Technical Note
Proc IMechE Part J:
The limiting load-carrying capacity
of foil thrust bearings
P Samanta1 and MM Khonsari2
Abstract
A simple procedure is proposed for predicting the limiting pressure and corresponding limiting of the load-carrying
capacity of a foil thrust bearing. A closed-form analytical solution for the limiting load is derived, and the predictions are
verified by the numerical solution. An approximate solution for limiting thrust load is also obtained and compared to
the value obtained through the analytical solution. A parametric analysis is performed to examine the dependency of the
limiting load on different geometric parameters for the bearing.
Keywords
Limiting load, foil thrust bearings, analytical solution
Date received: 7 August 2017; accepted: 17 October 2017
Introduction
A foil bearing is a self-acting gas bearing that operates
based on the hydrodynamic lubrication principles.
The bearing consists of a rigid and stationary backing
plate that supports a number of discrete pads as
shown in Figure 1. These pads are constructed using
a corrugated flexible bump foil and a thin metal sheet
placed on it to hold the bearing film. When there is
a relative motion between the pads and the runner
surface, converging gap forms in the direction of rota-
tion, a positive pressure develops, and the moving
surface lifts off from the stationary pads. As a distinct
advantage to the oil-lubricated bearing, the surround-
ing process gas is used as a lubricant, hence eliminat-
ing the need for an auxiliary lubrication system.1
This self-cooling system enables a radical reduction
in overall system weight, complexity, and mainten-
ance cost. This overall structural simplicity makes
the foil bearing an enabling technology for today’s
most advanced turbo-machinery system.2
In a foil bearing, the developed pressure in the film
is completely governed by the linear surface speeds
and the viscosity of the gaseous film, typically air.
The viscosity of air is, however, very low, almost
103 times lower than that of an engine oil.
Therefore, a foil air bearing has to operate at high
speeds to achieve the required load-carrying capacity
(LCC). Hence, over the past three decades, many
researchers have focused on the LCC of foil journal
bearings3 by tailoring the stiffness and damping char-
acteristics,4,5 but very little attention has been given to
improving the LCC of foil thrust bearings. This may
J Engineering Tribology
0(0) 1–7
! IMechE 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1350650117747160
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be attributed to the fact that earlier turbo-machines
had been designed with minimum thrust load in view
of having a smaller bearing size that eliminated the
thrust runner’s weight. Such a concept can, in turn,
reduce the LCC requirement, power loss, and improve
the overall system design margin.2 This minimization
of thrust load has been achieved by a clever arrange-
ment of turbine and compressor6 or by incorporation
of an innovative side surface profile of rotor in the
case of the small micro-turbine set.7 However, in
many turbo-machinery systems, e.g. aviation turbofan
engines or space nuclear Brayton-cycle alternator, the
total thrust load imposed on the bearing may vary
significantly by many other variables and operating
conditions.3 Therefore, precise prediction of thrust
load is a pre-requisite criterion for a successful imple-
mentation of a foil bearing in such large systems.
Heshmat et al.8,9 first analyzed the foil thrust bear-
ing numerically and presented a detailed study of the
static load performance. DellaCorte and Valco10
reported a simple rule-of-thumb model for a foil
1
Surface Engineering and Tribology Department, CSIR-Central
Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur, West Bengal,
India
2
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State
University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Corresponding author:
MM Khonsari, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering,
Louisiana State University, Patrick Taylor Hall, Baton Rouge,
LA 70803, USA.
Email: khonsari@me.lsu.edu
2 Proc IMechE Part J: J Engineering Tribology 0(0)

Figure 1. Sector pad for thrust bearing.

