Inertia Effects in Squeeze-Film Damper Bearings Generated by Circumferential Oil Supply Groove

The dynamic properties of an industrial Squeeze-Film Damper (SFD) bearing design are described using the well-known perturbation approach, where the reaction forces induced by small movements away from the position of equilibrium are expanded into a Taylor series in terms of displacement, velocity, and acceleration. Although generally negligible, the acceleration term can become significant in SFD bearings when inertia effects in the damper lands are enhanced by the flow in a central circumferential oil supply groove. By using a bulk flow approximation in the oil supply groove an explicit expression is derived for the acceleration term. Experimental results confirm the significance of the oil supply groove geometry and appear to validate the bulk flow approximation.