Design of externally pressurised

gas-!ubricated porous journal

bear=ngs
B. C. Majumdar*

Design charts for the evaluation of the performance characteristics of externally

oressurized, porous gas bearings under static loading are Dresented for a wide
range of parameters for direct use in practice. The theoretical results are
obtained from a rigorous analysis by simultaneous solution of the continuity
equation (derived from Darcy's law) and the modified Reynolds' equation
satisfying the boundary conditions of sealed end bearings. The effect of the
feeding parameter on static behaviour is discussed. Finally, a design procedure
of one such bearing is described.

Nomenclature bearings, when supported on rubber 'O' rings, could be

C radial clearance
D diameter of journal
e eccentricity
G,G mass rate of flow and flow parameter
H thickness of porous bushing
k x, ky, k z permeability coefficients of bushing material in
circumferential, axial, and radial directions
respectively
L bearing length
P pressure (absolute) in the bearing clearance
p' pressure (absolute) in the porous media
Pa atmospheric pressure (absolute)
Ps , -fis supply pressure (absolute), Ps = Ps/Pa
R journal radius
gas constant
S,S stiffness and stiffness parameter
T absolute temperature
W,W load capacity and load parameter
X, y, Z coordinates
7? absolute viscosity of gas
6 eccentricity ratio, e = e/C (dimensionless)
0 angular coordinate, 0 = x / R
A feeding parameter A = 12kzR2/C3H (dimension-
less)
Note: A dimensionless quantity has a bar on the top.
A porous material can be used as a bearing surface, with the
porousity of the material controlling the gas supply by
serving as a restrictor between the supply manifold and the
bearing. More even distribution of gas is possible compared
with a discrete hole-admission bearing 1. Moreover, a bearing
with a porous surface has an inherent damping capability.
Hence a porous bearing may be preferred to a conventional
hole-admission bearing in many industrial applications.
Probably the first experimental work on gas porous bearings
is that of Montgomery and Sterry 2 who showed that these
rotated up to a speed of nearly 4200 Hz with a shaft dia-
meter of about 6 ram. The most complete theoretical analy-
sis, using the perturbation method and considering only
radial gas flow in the porous wall, is due to Sneck and Yen 3.
Later, Mori et al 4,s, gave an incompressible solution assum-
ing an equivalent clearance model. Mori et al 6 in another
paper indicated a theoretical method for the solution for a
porous bearings as a boundary value problem. Although
this work 6 considered three dimensional flow in the porous
media, it failed to give sufficient information for the design
of a journal bearing.
The limitations of the work of Sneck and Yen 3 are that the
results are applicable only to a lightly loaded bearing and
are only valid for a thin porous wall. On the other hand,
Mori e t al 4,s used incompressible flow theory as a basis of
their solution. Hence the results are only true for low gas
supply pressures. The present work considers the problem
for conditions between these two extremes.
Theoretical considerations
For an externally pressurized journal bearing with sealed
ends as shown in Fig 1, gas is fed at constant pressure from
behind the porous bushing throughout the length of the
bearing. The flow of gas takes place in the axial, circum-
ferential and radial directions within the bush and then
exhausts through the bearing clearance to the atmosphere.
Assuming the flow of gas through the porous media is
characterized by Darcy's law and no slip occurs at the
porous surface, the flow equations in the porous wall and in
the bearing clearance are respectively6:
~2p'2 c32p,2 ~2p,2
~x ~xx2-+ky -0~- +k z ~zY = 0 (I)
and
O h3 ~)p2t + h3 (2)
~x -~x] -~y2 = 12 k z ~ 3z ]z=H

* Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of With the following substitutions: 0 = x / R , ~ = y/(L/2),
Technology, Kharagpur, India z = z/H, h = h/C (= 1 + e cos 0),P- ' = (p'/pa) 2 and ff = (p/pa) 2,

TRIBOLOGY international April 1976 71

 x,8 ~ L The static stiffness of this type of bearing is given by:

dW
S= - (9)
de

and in dimensionless lbrm is:

dW
Porous beorin 9
de
#%0
Fig 1 A gas-lubricated porous journal bearing where
SC
equations (1) and (2) for the case of uniform permeability S-= (10)
coefficients (ie k x = ky = kz) will be respectively: LD(Ps - Pa)

02p' 02p' 02p' Hence the slope of W versus e at any particular value of e
---- + (D/L) 2
002 ~y2-
+ (R/H) 2
T~-
=0 (3) gives the stiffness. However, a simplified formula in terms of
calculated W for small values ofe (e ~< 0.5) can be computed
using a linear perturbation theory with respect to e.
and
In these cases the stiffness
02]6 3 3P dh 32P A (OP']
--- + + (D/L) 2 - (4) dW W
002 h 30 dO 3y 2 h 3 ~32-]z=l S- - (ll)
de Ce
where where

