is 55 C, the oil bath temperature is 40 C and the leading edge temperature is set equal to the rotor temperature. The speed is 30 m/s and one pad carries a load of 1.0 MN. The pads are 0.3 m thick. Pads with length-to-width ratios of 0.2 to 2.0 are studied. Figure 5.6(left) shows that length-to-width ratios of 0.81.0 result in small friction losses. Fig-

60

Analysis of Standard Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

50 48

No pad deflection Pad deflection

optimal pivot location piv /pad [-]

52

0.76 0.74 0.72 0.70 0.68 0.66 0.64 0.62 0.60 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 No pad deflection Pad deflection

Qgen [kW]

46 44 42 40 38 36 34 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0

length-to-width ratio [-]

length-to-width ratio [-]

Figure 5.6: Left: Minimum power loss at different length-to-width ratios of a square bearing pad. Right: The corresponding pivot locations.

ure 5.6(right) shows optimal nondimensional pivot locations which for at pads are between 0.01 smaller and 0.035 higher than those presented for sector shaped pads in gure 5.5(middle). Based on the results of gure 5.5 and gure 5.6 it is concluded that the length-to-width ratios of the pads of tilting-pad thrust bearings should be kept within the interval [0.8; 1.8] to minimize friction. The choice of ratio within this interval depends on the curvature of the pads.

5.3 Conclusion
Tilting-pad thrust bearings of standard design with and without oil injection pockets have been studied. The inuence of thermal bending, pad length-to-width ratio and pad curvature on the friction loss and the optimal circumferential position of the pivot point has been investigated. Furthermore, the inuence of thermal bending on the load carrying capacity has been studied. In addition to studying bearings in which the pivots are radially positioned at the mean radius as is the usual praxis, a comparative study has been made with bearings in which the pivot is located so as to result in zero radial tilting at the trailing edge. This corresponds to the behaviour of a Michell type bearing with the line pivot aligned with the trailing edge. Oil injection pockets at the pivot point - with the oil injection turned off - cause higher pitch angles than in bearings without pockets due to the changes in the pressure distribution. To compensate for this the pivot point should be moved towards the centre of the pad. Within the range of pocket sizes usually used for high pressure injection this results in optimal pivot locations up to 0.04 pad smaller than the optimal positions in plain bearing pads. The thermal crowning of the bearing pads inuences the optimal position of the pivot point. The larger the thermal crowning, the lower the optimal nondimensional pivot location. The inuence is however small for the example bearing and designing without considering the crowning induces

5.3 Conclusion

61

only slightly higher (0.25 %) friction losses. The optimum is atter when the pads are crowned. Thus, it is more important to correctly position the pivot in bearings where the pad curvature due to thermal bending is small. Bearings with various length-to-width ratios have been studied. The optimal length-to-width ratio has been shown to be between 0.8 and 1.8. The choice of ratio within this interval depends on the curvature of the pads. The higher the curvature the higher is the optimal length-to-width ratio.

62

Analysis of Standard Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

Chapter 6 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Shallow Recesses

Parallel-step bearings have smaller friction coefcients than tilting-pad bearings. Several reasons however, disqualify this bearing type for use in many application. The performance of parallel-step bearings strongly depends on the operating conditions, i.e. the bearing must be operated at an oil lm thickness close to the design value. This also implies that wear reducing the height of the step reduces the performance signicantly. This chapter analyses the theoretically obtainable performance improvement of parallel-step bearings compared to tilting-pad bearings. The possibility of applying features of the parallel-step bearing to tilting-pad bearings in order to create a double incline tilting-pad bearing with improved performance is investigated. The results of chapter 3.2 indicate that the performance of tilting-pad bearings can also be improved by the use of enclosed shallow recesses. Calculations show this to be a special case of bearings with inlet pockets - but with poorer performance. Enclosed shallow recesses are not investigated further. The results of this chapter are obtained using 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional bulk ow analysis.

6.1 1-Dimensional Double Incline Bearings

In the following a 1-dimensional isothermal analysis of a double incline tilting-pad bearing is performed. A bearing pad with a length of 0.5 m operating at a speed of 30 m/s, a load of 1.0 MN and a temperature of 55 C is analysed. The width of the bearing is adjusted to achieve a minimum oil lm thickness at the trailing edge of 75 m. The geometry of the bearing is shown in gure 6.1(left). The height and position of the step are: hs /hte = 0.98 and Ls /Lpad = 0.79. These are the dimensions giving the minimum friction loss at a tilting-angle of zero. At this tilting-angle the bearing behaves as a parallel-step bearing. The values of step height and step position available in the literature (Hamrock et al., 2004) giving the maximum load carrying capacity: hs /hte = 0.897 and Ls /Lpad = 0.718 result in a friction loss 2.25 % higher than the minimum value. Figure 6.2(left) shows the friction loss of the double incline bearing at different tilting-angles. The results are compared to those for a single incline bearing. The best performance is achieved at a tilting-angle of zero where the power loss is 13.4 % lower than the minimum obtainable loss with the single incline 63

64

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Shallow Recesses Wpad Lpad Ls Lpiv + Lpiv Wpad /2 Wsl U

hle

hs hte

Figure 6.1: Left: The bearing used in the 1-dimensional analysis (side view). Right: The bearing used in the 2-dimensional analysis of rectangular pads (top view).
23 22 23 22

Qgen [kW]

21 20 19 18 0.0 0.5 1.0 single incline bearing double incline bearing 1.5 2.0 2.5

Qgen [kW]

Lpad Ls
21 20 19

single incline bearing double incline bearing

18 0.56 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.60 0.61 0.62

convergence ratio, (hle hs )/hte 1 [-]

pivot position, Lpiv /Lpad [-]

Figure 6.2: 1-dimensional analysis of a bearing with hs = 0.98 hte and Ls = 0.79 Lpad . Left: Friction loss as a function of the pad convergence ratio. Right: Friction loss as a function of the corresponding nondimensional pivot position Lpiv /Lpad .

bearing. Figure 6.2(right) shows the power loss as a function of the pivot position. The optimal pivot positions for the two bearings are both located at values of Lpiv /Lpad between 0.59 and 0.60. The friction loss of the single incline bearing is relatively insensitive to the pivot position compared to the double incline bearing, in which the power loss rises steeply with the offset from the optimum.

6.2 Rectangular Parallel-Step Bearing Pads

Figure 6.1(right) shows a parallel-step bearing with side lands. The recess is rectangular and has a uniform depth, hs . Figure 6.3 presents a THD-analysis of the bearing pad for various side land

6.2 Rectangular Parallel-Step Bearing Pads

65

55

2.2

optimal step height, hs /hte [-]

50 45 40 35 30 25 0.3 Minimum friction loss in a tiltingpad bearing 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

2.0 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.3

Wsl=0.00 Wpad W =0.04 W

sl sl pad pad

W =0.10 W W =0.22 W
sl

Qgen [kW]

Wsl=0.16 Wpad
pad

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

step position, Ls /Lpad [-]

step position, Ls /Lpad [-]

Figure 6.3: 2-dimensional THD-analysis of the design of a parallel-step bearing with side lands. Left: The minimal obtainable friction loss as a function of the step position. Results are stated for various side land widths. Right: The corresponding optimal step height.

widths, Wsl and step positions, Ls . The operating conditions are: U = 30 m/s, Fz = 1.0 MN, Ta = 40 C and Tc = 55 C. The pad area is adjusted to give a minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m. For each combination of Wsl and Ls the step height, hs is optimized to give the minimum friction loss. A grid of 5050 control volumes is used in the calculations . In gure 6.3(left) the friction loss is shown. For comparison the minimum obtainable friction loss of a tilting-pad bearing is also presented. Figure 6.3(right) shows the corresponding step heights. For Wsl = 0, indicating a bearing without side lands, the friction loss is more than 20 % higher than the minimum obtainable friction loss of a tilting-pad bearing. The side leakage in this bearing is high and it does not perform well. When introducing side lands gure 6.3(left) shows that narrow side lands and a step position close to the trailing edge gives a good performance. The maximum step position shown in the gure is 0.9 but calculations show that the theoretically best performance is obtained for Wsl 0 and Ls Lpad . The good performance of a bearing with very narrow side lands and the step positioned very close to the trailing edge is purely theoretical. In practice the side leakage would be large due to the unevenness of the rotor and if mixed lubrication occurs during operation the wear of the bearing surface would be large. More realistic values are Wsl /Wpad = 0.1 and Ls /Lpad = 0.9. With this geometry and the optimal step height of 1.96 hte a parallel-step bearing has a friction coefcient 17 % lower than that of a tilting-pad bearing. The curves of gure 6.3(right) show that the optimal step height depends strongly on the step position while the variation with the width of the side lands is less signicant. Figure 6.4 presents a study of the sensitivity of a parallel-step bearing to the height of the step. The bearing is of a length-to-width ratio of one, with Wsl /Wpad = 0.1 and Ls /Lpad = 0.9. The optimal step height for minimizing the friction loss is 1.96 hte = 147m. The area is xed at the

66

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Shallow Recesses

50 45

Qgen [kW]

hmin [m]

Design value, h =147 m

70 60 50 40 Design value, hs=147 m 50 100 150 200

40 35 30 25 0 50 100 150 200

hs [m]

hs [m]

Figure 6.4: THD-analysis if a parallel step bearing with Wsl /Wpad = 0.1 and Ls /Lpad = 0.9. Left: Friction loss as a function of the step height. Right: Minimum oil lm thickness as a function of the step height.

value giving an oil lm thickness of 75 m at this step height. The maximum load carrying capacity is achieved at a step height of 135 m, 8 % smaller than the design value. The oil lm thickness is 75.3 m. As the maximum load carrying capacity is achieved at a lower step height than the design value, the bearing is relatively insensitive to moderate wear of the step. At a step height of 73.5 m, 50 % lower than the optimal step height, the oil lm thickness is 68.1 m, 9 % less than the design value. The friction loss is 10 % higher than the value at hs = 1.96 hte . Further reducing the step height reduces the performance more rapidly.

