Abstract
The vibration characteristics of the pad fluttering in a fluid film tilting pad journal bearing (4-pad LBP) have been investigated experimentally under the different values of oil supply flow rate, bearing load and shaft speed. The vibration characteristics of the pad fluttering are estimated by measuring the time signal of circumferential distribution of the film thickness and the cascade plot of the response of the relative displacement between the bearing and the shaft. It is shown that the vibration frequency of the pad fluttering has a sub-synchronous frequency and almost does not change by the increase of shaft speed. However the vibration amplitude is increased by the increase of shaft speed. From those experimental results, pad fluttering can be thought of as a self-excited vibration. The incipient pad fluttering velocity is increased by the increase of oil supply flow rate and by the decrease of bearing load. It is observed that the vibration amplitude of the pad fluttering can be decrease by the control of supply oil flow rate effectively. And also It is known that the outbreak of pad fluttering does not concern with the shaft vibration.
