A Pressure Dam Bearing Analysis with Adiabatic Thermal Effects©

To improve the stability of fixed geometry journal bearings in high-speed rotating machinery, pressure dam or stepped bearings have often been used in place of plain or other bearings. Despite their long history and wide range of applications in industry, only isoviscous analyses have been reported in the literature. Since stability problems usually occur at relatively high speeds where considerable heating occurs, it is desirable to include the thermal effects in pressure dam bearing analysis. This study presents a full adiabatic thermohydrodynamic analysis for pressure dam bearings. The theoretical results show that the pressure and temperature distributions on a stepped pad are quite different from those on a smooth pad. The thermal effects have significant influence on the predicted bearing performance, such as journal eccentricity, dynamic coefficients, and rotor stability. The example of a flexible rotor indicates improved stability prediction with the thermal effects included.