Thin Films in Tribology / D.Dowsm et al.

(Editors)
Q 1993 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. AU rights reserved. 559

Compliant Foil Bearings Technology and Their Application

to High Speed Turbomachinery
H. Heshmat"and P. Hermelb

Mechanical Technology Incorporated, 968 Albany-Shaker Road, Latham, New Y ork

12110, U.S.A.

ABG-SEMCA, 408, Avenue Des Etats-Unis, BP 2010 Toulouse Cedex, France

ABSTRACT

The results of recent design and development work on compliant air lubricated foil journal
bearings to meet the requirements of new commercial aircraft (FALCON-2000) cooling turbo-
compressors are presented. Stringent requirements are imposed on compliant foil bearings in
these applications to assure safe and durable operation. Compliant foil bearings required to
operate at high speed with an insignificant steady state rotor weight while dynamic forces
(internal and/or external shock and vibration) exceeding steady loads by an order of magnitude.
Bearing design analysis, bearing performance and system rotor dynamics, including critical
speeds and rotor imbalance response are discussed. Full rotor bearing development and
operational procedures consisting of test results of steady state and random vibrations obtained
from both a rotor bearing simulator and in an actual system are presented.

The use of the foil bearing in aircraft

INTRODUCTION
The continued growth at MTI in
machinery utilizing foil bearings is
illustrated in Figure 1 which shows
applications defined in terms of operating
speeds and journal bearing diameters. The
data on Figure 1 is suitable as a general
design guide when considering the potential
for a foil bearing solution in advanced
machinery. Not illustrated or discussed in
this paper is the potential for foil bearings
with liquid or particular cryogens [ 1, 2, 31
or mixed-phase lubrication where the
bearing characteristics such as compliance
and potential low cost offer advantages.
for cabin cooling turbines (ACMs) has
undoubtedly been the most meaningful and
successful application since the late 1970s.
In these application foil bearings, clearly
demonstrating the advantages of long service
life with minimum maintenance and the
avoidance of cabin contamination by the
elimination of the conventional ball bearing--
oil lubrication systems. The forgiveness of
the foil bearing relative to the rolling
element bearing in minimizing damage to
the aerodynamic components of this type of
machinery in the event of a system
malfunction has also been demonstrated. A
three-wheel ACM is in use on Boeing 747
aircraft in transatlantic service which utilizes
MTI's typical foil bearings with a journal
560
bearing of 51 mm (2.0 in.) in diameter and
a thrust bearing with 101 mm (4 in.)
diameter. The ACM applications now have
been extended to military aircraft such as
fighters where the bearings must meet the
additional requirements of very high speed
and severe gyroscopic moments. A recently
enacted program for the development of a
high speed ACM for a European commercial
aircraft FALCON 2000 provided the
opportunity for developing a lightweight
rotodbearing system. The overall system
description that follows will serve to point
out the particular requirements for a high-
speed rotodbearing in a turbocompressor.
AIR CYCLE MACHINE DESCRIPTION
Figure 2 shows a cross-section of the
basic ACM turbocompressor elements. The
rotor assembly consists of a single-stage
turbine driving a single-stage centrifugal
impeller through a hollow shaft assembly.
The bearing arrangement used to support the
high-speed rotor of the turbocompressor is
shown schematically in Figure 2. It consists
of a pair of inboard foil journal bearings and
a set of double-acting thrust foil bearings at
the mid-span of the rotor.
Considerable effort has been devoted to
developing stable and relatively quiet
bearing shaft systems. For example, the
bearing-shaft assembly has undergone
several analytical iterations to optimize the
bearing configuration, clearance for axial
hydrodynamic unbalance load, rotor
unbalance in each bearing plane, and
external shock and vibration. The overall
rotor assembly weight is about 772 gram
(1.7 lb), with a journal bearing length of 31
mm (1.22 in.), a diameter of 35 mm (1.375
in.), and a nominal diametral clearance of
0.076 mm (0.003 in.). The thrust foil
bearing outer diameter is 72 mm (2.85 in.)
and the inner diameter is 38 m m (1.5 in.).
ROTOR BEARING SIMULATOR
A finite element model of the ACM
turbo systems rotor was developed for use in
predicting the rotor system dynamic
performance parameters such as critical
speeds, stability, and response in the process
of completing the foil bearing design
iterations. Based on rotordynamic analysis
the system tradeoff studies to evaluate
potential compliant foil bearing locations,
stiffness range and sizes were determined.
Bearing stiffness is primarily a function
of the elastic properties of the foils which
are under the control of the designer. This
provides great flexibility for tuning the
stiffness to meet overall system dynamic
performance requirements. The elastic
structure also provides high shock load
capacity. In foil bearings, the clearance
geometry required to generate load-carrying
hydrodynamic films is provided by the
elastic deflection of the foils. This allows
foil bearings to operate with much larger
bearing clearances than rigid bearings.
Operating with gases, foil bearing clearances
can be almost an order of magnitude greater
than rigid bearings, which is a distinct
advantage. The larger clearances and the
flexibility of the foils makes foil journal
bearings much more tolerant to rotor
unbalance. The combination of smooth foils
and bump foils also provides great flexibility
for the designer to customize the bearing
properties. As the bump width decreases,
the bump stiffness increases, which enhances
the formation of a convergent clearance
between the smooth foils and the journal.
Compliant foil bearings are not limited to
the basic combination of a single smooth foil

