Abstract:To investigate the variation of carrying capacity of a spiral-groove gas radial bearing under different Reynolds numbers,a gas bearing lubrication model modified by Ng-Pan theory was established.The model was solved using the finite difference method to obtain the bearing characteristics under different Reynolds numbers.The effects of geometric parameters and groove parameters on carrying capacity were analyzed.The results show that the carrying capacity of the spiral-groove gas radial bearing in non-laminar lubrication state is greater than that in the laminar lubrication state.The geometric parameters of the bearing have a significant influence on the bearing characteristics.As the eccentricity increases,the bearing capacity increases divergently,and the difference between the bearing capacity in the non-laminar lubrication state and the laminar lubrication state increases.As the aspect ratio increases,the bearing capacity increases convergently.Among the groove parameters,groove width ratio and groove depth ratio have a significant impact on the bearing characteristics,and the bearing bearing capacity increases with the increase of groove width ratio and groove depth ratio.While the influence of the number of grooves on bearing bearing capacity is not significant,and the helix angle only has a significant impact on bearing capacity in non-laminar lubrication state.The inlet pressure of bearing has obvious influence on carrying capacity.As the inlet pressure increases,the bearing capacity increases in laminar lubrication state and fluctuates greatly in non-laminar lubrication state.