A Tilting Pad Journal Bearing Model for Coupled Fluid Dynamical-Rotor Dynamical Analyses
Turbomachines are continuously developing in order to reach higher levels of speed, power and efficiency and the classical Fixed Geometry Journal Bearings have been replaced by Tilting Pad Journal Bearings to avoid instability phenomena. In this paper, the authors propose an innovative quasi-3D TPJB modelling approach that allows the simultaneous and coupled analysis of the typical phenomena involved in TPJB operations. The authors focused on the accurate analysis of the interactions between the rotor and the lubricant supply plant and on the fluid dynamical effects due to the bearing that cause those couplings, aiming at reaching a good compromise between the accuracy and the numerical efficiency of the model (mandatory to analyze systems with many bearings). The TPJB model has been developed and experimentally validated in collaboration with Nuovo Pignone General Electric S.p.a. which provided the technical data of the system and the results of experimental tests.