and a single bump foil, as shown in Figure
1. One or more smooth and bump foils can
be added to stiffen the structural top foil as
indicated in Figure 3. This figure shows
how two bump foils may be used to modify
the stiffness. Under no load, there is a
clearance between the peaks of the two
bumps as shown in Figure 3. As load is
applied, it initially only deflects the upper
bump foil until the load is sufficient to bring
the two bump foils into contact. As the load
is further increased, both bump foils have to
deflect, which increases the stiffness.
In the design development of compliant
foil bearings (CFBs) for specific
applications, it is most economical and a
sound practice to build a simulator to
evaluate the bearing/rotor system
performance. The simulator rotor was
designed to have a mass distribution and
inertia as close as possible to the real rotor
and with correct bearing locations. Figure
4 shows a simulator which was developed to
evaluate journal bearings for the ACM. The
rotor was driven by an air turbine and its
lateral motion was measured by four
displacement probes. Two probes were
mounted orthogonally in a plane between the
bearings, and the other two were located
towards the end of the rotor, over the
simulated turbine. A tachometer was used
to pick up the speed from the simulated
compressor. Thermocouples were located
near the bearings to monitor the bearing
ambient temperature.
Once a range of bearing coefficients had
been determined based on a system critical
speed map [4], a tradeoff study was
conducted to evaluate system sensitivities to
changes in bearing position, bearing stiffness
and damping requirements, and rotor
imbalance. The speed dependent stiffness
characteristics for the final bearing design
56 1
were predicted for speeds up to 100,OOO
rpm and temperatures up to 150°C (300"F),
based on the expected static load to be
supported by the bearings.
Figure 5 is representative of the
predicted foil bearing dynamic
characteristics for the ACM turbo-
compressor systems using a foil bearing
computer code [5, 6, 71. Figure 6 shows
plots of the first two predicted rigid body
natural frequencies as a function of rotor
speed and bearing damping coefficients of 0
to 350 N.s/m (0 to 2 lb.s/in.
Frequency, log decrement and
precession direction for the conical and
translator modes were predicted for various
speeds, using the estimated damping values
and the calculated stiffness coefficients.
Figure 7 shows the rotor bearing system
stability results for a spin speed up to
100,000 rpm. This figure indicates the level
of damping required to achieve the
necessary positive value for log decrement
(stable operation) for the two most
troublesome rigid body modes. As part of
the design study, the impact of the static and
dynamic loading on the compliant foil
bearing design was assessed. Figure 8
shows sample pressure profiles vs. extent of
pad, indicating a uniqueness of this bearing
with respect to a conventional foil bearing.
Figure 9 summarizes the foil bearing
predicted performance in terms of load,
eccentricity ratio, and bearing power loss as
a function of rotor speed.
SIMULATOR DEVELOPMENT AND
TESTING
The simulator is shown schematically in
Figure 4; Figure 10 is a photograph of the
test rotodbearings; Figure 11 is a photo of
the test installation mounted on a shaker.
