Reduction Method of Propeller Shaft Vibrations of Ships

In order to reduce the amplitude of the propeller shaft vibration, it is useful to apply the hydrostatic bearing to the stern tube bearing. This paper describes the theoretical and experimental investigations on the reduction of the propeller shaft vibration by using a hydrostatic bearing. The theory is based on the finite width hydrodynamics. The calculated results give very good agreements with the measured ones. Also the hydrostatic bearing gives a high degree of reduction efficiency of vibration, which reduces the vibration amplitude to 60-70% of that of conventional type.