Finite element analysis of the pressure distribution of externally pressurized spherical gas bearings with inherent compensation

With respect to the externally pressurized spherical gas bearing with inherent compensation having integrated spherical socket, an infinitesimal radius Ra was introduced to get rid of the bottleneck that conformal transformation did not exist when θ was equal to zero. A series of equations for the analysis of the boundary conditions were deduced. It was found that the proportion dividing algorithm was also applicable to the solution of the gas film pressure field of the externally pressurized spherical gas bearing with inherent compensation and integrated spherical socket, though the boundary conditions were different from that of the gas bearing with portion spherical socket. The center region in the spherical gas film of the present gas bearing was dominated by a stagnant air flow, and the pressure in the stagnant air flow region was higher than that in the other region of the gas bearing excluding the adjacent region of the orifice and remained constant.