Hydrostatic bearings are superior in terms of performance to contact based bearings, but non-usable in applications with non-constant curvature counter surfaces. A solution to this would be the introduction of deformable hydrostatic bearings components to cope with these require
...
Hydrostatic bearings are superior in terms of performance to contact based bearings, but non-usable in applications with non-constant curvature counter surfaces. A solution to this would be the introduction of deformable hydrostatic bearings components to cope with these required deformations. To reduce the required deformation of a bearing pad, multiple pads are connected through a so-called whiffletree support system. In this work, the design approach for such a whiffletree based hydrostatic bearing system is introduced. The approach includes determining the load capacity of all individual slippers. Design considerations are given regarding the joint rotational-, normal- and shear stiffness of each individual joint.