The vertical water-lubricated bearing technology widely used in the third generation pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant is one of the key points restricting the development of nuclear power in China.Therefore,it is of important engineering value to establish a vertical bearing test bench for relevant tests.A design scheme of vertical water-lubricated tilting pad bearing test bench was proposed,which included loading-drive system,lubrication-seal system and measurement system.By comparing the difference of bearing restraint between horizontal bearing test bench and vertical bearing test bench during loading,the floating bearing restraint mechanism scheme suitable for vertical bearing test bench was given.According to the similar criteria,the vertical water lubricated tilting pad bearing of AP1000 nuclear main pump was designed in a reduced scale,and bearing test pieces suitable for test and research were designed under the condition that the requirements of Summerfeld number,width diameter ratio and clearance ratio were met.The test results show that the developed vertical four-pad tilting pad water lubricated bearing test bench can measure the bearing surface temperature,water supply pressure,static load,water film pulsating pressure,rotating shaft whirl under different rotational speeds and loading excitation conditions.The operating state of the test bench is stable,which can meet the research requirements of dynamic and static characteristics of vertical water-lubricated tilting pad bearings.