• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.27-34
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• 2006

Knudsen number is the ratio of molecular mean free path versus mm thickness and the criterion to determine the flow form. When its value is lower than 0.01, the flow can be assumed to has no slip boundary condition. And in the case that the value is between 0.01 and 10, then the flow has slip boundary condition at both the adjacent walls. The condition of the air flow between the rotating journal and top foil in the air foil bearing is determined by the rotating speed and load, and the Knudsen number is also varied by those values. Because the molecular mean free path is variable to the pressure and temperature, more exact formulation is necessary to understand and analyze the flow regime. In this study, the analysis considering Knudsen number formulated with those variables (pressure, temperature and mm thickness) was executed. The approximate value was examined using the equation to confirm whether the flow has the slip or no-slip boundary condition. From the analytic investigation, it was decided to range approximately 0.01 to 1.0 and the flow can be supposed to have the slip boundary condition. Under the condition of the slip flow, the static characteristics of the air foil bearing were examined using modified Reynolds equations. The results were compared with those considering no slip condition. It shows that the slip condition makes the flow decelerates and the load carrying capacity decreases compared with no slip condition. And as the bearing number and eccentricity ratio increase, the load carrying capacity also increased at both the cases. From this result, it can be supposed that the bearing torque also increases. In the analysis of the dynamic characteristics, the perturbed Knudsen number was taken into consideration. Because the Knudsen number is expressed as the terms of each variable, the perturbed equation can be simply derived. The results of both cases considering and not considering Knudsen number were compared each other. In the case of the direct terms of the stiffness and damping coefficients, the difference between both cases was little and increased as the bearing number and eccentricity ratio increased. And the cross terms have less or more differences.