The effect of high speed rotation on the performance of hydrostatic thrust bearings.

Hydrostatic bearings have been the subject of many theoretical and experimental investigations. Some investigations have confirmed that increasing the speed of rotation of a hydrostatic thrust bearing reduces the load carrying capacity. Previous theoretical predictions of the pressure distribution, during rotation, have not taken into account the radial inertia effects, with the result that the predicted values of pressure near the vicinity of the air inlet, have been much higher than those measured under test. In this investigation radial and rotational inertia effects have been considered theoretically and experimentally for both 'parallel' and 'stepped' bearings using air as the lubricant. The relevance of compressibility has also been assessed.