AN INVESTIGATION ON THRUST HEARING TILTING PADS

The present work regards the first stage of a research activity aimed at the understanding of the phenomena involved in the working of thrus t bearing tilting pads. Three pads of the same shape and dimensions wi th different pivot positions have been studied. An experimental invest igation is carried out on the pads using a particularly Versatile test rig. Simultaneous measurements of film thickness, pad tilt and fricti onal force are made; in particular the tilt angle is measured by optic al interferometry with monochromatic light, Experimental results are c ompared with numerical data. A finite element method code is used to c alculate the pressure field of the finite thrust pad. For a given pivo t film thickness an iterative procedure yields the tilt angle using th e condition of zero moment about the pivot. First results indicate the way to future investigations.