Research on the performance of foil thrust bearings under dynamic disturbances

The runner motions in a foil thrust bearing system typically consist of axial pulsations and angular wobbles as a result of manufacturing and assembly tolerances. By considering the disturbances caused by the runner, this paper established a dynamic model of a foil thrust bearing that has an angular swinging bearing pad. The influence of angular disturbance on the load-carrying capacity (LCC) of the bearing was theoretically and experimentally studied. It was found that the LCC of the bearing under angular disturbances can be enhanced by introducing a proper angular tracking ability. In this paper, the LCC of the bearing was increased by approximately 50% with the angular tracking ability provided by the swinging bearing pad.