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Elastro-hydrodynamic lubrication model of multi-decked foil thrust bearing with copper wire support

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Abstract

Copper wire supported foil thrust bearing (CWFTB), which can be applied in high speed turbo-expander, adopts underlying flat foil as elastic supporting that interconnected with copper wires. In this paper, finite element model of the thrust bearing is developed incorporating the fluid film and foil deflections. Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is realized through serial solution of the fluid Reynolds equation and the plate Kirchhoff equation. Pressure profile of the gas film and deflections of the top foil and bottom foil are obtained through iteration. Static bearing performance such as bearing load and friction torque of the bearing are evaluated concerning bearing configuration such as taper/land ratio, taper height and copper wire arrangements. The finite element numerical results are validated with data from experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Tianwei Lai, Yu Guo, Wei Wang, Shuangtao Chen & Yu Hou

Authors
  1. Tianwei Lai
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  2. Yu Guo
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  3. Wei Wang
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  4. Shuangtao Chen
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  5. Yu Hou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yu Hou.

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Recommended by Associate Editor In-Ha Sung

Yu Hou received his Ph.D. from the School of Energy and Power Engineering at Xi’an Jiaotong University in 1999. He is currently a Professor at the School of Energy and Power Engineering in Xi'an Jiaotong University. His research interests include refrigeration and cryogenic system, machinery, and equipment.

Tianwei Lai, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in Department of Refrigerating and Cryogenic Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China. His research interests are refrigeration and cryogenic engineering, gas lubrication.

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Lai, T., Guo, Y., Wang, W. et al. Elastro-hydrodynamic lubrication model of multi-decked foil thrust bearing with copper wire support. J Mech Sci Technol 31, 4371–4379 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-0836-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-0836-3

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