A rotating field mhd hydrostatic thrust bearing

It is found that the load capacity of a magnetohydrodynamic thrust bearing with a rotating disk can be increased by rotating the axial magnetic field at a suitable speed in a direction opposite to that of the disk rotation. This method of improving the bearing performance is considered to be efficient if the Hartmann number is not too large. Thus for a given load, the size and weight of the magnet to be used in a thrust bearing with rotating field can be reduced considerably.Nomenclature a radius of plenum recess - b outside disk radius - B ₀ magnetic induction of applied axial magnetic field - hE ₀ ^1/2/a ^1/2, nondimensionalized electric field - E ₀ radial electric field at r=a - E _r radial electric field - h half of lubricant film thickness - M (B ₀ ² h ²/)^1/2, Hartmann number - P pressure - P _e pressure at r=b - P ₀ pressure at r=a - Q volume flow rate of lubricant - Q ₀ volume flow rate of a nonrotating bearing in the absence of applied magnetic field - r radial coordinate - u, v fluid velocity components in radial and circumferential directions, respectively - W load capacity of bearing - W ₀ load capacity of a nonrotating bearing in the absence of a magnetic field having a flow rate which the same bearing would have at Hartmann number M - z axial coordinate - azimuthal coordinate - coefficient of viscosity of lubricant - _e magnetic permeability - fluid density - electrical conductivity - angular velocity of rotating disk - _C critical disk velocity at which W=0 - _M angular velocity of axial magnetic field - optimum angular velocity of magnetic field On leave of absence from Department of Aero-Space Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame (Ind.), U.S.A.