562
During the tests, all probe outputs were
recorded on magnetic tap; the rotor orbit
was displayed on oscilloscopes; and an FFT
signal analyzer was used to identify resonant
frequencies. Figure 12 shows the test
facility setup, recording, monitoring and
control units.
TEST RESULTS
Figure 13 shows the signal analyzer
output for the two transducers at the turbine
end when running at 80,000 rpm. The
major resonant frequency was
subsynchronous at 14,700 rpm and had a
peak amplitude of approximately 14.7 p m
(0.58 mil), while having translatory mode
shape (second rigid body natural frequency).
At the end of the test, the drive air was shut
off at 80,000 rpm. Figure 14 shows the
signal analyzer output during the coastdown
phase. This figure shows the growth of the
synchronous component at frequencies
ranging from 11,550 rpm to 15,000 rpm,
the first and second rigid body critical
speeds range. The peak amplitudes of these
frequencies were only of the order of 5 p m
(2 x lo4 in.).
A significant amount of testing was
completed with this rotor/bearing
arrangement and successful foil gas bearing
performance at steady state operating
conditions was demonstrated. The most
important result of this series of tests was
confirmation of analytical predictions as
shown in Figure 15. The predicted damped
natural frequencies (first and second rigid
body critical speeds) based on B,, = By, =
2 lb-din is plotted against the spin speed of
the rotor (Figure 15), along with
corresponding experimental data.
The rotodbearing system was also
subjected to vibration tests by mounting the
simulator on a shaker (Figure 11). An
acceleration sweep of 1 g peak-to-peak was
applied in a vertical plane at a spin speed of
69,000 rpm to determine the bearing
damping level. The acceleration sweep
range was from 100 Hz up to 2 Khz.
Figures 16(a) and 16(b) show a typical rotor
response where the rotor spin speed was
69,000 rpm and corresponding elapse time
for acceleration sweep lasted about 300 sec.
As shown in Figure 16(a), the damped
natural frequency was determined to be
13,500 rpm with a translatory mode (i-e.,
second rigid body critical speed). Results
shown in Figure 16(c) depict a time
response plot from the sweep data at 69,000
rpm. Experimental data shown in Figure
16, such as log decrement, amplitude and
corresponding frequency, along with
predicted bearing stiffness coefficients at
69,000 rpm, were used to extract the
bearing damping coefficient. For a single
degree of freedom system this corresponds
to a bearing damping level of 324 N.S/m
(1.85 lb-din) .
The above test procedure at various g
levels at different spin speeds was conducted
to identify bearing damping levels as well as
maximum g levels that the system could
satisfactorily perform. The bearings were
subjected to a form of shock test by
suddenly imposing a large acceleration
lasting 10 seconds. Figure 17 shows the
rotor motion when a total of 100 g peak-to-
peak acceleration was applied with a rotor
speed of 55,000 rpm. The upper plot in
Figure 17 shows the vertical component of
the rotor motion measured at the turbine
end. The peak amplitude was only 9.5 p m
(0.374 mil) and the main rotor motion was
at a frequency of 200 Hz (12,000 rpm).
Results of these experiments clearly
indicated (a) the validity of the predicted

