Performance improvement of foil air journal bearing employing micro-pocket and textures on top compliant surface

Investigations to reduce the friction and improve the dynamic performance of a self-acting air foil journal bearing have been performed and presented herein employing the texture, micro-groove and micro-pocket on the top foil. Significant improvements in the static and dynamic performances have been found in presence of micro-pocketed/grooved and textured top foils in comparison to conventional plain foil. The micro-pocketed top foil yields better performance as compared to textured and conventional cases. In the presence of micro-pocket on top compliant foil, the bearing yielded a significant reduction in friction coefficient varying in the range of 8%-11% as compared to conventional one. Moreover, better dynamic stability has also been found even at lightly loaded conditions in the presence of texture and micro-pocket.