6.3 Rectangular Double Incline Bearing Pads

This section investigates the possibility of designing a tilting-pad bearing with an inlet pocket. The parallel-step bearing with Wsl /Wpad = 0.1 and Ls /Lpad = 0.9 is now considered to be equipped with a spherical pivot at the Lpiv position. To evaluate the inuence of thermal effects both isothermal, THD and TEHD models are used in the analysis. Figure 6.5 shows the generated friction loss at various pivot locations for inlet pocket depths of 20, 60, 100, 140 and 180 m. In all calculations the area of the pad is adjusted to give a minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m. Figure 6.5(a) presents isothermal results obtained with at a temperature of 55 C. With the chosen pocket geometry the friction loss curves all have minima in the region Lpiv /Lpad = 0.64 to Lpiv /Lpad = 0.66. Choosing a value of Lpiv /Lpad = 0.66 for the design gives good values of the friction loss at all recess depths. Depending on the pocket depth the friction loss is reduced by up to 12 % in comparison to a bearing with plain pads. This indicates that a tilting-pad bearing can be equipped with inlet pockets to improve the performance while still maintaining the qualities which make the tilting-pad bearing superior to the parallel-step bearing: low sensitivity to variations in the operating conditions and to reduction of the pocket depth due to wear. The reduction in friction is however achieved at the cost of a higher sensitivity to the position of the pivot point. The deeper the pocket the higher the sensitivity as can be seen in the steep rise in friction loss as the pivot point is raised from the value of Lpiv /Lpad = 0.66. Reducing the values

6.3 Rectangular Double Incline Bearing Pads

67

42 40 38

h =0 m s h =20 m s h =60 m
s

42 hs=0 m 40 38 36 34 32 hs=20 m

42 hs=0 m 40 38 36 34 32 hs=140 m 0.72 hs=100 m 30 28 0.60 h =140 m h =180 m s 0.64 0.68 0.72
s

hs=60 m

hs=20 m

hs=60 m

hs=100 m

Qgen [kW]

36 34 32 30 h =180 m s 28 0.60 0.64 hs=140 m 0.68 0.72 h =100 m s

30 28 0.60

h =180 m s 0.64 0.68

Lpiv /Lpad [-]

(a) Isothermal analysis

Lpiv /Lpad [-]

(b) THD-analysis

Lpiv /Lpad [-]

(c) TEHD-analysis

Figure 6.5: Friction loss as a function of the pivot location Lpiv /Lpad for inlet pockets of various depth. Figures stating result obtained using isothermal, THD and TEHD models are presented in the three gures.

of Lpiv to approx. 0.645 Lpad the friction curves for hs = 60 m and hs = 100 m rise sharply. Below this value of Lpiv no equilibrium position exists and the bearing does not work. The end of the friction curves indicate the operating conditions for zero tilting angle, i.e. for a parallel-step bearing. E.g. for a pocket depth of 60 m this operating condition is located at Lpiv /Lpad = 0.656 and a friction loss of 39.2 kW. At pivot locations Lpiv /Lpad > 0.656 there are two solutions to the equilibrium position of the bearing pad, one at a positive tilting angle as shown in the gure and one at a negative tilting angle. This phenomenon is studied later in this chapter. Positioning the pivot close to the smallest possible value of Lpiv /Lpad = 0.646 may result in pad utter. Figure 6.5(b) shows the friction losses as calculated using the 2-dimensional THD-model. Compared to the isothermal analysis the curves move to the left, i.e. the minimum friction loss is achieved at pivot locations closer to the centre of the pad. As shown in chapter 3.1 this is due to an increased tilting-angle as a function of the viscosity variation in the sliding direction. For a plain pad the optimum is located at Lpiv /Lpad = 0.645 whereas the isothermal analysis predicted an optimum at Lpiv /Lpad = 0.66. Although not very well illustrated by this gure the optimal pocket depth predicted by the THD-analysis is larger than in the isothermal analysis. For a parallel-step bearing the optimal pocket depth predicted by the THD-analysis is 1.96 hte = 147 m as shown in gure 6.4. A similar isothermal analysis indicates hs,optimal = 1.76 hte . Figure 6.5(c) shows the results when pressure bending and thermal crowning of the pad are in-

68

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Shallow Recesses

41 40 39

hs=0 m hs=140 m

100 90 80 70 60

8 hs=140 m hs=60 m 7 6

hs=0 m

Qgen [kW]

38 37 36 35 34

hle /hte -1 [-]

hmin [m]

5 4 3 2 1 hs=140 m hs=60 m

50 h =60 m
s

hs=0 m 40 0.64 0.66 0.68 0.70 0.72

0 1 0.64 0.66 0.68 0.70 0.72

33 0.64 0.66 0.68 0.70 0.72

Lpiv /Lpad [-]

Lpiv /Lpad [-]

Lpiv /Lpad [-]

Figure 6.6: Isothermal analysis of a bearing of xed area without inlet pocket and with pocket with depths of hs = 60 m and hs = 140 m. Results are given as functions of the pivot location Lpiv /Lpad . Left: Friction loss. Middle: Minimum oil lm thickness. Right: Oil lm convergence ratio. Full lines indicate solutions with a positive tilting angle. Dotted lines indicate solutions with a negative tilting angle.

cluded in the analysis. The optimal pivot locations move toward the centre of the pad in comparison to the results for a rigid pad. The optima of the curves are located between Lpiv /Lpad = 0.62 and Lpiv /Lpad = 0.64. As was also noted in chapter 5 the bearing is less sensitive to the position of the pivot due to the curvature of the pad. Figure 6.6 shows an isothermal study in which the pad areas of three different pads is kept constant at the value resulting in a minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m at Lpiv /Lpad = 0.66 for a bearing without a pocket. As earlier stated for pads with inlet pockets there are two solutions to the pressure distribution which for a given pivot location results in force and moment equilibrium at the pivot point. In the gures both solutions with positive tilting angles(full lines) as well as solutions with negative tilting angles(dotted lines) are presented. Figure 6.6(left) shows the reduction in friction when modifying the plain bearing with an inlet pocket of Wsl /Wpad = 0.1 and Ls /Lpad = 0.9 and pocket depths of 60 m and 140 m. Introducing an inlet pocket reduces the friction as well as increasing the oil lm thickness as shown in gure 6.6(middle). A shallow inlet pocket results in reduced friction and higher minimum lm thickness for large ranges of pivot positions. Deeper pockets gives larger improvements in the performance in small intervals of pivot locations. The bearing with the deeper pocket does however not perform well at for instance a pivot location of Lpiv /Lpad = 0.70 where the friction loss is higher and the oil lm thickness is smaller than those of the plain pad. Figure 6.6(right) shows the convergence

6.4 Double Incline Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

69

rp

iv

rm

n ea

r1 0

s piv Wsl Wpad Wsl

Figure 6.7: The sector shaped bearing pad considered. ratio of the pads. When introducing inlet pockets of the chosen dimensions the convergence ratio is reduced. At Lpiv /Lpad = 0.66 the ratio is 3 for a plain bearing pad while it is approx. 1.5 for the bearing pads with pockets. The solutions for the pressure distribution obtained with negative tilting angles show much higher friction losses than with positive tilting angles. Only the friction loss for hs = 140 m can be seen in the gure. It rises sharply with increasingly negative tilting angle. This is due to a rapidly declining minimum oil lm thickness.

