Investigation of the Static Performance of Hydrostatic Thrust Bearings Considering Non-Gaussian Surface Topography

Abstract

The dynamic and static characteristics of hydrostatic thrust bearings are significantly affected by the bearing surface topography. Previous studies on hydrostatic thrust bearings have focused on Gaussian distribution models of bearing surface topography. However, based on actual measurements, the non-Gaussianity of the distribution characteristics of bearing surface topography is clear. To accurately characterize the non-Gaussian distribution of bearing surface topography, the traditional probability density function of Gaussian distribution was modified by introducing Edgeworth expansion. The non-Gaussian surface was then reflected by two parameters: kurtosis and skewness. This had an effect on the static characteristics of hydrostatic thrust bearings with both circumferential and radial surface topographies. The comparison between the Gaussian distribution results and those of the non-Gaussian model showed that errors between the two models could reach more than 10%. Therefore, it is important to take into account the non-Gaussianity of bearing surface when discussing static characteristics of hydrostatic thrust bearings considering the surface topography.

Keywords

• hydrostatic thrust bearings
• surface topography
• non-Gaussianity
• static performance
• kurtosis and skewness