journal bearing based on the experimental data and

fundamental principles of hydrodynamic lubrication.
Similarly, Dykas et al.2 provided a mathematical
expression for the initial estimation of thrust load
expression as W ¼ Dt ð!Dm ÞðDm NÞ, where W is the
load, Dt represents the LCC coefficient, Dm denotes
Figure 2. Composite profile of thrust pad with nomencla-
the average inner and outer top foil diameter, and N is
ture:8 (a) front view of thrust pad; (b) top view of thrust pad.
the shaft speed. According to this formula, the thrust
load is proportional to the runner surface velocity at
the mid radial position and the swept area of the
bearing between the inner and outer radii of the
foils. Here the LCC coefficient, Dt, must be deter-
mined experimentally. The LCC is also dependent The film thickness can be described for the said
on other factors—e.g. the surface roughness of the profile as follows
top foil, the stiffness of foils, and the geometric profile
of the thrust bearing—and a particular bearing design h ¼ 1 þ gð
 r, Þ þ  ðp  1Þ ð2Þ
can exhibit a wide range of load-capacity coefficient
data.2 Given that air is much less viscous than an where
engine oil, a great majority of air foil bearings tend
to operate at or near their limiting load capacity with g ¼ ðh1  1Þf1  ð=bÞg for 0 5  5 b
little margin of safety. Hence, reliable information on ð3Þ
g ¼ 0 for b4 5 
the limiting LCC is of paramount importance at the
design stage.
The main aim of this paper is to develop an expres- and nondimensional parameters used in above equa-
sion for the limiting load for foil thrust bearing. The tions are given by
results provide useful information in terms of highest
LCC that can be expected for specified bearing struc- r ¼ r=R2 ; h ¼ h=h2 ; g ¼ g=h2 ; h1 ¼ h1 =h2 ;
tural and geometric conditions. An approximate solu-
 ¼ 6 !ðR2 =h2 Þ2 =pa
tion is formulated for rapid estimation of the limiting  
load in the composite thrust bearing. The validity of  ¼ 2pa sðl=tÞ3 1  2 =h2 E
the analytical solution is verified by the full numerical
solution.  r, Þ can be integrated over
The derived pressure pð
the pad area as shown in Figure 2(b) to obtain the
bearing LCC
Theory
Z Z 1
Consider the composite profile of a thrust pad shown
 ¼
W ðp  1Þr drd ð4Þ
in Figure 2, where the leading portion has a constant 0 R1 =R2
slope followed by a parallel surface with the runner.
Iordanoff11 has already proven that this composite where W  ¼ W=pa R2 and total load for the bearing
2
profile of thrust pad gives maximum LCC. With ref- will be given by Wt ¼ n  W where n is the number
erence to Figure 2, the cylindrical non-dimensional of pads.
form of the Reynolds equation for the sector pad
shown is given by the following equation8
Limiting solution
     
1@ 3 @p  1 @  
3 @p @ p h Referring to Reynolds equation (1), it is observed that
p h r þ 2 p h ¼ ð1Þ for large bearing number i.e. for
r @r @r r @ @ @   ! 1, the pressure
field can remain finite only if @@ ph ! 0, i.e. implying
Samanta and Khonsari 3