6.4 Double Incline Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

In this section of the report the analysis previously performed on rectangular pads is extended to the study of multi-pad bearings with sector shaped pads. A tilting-pad thrust bearing with 8 pads of a length-to-width ratio of 0.9 is studied. The mean radius is 0.8 m. The pads have a thickness of 0.3 m. The rotor temperature is 55 C, the oil bath temperature is 40 C and the leading edge temperature to each pad is determined from a control volume analysis of heat transfer in the groove between the pads. The speed is 400 rpm and the bearing carries a load of 5.0 MN. The numerical model adjusts the bearing surface area to achieve a minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m. Figure 6.7 illustrates the bearing. In all calculations Wsl /Wpad = 0.1. In table 6.1 a grid convergence study is shown. A plain bearing and a bearing with a 60 m inlet pocket with s /0 = 0.8 are studied. For the plain pad values of friction loss, maximum oil lm thickness, maximum oil temperature and pad surface area converge monotonously. For the pad

70

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Shallow Recesses No. control volumes 25 25 50 50 100 100 Plain bearing pad (no pocket) Qgen [kW] 272.89 274.31 274.72 hmax [m] 317.13 320.51 321.34 Tmax [C] 61.73 61.54 61.48 2 Pad Area [m ] 1.6283 1.6362 1.6377 Bearing pad with 60 m recess gen [kW] Q 254.61 251.89 252.97 hmax [m] 252.96 250.34 244.98 Tmax [C] 65.07 63.90 64.21 Pad Area [m2 ] 1.4585 1.4307 1.4309 200 200 274.83 321.51 61.45 1.6378 253.54 242.02 64.41 1.4313

Table 6.1: Grid convergence study: Qgen is the shear work at the collar surface. hmax is the maximum oil lm thickness and Tmax is the maximum temperature in the oil lm. In all calculations : hmin = 75.00 m. with an inlet pocket the stated parameters converge monotonously only from a grid size of 5050 control volumes. With 2525 control volumes the boundaries of the pocket are not located at the control volume interfaces and this induces differences in the results compared to the larger grids. The results of the plain bearing converge faster for increasing grid size than when a pocket is present in the surfaces of the pads. The friction loss at 5050 control volumes is in both cases within 1 % and the value of pad area within 0.1 % of the values at 200200 control volumes. A grid of 5050 control volumes is used in the calculations which follow. Figure 6.8 shows the power loss as a function of the pivot position for various pocket depths and step positions. The pivot point is placed at the mean radius. The end of the power loss curves for declining nondimensional pivot locations indicate pad convergence ratios close to zero. Lower pivot locations result in cavitation and a steep rise in the friction loss. The numerical calculations of these cases are generally numerically instable and the solutions are therefore not stated in the gures. The end of the curves (e.g. gure 6.8(b), 100 m and 140 m ) indicate close to the minimum friction loss with the respective pocket depths. The deviation from the minimum obtainable values of friction loss is estimated to be within 0.5 % in all the calculations. Figure 6.8(a) shows the friction loss for s /0 = 0.9, i.e. dimensions of the pocket which are similar to those of the rectangular pad studied in the previous section. The minima of the power loss curves are positioned at higher piv /0 -values for higher pocket depths. Positioning the pivot at piv /0 = 0.61, which is the optimum location for a pad without a recess will cause a non functioning bearing if inlet pockets are machined in the pad surfaces. Smaller friction losses and lower optimal piv /0 -values are achieved with s /0 = 0.85 as shown in gure 6.8(b). The minima of the friction loss curves are located at almost the same nondimensional pivot location (0.610.62). Figure 6.8(c) presents results with s /0 = 0.8. The minima of the power loss curves are positioned at lower piv /0 -values for higher pocket depths. Small values of friction and stable operating conditions at all values of the pocket depth can be achieved by positioning the pivot at piv /0 = 0.61. At this pivot location the reduction in the friction loss is up to 8 % for the chosen

6.4 Double Incline Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

71

300

290

h =0 m s hs=20 m

300

290

h =0 m s hs=20 m

300

290

h =0 m s hs=20 m

280

280

280

Qgen [kW]

270

270

270

260 hs=100 m hs=60 m hs=140 m 0.60 0.64 0.68

260 hs=100 m hs=60 m hs=140 m 0.60 0.64 0.68

260 hs=140 m hs=60 m hs=100 m 0.60 0.64 0.68

250

250

250

240 0.56

240 0.56

240 0.56

piv /0 [-]
(a) s = 0.90 0 (b) s = 0.85 0

piv /0 [-]
(c) s = 0.80 0

piv /0 [-]

Figure 6.8: Friction loss as a function of the pivot location piv /0 for inlet pockets of various depth. The gures state result obtained using TEHD modelling with s /0 = 0.90, 0.85 and 0.80. rpiv = 0.8 m

pocket depths, compared to using plain bearing pads. As discussed in chapter 5 a tilting-pad thrust bearing shows superior performance if the radial positions of the pivot points are adjusted so that the bearing shows no radial tilt at the trailing edges of the pads. Figure 6.9 presents friction loss curves in which this condition is imposed. The achievable friction reduction by the use of inlet pockets is in the region of 1617 % for all investigated values of s . The closer the step is to the trailing edge the higher is the pocket depth giving a minimal friction coefcient. This was also the case for the rectangular parallel-step bearings studied in gure 6.3. With s /0 = 0.8 and a pivot position of piv /0 = 0.61 the bearing operates in the stable region at all pocket depths and the reduction in the friction loss is up to 12 % for the chosen pocket depths, compared to using a plain bearing pad. Figure 6.10 show the distributions of oil lm thickness, pressure and temperature for bearings with s /0 = 0.8, piv /0 = 0.61 and pocket depths of 60 m and 140 m. The minimum oil lm thickness in both cases is 75 m. The bearing with a 140 m pocket is 17 % larger (1.68 m2 ) than the bearing with a 60 m pocket (1.43 m2 ). However, due to the higher mean oil lm thickness the friction loss is only 0.7 % higher. The bearing with the deep pocket has a higher convergence ratio and due to the larger area the maximum pressure is lower. The maximum temperatures are not signicantly affected by the pockets. In a bearing without pockets it is calculated to be 61.6 C. With a 140 m pocket it is 60.4 C while it is 63.9 C with a 60 m pocket.

72

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Shallow Recesses

300 290 280 h =0 m s h =20 m

s

300 290 280 270 260 hs=140 m 250 hs=60 m 240 230 220 0.56 h =60 m s hs=100 m 0.60 0.64 0.68 h =0 m s h =20 m
s

300 290 280 270 260 hs=140 m 250 240 230 220 0.56 h =60 m s hs=100 m 0.60 0.64 0.68 h =0 m s h =20 m
s

Qgen [kW]

270 260 hs=140 m 250 240 230 220 0.56

hs=100 m 0.60 0.64 0.68

piv /0 [-]
(a) s = 0.90 0 (b) s = 0.85 0

piv /0 [-]
(c) s = 0.80 0

piv /0 [-]

Figure 6.9: Friction loss as a function of the pivot location piv /0 for inlet pockets of various depth. The gures state result obtained using TEHD modelling with s /0 = 0.90, 0.85 and 0.80. rpiv is adjusted to achieve zero radial pivoting at the trailing edge.

The friction reductions of gure 6.8 are smaller than those of gure 6.9 because the optimal radial position of the pivot is located at higher offsets from the mean radius when inlet pockets are present in the bearing than when no inlet pockets are present. This is seen in gure 6.11 which presents a study of the behaviour of bearings with pocket depths of hs = 0 m, hs = 60 m and hs = 140 m when the radial position of the pivot is adjusted. The bearing surface area is dimensioned to give a minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m for a plain pad with the pivot located at the mean radius and at piv /0 = 0.61. The radial position of the pivot giving the highest oil lm thickness is located further towards the outer radius for higher pocket depths. In the plain pad it is located at the radial nondimensional position: 0.515. With the shallow pocket it is located at 0.525 and with the deep pocket at 0.535. For all the radial pivot positions illustrated in the gure the bearing with the 60 m-pocket performs better than the plain pad, i. e. the oil lm thickness is higher and the friction loss is lower. The 140 m-pocket has a better performance than both the other bearings in a small interval of radial pivot positions. The bearing however rapidly looses thickness of the oil lm as the pivot is moved away from the optimum value. The radial tilting stability of this bearing is lower than in a standard tilting-pad thrust bearing. The radial tilting can be controlled by using different values of Wsl at the inner and outer radius.

6.4 Double Incline Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearings

73

Lines of constant film thickness [m]

80

Lines of constant film thickness [m]

170

0 19
21 0

20

0
0 22 0 23 240

Lines of constant pressure [MPa]

Lines of constant pressure [MPa]

9
7

6
4

5
3
2

3
1

62 Lines of constant o temperature [ C] 60 58 56

Lines of constant o temperature [ C] 54

54

52

52

50

48 46
44

42

Figure 6.10: Simulation results with a 60 m (left) and a 140 m (right) pocket. From top to bottom: oil lm thickness, pressure and oil temperature.