12 kzR 2 LD(p, pa)~

A- S=
-

(12)
C3H Ce
As pressure p is given by pressure p' in tile porous media at
Therefore, the stiffness at any radial clearance C can be cal-
the bearing surface, which is the boundary between the
culated from the dimensionless load W using equation (7).
porous media and the bearing clearance, ~ in equation (4)
can be replaced by ~' and as the pressure gradient across the The theoretically predicted results of bearings having LID =
bearing clearance is zero, ~' at ~-= 1 is the film pressure. 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 for various design parameters are shown in
Equations (3) and (4) are solved by iteration 7 in a finite Figs 2 - 4 . The load capacity in all cases increases with
difference form with a digital computer to determine the increase in the feeding parameter, reaches a maximum and
pressure distribution in the bearing clearance. Thus, with then decreases with further increase in A. Hence an appro-
the pressure distribution known, the load W and the mass priate value of A can be selected for maximum load capa-
rate of flow G at the bearing ends can be calculated from: city. With an increase in the bushing thickness the load falls
considerably and therefore, a one dimensional solution 3
L/2 2n which does not have bush thickness as a parameter is inade-
quate to predict the above behaviour. The flow rate in-
w=-2f f p'RcosOdOdy (s) creases continuously with increases in the feeding parameter
particularly at high values of A. It may also be observed
o o that the flow does not change appreciably with e. In this
connection it may be mentioned that there is no significant
and decrease in flow rate with increase in H. For this reason the
flow is shown only for HID = 0.1 (Figs 2 - 4 ) . From the
2.tr results it appears that the dimensionless load W reaches a
2C 3
G_ (1 +ecosO)3RdO (6) maximum value when LID = 1.0 for most feeding para-
127 ~ T f p, 3p' y=L/2 meters. The absolute value is, of course, higher at higher
0 LID ratios. Thus, an increase in the LID ratio does not result
in a proportional increase in load capacity.
The load and flow in equations (5) and (6) are computed
numerically and expressed in dimensionless form as: Design procedure
W The bearing can be designed either for maximum load or
W= (7) for maximum stiffness. The values of A which yield these
LD(Ps - Pa) criteria are different. Therefore, to fulfil a particular
design criterion the dimensions of the bearing must be
and found separately, the following worked example illustrat-
ing the method.
_ 24 • ~T
G- G (8) A journal bearing is operating at e = 0.2 with the following
c 3% 2 -
specifications.

72 TRIBOLOGY international April 1976

 0.8 80
ko /15o
, = o a----///
0.7 70 ,=o 5-~f/
, = 0.8.~,,.//
,~= 0 . 5 - - - - ~
08 ,E=0.27.40
0.6 = , ~=0.2///-~/'" 60

0.5 50 //
o.s • =o.8 ,,// - :5.0
I~ 0.4 _
40 IO /,~-,oo 8
/ • -T2.a__ ~/.d'---, =0 5 ,o
/ f~ ~-- ~,=o.z
03 . .:o5~./ .:o5~..':'$.,3;"-~-,.... \ - 30 o,
~ - - ~ ~.
02 20
C--" - . J "%
1.0 I0

06.5 ,io ,b 5c,0

A 06 ,.'o 6
A

0.8 80 ~0 ,° 0.8-~///50
, =0s--y//
,=0.8~ ,=0.2
07 E = 0.5-~--~ 70
• =0.2 . - ~ 08 40
06 60

05 50
0.6 30
1~04 40 if,.9
Io

0:5 :50 0.4 20

• =o.5 _...~-..
0.2 //" r~,=o.2 /.~/"/ - " - ... "-,,~. -
20

I.O I0 02 10
~ ~ , : 0 . 5 ~'---
i ~-~, =0.2
00.5 I .lO I C) 5, 0
I
.3 IJO I0 2 ,0
b A

0.8 80 IOi ~ 5 0
• =0.8-~
Q7 • = 0.5-~/ 70

0.6 60
o.SF Z" --14o

0.5 50
0.6- . ~ - 30
I~= o 4 ~~ - - o & ~ ~ 40 Io • =0.8 ~ ~ " "=0.8
I~= ~ -,=0.5 Io
• = 0.8
0.5 .'50 ..-.-.~ - - ~ .~..~. --, = 0.2
0.4 "~- 20
02 20 ,E =0.5 "" "'--
0.1 I0
0.2 - ~----~"~/ , _
_----------~ " " ' = 0.2 " " IO
"-----,=0.2 I
oc 5,) 0
L5 I PO I0
c A

