Design Charts for Arbitrarily Pivoted, Liquid-Lubricated, Flat-Sector-Pad Thrust Bearing

A flat sector-shaped geometry for a liquid-lubricated thrust bearing is analyzed considering both the pitch and roll of the pad. Performance characteristics such as center of pressure location, unit load, and friction loss coefficient, are presented in design charts. These charts enable a direct approach to the design of both point and line pivoted pads and also provide the necessary procedure for the design of nontilting flat pads. The various features of point and line pivoted configurations are discussed, and a comparison is made with the Michell bearing approximation. It is found that this approximation always overestimates load capacity.