Thermal and tilt effects on bearing characteristics of hydrostatic oil pad in rotary table

Hydrostatic pads are key components of a constant flow compensation hydrostatic rotary table. The tilt and thermal effects due to the partial load, the manufacturing errors and the friction must be considered. However, designers are more likely inclined to ignore these effects. In this work, the coupled characteristics of the tilt and thermal effects are studied. A coupled mathematical model to calculate the bearing properties of the pads is built. This model takes into consideration of tilt and thermal effects and is used to solve the flow problem by the finite difference method. The characteristics of the oil pad, including, the recess pressures, the load carrying capacity and the damping coefficients, are obtained and the tilt and thermal effects are analyzed. It is observed that the tilt has a tremendous impact on the bearing characteristics of the hydrostatic pad. The recess pressure, the load carrying capacity and the stiffness are reduced by 50% and the pressure distribution and the temperature distribution of the oil film also change significantly. When the pads work under a tilt operation, a larger land width is better for its bearing properties. It is also observed that the thermal effect is significant and cannot be ignored.