Effect of pad offset on the stability of Jeffcott rotor operating in tilting 4-pad journal bearings

Tilting-pad journal bearings are applied in high-speed rotor systems. Excellent stability properties allow obtaining the reliable, vibration free, operation of bearings and rotor. There is still need for better knowledge of such bearings static and dynamic characteristics. In case of tilting-pad journal bearings the stability can be evaluated by the system damping. The system damping gives the damping reserve of the bearings-rotor system and can be obtained by the solution of basic hydrodynamic and rotor motion equations. In this paper the hydrodynamic equations were solved by means of finite difference method. As result, the dynamic characteristics of bearings in form of stiffness and damping coefficients were obtained. These coefficients were the basis for the determination of the system damping.