FLOW PATTERNS AND DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF A LIGHTLY LOADED HYDROSTATIC POCKET OF VARIABLE ASPECT RATIO AND SUPPLY JET STRENGTH

The flow in a hydrostatic pocket is numerically simulated wing a dimen sionless formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations. In essence, this paler continues the work of Braun et al. (1), (2) by extending it to t he study of the effects of certain geometric (alpha and lambda) and fl ow (R and F) parameters on stiffness and damping in the hydrostatic po cket. The numerical simulations evaluate parametrically the effects of the aspect ratio, the Reynolds number and the jet strength on the flo w pattern, pressure magnitudes, runner equilibrium position, stiffness and damping. This synthesis analysis has direct pertinence to hydrost atic journal bearing para,netric design, especially so for configurati ons when alpha<<1.