The Behavior of the Centrally Pivoted Thrust Bearing Pad with Hydrostatic Recesses Pressurized by a Constant-Rate Flow

The tilting behavior of the centrally pivoted, externally pressurized tilting thrust pad is investigated. The pressure distribution in the oil film is obtained by solving the Reynolds' equation which takes into account the external pressurization induced by a constant-rate flow. The relation between the size of the hydrostatic recess and the tilt angle of the pad is described. Calculations show that a pad with pressure recesses may have a negative tilt angle, depending on the size of the recess. The pressure variation around the hydrostatic pressure recess causes the moment to force the pad to tilt backward. At high shaft rotational speeds, the pad tilts backward too much and eventually fails to support the load. The hydrostatic pressure recess that is utilized to avoid the metal contact may cause this. The result was confirmed by experiments.