Finite element method analysis of hydrostatic thrust pad bearings operating with electrically conducting lubricant

A theoretical investigation has been carried out to explore the use of electrically conducting fluids as lubricants in circular and elliptical hydrostatic thrust pad bearings subjected to transverse magnetic field. Flow of electrically conducting fluid in the presence of external transverse magnetic field is represented by the addition of Lorentz force in Navier-Stokes equation. A MATLAB source code based on finite element formulation of the modified Reynolds equation is developed for obtaining static and dynamic characteristics parameters of the bearing. Influence of aspect ratio (major/minor-axis) and magnetic field (Hartmann number) are analyzed on the performance of elliptical pad bearing. Application of electrically conducting lubricant in the elliptical pad is observed to provide higher values of fluid film stiffness (44.93%) and damping (139.37%) coefficients as compared to the circular pad operating with Newtonian lubricant.