Experimental study on the characteristics of pad fluttering in a tilting pad journal bearing

The fluttering characteristics of the upper unloaded pads in a tilting pad journal bearing were studied experimentally. In order to investigate the fluttering phenomena of the pad, the absolute vibration of the pad, the relative vibration between the bearing and the shaft, and the circumferential film thickness/film pressure were measured with the variation of the supply oil flow rate, the shaft speed, and bearing load. By analyzing the circumferential distributions of the film thickness, it was identified that the film shape of the upper pad continuously alternates between the wedge shape and the diverged shape in the rotational direction while the shaft is rotating. And it was discovered that the pads tend to a representative sub-synchronous self-excited vibration exactly like classical rotor-bearing instability, defined as the oil whirl and oil whip phenomena, with the increase of rotating speed from the cascade plot of the pad. The major finding was that the incipient fluttering velocity of the pad increased with the increase of the supply oil flow rate but decreased with the increase of the bearing load. The experimental results also showed that the fluttering amplitudes of the pad can be effectively suppressed by controlling the supply oil flow rate.