Elastro-hydrodynamic lubrication model of multi-decked foil thrust bearing with copper wire support

Copper wire supported foil thrust bearing (CWFTB), which can be applied in high speed turbo-expander, adopts underlying flat foil as elastic supporting that interconnected with copper wires. In this paper, finite element model of the thrust bearing is developed incorporating the fluid film and foil deflections. Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is realized through serial solution of the fluid Reynolds equation and the plate Kirchhoff equation. Pressure profile of the gas film and deflections of the top foil and bottom foil are obtained through iteration. Static bearing performance such as bearing load and friction torque of the bearing are evaluated concerning bearing configuration such as taper/land ratio, taper height and copper wire arrangements. The finite element numerical results are validated with data from experiments.