A Thermo-Elasto-Hydrodynamic (TEHD) Computational Analysis of Tilting Pad Thrust Bearings: Analytical and FE Pad Structure Models

Abstract

Work in 2018 extends an earlier (2017) single-pad, laminar flow thermohydrodynamic (THD) model, into a multiple-pad, turbulent flow thermoelastohydrodynamic (TEHD) model for the prediction of the static and dynamic force performance of tilting pad thrust bearings (TPTBs). The updated XLTHRUSTBEARINGR software offers three ways, simple to complex, to account for mechanical and thermal pad deformations in the analysis. The first way relies on an approximate solution, based on a generalization of the EulerBernoulli beam theory, and outputs the axial deformation field on a pad top surface. The second method is an in-house three dimensional (3D) Finite Element (FE) model that accounts for all modes of elastic deformations, both pressure and temperature induced, and delivers a complete 3D pad deformation field. The third method, specific for pads with a complex geometry, provides a user with the option to model the pad in a commercial FE software and to import the (reduced) stiffness matrix into the code. This method only accounts for pad mechanical deformations and produces axial deformations of the pad top surface.