Effect of Tilt on Thermo-Hydrodynamic Model of a Thrust Air Foil Bearing

Air Foil Thrust bearings are essential parts of high efficiency turbomachinery and are often used to support rotating machines in the axial direction. Predicting the thermo-elastic behavior of hydrodynamic thrust bearings is particularly crucial because of the common heat management challenge. Previous research works demonstrate that the thickness of the lubricating gap is significantly influenced by the thermal deformation of the runner. They did not, however, consider the impact of the disk’s misalignment in addition to its thermally induced deformation. In this study, a thermo-hydrodynamic model for an air foil thrust bearing will be provided in order to predict the pressure and temperature distribution in the bearing while accounting for rotor disc misalignment. Based on the proposed model, the performance of the bearing has been investigated. The results show that ignoring the effect of thermally induced bending of the disk will lead to unreliable prediction of bearing behavior. The same applies to the neglect of tilt, although at this stage of the modelling the degree of tilt is prescribed, unlike the thermal bending of the disk.