 
that p h ¼ constant ¼ A (Say) i.e. resulting expression for pressure for this zone is
given by
A qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
p ¼ ð5Þ
h ð1  Þ þ ð1  Þ2 þ 4h1
p2 ¼ 1 ð9Þ
2
To evaluate the constant ‘‘A’’, we apply the bound-
ary condition at  ¼ 0. Since at  ¼ 0 the pressure is The load for this zone is obtained by multiplying
atmospheric,8 p ¼ 1. From equations (2) and (3), the pressure by the area of that portion of the sector
we have A ¼ h1 . Now, combining equations (2) and
(5), we have the following expression for limiting  2 ¼ p 2  A 2 and W2 ¼ W
W  2  pa  R 2
2
pressure
where A 2 ¼ =2  ð1  R22 Þ  ð1  bÞ
h1 Total load for the bearing is given
p ¼ ð6Þ
 r, Þ þ ðp  1Þ
1 þ gð
Wta ¼ ðW1 þ W2 Þ  n ð10Þ
 we obtain
Solving equation (6) for p,
where n is the total number of pads.
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2 Using the above procedures, three types of solu-
 r, Þ   g þ
f1 þ gð 1 þ gð  r, Þ   þ4 h1 tions for the thrust load are obtained: one is obtained
p ¼ using the numerical solution of the full Reynolds
2
ð7Þ equation for comparing it with those obtained using
the limiting solution. The second one is the limiting
solution using the actual film thickness at different
The corresponding limiting LCC can be found by grid points in zone I of composite profile and the
integrating the pressure over the whole surface area of third is obtained by approximation of average film
the pad using equation (4) and multiplying this load thickness in zone I for calculating the limiting load
for single pad by the total number of pads. An expres- using hand-calculator.
sion for the foil journal bearing analog is given in
Peng and Khonsari.12
Validation of solutions
A numerical algorithm is developed to solve equation
Approximate solution (1) along with equation (2) to obtain the pressure in
To obtain the thrust load analytically, the thrust pad the bearing film zone, and simulations are performed
is divided into two regions as shown in Figure 2(a). with the input data taken from Lee et al.13 work
For both regions, the pressure value can be obtained shown in Table 1. The numerically obtained load
as follows data for various cases of bearing dimension as
shown in Table 1 has been tabulated in Table 2.
Zone I. The pressure value for this zone can be
approximated as an average pressure corresponding
to the mid position of the slope as follows
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Table 1. Input data for program validation.13
ð1 þ g1   Þ þ ð1 þ g1  Þ2 þ 4h1
p 1 ¼ 1 Parameters Values
2
ð8Þ Outer radius (R2) Type I: 55 mm
Type II: 50 mm
Type III: 45 mm
where g1 ¼ h1 =2  1.
Now, one can obtain the load value by multiplying Inner radius (R1) 30 mm
the pressure with the area of that portion of the sector Bump foil thickness (t) 0.2 mm
as follows Bump pitch (s) 5 mm
Half arc length (l) 2.66 mm
 1 ¼ p 1  A 1 and W1 ¼ W
W  1  pa  R2 Bump foil material Stainless steel
2
Minimum film thickness (h2) 5 mm
where A 1 ¼ =2  ð1  R22 Þ  b Film thickness ratio (h 1 ) 10 mm
Speed (N) 25,000 r/min
Zone II. The film thickness is constant in this zone II. Angular extension of pad () 45
Hence, the pressure value for this zone can be
Number of pads (n) 8
obtained by putting g1 ¼ 0 in equation (8) and the
4 Proc IMechE Part J: J Engineering Tribology 0(0)

From Table 2, it is clear that there is a close agree-
ment in the LCC data obtained numerically with
those values obtained experimentally and theoretic-
ally in the literature.13 A typical pressure profile of
thrust pad obtained for type-III bearing is shown in
Figure 3.
Comparison of limiting solutions
The targeted limiting load for thrust bearing can be
obtained by solving equation (7) or from approxima-
tion method using equations (8) and (9). Both results
have been compared in following sections.
Comparing analytical solution with full
numerical simulations
To verify the limiting solution of load, the type-III
bearing is selected. The LCC value at the limiting
case pertains to the input data of type-III bearing
given in Table 1.
The limiting pressure profile for this bearing is
depicted in Figure 4. It shows that the pressure grad-
ually increases from leading edge to a maximum point
and remain constant in the parallel section of the com-
posite profile as shown in Figure 2(a). The nature of
the profile is similar to the optimized field pressure
obtained by Iordanoff12 for the maximum load con-
ditions of composite thrust pad. The LCC for the
same bearing is evaluated numerically for different
speeds starting from 5000 r/min until the load value
reaches its plateau (Figure 5). The LCC value for
type-III bearing for limiting case solution yields
331 N. The LCC value of 313.0 N at the plateau pos-
ition for the same bearing is obtained numerically at
the limiting speed of 20x105 r/min. The beauty of the
limiting solution lies in the fact that one can quickly
evaluate the extreme load-carrying capacity of the
bearing for its particular configuration, which
includes important structural parameter like compli-
ance of the foil as well as the geometric profile par-
ameter of the pad described by leading and trailing
edge film thickness. This is very useful at the design
stage.

Comparing limiting solution from

Table 2. Comparison of theoretical and experimental results.
approximation method
Data from literature13
Theoretical One can obtain the limiting load for a particular bear-
Bearing Experimental Theoretical values from ing configuration quickly using the approximation
type (N) (N) present work (N) method described in previous section. To check the
accuracy of the approximate solution, type-III bear-
Type I 350 200a and 450b 283
ing described in Table 1 is considered. The load
Type II 179 180 186 values for different film thickness ratios are obtained
Type III 100 120 109 by solving equation (7). The same is obtained using
a
Based on maximum linear stiffness approximation. equations (8) to (10) and both sets of results are sum-
b
Based on third-order polynomial stiffness approximation. marized in Table 3. The results shown in Table 3

Figure 3. Typical pressure profile obtained for type-III bearing.

