Hydrodynamic Analysis of a Slider Gas Bearing Including the Gas Inertia Effect

Abstract

A computationally efficient analysis is presented to calculate both the steady and unsteady compressible flow of an ideal gas in an infinitely wide slider bearing with the gas inertia effect included. In this analysis, the velocity profile across the film is assumed to be parabolic, and the gas pressure and density across the film are assumed constant. The results of the present approximate analysis for the steady-state case compare very well with the results from the open literature, experiments and a detailed Finite-Element analysis. It was found that both the pressure and velocity distributions in the slider bearing may be very much in error if the gas inertia effect is not considered. Comparing the results from the time-dependent analysis with the results from the steady-state analysis, it was concluded that (1) the pressure distribution does not change, (2) the flow through the slider bearing entrance may change considerably.