Research on performance of aerostatic journal bearing with variable-section pressure equalizing groove of elastic membrane

In this paper, a new stype of aerostatic bearing is presented. The new structure can increase the stiffness of aerostatic bearing by using variable-section pressure equalizing groove of elastic membrane. Then, the aerostatic journal bearing with variable-section pressure equalizing groove of elastic membrane was proposed. According to the knowledge of computational fluid dynamics and the Shell theory, establishing the gas lubrication governing equation and elastic deformation of membrane governing equation of aerostatic journal bearing. Simultaneously, solving equations through the use of finite difference method with a combination of over-relaxation iterative. The carrying capacity and bearing stiffness were obtained by using the coupling procedure of two governing equations of aerostatic lubrication and elastic deformation of membrane. According to the structure of aerostatic journal bearing, several sets of experiments were designed. The results of experiment and theoretical calculations have been took a comparative analysis, which can obtain a conclusion that the stiffness of aerostatic bearing with variable-section pressure equalizing groove of elastic membrane was increased.