Samanta and Khonsari 5

Figure 4. Pressure contour of composite pad profile obtained from limiting solution.

Figure 5. Comparison of load obtained by numerical and limiting solution.

demonstrate that using approximate method one can

reliably and easily predict the limiting load for a spe- Table 3. Comparing approximate solution.
cified bearing configuration.
Programming
Film thickness solution of Approximate
Parametric analysis ratio (h 1 ) equation (7) solution

A parametric analysis is performed to determine the 10 362.04 363.81

dependency of limiting pressure on geometric profile 12 410 407.12
parameter and compliance of the structural param- 14 453.61 446.32
eter. Figure 6 shows the variation of pressure plotted 16 493.78 482.31
against film thickness ratio, h1 , and compliance, . 18 531.19 515.72
It is observed that the magnitude of the limiting load 20 566.3 547
increases with the film thickness ratio as well as the
6 Proc IMechE Part J: J Engineering Tribology 0(0)

 
Figure 6. Variation of nondimensional pressure with film thickness ratio h 1 and compliance ðÞ.

compliance parameter. Here, the noteworthy point is using the limiting case solution method described
that the effect of increasing the value h1 on the LCC is in this paper.
significant. It is observed from the analysis of . The limiting load for a particular bearing configur-
Heshmat et al.8 that the variation of numerically ation can also be obtained using approximate solu-
derived operational pressure for different film thick- tion method with good accuracy and the expression
ness ratios is not so much. This phenomenon may be for the load is given by:
attributed to the fact that, the normal pressure is qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
28 9
obtained in numerical simulation by converging the <ð1 þ g 1   Þ þ ð1 þ g 1  Þ2 þ 4h1 =
film thickness and pressure simultaneously due to Wta ¼ 4  1  A 1
: 2 ;
deflection of foil surface against the developed pres-
8 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 9 3
sure where the initial film thickness ratio is adjusted to <ð1   Þ þ ð1  Þ2 þ 4h1 =
satisfy the load, whereas the limiting load is calculated þ  1  A 2 5npa R22
purely based on initial film thickness ratio. The value : 2 ;
of h1 can be increased by reducing the minimum film
thickness value, h2 , or increasing the inlet film thick-
ness, h1 . Since decreasing the value of h2 is restricted where g 1 ¼ h1 =2  1; A 1 ¼ =2  ð1  R22 Þ  b; and
by the surface roughness of the top foil, it is always A 2 ¼ =2  ð1  R22 Þ  ð1  bÞ.
preferable to have a higher value of inlet film thick-
ness for obtaining maximum limiting load value. . The limiting load value is independent of speed of
On the other hand, a higher compliance value can the bearing.
be obtained by decreasing the bump foil thickness . The limiting load for the bearing takes into account
or increasing the value of the half-arc length of the the effect of structural parameters and geometric
bump foil or pitch length. profile parameters of the bearing.
. A high value of the ramp and compliance yield a
large limiting load.
Conclusions
The following conclusions can be drawn from this
analysis:
Acknowledgment
. The limiting value of load-carrying capacity for a The authors thank the Department of Mechanical
particular bearing can be effectively calculated Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State
Samanta and Khonsari 7

University, USA for providing the opportunity to carry out 10. DellaCorte C and Valco MJ. Load capacity estimation
the work. of foil air journal bearings for oil-free turbo-machinery
applications. Tribol Trans 2000; 43: 795–801.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests 11. Iordanoff I. Maximum load capacity profiles for gas
thrust bearings working under high compressibility
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
number conditions. ASME J Tribol 1998; 120: 571–576.
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
12. Peng ZC and Khonsari MM. On the limiting load-
this article.
carrying capacity of foil bearings. ASME J Tribol
2004; 126: 817–818.
Funding 13. Lee YB, Kim TY, Kim CH, et al. Thrust bump air foil
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial bearings with variable axial load:Theoretical predic-
support for the research, authorship, and/or publication tions and experiments. Tribol Trans 2011; 54: 902–910.
of this article: The authors would like to thank CSIR,
New Delhi, India for sponsoring the fund of the Raman
Research Fellowship under which the proposed works
were carried out.
Appendix
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