Hydrostatic bearings for liquid rocket engine turbopumps provide distinctive advantages, including high load capacity even with low viscosity cryogenic fluid and extending life span by minimizing friction and wear between rotor and bearing surfaces. Application of hydrostatic bearings into turbopumps demands a reliable test database with well-quantified operating parameters and experimentally validated accurate performance predictive tools. The present paper shows the comprehensive experimental data and validation of predicted static load characteristics of hydrostatic journal bearings lubricated with air, water, and liquid nitrogen. Extensive experiments for static load characteristics of hydrostatic bearings are conducted using a turbopump-rotor-bearing system simulator while increasing supply pressure (Ps) into the test bearings. The test results demonstrate notable effects of the test fluids and their temperatures, as well as Ps, on the bearing performance. In general, the measured bearing flow rate, rotor displacement, and stiffness of the test bearings steadily increase with Ps. The static load bearing characteristics predictions considering flow turbulence and compressibility matched well with the experimental results. The work with independent test data and engineering computational programs will further the implementation of hydrostatic bearings in high-performance turbopump shaft systems with improved efficiency and enhanced reusability of liquid rocket engine sub-systems.
Hybrid bearings integrating an external pressurizing source are widely used in high-speed turbomachinery due to their notable advantages, including low friction and wear, enhanced reliability and durability, and accurate rotor positioning, as well as large static stiffness and load carry capacity even lubricated with low viscosity liquids. This paper reports experimental data and predictions to identify the characteristics of pneumatic hammer of hybrid gas bearings, 60 mm in diameter, with increasing feed gas pressures. Pneumatic hammer characteristics with static load stiffnesses and flow rates of the test bearing are recorded for increasing static loads with various shaft center positions. A computational program for modeling of hybrid gas bearings predicts static load characteristics of the test bearings. Predictions show a remarkable agreement with measurements. Comparisons of measurements and predictions reveal that calculated reduced damping factors and damping coefficients of hybrid bearings, relying on volume ratio between recess and fluid film, are reliable indicators to estimate the onset condition of pneumatic hammer instability.
Hybrid bearings integrating an external pressurizing source are widely used in high-speed turbomachinery due to their notable advantages, including low friction and wear, enhanced reliability and durability, and accurate rotor positioning, as well as large static stiffness and load carry capacity even lubricated with low viscosity liquids. This paper reports experimental data and predictions to identify the characteristics of pneumatic hammer of hybrid gas bearings, 60 mm in diameter, with increasing feed gas pressures. Pneumatic hammer characteristics with static load stiffnesses and flow rates of the test bearing are recorded for increasing static loads with various shaft center positions. A computational program for modeling of hybrid gas bearings predicts static load characteristics of the test bearings. Predictions show a remarkable agreement with measurements. Comparisons of measurements and predictions reveal that calculated reduced damping factors and damping coefficients of hybrid bearings, relying on volume ratio between recess and fluid film, are reliable indicators to estimate the onset condition of pneumatic hammer instability.
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