Novel Foil Bearing</title
A Novel Approach to the Foil Bearing Problem
George G. Adams
Summary
A new approach is presented for the one-dimensional steady state foil bearing
problem. The technique uses a specially developed form of Newton's method
which is applied directly to the system of equation as a coupling scheme.
The steady-state form of the air bearing equation is also solved at each system
iteration through Newton's method. Accuracy problems inherent in the numerical
calculation of the tape deflection are overcome by obtaining an analytical solution
for the dominant component of the pressure distribution. The deflection due to
the remainder of the pressure is computed numerically. Although a formulation
with pressure as the primary unknown is possible, it is found that a displacement
formulation is more efficient. During iteration, the viscosity of air is artificially
varied in order to speed convergence and enhance the robustness of the solution.
Results are obtained for simple cylindrical heads at low flying heights as well
as for a complex head geometry.
Dr. George G. Adams