Abstract
Microturbomachinery (< 250 kW) using gas foil bearings can function without oil lubricants, simplify rotor-bearing systems, and demonstrate excellent rotordynamic stability at high speeds. State-of-the-art technologies generally use bump foil bearings or leaf foil bearings due to the specific advantages of each of the two types. Although these two types of bearings have been studied extensively, there are very few studies on leaf-bump foil bearings, which are a combination of the two aforementioned bearings. In this work, we illustrate a simple mathematical model of the leaf-bump foil bearing with leaf foils supported on bumps, and predict its static and dynamic performances. The analysis uses the simple elastic model for bumps that was previously developed and verified using experimental data, adds a leaf foil model, and solves the Reynolds equation for isothermal, isoviscous, and ideal gas fluid flow. The model predicts that the drag torques of the leaf-bump foil bearings are not affected significantly by static load and bearing clearance. Due to the preload effect of the leaf foils, rotor spinning, even under null static load, generates significant hydrodynamic pressure with its peak near the trailing edge of each leaf foil. A parametric study reveals that, while the journal eccentricity and minimum film thickness decrease, the drag torque, direct stiffness, and direct damping increase with increasing bump stiffness. The journal attitude angle and cross-coupled stiffness remain nearly constant with increasing bump stiffness. Interestingly, they are significantly smaller compared to the corresponding values obtained for bump foil bearings, thus, implying favorable rotor stability performance.
