Affiliations: Maizuru National College of Technology, 234 Shiroya,
Maizuru-shi, Kyoto, 625-8511, Japan. E-mail: noma@maizuru-ct.ac.jp | Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kansai
University, 3-3-35, Yamate-cho, Suita-shi, Osaka, 564-8680, Japan. E-mail:
moriatsu@ipcku.kansai-u.ac.jp
Abstract: In this study, the Taylor vortices of the film flow in the bearing
clearance and so-called cavity flow between pads in a submerged tilting pad
journal bearing were visualized by means of a tracer method. The effects of pad
arc extent and pad inclination (from leading to trailing edges) on fluid flows,
especially on the structures of Taylor vortices and cavity flow were
investigated. The critical Taylor number of the film flow increased with an
increase in pad inclination slightly. The pitch of array of the Taylor vortex
rings at the critical Taylor number was, however, scarcely influenced by the
pad inclination. The pitch was likely fixed by the mean clearance over the pad.
Two-dimensional cavity flow field (in the central section perpendicular to the
rotation axis) between pads was measured by a Particle Image Velocimetry to
investigate the interaction of film flow and cavity flow between pads. The
Taylor vortices out of the preceding pad were almost carried over the cavity
region into succeeding pad, and hardly mixed with the cavity flow. This
phenomenon is important in relation to the oil exchange between the film and
cavity flows.
Keywords: Tilting pad journal bearing, Taylor vortex, Film flow, Cavity flow, Particle Image Velocimetry
