The Effects of Wear on the Rotordynamic Coefficients of a Hydrostatic Journal Bearing

Abstract

Reynolds equation is solved for the turbulent flow of liquid hydrogen through an orifice compensated hydrostatic bearing with a worn stator element. The clearance function for the worn bearing is defined by the depth and circumferential location of wear and the resulting intersection of the journal and housing radii. Analytical results are presented for stiffness, damping and leakage as a function of bearing wear. The results show that the performance of the bearing degrades steadily for wear amounts greater than 5 percent of the radial clearance and is relatively insensitive to the geometrical location of the wear.