A General Purpose Test Facility for Evaluating Gas Lubricated Journal Bearings

The present work describes the detailed design and operational capabilities of a general purpose test facility developed to evaluate the dynamics and performance of gas lubricated journal bearings. The component level test facility was developed to serve as an initial tollgate test platform for certifying gas lubricated journal bearings into aircraft engine applications. A rotating test rig was engineered to test 70–120 mm diameter bearings at 40,000–80,000 rpm and $1200°F$⁠. The test rig described in this paper possesses design elements that enable the simultaneous application of dynamic and static load profiles of up to 1000 lb while monitoring and measuring the bearing torque. This capability allows for the characterization of several critical metrics such as bearing lift off speed characteristics, load capacity, and frequency dependent rotordynamic force coefficients. This paper discusses the functionality of the test facility and presents sample test measurements from several experiments.