dynamic characteristic performance, and, (b)
CFBs have higher tolerance to the external
shock and vibration with a significant levels
of damping.
VALIDATION TESTING
This section presents results of
validation testing of selected foil bearings in
an actual prototype ACM system. These
tests also consisted of steady-state and
dynamic test operations.
Steady-State Operation - Based on the
preliminary simulator evaluation, the
selected foil bearings were installed in the
ACM system as part of the final
development process. The unit shown in
Figure 18 was successfully operated,
achieving full operation speed (i.e., an idle
speed of 6,000 rpm and a nominal operating
speed of 66,000 rpm). This unit was
instrumented for general data acquisition,
however, displacement probes placed in a
similar fashion as described earlier were
utilized here too, with the exception of their
locations. A set of probes was mounted
orthogonally at either end of the rotor,
outboard of the turbine and compressor.
The following displacement output data
conveniently refers to their locations.
Figure 19 shows the signal analyzer
output for the vertical outboard displacement
probe at the compressor end running at
66,000 rpm. The major resonant frequency
was synchronous due to mechanical runout
and had a peak amplitude of 16.01 pm. The
minor resonant frequencies were
subsynchronous related to two rigid body
critical speeds. The subsynchronous
frequency at 245 Hz (translatory mode)
correlated extremely well with the results
obtained from the simulator test (see also
563
Figure 15 for comparison). The results of
steady state operation in general showed
good agreement with the preliminary
simulator tests, including predicted
performance data.
DYNAMIC TEST
The ACM unit was also subjected to
vibration tests by mounting the units on a
shaker. While the ACM was rigidly
mounted on the shaker, low and high
frequency vibrations in the form of a sine
wave were applied. At any given operating
speed the g level was increased linearly over
a designated frequency range. An example
of such tests, including input vibration and
output data is given in Figure 20.
The upper plot in Figure 20 shows an
applied g level in the vertical direction over
the frequency range of 20 to 30 Hz. The
vertical displacement probes reading a
typical rotor response for the rotor speeds of
25,000 and 55,000 rpm are shown in Figure
20. The largest peak-to-peak amplitude of
the rotor was about 100 pm at the turbine
end.
Additional required tests were to be
carried out with a random vibration input.
Figure 21 shows the applied power spectral
density that the ACM was subjected to.
A set of typical rotor responses at two
spin speeds of 25,000 and 55,000 rpm,
subject to random vibration, are shown in
Figure 22. The peak amplitudes of the rotor
were 57 p m and 66 p m respectively, which
occurred at subsynchronous frequencies of
150 Hz at speeds of 417 Hz (25,000 rpm)
and 203 Hz at speeds of 917 Hz (55,000
rpm) . These subsynchronous frequencies
are associated with rotodbearing critical
speeds which were predicted and
demonstrated in earlier tests (for comparison
564
see Figure 15). From these results it seems
that the applied external vibration has an
insignificant effect on the magnitude of the
subsynchronous frequency. However, its
impact was on the growth of
subsynchronous amplitude.
As part of the development, the ACM
unit was subjected to various levels of shock
at all operating speeds, including zero rpm.
The ACM rotor speed was first stabilized at
any given test run,and an external shock was
then applied to the unit. A sample shock
wave is shown in composite plots in Figure
23. The elapse time for a shock wave was
11 msec; while peak-to-peak amplitudes of
7.7 g had a period of 1.6 msec. Figure 23
shows the rotor response when a total 7.7 g
peak-to-peak shock was suddenly applied
with rotor speeds of 25,000 and 55,000
rpm. The amplitude and subsynchronous
frequency as a result of the applied shock
wave remained below 11 p m at 55,000 rpm
and below 3 p m at 25,000 rpm, as given in
the plots of Figure 23.
CONCLUSIONS
The analytical and experimental studies
conducted on the application of compliant,
air-lubricated foil bearings for an Air Cycle
Machine for commercial aircraft applications
confirmed their potential in terms of load-
carrying capability, suppression of rotor
unbalance and whirl-free characteristics.
Successful transition and development of
foil bearings for ACMs were achieved and
it was demonstrated that a systematic
approach toward advancement and
application of foil bearings with an
extremely reliable analytical tool is possible,
yet it can be risk free. Thus, the approach
taken here was most economical.
The analytical design tools were
successfully used to assist foil bearing
development for ACMs. Predicted bearing
dynamic characteristics (bearing stiffness
and damping coefficients) were in good
agreement with experimental results.
The high speed ACM rotor bearing
system was subjected to acceleration levels
up to 100 g peak-to-peak, demonstrating
their shock resistance at high speed on air
film capability.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful for the support
of the development effort and for permission
for publication from both ABG-SEMCA and
Mechanical Technology Incorporated. Our
thanks for the help received from our
numerous colleagues during the overall
systems development and preparation of this
paper.
REFERENCES
1. Heshmat, H. "Analysis of Compliant
Foil Bearings with Spatially Variable
Sitffness", presented at
A I A A / S A E / A S M E / A S E E 2 7th Joint
Propulsion Conference, June 24-26, 1991,
Sacramento, CA, Paper No. AIAA-91-2102.
2. Heshmat, H. "A Feasibility Study on the
Use of Foil Bearings in Cryogenic
Turbopumps", presented at
A I A A / S A E / A S M E / A S E E 2 7th Joint
Propulsion Conference, June 24-26, 1991,
Sacramento, CA, Paper No. AIAA-91-2103.
3. Heshmat, H. and Shapiro, W.
"Application of Compliant Fluid-Film
Bearings to the High-pressure Oxygen
Turbopump of the SSME," submitted for
 565

