Finite length floating ring bearings: Operational characteristics using analytical methods

The floating ring bearings widely used in high-speed applications are usually incorporated in rotordynamic algorithms under short bearing approximation or by using numerical solutions. In an effort to improve both the accuracy and evaluation time of the pressure distribution in a floating ring bearing, a recently developed exact analytical solution is applied to finite-length floating-ring bearings. The main design characteristics and operational parameters such as ring speed ratio, eccentricities, and friction coefficient are presented for various cases of operation under the exact analytical solution and they are compared with approximating or numerical bearing models and experimental measurements when possible.