27 0 260 29 2 80 0 31 30 0 0 32 33 0 0

150

25 0

0 18

24 0

16

8 23 0 0

6
4
2

1
58 56

50

48

46

44

74

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Shallow Recesses

100 90

285 280

hs=0 m h =60 m
s s

hmin [m]

Qgen [kW]

80 70 60 50 40 30 0.42 0.46 0.50 0.54 0.58 0.62

275 270 265 260 0.42

h =140 m

0.46

0.50

0.54

0.58

0.62

Wpiv /Wpad [-]

Wpiv /Wpad [-]

Figure 6.11: Radial stability analysis of bearings of hs = 0 m, hs = 60 m and hs = 140 m. Left: oil lm thickness as a function of the radial pivot position. Right: Friction loss as a function of the radial pivot position. Due to failing convergence of the numerical calculations the curves for hs = 140 m do not cover the full interval of pivot locations.

6.5 Conclusion
Parallel-step bearings theoretically have smaller friction coefcients than tilting-pad bearings. 1and 2-dimensional studies predict friction coefcients 13-17 % lower than those obtainable in tilting-pad bearings. Parallel-step bearings however suffer from the disadvantage that they do not perform well at varying operating conditions. This also implies that the performance is reduced as the step wears down. This chapter studies the feasibility of combining the two types of bearings in order to benet from the advantages of both. Signicant performance improvements are possible by designing bearings with inlet pockets or by modifying existing bearings. By combining the features of parallel-step bearings and tilting-pad bearings it is possible to reduce the friction coefcient by 10-15 %. The step can be positioned to give small friction losses and stable operating conditions at all pocket depths from zero up to the design value. Thereby the bearing is tolerant to wear of the pad surfaces. The reduction in friction is achieved at the cost of a higher sensitivity to correct circumferential positioning of the pivot. The correct position depends strongly on the thermal conditions of the bearing and the amount of thermal crowning of the pads. Positioning the pivot too close to the centre of the pad causes the bearing to entirely loose its load carrying capacity while positioning the pivot too far towards the trailing edge results in a smaller oil lm thickness than would be achieved with plain bearing pads. An example thrust bearing has shown an interval of piv /0 [0.59; 0.66] in which the bearing performs superior to a standard bearing. Due to the relatively small interval in which a good performance is achieved and the danger of positioning the pivot in a position in which the bearing will not work the design of bearings based on this principle is not trivial.

Chapter 7 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses

The results of chapter 5 showed reductions in the generated friction when oil injection pockets are machined in the surfaces of the pads. The reductions were however small and required relocation of the pivot point. This chapter further investigates the inuence of equipping the surfaces of tilting-pad thrust bearings pads with deep recesses . The 3-dimensional TEHD model is used. In deep recesses (one or more orders of magnitude deeper than the oil lm thickness) there is recirculation and no positive effect on the pressure build up. The pressure distribution is therefore scalable with the Sommerfeld number and the design suggestions stated in this chapter of the report are generally applicable at all operating conditions - with the reservation that the inuence of thermal effects vary with the operating conditions. Due to the large depth the shear stress at the collar surface is small inside the recess area. Thus, the purpose of the recess is to create a high-pressure and low friction zone. In the volume of a deep recess, the reductions of the ow equations leading to the Reynolds equation are not strictly valid. In particular, the assumption of inertialess ow seems unreasonable. The recirculation ow accelerates the oil entering the recess causing an inertial pressure drop at the recess leading edge. At the trailing edge of the recess, the oil is stagnated leading to an inertial pressure rise. In tilting-pad bearings with recesses, this may cause a smaller tilting angle than the one predicted by using the Reynolds equation. In conventional bearings effects of inertia in the groove between the pads lead to an inlet pressure build-up at the leading edge. In large and slow speed tilting-pad bearings the inlet pressure build-up is usually negligible indicating that, for such bearings, the effect of inertia on the pressure in a recess is also likely to be small. In sector shaped bearing pads the centrifugal term may cause a shift of the pressure maximum towards the outer radius resulting in a radial tilt of the pad. Shinkle & Hornung (1965) showed the recess ow to be turbulent at Re = Uhp / > 1.0 103 . For some of the recess geometries and velocities used in this report, turbulence is to be expected. The function of a deep recess is to create a low friction zone. When inertial end effects in the recess are negligible, the pressure inside it is close to constant regardless of whether the ow is laminar or turbulent. Although the use of the Reynolds equation inside the recess is not strictly valid, the inaccuracies arising from using this equation in a laminar formulation are therefore small. Determining the friction loss in the recess poses a more delicate problem. The friction loss in the bearing is calculated from the shear stress at the collar surface. 75

76

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses

10 mm

5 mm

5 mm 5 mm 20 mm 10 mm U

hp

2 m U 1 m

L1

10 mm 20 mm

Figure 7.1: Left: The bearing pad used in Brajdic-Mitidieri et al. (2005) for the 1-dimensional analysis. Right: The bearing pad used for the 2-dimensional analysis. The recess is 20 m deep. Due to the thick oil lm in the recess, the friction is small in this area when the ow is laminar and inaccuracies have a negligible inuence on the calculation of the total friction loss. In turbulent ow recesses, the friction is larger and may signicantly inuence the total friction loss. Based on the work by Shinkle & Hornung (1965) the inaccuracy on the recess and total friction loss is analysed later in this chapter of the report. The main contribution of this part of the report is related to the study of the inuence of equipping tilting-pad bearings with deep recesses in the high-pressure region. It is shown that a signicant reduction of the friction loss is possible compared to conventional tilting-pad bearings and it is shown that recesses placed in the high-pressure region can be used for high-pressure jacking.

7.1 Comparison to CFD-Model Results

In an isothermal study, using a CFD-code Brajdic-Mitidieri et al. (2005) investigated the effect of equipping xed incline bearings with recesses. They found that the friction factor = Friction/Load was signicantly reduced when a recesses was placed in the high-pressure region. They presented theoretical results for the 1- and 2-dimensional bearings shown in gure 7.1. The bearings operate at a speed of 1 m/s, a viscosity of 105 m2 /s and a density of 1000 kg/m3 . In both cases the leading edge oil lm thickness is hle = 2 m while the trailing edge thickness is hte = 1 m. In tables 7.1 and 7.2 their results are compared to results obtained with the Reynolds equation based model used in this report. In the 1-dimensional model nx nz = 200 10 control volumes are used. In the 2-dimensional model nx ny nz = 10010010 uniformly distributed control volumes are used. Increasing the number of control volumes does not change the values of hp /0 stated in the tables on the three decimals given. In both the 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional cases, the calculations by Brajdic-Mitidieri et al. show higher friction reductions by the use of recesses than the calculations using the Reynolds equation. The results are however, within 10 % difference and the trends in the calculations are the same suggesting that the analysis of problems of this nature can be performed using the Reynolds equation. It should be noted that the chosen speed and uid lm thickness are

7.2 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing hp [m] 0 5 10 20 30 40 Load [kN/m] Bra Rey 634 636 619 626 613 622 611 612 611 620 610 620 Friction [kN/m] Bra Rey 0.153 0.155 0.139 0.141 0.126 0.133 0.115 0.126 0.113 0.124 0.113 0.122 Friction coef. 104 Bra Rey 2.42 2.43 2.25 2.25 2.06 2.13 1.89 2.04 1.85 2.00 1.84 1.97 hp /0 Bra 1 0.926 0.845 0.779 0.762 0.759 Rey 1 0.924 0.878 0.838 0.822 0.812

77

Table 7.1: Comparison of results for the 1-dimensional analysis presented by Brajdic-Mitidieri et al. (2005)(Bra) and results obtained using the Reynolds equation(Rey). Results are presented for various recess depths hp . L1 [mm] n/p 5.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 Load [kN/m] Bra Rey 276 277 220 227 242 248 241 247 235 239 Friction [kN/m] Bra Rey 0.150 0.145 0.119 0.119 0.116 0.116 0.113 0.116 0.115 0.115 Friction coef. 104 Bra Rey 5.44 5.24 5.40 5.26 4.81 4.69 4.79 4.69 4.88 4.79 hp /0 Bra 1 0.992 0.884 0.881 0.896 Rey 1 1.004 0.896 0.895 0.915

Table 7.2: Comparison of results for the 2-dimensional analysis presented by Brajdic-Mitidieri et al. (2005)(Bra) and results obtained using the Reynolds equation(Rey). Results are presented for various recess positions L1 (See gure 7.1). n/p indicates a pad without a recess.

small. Effects of inertia become more important with increasing Reynolds number. The Reynolds equation based model may therefore be less accurate at operating conditions usual for thick lm bearings. The 1-dimensional analysis shows a reduction of the friction coefcient of approx. 20 % while the 2-dimensional analysis shows a reduction of approx. 10 %. These results are obtained using a xed convergence ratio hle /hte = 2 which is not optimized for achieving a minimum friction coefcient. In the 2-dimensional case hle /hte = 3m/1m = 3 is a more optimal convergence ratio leading to = 4.54 104 for a non-recessed bearing. This is 3 % less than the minimum value stated in table 7.2.