presentation and publication at the 5th ETO

Propulsion Technology Conference, May 19-
22, 1992, NASA, George C. Marshall
Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.

4. Heshmat, H. "Gas-Lubricated Foil

Bearings for Heat Pumps with Counter-
Rotating Heat Exchangers. " ASME Paper
82-DET- 139 (September 1982).

5. Heshmat, H., Walowit, J., and Pinkus,

0. "Analysis of Gas-Lubricated Compliant
Journal bearings." J . Lubr. Tech. Trans.
ASME 105, NO. 4 (1983): 647-655.

6. Ku, C.-P.R. and Heshmat, H.

"Compliant Foil Bearing Structural Stiffness
Analysis: Part I: Theoretical Model
Including Strip and Variable Bump Foil
Geometry," J. of Tribology, Trans. ASME
Vol. 113, no. 2 (1992): 394-400.

7. Ku, C.-P.R. and Heshmat, H.

"Compliant Foil Bearing Structural Stiffness
Analysis, Part 11: Experimental
Investigation. Accepted for publication in
I'

the J. of Tribo., Trans. ASME, ASME

Paper No. 92-Trib-6, to be presented at
STLE/ASME Joint Trib. Conf., San Diego,
CA, October 18-21, 1992.
 566

Foil Journal Bearing* Foil Thrust Bearing*

-
RAMP ZONE PRESSURE ZONE

RUNNER

PAD OPERATION

Anticipated
Range for
Proposed
Turbomachine
\

I L I I 1 1 I

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 1 0

Rotor Speed (thousands of rpm)
ACM = Air Cycle Machine (Turbomachine
for aircraft cabin coollng)

Fig. 1 Examples of Foil Bearing Applications

 567

Fig. 2 Application of Compliant Foil Bearings in Aircraft Air-Cycle Machines;

N = 90,000rpm

Fig. 3 Foil Bearing for High Speed and High Temperature Application
568

Fig. 4 High Speed Compliant Foil Journal Bearing Test Rig (Air-Cycle Machine Simulato

5500 - -900 105

4500 - -800
3500 -

g- -ri
I

-I 2m-

5e
I=-

500-
-400 & 3
z
;
6
104

-
-
z
li

- -
-500
-200
- -
I

z
- -
-1500 KVX o n Stability Analysis, BXX Bw 0
0
0 a Stability Analysis. BXX Bw 2
 569

7."

3.0 -
o 1st Mode 1"
0 2nd Mode 50

-
2.0 40
-
hl
0 1.0 - 30
8
-1 - 20
0-

10
-1.0 -
0
225 275
-2.0 I I J Angle of Extent (deg.)
103 104 105

Rotor Speed (rprn)

Fig. 8 Pressure Profile vs. Extent of Pad

Fig. 7 Log Decrement vs. Rotor S P d

i_ 80 r

20
10
Wn 4.45 (N)
Hp.7480

I
OO 20 40 GO ao 100
Speed (thousandsof Vm)

Fig. 9 Foil Bearing Performance: Load Wn, Eccentricity Ratio E , and Power Loss Hp
570

Fig. 10 Photograph of the Simulator Rotor and Foil Journal Bearings

Fig. 11 Photo of ACM Simulator Rig Mounted on a Shaker

 57 1

Fig. 12 Test Facility Setup, Recording, Monitoring, and Control Units

5-
9
.71
Outboard Probe, Lx E
4

I Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)

Fig 13 Analyzer Output, Turbine Fig. 14 Typical Tracking Plot of

End at 80,000rpm, Vertical Coastdown from 80,000 rpm
= L,, Horizontal = L, at Compressor End
572

15,000

- 12.000
-E
E

P9 9n000
U
6.000
-e
-
m
3.000

I I
0 20.000 40.000 60.000 80.000
flotation Speed (rpm)
Time (sec)

Fig. 15 Turbo Compressor Critical Fig. 16(c) V ibration Sweep :

Speed Map; With Compliant Descending
Foil Bearing, (ACM)

.51 ' ' ' ' ' ' . ' ' r'12.7

0 5 kHz
Frequency

Fig. 16 (a&b) Rotor Response at Fig. 17 Rotor Response at 55,000

69,000 rpm with 1.0 rpm with 100 g Peak-to-Peak
g Acceleration Sweep Acceleration
 573

Fig. 18 Photo of FALCON 900 Foil Bearing Air Cycle Machine

40

N = 66,000 rpm

r 16.01 (pm) N = 1100 Hz

245 Hz 1

Analyzer Output for Displacement Probe at Compressor End at 66,000 rpm

514

10 10
A -

v
0 -
c -
.-
0 -
a) Input Vibration
(Sin Wave)

0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0
20 Lin 30
Frequency (Hz)
N = 25 krpm N = 55 krpm
100 - 100 -
-- -
- -
-
Compressor

5z
h

a 20 ;in1 '30 '20' ' ' Lin 30a

z
c Frequency (Hz) 3
.-
c
Frequency (Hz)
"5a 100 - E 100
E E
U a
Turbine

--
O2O1 I I I Lin I 30 O2O1 I I Lin I 30
Frequency (Hr) Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 20 ACM Rotor Response at 25,000 rpm and 55,000 rpm with 3.0 to 9.0 g Peak
Acceleration at Low Frequency

10

Fig. 21 Spectrum of Applied Random Vibration to ACM

 575

100
-
N 25,000 rprn
100

- s- 203.3 Hz
5 150.0 Hz

-
Y

0
U
0)

-
.-
d
.
2
-.-
i?
U
i?
U

-
2000
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 22 ACM Rotor Response to External Random Vibration (Amplitude vs. Frequency)

j
20
I 1

--E, N =25,00Orpm

zz
a
'D Max Value: 6 g
-0.
2
.-
L Min Value: -1.680
c

O, 1000 I L 1 , I I

1000
Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 23 ACM Response to External Shock Wave (+6 to -1.7 g Shock)