Numerical analysis and optimization of surface textures for a tilting pad thrust bearing

A thermo-hydrodynamic model previously developed by the authors is applied in this paper to study the influence of surface texturing on the performance of a tilting pad thrust bearing with offset line pivots. Utilizing an interior-point algorithm, texture depth, circumferential extent and radial extent are numerically optimized to improve three bearing performance parameters: minimum film thickness, friction torque and maximum temperature. Results are presented for various operating conditions and texture densities. It is found that, for most cases, optimum texturing parameters depend significantly on the operating conditions, optimization objective and texture density. Whereas minimum film thickness values can be increased by up to 12%, only minor improvements are achievable in terms of friction torque and maximum temperature.