7.2 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing

In the following, the effect of equipping the surfaces of tilting-pad thrust bearings with recesses is analysed and design suggestions minimizing the friction loss are stated. In order to isolate the effects leading to improved performance the problem is investigated using

78

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses 12 12 24 24 48 48 96 96 (5 + 5) (10 + 10) (20 + 20) (40 + 40) Plain bearing pad (8-pad bearing) - (TEHD) 266.39 276.32 279.26 280.02 274.95 280.46 281.24 281.09 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 81.80 80.52 78.53 77.69 Recessed bearing pad (8-pad bear.) - (TEHD) 215.69 231.56 236.42 237.17 532.42 275.59 241.09 235.43 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 91.16 76.85 74.76 74.32

Qgen [kW] Qout [kW] hmin [m] Tmax [C] Qgen [kW] Qout [kW] hmin [m] Tmax [C]

Table 7.3: Grid convergence study: Qgen is the shear work at the collar surface . Qout represents the sum of all heat ows out of the computational domain. hmin is the minimum oil lm thickness and Tmax is the maximum temperature in the oil lm. increasingly complex modelling. 1-dimensional modelling shows the potential in reducing friction. Isothermal and 3-dimensional modelling of a rectangular bearing pad documents the inuence of nite width, temperature and thermal bending. Finally, modelling of a thrust bearing with sector shaped pads veries that the method is applicable to real bearings and an analysis of start-up behaviour including hydrostatic jacking shows that recesses placed in the high-pressure region can be used as oil injection pockets as well as for reducing the power loss. Calculations are carried out on example bearings of large dimensions typical for the use in hydro power plants. In all calculations, the bearings are assumed to operate using a VG32 mineral oil under fully ooded conditions. The data for the oil are: 40o C = 27.1 mPas, 80o C = 6.8 mPas, = 848 kg/m3, c = 2090 J/kg/K, k = 0.13 W/m/K. The recess depth is 4 mm corresponding to 53hmin . Table 7.3 shows a grid convergence study performed on a sector shaped 8-pad bearing. Results are stated for bearings both with and without a recess covering approx. 18 % of the pad area. For a xed minimum oil lm thickness and variable pad area, the top study shows the convergence of friction loss, total heat loss, minimum oil lm thickness and maximum temperature for a non-recessed pad. The heat loss converges towards the generated shear work, Qgen which is the parameter used throughout this chapter of the report for the friction loss. The bottom study shows the convergence of the calculations of the recessed pad. They converge much more slowly with increasing grid size. At the grid size used throughout this chapter: nr n (nz + nzpad ) = 24 24 (10 + 10) the heat loss is 19 % higher than the generated friction loss. At larger grid sizes, the values converge towards each other. Qgen for the grid of 24 24 (10 + 10) control volumes is within 2.5 % of the value obtained using 96 96 (40 + 40) control volumes. For comparing friction losses between recessed and non-recessed pads this is a reasonable accuracy on the generated friction.

7.2 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing 250 lm thickness [m] 200 150 100 50 4 mm deep recess

79

22 20 18 16 bearing width [cm]

15

Qgen [kW]

14

13 c 12 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 hle /hte [-]

a b 0 14 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 0 10 20 30 40 50 hle /hte [-] position from leading edge [cm]

Figure 7.2: (a) Figure showing the position of the pocket. (b) The generated friction loss. By introducing the recess shown the minimum friction loss is reduced by 27 %. (c) Bearing width leading to a minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m for a load of 1.0 MN. In (b) and (c) full lines indicate a plain bearing pad and dashed lines indicate a bearing with a 4 mm recess.

7.2.1 1-dimensional isothermal analysis of a linear bearing

The problem is analysed using the 1-dimensional Reynolds equation and isothermal operating conditions (55 C). A bearing pad with a length of 0.5 m operating at a speed of 30 m/s and a load of 1.0 MN is considered. A 4 mm deep recess is machined in the surface of the bearing. A parameter study has shown that a recess of width and position as shown in gure 7.2(a) gives the minimal friction loss. The recess covers 38 % of the bearing area. The width of the bearing is adjusted to give a minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m. Figure 7.2(b) presents the generated friction loss with and without a recess for different oil lm thickness convergence ratios. By introducing the recess, the minimum friction loss is reduced by 27 %. Figure 7.2(c) shows the bearing width. Introducing the recess increases the necessary width corresponding to a reduction in load carrying capacity per unit width of approx. 10 %.

7.2.2 Analysis of a bearing with rectangular bearing pads

Rectangular pads of different length-to-width ratios are studied. The rotor temperature is 55 C, the oil bath temperature is 40 C and the leading edge temperature is set equal to the rotor temperature. The speed is 30 m/s and one pad carries a load of 1.0 MN. The numerical model adjusts the bearing surface area to achieve a minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m. As the pads are considered symmetrical, the minimum oil lm thickness is located at the centre of the trailing edge. Rectangular and elliptical pockets have been studied and the elliptical pockets have proven more optimal. In the following only elliptical pockets with a uniform depth of 4 mm are considered. In gure 7.3 a drawing of a pad is seen and the nomenclature used to dene the recess and pad geometries is presented. All pads have a thickness of 0.3 m. Pads with length-to-width ratios of 0.2 to 2.0 are studied. nr n (nz + nzpad ) = 24 24 (10 + 10) control volumes are used in the calculations.

80

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses Wpad 0.5Wpad U Lrecess

Lend

Lpad

+ Lpiv

Wrecess

Figure 7.3: Drawing of a rectangular pad with a recess. Lpad and Wpad dene the pad length and width. Lpiv denotes the distance of the spherical pivot from the leading edge of the pad. Lrecess and Wrecess denote the minor and major axis of the elliptical recess and Lend denes the position of the recess relative to the trailing edge.

An isothermal parameter study has determined optimal values of Lrecess and Lend as stated in gure 7.4(a), while Wrecess = 0.78 Wpad is a good value for the recess width at all length-to-width ratios. With these values, the optimal positions of the pivot point for pads with and without recesses are shown in gure 7.4(b). The positions are given for isothermal (ISO) calculations, thermohydrodynamic (THD) calculations not including the bending of the bearing pad and for thermoelasto-hydrodynamic (TEHD) calculations including bending. The pads, which are considered, are of large sizes where thermal bending has a signicant inuence on the oil lm thickness. In smaller bearings, thermal bending has a smaller inuence. For most bearing dimensions the optimal position of the pivot is therefore located between the positions suggested by the THD- and the TEHD-analysis. For recessed pads with small or no thermal deformation, the isothermal analyses determine optimal pivot positions close to those suggested by THD-analyses. For conventional bearing pads, isothermal analyses are less accurate. In gure 7.4(c) two sets of curves are shown. The curves marked with (I) represent the percentage increase in the pad surface area with a recess in the pad surface relative to the area of a pad without a recess. The curves marked with (II) represent the area of the recess relative to the area of a pad without a recess. In the THD-analyses the increase in total pad area Lpad Wpad when introducing recesses in the surfaces is much smaller than the recess areas. Following the design suggestions given in gure 7.4(a)(b), the pad areas should be increased by approximately 1015 % relative to the areas of pads without recesses in order to achieve the same minimum oil lm thickness. When pad bending is included, this result is more complex. At small and large length-to-width ratios, the mean pad bending is large as can be seen in gure 7.4(d). Due to larger pad areas, the recessed pads experience larger thermal bending and this reduces the load carrying capacity. In gure 7.4(e) the power consumption is shown. The THDanalysis indicates that a length-to-width ratio of approx. 0.6 is optimal for a recessed bearing pad.

7.2 replacements Analysis of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing

81

0.6

0.05 0.04 0.03

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2

Lend Lpad

0.02 0.01

Lend /Lpad [-] pivot location, Lpiv /Lpad [-]

Lrecess Lpad

0.76 0.74 0.72 0.70 0.68 0.66 0.64 0.62 0.60 0.58 0.56

Lrecess /Lpad [-]

No recess ISO No recess THD No recess TEHD Recess ISO Recess THD Recess TEHD

Mean pad deection w [m]

Comparison of areas [%]

160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

Without recess With recess

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

(II)

(I)

Isothermal analysis THD analysis TEHD analysis

Reduction in friction loss [%]

50 48 46 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 28 26 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Friction loss[kW]

No recess ISO No recess THD No recess TEHD Recess ISO Recess THD Recess TEHD

24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 Isothermal analysis THD analysis TEHD analysis

e
1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

8 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

length-to-width ratio, Lpad /Wpad [-]

length-to-width ratio, Lpad /Wpad [-]

Figure 7.4: (a) and (b) state design parameters dening the recess geometry and the pivot position for rectangular pads. The values are chosen to minimize the friction loss. In (c) two sets of curves are shown. The curves marked with (I) represent the percentage increase in the pad surface area with a recess in the pad surface relative to the area of a pad without a recess. The curves marked with (II) represent the area of the recess relative to the area of a pad without a recess. (d) shows values of thermal bending, (c) states the friction loss and (d) the reduction in friction for recessed bearing pads relative to non recessed pads.

