Tilting-pad journal bearings are used in many rotating machinery applications. They are known to have superior performance in comparison with fixed geometry cylindrical bearings. Previous analysis by other investigators on the rotor stability has shown that the pad inertia is the main limiting factor on the bearing performance. In this paper, that analysis is extended to examine the bifurcation types that are associated with the loss of stability in order to gain insight into whether the linear stable regions are robust under finite perturbations. The effect of pad friction force on the rotor stability is also examined. Furthermore, the analysis is extended to bearings with four pads.
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