HYDROSTATIC BEARINGS

(Externally Pressurized Bearings)

Invented by L. D. Girard (Frenchman).

Completely removal of wear and reduction of coefficient

of friction to 1/500.
Features of Hydrostatic support

Surfaces can be separated by full fluid film even at

zero speed.

– No problem with micro roughness and waviness.

Zero friction at zero speed.

– Useful feature for large size telescopes and radars.

High stiffness

– Oil film thickness varies as cube root of load.

Why not every bearing is based on Hydrostatic
Mechanism

Life and reliability of Oil supply lines always in doubt

Hydrostatic

1)For pressurized supply of fluid an external pressure

supply is used
2) speed is less
3)Design of bearing housing is complicated
4)Initial cost is high
5) Load carrying capacity is high

Hydrodynamic

1) Pressure for fluid supply is produced by relative

moving motion of the parts
2) The cost is less
3)Design of bearing house is less complicated
4) speed is high
5) Load carrying capacity is less
 Constant Flow System (No restrictor)

W
Recess or Pocket
Runner

Pad h
pi

Throttling Device ps
From Pump
(Restrictor)
Constant Supply Pressure System
Hydrostatic systems (thrust or journal bearings) use
several evenly spaced pads, so nonsymmetrical load
distributions can be handled.

Pressure is maintained in the recess by fluid pumped

through a flow restrictor.

The pressure lifts the rotor until flow out of the recess
and over the land equals flow in.

A constant gap is maintained for a given recess

pressure and bearing load. The gap establishes the
volume of fluid pumped through the bearing.

An alternative design is to connect a fluid

displacement pump (gear or vane type) directly to
each pocket without flow restriction.
Design of flow restrictors influences bearing stiffness,
pumping power, supply pressure, and lubricant flow.

A flow restrictor is necessary to provide a pressure drop

between the supply manifold and the pad recesses to ensure
pressure requirements in any given pad never exceed supply
pressure.

A bearing with restrictors is called a "compensated bearing."

Action of the restrictors is such that if the thrust load is
centered, pressure in all the pads is equal and lower than
pump pressure.

Results in an increase in loaded-pad pressure and a

decrease in pad pressure on the opposite side, so the runner
automatically seeks a nearly level attitude.
Three compensators are used in hydrostatic bearings --
orifice, capillary, and variable-flow restrictor.

The first two are fixed-flow restrictors; the third is a valve

which automatically adjusts flow as it senses pressure
differentials between pads.

The variable-flow restrictor provides a stiffer bearing

system, but is more expensive than fixed-flow restrictors.

Sizing of the orifice or capillary for optimum performance is

an essential part of the design of a compensated
hydrostatic bearing.
Hydrostatic bearing design requires adjustment of a
number of parameters including pad geometry,
restrictor size, supply pressure, and journal bearing
clearance to optimize performance.
CIRCULAR
• A circular step thrust
STEP bearing is used to illustrate
BEARINGS the principle and general
operating characteristics of
a hydrostatic bearing.
• Consider the bearing
wherein a thrust load w is
applied and the bearing
supports the load without
metal-to-metal contact.
• The load w is supported by
the fluid within the pocket
and land.
• The fluid escapes radially
through the restriction by
land or sill around the
recess.
• An oil-film will be formed with film thickness h.
• Unlike hydrodynamic bearings these bearings do not
require convergent film for development of positive
pressure.
• The outside pressure is usually equal to zero or ambient
pressure.
• The following assumptions are normally made for the
derivation of load capacity, flow requirement and frictional
power loss.
(i) The recess is deep enough for the pressure in it to be
uniform (constant)
(ii) the bearing is having low rotational velocity and its effect
is neglected for pressure development.
(iii) the flow can be considered as laminar across the land.
The pressure induced flow is Q  h 3
p
12 x
x

Consider an annular ring of length dr at radius r. The total

flow then is h3 dp
Q 2r
12 dr
dp 6Q 1
or  3 (1)
dr h r
Integrating,
6Q
p   3 In r  C1
h
6Q
As at r  r0 , p  0, C1  3 In r0
h
6Q
Thus p  3 Inr0 / r  (2)
h

Applying the condition that p = ps at r=ri, one obtains

h 3 ps
Q
6Inr0 / ri  (3)
Substituting Eq. (3) into Eq (2) , the pressure distribution in
the bearing clearance can be determined as

r
In 
p  r0 
ps
 ri 
In  (4)
 r0 
The load-carrying capacity can be obtained by integrating
pressure over the bearing area.
The load capacity
r0
W  ri ps   2 pr dr (5)
2
ri
Substituting Eq (4) in Eq (5) and integrating

W

ps r0 2  ri 2 
r0
2 In (6)
ir

From Eq (3) and (6) it is seen that

Q
Wps and ps 3
h

Therefore for constant flow rate the load capacity

increases as the film thickness decreases.
Hence the bearing is self compensating if the flow rate is
held constant.