82

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses

50 Without recess

50 45 40 ISO THD TEHD 0.60 0.65 0.70 0.75

Friction loss[kW]

45 40 35 30 With recess 0.55

Isothermal analysis Wrecess =0.78W , L =0.026L

pad end

pad

No pocket L =0.25L 35 recess pad L =0.40L recess pad 30 L =0.53L

recess

L =0.15L recess 0.65 0.70 0.75

pad

pad

0.50

0.50

0.55

0.60

pivot location, Lpiv /Lpad [-]

pivot location, Lpiv /Lpad [-]

Figure 7.5: Left: Friction loss as a function of pivot position. Right: Isothermal analysis showing the inuence of the length of the recess on the friction loss.

The value is approx. 0.8 for a non-recessed pad. With pad bending included larger ratios give good results. At low length-to-width ratios, the bending of the pad in the direction perpendicular to the sliding direction is very large. In a non-recessed bearing, this leads to a higher pressure-maximum than when there is no thermal bending. In the recessed bearing, the area of maximum pressure stretches radially into areas of large lm thickness leading to a large amount of side leakage. For low length-to-width ratios, the recessed pads therefore do not perform well. Figure 7.4(f) states the percentage reduction in friction loss when using recessed pads - compared to bearings with plain pads. With small length-to-width ratios, the improvement in performance is close to the 27 % obtained in the 1-dimensional analysis for an innitely wide slider bearing. As the length-to-width ratio increases, the improvement is less signicant. Figure 7.5 shows a study of the inuence of the pivot location on the friction loss of the bearing with a length-to-width ratio of 1.0. In gure 7.5(left) it is seen that the optimum is more clearly dened when a recess with the suggested dimensions is machined in the pad surface. It is therefore important to place the pivot point correctly in order to achieve an energy saving. Figure 7.5(right) shows an isothermal analysis of the inuence of the recess length. For decreasing recess size, the optimum becomes more at and the bearing is therefore less sensitive to incorrect positioning of the pivot point. This improvement in behaviour is a trade off against a larger friction loss. In all the examples studied in gure 7.5(right) the position of the recess is chosen so that Lend = 0.026 Lpad . This has proven to be a good strategy when trying to make the bearing less sensitive to pivot positioning while still obtaining a relatively small friction loss. However, as seen in gure 7.5(right) the optimal position of the pivot point moves in the direction of the trailing edge as the recess size decreases. The suggestions for positioning of the pivot point given in gure 7.4(b) are therefore only valid for the recess lengths given in gure 7.4(a). With the size suggested in gure 7.4 (Lrecess = 0.53 Lpad ), the value is 0.615 while it is 0.68 for a pad with Lrecess = 0.15 Lpad .

7.2 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing

83

rp

iv

rm

n ea

+
r1 0

recess piv

Figure 7.6: The sector shaped bearing pad considered. The recess size and position are dened by equation 7.1.

7.2.3 3-dimensional analysis of tilting pad thrust bearing

Tilting-pad thrust bearings with 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 and 18 pads are studied. The mean radius is 0.8 m. The widths of the bearings vary from 0.55 m to 0.65 m depending on the number of pads. The angular extend of all pads in a bearing is 280320. All pads have a thickness of 0.3 m. The rotor temperature is 55C and the oil bath temperature is 40C. The leading edge temperature to each pad is determined from a control volume analysis of heat transfer in the groove between the pads as described in Heinrichson et al. (2006). The speed is 400 rpm and the bearings carry loads of 5.0 MN. The numerical model adjusts the bearing surface area and the radial position of the pivot point to achieve a minimum oil lm thickness of 75 m at the centre of the trailing edge. As discussed later in this chapter, positioning the pivot at the mean radius does not yield good results for pads with recesses as it may result in signicant radial tilting of the pads. Therefore, this restriction is introduced on the pivot position. The sizes and positions of the recesses are as stated in gure 7.4(a) for rectangular bearing pads. A drawing of a sector shaped pad is seen in gure 7.6. The elliptical recess is stretched with the circumferential length of the pad and the recess circumference is given by the equation: (r cos[ recess] rmean )2 (r sin[ recess ])2 + =1 (Wrecess/2)2 (Lrecess /2)2 r/rmean

(7.1)

where recess is the angular centre of the recess determined so that Lend as given in gure 7.4(a) is the distance between the recess and the trailing edge at the mean radius. Wrecess is the maximum extent of the recess in the radial direction. Lrecess denotes the extent of the recess perpendicular to the radial direction in the point dened by recess and rmean .

84

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses

pivot location, (rpiv r1 )/Wpad [-]

0.56 0.55 0.54 0.53 0.52 0.51 0.50 0.49 0.48 0.47
380 360

18 pads 12 pads 8 pads 6 pads 5 pads 4 pads

0.74

pivot location, piv /0 [-]

0.72 0.70 0.68 0.66 0.64 0.62 0.60 0.58

No recess ISO No recess THD No recess TEHD Recess ISO Recess THD Recess TEHD

b
ISO THD TEHD

Reduction in friction loss [%]

Friction loss[kW]

340 320 300 280 260 240 220 200 0.4 0.6 0.8

No recess ISO No recess THD No recess TEHD Recess ISO Recess THD Recess TEHD

20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

c
1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6

d
1.6

length-to-width ratio [-]

length-to-width ratio [-]

Figure 7.7: (a) and (b) state the radial and circumferential pivot position for sector shaped pads with and without recesses. The values are chosen to minimize the friction loss and are stated for various length-to-width ratios. The pad length is dened as Lpad = pad rmean . (c) states the friction loss and (d) the reduction in friction for recessed bearing pads relative to non recessed pads.

Figure 7.7(a) shows the radial position of the pivot point which leads to a minimum oil lm thickness at the centre of the trailing edge. The results of the different simulations are hard to distinguish from each other as they show the same trend. The usual praxis of positioning the pivot at the mean radius fulls the criteria of a minimum oil lm thickness at the centre of the trailing edge at a length-to-width ratio of approx. 1.2. Positioning the pivot at the mean radius leads to a minimum oil lm thickness at the inner trailing edge corner at low length-to-width ratios. At high ratios, the minimum oil lm thickness is located at the outer trailing edge corner. Figure 7.7(b)

7.2 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing

85

shows the optimal position of the pivot point in the circumferential direction. The THD-analyses of the recessed bearing pads lead to positions almost identical to those obtained with a rectangular pad. The TEHD-results cannot be compared as the pad thickness relative to the pad area is different in the analyses of rectangular and sector shaped pads. The non-recessed bearing behaves in a peculiar way under the inuence of pad bending. The optimal pivot location rst rises with the length-towidth ratio from a ratio of 0.4 to 0.8 then falls from a ratio of 0.8 to 1.4. From a ratio of 1.4 to 1.8 it sharply rises. The thermal bending of the pad increases with the pad length-to-thickness ratio and to achieve an advantageous pressure distribution the nondimensional pivot location moves towards the centre of the pad for higher length-to-width ratios. At a ratio of 1.8, this leads to cavitation at the trailing edge. That is disadvantageous for the power loss because the friction loss in the regions with cavitation is large while there is no contribution to the pressure build-up. The optimal position of the pivot is therefore closer to the trailing edge leading to a higher tilting angle and no cavitation. The same phenomenon is responsible for the position of the pivot of the 4-pad bearing equipped with a recess. Figure 7.7(c) shows the friction loss. THD-analysis indicates an optimal length-to-width ratio of approx. 1.5 for a non-recessed bearing while it is approx. 1.0 for a recessed bearing. Both with and without recesses the optimum length-to-width ratio is larger when thermal bending is considered. Figure 7.7(d) shows the reduction in friction loss when using recessed bearing pads - compared to bearings with plain pads. The reduction is smaller than what was obtained for rectangular pads. This is as expected as the recess sizes and positions have been optimized for rectangular pads and not for sector shaped pads. For the common 6 to 8-pad bearings with length-to-width ratios of 0.8 to 1.2 the reduction in friction is around 10-15 %. The recess creating a high-pressure zone inside the recess controls the pressure distribution. The bearing pads therefore loose some of their tilting stability in the radial direction as seen in gure 7.8(top-left) showing the minimum oil lm thickness obtained when radially moving the pivot point of the 8-pad bearing. The recessed bearing pad is much more sensitive to radial positioning of the pivot point than the non-recessed pad. The pad is therefore also sensitive to inertial effects in the radial direction in the recess. The centrifugal force acting on the recess oil may cause an oil ow towards the outer trailing edge leading to a radial tilt of the pad. Figure 7.8(middle-left) shows the effect of reducing the recess width on the radial tilting stability while 7.8(bottom-left) shows the corresponding friction losses. A narrower recess improves the tilting stability but at the cost of a much higher friction loss. The reduction in radial tilting stability compared to conventional tiltingpad bearings makes it difcult to obtain an improvement in performance by the use of enclosed recesses when using point pivots. Spring bed bearings or Michell type bearings with line pivots instead of point pivots do not suffer from tilting stability problems in the radial direction. Such a characteristic suggests that designing with enclosed recesses may result in good design alternatives reducing the friction in these types of bearings. Figure 7.8(top-right) shows the minimum oil lm thickness as a function of the circumferential position of the pivot point. The optimum is more clearly dened when a recess is machined in the surface. Figure 7.5(left) documented a similar characteristic for a rectangular pad. Figure 7.8(middle-right) shows an isothermal analysis of the inuence of the circumferential length of the recess on the behaviour of the optimum. Equivalent to the results presented in gure 7.5(right) for a rectangular pad, gure 7.8(middle-right) documents that a reduction of the recess length reduces the circumferential sensitivity to the pivot location. Within the range of dimensionless pivot locations shown a recess length of Lrecess = 0.20 Lpad gives a atter and therefore more desirable

