THERMOHYDRODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF FOIL BEARINGS

Project: Thermohydrodynamic Analysis of Gas Lubricated Foil Bearings
Sponsor: Louisiana Space Consortium (LaSpace)
University: LSU, Mechanical Engineering
Principal Investigator: Professor Michael Khonsari
Graduate Student:
Contact Information: Professor Michael Khonsari

The high-speed and high-temperature oil-free technology (OFT) has been identified by the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) as a revolutionary concept to realize a a significant improvement in speed, efficiency, and reliability of turbomachinery.

CeRoM is focusing on evaluating the thermal characteristics of foil bearings and the expecting load-carrying capacities at high speeds.

Anticipated benefits:

1) Developing design guides for high load-carrying capacity
2) Comprehensive thermal analysis of foil bearings
3) Methodology to avoid thermally induced bearing failure.