Stability of the Wave Bearing on an Elastic Support

Numerical computation predicts that an elastic support can substantially improve the stability of the wave bearing if the dynamic stiffness and damping of this support are in a specific range of values. To experimentally validate this prediction, the housing of a gas bearing was mounted on elastic O-rings and the threshold of sub-synchronous whirl motion was experimentally observed when the bearing runs unloaded with a rotating speed up to 30,000 RPM. The O-ring system was also dynamically characterized by measuring its stiffness and damping at various frequencies up to 500 Hz. Good correlation exists between the experimental data and numerical prediction.