86

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses

Dependency of the radial position of the pivot point and the radial size of the recess.
70 Without recess ISO THD TEHD

Dependency of the circumferential position of the pivot point and the circumferential size of the recess.
90 80 70 60 ISO THD TEHD 0.62 0.66 Without recess

hmin [m]

60 50 40 30 20 With recess

50 With recess 40 0.50 90 80 70 60 50 40 0.50 0.54 0.54 0.58

0.44 0.46 0.48 0.50 0.52 0.54 0.56 0.58

Pivot location Wpiv /Wpad [-]

Isothermal analysis 70 L =0.565L recess pad =0.028Lpad 60 Lend 50 40 30 20 No pocket Wrecess =0.40Wpad Wrecess =0.60Wpad Wrecess =0.78W
pad

Pivot location Lpiv /Lpad [-]

Isothermal analysis,Wrecess =0.78Wpad Lend=0.028Lpad L =0.200L recess pad No pocket Lrecess =0.400Lpad Lrecess =0.565Lpad L =0.700L recess pad 0.58 0.62 0.66

hmin [m]

0.44 0.46 0.48 0.50 0.52 0.54 0.56 0.58

Pivot location Wpiv /Wpad [-]

260 260 250 240 230 220 0.4 0.6 0.78 210 0.0

Pivot location Lpiv /Lpad [-]

Friction loss [kW]

250 240 230 220 210 0

0.2

0.4

0.565

0.7

Wrecess/Wpad [-]

Lrecess /Lpad [-]

Figure 7.8: The inuence of varying the pivot location radially (left) and circumferentially (right). Top: Minimum lm thickness as a function of the pivot position for the 8 pad bearing. Middle: Isothermal analysis of the inuence of recess size on the minimum lm thickness. Bottom: The minimum obtainable friction loss for the recess sizes shown in the middle gure.

7.2 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing

87

Lines of constant oil film thickness [m]

75

Lines of constant pressure [MPa]

100

12

5
17 5

150

0 20

5 22 5 27 0 30325

0 25

3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5

Lines of constant pad surface o temperature [ C] 7 0

Lines of constant 50 pad deflection [m] 0 40 3

10

20

65
60 55

65

50
45
Figure 7.9: Results from the TEHD-analysis of the 8 pad bearing.

behaviour than the non-recessed bearing pad while still reducing the friction by 9 % (see gure 7.8(bottom-right) ). Figure 7.9 illustrates simulation results for the 8-pad bearing. The gure shows graphic illustrations of oil lm thickness, pressure, pad surface temperature and pad bending. The analysis has shown that the minimum friction loss is achieved when the pressure maximum covers the recess area as it is seen in the gure. Positioning the recess closer to the pad centre causes a pressure peak downstream of the recess.

7.2.4 The inuence of recess depth

The depth of the recess inuences the shear stress at the collar surface and thereby the friction loss. Figure 7.10 presents a study of the inuence of the recess depth on the friction loss in the 8-pad bearing dened by the design values stated in gure 7.7. A recess depth of hp = 4 mm corresponding to a recess Reynolds number of Re = 4.2 103 is used throughout this chapter of the report. Using a laminar formulation the friction loss inside the pocket is 11.8 kW corresponding to

88

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses

5 101
h p= 0.8 mm

270 260 250 240 230 b 220

Laminar flow Turbulent flow

18 16 Friction reduction [%] 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 c 104 103 Re = Uhp / [-]

Pocket friction loss [kW]

101

a 4

104 103 Re = Uhp / [-]

Total friction loss [kW]

Figure 7.10: The inuence of recess depth on the friction loss. Full lines indicate results obtained with the laminar model. Dashed lines indicate estimates of the inuence of turbulent recess ow. (a) The friction loss in the pocket area. (b) The friction loss in the bearing. (c) The friction reduction relative to an optimal non-recessed bearing.

5 % of the total friction loss. However, at Re = 4.2 103 the ow is turbulent as determined by Shinkle & Hornung (1965). They presented measurements of the friction factor for a hydrostatic journal bearing with various pocket depths. For Re < 1.0 103 the friction factor is proportional to Re1 and the recess ow laminar. At the shift to turbulent ow the friction factor increases slightly (< 10 %). At increasing turbulent Reynolds numbers the factor decreases. The results of Shinkle & Hornung (1965) are used to estimate the inuence of turbulence on the results presented in this chapter. At Re = [2 103 , 4 103 , 1 104 ] the amounts of turbulent friction are [1.7, 2.3, 3.5] times the values for laminar ow. Estimates using these amounts are presented in gure 7.10(a). For the 4 mm deep recess this raises the recess friction by a factor of approx. 2.3 and the total bearing friction loss is increased by 6.6 %( gure 7.10(b) ). Figure 7.10(c) shows the reduction in friction relative to a non-recessed bearing of optimal design as dened by the design values of gure 7.7. The reduction in friction is signicantly smaller when turbulence is taken into account. This does not generally change the results presented in gures 7.4 and 7.7. The designs suggested in these gures are applicable irrespective of size and operating conditions. The inuence of turbulent recess ow on the friction loss however depends on the Reynolds number and thereby the bearing design, operating velocity and oil.

h p= 1.0 mm

h p= 2.0 mm h p= 4.0 mm h p= 10.0 mm

104 103 Re = Uhp / [-]

7.2 Analysis of Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing

89

oil lm thickness [m]

250 200 150 100 50 0 0 20 40 60 80

0

80 60 40 20 0 2 4 6 8

20

40

60

80

velocity [rpm]
(a) Cylindrical pocket at pivot point

velocity [rpm]
(b) Lpoc= 0.400Lpad

oil lm thickness [m]

250 200 150 100 50 0 0

Leading edge, inner radius Leading edge, outer radius Trailing edge, inner radius Trailing edge, outer radius

20

40

60

80

20

40

60

80

velocity [rpm]
(c) Lpoc= 0.565Lpad

velocity [rpm]
(d) Lpoc= 0.700Lpad

Figure 7.11: Behaviour of bearings with various recess sizes subject to hybrid lubrication at different velocities. The oil lm thicknesses at the four corned points are presented. The line legend for all four gures is stated in (c).

7.2.5 Recesses used for hydrostatic jacking

An isothermal analysis is performed in order to study the behaviour of the bearing pads when operated using hybrid lubrication. Pads similar to those studied in gure 7.8(middle-right) without high pressure jacking are now operated with a 2104 m3 /s volume ow of oil injection at the centres of the recesses. The conventional bearing pad without recess is equipped with a cylindrical oil injection pocket covering 5 % of the bearing surface area and located at the pivot point. In gure 7.11 the oil lm thicknesses at the four corners of the pads are shown for velocities ranging from 0 to 100 rpm. Figure 7.11(a) shows oil lm thicknesses for the conventional pad with an oil injection pocket. The pad has a signicant radial tilt at start-up with a minimum oil lm thickness of 10 m. When increasing the speed the circumferential tilting angle remains close to constant. Figure 7.11(b) shows that there is a negative circumferential tilting angle at start-up for the bearing with a recess of length Lrecess = 0.400 Lpad . As rotation is initiated the minimum

90

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses

oil lm thickness at the leading edge of the pad drops. For velocities of 8 to 68 rpm the numerical solution of the problem has not been possible. In this region of velocity the tilting angle changes from negative to positive. This behavior of the pad at start up is undesirable as the increasingly negative tilting angle as the collar is accelerated from zero velocity could lead to mixed lubrication and wiping of the bearing pad. Flutter of the pad may occur at the transition from a negative to a positive tilting angle. In gure 7.11(c) the pad with Lrecess = 0.565 Lpad is seen to have a slight positive tilting angle at zero velocity while gure 7.11(d) shows a better start-up behavior for Lrecess = 0.700 Lpad . Due to the smaller tilting angle the minimum oil lm thickness at zero velocity is larger for this bearing than it is in bearings with conventional oil injection pockets. The gure shows that recesses can be used as oil injection pockets provided that care is taken toward achieving positive tilting angles at the start-up conditions. This can be achieved by increasing the length of the recess. Alternatively, the recess can be moved towards the centre of the pad. The good behavior seen in gure 7.11(d) is achieved at the cost of a slightly higher friction loss as it was shown in gure 7.8(b-right). However, as shown in gure 7.8(b-left) a bearing with a longer recess is more sensitive to the circumferential positioning of the pivot point.

