Effect of Velocity Slip in an Externally Pressurized Porous Thrust Bearing Working With an Incompressible Fluid

Abstract

A porous thrust pad externally pressurized with an incompressible fluid is analyzed providing for the slip flow at the porous boundary as per the Beavers-Joseph model. The performance characteristics of the bearing are derived in a closed form assuming that the flow is predominantly axial in the bearing matrix. The behavior of the bearing is described in terms of a new dimensionless parameter called the “Bearing Number.” There is near perfect agreement between the theoretical predicted performance and the one experimentally evaluated.