Stability of a Rigid Rotor Supported by Aerostatic Journal Bearings With Circular Slot Restrictors (On the Double-Row Admission Bearing)

This paper discusses the stability of a rigid rotor supported by double-row admission journal bearings with circular slot restrictors. In the theoretical analysis, the energy loss at the outlet of the slot is taken into account because the gas flow is subject to a rapid change in direction, and here, the energy loss coefficient is determined experimentally. It is found that a better agreement between the theoretical and experimental results for the threshold of instability can be obtained by considering the energy loss. Furthermore, in this paper, it is shown experimentally that an aerostatic journal bearing with circular slot restrictors has higher stiffness and higher stability than a conventional point source bearing with inherently compensated feeding holes.