Appendix 7

Hydrostatic lubrication

For an uncompensated pad bearing of area A supplied with fluid of viscosity

r\ at a pressure pT the load supported W and volume flow rate Q are given
by

W=W*xAxpT and Q = Q*

where W* and Q* are non-dimensional shape factors.

For a circular pad bearing of radius r0 with a pocket radius r{,

aad fl. '

21n(r o /r i )
The width of the land, that is, ro — rit is generally approximately 25% of
the total bearing width.
If the fluid is supplied at pressure ps through a restrictor or compensator
which reduces its pressure to pT, so that
C
s
~ r\
where C is a geometric factor, the optimum bearing stiffness k0 and film
thickness h0 are given by

The recess pressure is then one-half of the supply pressure.

The temperature rise A& is given by

pc
where S(> 3) is a numerical factor expressing the ratio between frictional
and pumping losses and p and c are the density and specific heat of the fluid.

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