Transient Thermoelastohydrodynamic Study of Tilting-Pad Journal Bearings—Comparison Between Experimental Data and Theoretical Results

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the increase in temperature of an unloaded tilting-pad journal bearing during rapid start-up. First, an analysis is carried out to choose an appropriate time step and grid refinement to minimize numerical errors. Then, the transient THD and TEHD theoretical models are developed to show the influence of solid bearing deformations. Experimental tests are realized on a four-shoe tilting-pad journal bearing. The temperatures at the shaft and pad surfaces, at the half thickness and the back of the pads are compared for both theoretical and experimental investigations. Good agreement is found between the theoretical results and the experimental data, especially when the variation of the operating bearing clearance is taken into account.