Experimental investigation of bubbly lubricated externally pressurized thrust bearings

Experimental results are presented for a bubbly lubricated externally pressurized circular thrust bearing. The data consists of the measured radial pressure distribution together with the lubricant mass flow rate over a wide range of inlet pressure, air mass flow rate ratio, for an either stationary or rotating bearing.It is shown that the air injection always improves the pressure distribution in the bearing and so can completely avoid the negative pressure generated due to rotational inertia. Also it is shown that the bearing load carrying capacity increases as the injected air mass flow increases, especially at high inlet pressure. The lubricant mass flow rate is reduced by the increase of air mass flow rate and by the decrease of bearing rotational speed.Finally the experimental results described in this paper are in good agreement with the mathematical analysis, based on the homogeneous flow model presented previously.