Stability of multi orifice active tilting-pad journal bearings

The stability properties of actively lubricated tilting-pad journal bearings are investigated theoretically. The bearing preload factor and control system gains are varied, and stable and unstable regions are identified. It is seen, that the control system influences bearing stability, and that the nature and magnitude of this influence depends on the rotor mass, preload factor and rotational speed.

Furthermore, it is shown that assuming the bearing pads to be rigid can produce a substantial error. A rigid pad model will overpredict the stable range of the bearing, thus it may lead to failure if trusted.