7.3 Conclusion
A 3-dimensional thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic laminar ow model based on the Reynolds equation has been used to study the effect of equipping tilting-pad thrust bearings with deep recesses with the purpose of reducing the friction loss. A comparison to results obtained using a CFD-code to analyse recesses in xed incline bearing pads published by Brajdic-Mitidieri et al. (2005) has been performed. The two methods of analysis give similar results indicating that problems of this nature can be analysed using the Reynolds equation. A 1-dimensional isothermal analysis of an innitely wide slider bearing has shown that by placing a recess in the high pressure zone close to the trailing edge it is possible to reduce the minimum friction loss by 27 %. In a bearing pad of nite width the potential for reducing friction is smaller. A study of rectangular bearing pads shows a 10 % reduction with a length-to-width ratio of 2.0 while a larger energy saving is possible for low length-to-width ratios. At a ratio of 0.2, a saving of 24 % is possible. Optimal values of recess lengths and widths, and the corresponding optimal positions of the pivot points are stated for length-to-width ratios ranging from 0.2 to 2.0. An analysis shows that the sensitivity of the bearing pads to the circumferential positioning of the pivot is greater than in conventional bearings. In order to achieve a performance superior to that of a conventional bearing it is therefore imperative that the pivot is placed close to the optimal position. The design suggestions given for rectangular pads have subsequently been applied to sector shaped thrust bearings. For the common 6 to 8-pad bearings an energy saving of 10 15 % is obtained. The bearing pads are very sensitive to the radial position of the pivot point. Spring bed bearings or Michell type bearings with line pivots are therefore preferable to bearings with spherical pivots. The design charts presented in gure 7.4(a)(c) are intended to state the necessary geometric changes when redesigning a tilting-pad thrust bearing from a conventional design with plain pads to a design with deep recesses in the high-pressure regions. However, it has been shown in gure 7.5

7.3 Conclusion

91

that the sensitivity of the bearing operating parameters to small changes in the design and to changes in the boundary conditions is larger than when using conventional bearing pads. For instance, the inuence of the leading edge pressure build-up or geometric inaccuracies on the oil lm distribution is larger than in conventional bearings. At recess Reynolds numbers higher than 1.0 103 the recess ow is turbulent. This does not change the design suggestions but the energy saving is reduced. Recesses with the suggested sizes and positions can be used as oil injection pockets for hydrostatic jacking at start-up. Because they are positioned to the trailing edge side of the pivot point, the pads may however tilt backwards at start-up. This could lead to pad utter and mixed lubrication when accelerating the rotor. Using recesses with larger circumferential dimensions can solve this problem by guaranteeing positive circumferential tilt at lift off.

92

Analysis of Tilting-Pad Bearings with Deep Recesses

Chapter 8 Summary and Conclusion

Historically the analyses of tilting-pad thrust bearings have generally not included cutouts in the pad surfaces. Pockets are however often machined in the surfaces to allow for hydrostatic jacking in the start-up phase and inlet tapers are sometimes used to aid the build-up of the oil lm. The question is therefore raised, how such cut-outs inuence the bearing operation and whether the position of the pivot point leading to the smallest friction coefcient is signicantly affected by such features. A more general question is whether cutouts of arbitrary shape and position, deep or shallow could enhance the performance of tilting-pad thrust bearings by reducing the friction loss. A theoretical approach is chosen in the attempt to answer these questions. Numerical models are constructed which include the phenomena treated in state of the art models of tilting-pad thrust bearings. These are the hydrodynamic pressure build-up as described by the Reynolds equation, temperature variations along and across the uid lm and through the pads, bending of the bearing pads due to pressure and thermal gradients and heat transfer phenomena at the free sides of the pads and in the grooves between the pads. Furthermore, the models allow for the inclusion of recesses of arbitrary shape in the bearing surfaces. Models are constructed for two separate classes of recesses. Deep recesses which are two or more orders of magnitude deeper than the oil lm thickness are studied using a model including 3-dimensional treatment of the temperatures in the oil lm and in the pads. In such recesses, there is a recirculating ow and a large amount of mixing of the oil. This mixing may be helped by turbulence. While the temperatures in the oil lm are calculated on a 3-dimensional grid the oil in the recess is considered isothermal. Shallow recesses constitute another class of recesses. They have a depth of the same order of magnitude as the oil lm. In such recesses, there is no backow and the oil does not mix as it does in deep recesses. A 2-dimensional bulk ow treatment of the oil lm temperatures is used for the analysis of bearings with this feature. Both models are validated against measurements available in the scientic literature performed on a bearing with plain bearing pads. Furthermore, the 3-dimensional model is validated against measurements made on a bearing of large size, which has pockets for hydrostatic jacking at the pivot points. The results show reasonable agreement with the measurements although some discrepancies exist concerning the tilting-angle. The measurements in the plain bearing pads indicate a higher circumferential tilting-angle than the angle predicted by the models. An independent comparison available in the literature shows the same discrepancy. The ability of the 3-dimensional model to predict the pressure distribution in an oil injection pocket is validated through an experimental study. Individual pads with conical oil injection pockets are tested in a test-rig. At moderate loads (0.5 93

94

Summary and Conclusion

1.5 MPa mean pressure), measured pressure proles show good resemblance with the theoretically predicted pressures. At a mean pressure of 4 MPa the discrepancies between results are larger. It is argued that this may be due to the unevenness of the collar. Tilting-pad thrust bearings of standard design are studied. The inuences of varying the lengthto-width ratio, varying the pocket sizes and varying the deformation of the pads are studied. Design suggestions are stated based on the results. The oil injection pockets inuence the pressure distribution and thereby the optimal position of the pivot point, which moves towards the centre of the pad with increasing pocket size. Length-to-width ratios of 0.8 1.8 are shown to give the lowest friction loss. The best choice in this interval depends on the curvature of the pads. Parallel-step bearings theoretically have smaller friction coefcients than tilting-pad bearings. They however suffer from the disadvantage, that they do not perform well at varying operating conditions. The advantages of tilting-pad bearings can be combined with those of parallel-step bearings by machining shallow inlet pockets in the surfaces of the tilting-pads. The friction loss can thereby be reduced by 10 - 15 % in comparison to that of a standard tilting-pad bearing. Suggestions for the dimensions of the inlet pocket are stated in the report and it is shown that the modied bearings are tolerant to varying operating conditions and wear of the pad surfaces. Such bearings however suffer from a high sensitivity to the position of the pivot point, i.e. the oil lm thickness is reduced more rapidly with the offset of the pivot from the optimal position than is the case in standard tilting-pad bearings. Placing the pivot too far in the direction of the leading edge may cause the bearing to entirely loose its load carrying capacity. A deep recess in the surface of a bearing pad constitutes a low friction zone of nearly constant pressure. Placing such a recess in the high-pressure area of a bearing pad can reduce the friction coefcient, as the reduction of friction due to the low friction zone is higher than the loss of load carrying capacity due to the reduced area of converging oil lm. Depending on the length-to-width ratio of the bearing pads the reduction in the friction coefcient can be as much as 27 %. Just as is the case with the bearings with inlet pockets, this bearing design also suffers from a higher sensitivity to the circumferential position of the pivot. This sensitivity can however be reduced, even to a lower level than in standard bearings by changing the pocket geometry. This raises the friction coefcient but substantial savings are still possible when comparing to standard bearings. The recess creates a zone of constant high pressure. Therefore, the radial tilting-stability of such bearings is very low. The pressure distribution is affected little by radial tilting and the compensation which occurs within standard bearing pads by the shift of the pressure maximum is much smaller in recessed bearings. It is therefore not recommended to use this approach of reducing friction in bearings with spherical pivots. Michell-type bearings with line pivots and spring bed bearings do not suffer from radial tilting-stability problems and are therefore good alternatives.

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