The applications where fluid film bearings are used to guide high loads over wavy surfaces are limited. This because current designs of fluid film bearings often consist either of rigid embodiments that are unable to adapt to varying surface curvatures to form the required thin fluid film, or of compliant designs that have been designed to allow only for small deformations. This work discusses the requirements to design highly deformable fluid film bearings and introduces two metrics to compare their performance. Additionally, it introduces a compliant cell that is filled with an incompressible fluid as a design element to obtain both a high load capacity and sufficient deformability for such bearings. This closed fluid cell is also implemented in a 2D axi-symmetric hydrostatic bearing concept, that is numerically modelled and validated by experiments with a prototype. The simulations and prototype show that it is able to operate on surfaces with a hundred times higher curvature than has been analysed in previous studies.

Compliant joints have significant advantages compared to rigid-body hinges due to a monolithic design and the absence of friction, which prevents effects like wear, backlash, and stick-slip behavior. However, the loading capability is often limited and the support stiffness generally decreases during rotation. A new design principle called closed form pressure balancing has been proposed as a solution to improve these limitations. By using an incompressible fluid as the main compliant element, the support stiffness becomes independent of rotation and buckling no longer limits the loading capability. This work analyzes the fundamental working principle behind closed form pressure balancing and introduces a 2D design model to determine stiffness properties. The design model is validated with a finite element model and used to construct an optimization strategy for optimum joint performance. Additionally, a conversion model and some practical considerations are presented for the transition to a 3D design model.