Abstract

Aerostatic porous bearings have been investigated in the last decades for precision engineering designs, since these bearings offer zero-friction and high operating speeds, as well as providing a very precise positioning system without external influence. Numerical methods such as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) play an important role in the design and behaviour analysis of porous aerostatic bearings, being possible to adjust the geometry and characteristics of the porous restrictor even before its manufacture. In the present work, the behaviour of the gas at the inlet and outlet of a porous thrust bearing made of cementitious composites is analysed by numerical simulation using CFD method. The results reveal a stable behaviour of the cementitious porous bearing and a good correlation between numerical and experimental load capacities.

Keywords: Aerostatic thrust bearing; Porous restrictor; CFD; numerical simulation; Cementitious composites