Abstract
This paper shows the experimental and theoretical study on the stability of the elastic rotor supported in tilting-pad journal bearings, examining the effects of the bearing support, the preload factor, and the bearing load. With the simple bearing support, the rotor was stable up to higher shaft speed. However, with the fixed bearing support, unstable vibration occurs at 4500 to 6000rpm regardless of preload factor and bearing load. Theoretical stability threshold speeds are about 50% lower than the experimental ones in the case of the fixed bearing support, but they qualitatively agree with the experimental results.
