For pumps or turbines, the rotating impeller vanes or turbine blades must axially line up accurately

with their respective nonrotating partners. It should come as no surprise that when a balance disk or
balance drum fails, the thrust bearing is quickly destroyed, as are probably all or most of the pump
internals.
The basic geometry of balance drums and disks are illustrated in Figure 2.30, with high pressure at the
left sides on the illustrations and low pressure at the right sides. These balance devices are subjected
to approximately the pump full discharge pressure on one side and suction pressure on the other side.
The static axial thrust in a pump is created by the force differential acting on the impeller hub
and shroud sideplates. The force is calculated from the surface area of the sideplate and the
pressure acting on the sideplate, that is, A (in2) times P (lb/in2) = pounds force. As shown in
Figure 11-1, for a single suction impeller, the area of the impeller hub sideplate, that is, opposite
the impeller eye, is larger than the impeller shroud sideplate.

Balance Drum
A balance drum or piston (Figure 11-2) is basically a water-lubricated radial bearing. It
influences the rotor dynamic behavior of the pump and, therefore, its design. The thrust carrying
capability of this design is equal to the pressure difference on each side of the balance
drum and the radial area of the balance drum faces. A thrust bearing is then incorporated to
handle the force difference at the balance drum and to handle the forces generated during startup
or shutdown of the pump.
Thrust Bearing Failures