Fig2 Load capacity for L / D = 0.5. (a) Ps = 3.0, (b} ~s= °(~3 I}) I() 2~°
c A
6.0, (c) ~ = 8.0*
Fig 3 Load capacity fi~r L / D = ]. O. (a} Ps = 3. O, (b) Ps =
* Figs 2 4: solid line represents w for HID = O.1, the dotted line 6.0, (c) -Ps = 8.0*
w for H/D = 0.2, and the broken line

TRIBOLOGY international April 1976 73

 L=5xl0-2m, D=5x 10-2m, H=5x 10-3m T a b l e 1: Stiffness of a bearing having L/D= 1.0, H/D= 0.1,
c = 0.2 and P-s = 6.0
and
A C x 10-6, m S x 106, N/m
k z = 1 x 10 - 1 5 m 2.
2.1 8.88 106.5
Using air as a lubricant and assuming Ps = 6 bar and Pa = 3.0 7.94 113.0
1 bar, and an air temperature of 293 K, design the bearing 6.0 6.30 119.0
for both maximum load and maximum stiffness. 9.0 5.84 114.0
12.0 5.73 101.0
From the above dimensions, L I D = 1.0, H I D = 0.1 and
Ps = 6.0. The actual design will find the required bearing
clearance C for the above criteria. are: W = 150 N , G = 7.19 x 10 - 5 kg/s and S = 119.0 x
Assume ~ = 288 Nm/kg °C and r~ = 18.3 NS/m 2 at 106 N/m (since W = 0.120 and G-= 28.783 for A = 6.0).
293 K. From the above example it may be noted that a bearing
designed for maximum stifiness will have smaller radial
Designing for maximum load clearance and less flow rate than a bearing designed for
Referring to Fig 3(b), the maximum load will occur when maximum load.
A ~- 1.70 and the corresponding values of W = 0.152 and
G = 1 1.638. The required radial clearance is
References

J12 kzR2 1 Majumdar, B. C. On the general solution of externally pressurized

3 - 9.618 x 10 . 6 m.
HA
The load and flow rate are 190 N and 10.3 x 10 - 5 kg/s.
Using the simplified equation (12), the stiffness S = 98.5 x
106 N/m.
Designing for maximum stiffness
As the bearing carries only a light load ( i e e = 0.2), equation
(12) can be used to find the stiffness.__Taking various values
of A corresponding to high values of W, at e = 0.2, from
Fig 3(b), the necessary values of the clearance C are calculated
to give the maximum values of stiffness S. The results are
given in Table 1.
Referring to Table 1 the stiffness is seen to be a maximum
when A = 6.0, the corresponding radial clearance being C =
6.30 x 10 - 6 m. The load, flow and stiffness in this case
gas journal bearings', J Lub Tech, Trans. ASME, Series F, vol 94,
no 4, 1972, pp 291-296
2 Montgomery, A. G. and Sterry, F. 'A simple air bearing motor
for very high rotational speed', Atomic Energy Research Establishment.
Harwell, Berkshire, England, AERE, ED/R 196 71, 1955.
3 Sneek, H. J. and Yen, K. T. 'The externally pressurized, porous-
wall gas-lubricated journal bearings - I', ASLE Trans. vol 7, no 3,
1964, pp 288-298
4 Mori, H., Yabe, H., Yamakage, H. and Furukwa, J. 'Theoretical
analysis of externally pressurized, porous gas journal bearings
(lst Report)',Bulletin of JSME, vo111, no 45, 1968, pp 527-
535
5 Mori,H., Yabe, H., and Yamakage, H. 'Theoretical analysis of
externally pressurized, porous gas journal bearings (2nd Report)',
Bulletin of JSME, vo112, no 54, 1969, pp 1512-1518
6 Mori, H., Yabe, H. and Shibayama, T. 'Theoretical solution as
boundary value problem for externally pressurized porous gas
bearings,' J Basic Eng Trans. ASME, Series D, vo187, no 1, 1965,
pp 622-- 630
7 Majumdar, B. C. 'Analysis of externally pressurized porous gas
journal bearings - 1,' Wear, vol 33, no 1, 1975, pp 25 35

0.6 60 0.6 60 0.6 60

05 50
,=0.8

04 40

. . . . . . .

s ~ ~,:o
_ _
• = O.8-~-~ 501~

20

0.I 0.I - ~ II0 0.I Io

~ . . ~ " ~ - - • =0 5
-~.-- ,~=0.2
=---'- "---,:o.z ~o I
°C).l I.O O6= I.O
a A b A c A

Fig 4 L o a d capacity f o r L / D = 2.0. (a) Ps = 3.0, (b) Ps = 6.0, (c) Ps = 8 . 0 *

74 T R I B O L O G Y international April 1976