A Study on Characteristics of Surface-restriction Compensated Gas Bearing with T-shaped Grooves

Abstract

The surface-restriction compensated gas bearing with T-shaped grooves has the following advantages ; (1) good damping performance, and (2) manufacturing ease, because of a small number of grooves, compared with the I-shaped groove bearing, which is composed of many narrow linear grooves. This paper reports on dynamic characteristics of T-shaped groove bearing analyzed by the small perturbation method and results of an investigation by modified finite difference method, which can rationally express any bearing surface division, including both groove and land parts, by only one grid. Based on these calculated results, design criteria are given for a high performance bearing with high stiffness and high damping values. Furthermore, stability thresholds are also calculated.