By the use of capacitance probes mounted in the rotor of a thrust bearing test rig the operating conditions of a tilting pad thrust bearing were investigated and compared with the results from analytical investigations. Observations of minimum film thickness show closer agreement with theory than do earlier investigations. It is considered that the differences which remain are due to (a) the exclusion from the theoretical analyses of the effects of pad deflection, and (b) inaccuracies in film temperature measurement. Experimental values of coefficient of friction at heavy load show good agreement with theoretical predictions.
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