Experimental study on pad temperature and film thickness of tilting-pad journal bearings with an elastic-pivot pad

For the failure damage of local melting caused by a high temperature rise of an in-service bearing, which is a three-pad tilting-pad journal bearing with an 800 mm diameter and is used to support a 1150 MW nuclear power generator, the structural parameters of the bearing were redesigned and an experimental study was performed to investigate the pad temperatures and film thicknesses of the redesigned bearing and the in-service bearing on a dynamic balancing machine. Test results indicate that the test scheme is feasible and effective, and the redesigned bearing has better performances than the in-service bearing.