Nowadays, tilting-pad journal bearings are used under more and more severely demanding operating conditions. Three limits of safe operation were defined (Leopard, 1976): the hydrodynamic limit, the mechanical limit and the thermal limit. The purpose of this study is to determine the hydrodynamic limit of safe operation during start-up for a tilting-pad journal bearing. During start-up, the rapid increase of the temperature in the bearing solids leads to the thermal expansion of both the pads and the shaft. The operating bearing clearance decreases and, when it tends toward zero, seizure occurs. The evolution of the main characteristics (temperature, pressure, film thickness and displacements) versus time is analyzed in the case when a seizure occurs.

Issue Section:
Research Papers
Topics:
Bearings, Journal bearings, Transients (Dynamics), Temperature, Clearances (Engineering), Film thickness, Pressure, Solids, Thermal expansion
1.
Bishop
J. L.
, and
Ettles
C. M. M.
,
1982
, “
The Seizure of Journal Bearings by Thermoelastic Mechanisms
,”
Wear
, Vol.
79
, pp.
37
–
52
.
2.
Conway-Jones, J. M., and Leopard, A. J., 1975, “Plain Bearing Damage,” Proc. 4th Turbomachinery Symposium, Texas A&M University, pp. 55–63.
3.
Dufrane
K. F.
, and
Kannel
J. W.
,
1989
, “
Thermally Induced Seizures of Journal Bearings
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF TRIBOLOGY
, Vol.
111
, pp.
288
–
292
.
4.
Fillon
M.
,
Bligoud
J. C.
, and
Freˆne
J.
,
1992
, “
Experimental Study of Tilting-Pad Journal Bearings—Comparison with Theoretical and Thermoelastohydrodynamic Results
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF TRIBOLOGY
, Vol.
114
, No.
3
, pp.
579
–
588
.
5.
Hazlett
T. L.
, and
Khonsari
M. M.
,
1992
a, “
Finite Element Model of Journal Bearings Undergoing Rapid Thermally Induced Seizure
,”
Tribology International
, Vol.
25
, No.
3
, pp.
177
–
182
.
6.
Hazlett
T. L.
, and
Khonsari
M. M.
,
1992
b, “
Thermoelastic Behaviour of Journal Bearings Undergoing Seizure
,”
Tribology International
, Vol.
25
, No.
3
, pp.
183
–
187
.
7.
Khonsari
M. M.
, and
Kim
H. J.
,
1989
, “
On Thermally Induced Seizure in Journal Bearings
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF TRIBOLOGY
, Vol.
111
, pp.
661
–
667
.
8.
Kucinschi, B., 1996, “On Thermal Seizure of Fluid Film Journal Bearings,” Proc. of the 7th International Conference on Tribology, ROTRIB’96, Bucharest, Vol. 18, pp. 103–109.
9.
Leopard
A. J.
,
1976
, “
Tilting-Pad Bearings—Limit of Operation
,”
ASLE Journal of Lubrication Engineering
, Vol.
32
, No.
12
, pp.
637
–
644
.
10.
Monmousseau, P., Fillon, M., and Freˆne, J., 1996, “The Seizure of Tilting-Pad Journal Bearings by Overheating during Rapid Start-up,” Proc. of the 7th International Conference on Tribology, ROTRIB’96, Bucharest, Vol. 18, pp. 80–89.
11.
Monmousseau
P.
,
Fillon
M.
, and
Freˆne
J.
,
1997
, “
Transient Thermoelastohydrodynamic Study of Tilting-Pad Journal Bearings—Comparison Between Experimental Data and Theoretical Results
,”
ASME Journal of Tribology
, Vol.
119
, No.
3
, pp.
401
–
407
.
12.
Nilsson, L. R. K., 1978, “The Influence of Bearing Flexibility on the Dynamic Performance of Radial Oil Film Bearing,” Proc. of the 5th Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology, pp. 311–319.
13.
Pascovici
M. D.
,
Khonsari
M. M.
, and
Jang
J. Y.
,
1995
, “
On the Modeling of a Thermomechanical Seizure
,”
ASME JOURNAL OF TRIBOLOGY
, Vol.
117
, pp.
744
–
747
.
14.
Sacadura, J. F., 1978, “Initiation aux transferts thermiques,” Technique et documentation (in French).
15.
Timoshenko, S., and Goodier, J. N., 1951, Theory of Elasticity, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, NY.
This content is only available via PDF.
Copyright © 1998
 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
You do not currently have access to this content.