Measurements of lubrication characteristics of a tilting pad thrust bearing disturbed by a water-contaminated lubricant

The effect of water contamination on the lubrication has been described in several studies. Water has been defined as a dangerous contaminant which has a very detrimental impact on bearing performance. Nevertheless, many of the previous studies are based on post-accidental analyses, made after the lubrication failure. Thus, these analyses do not take into account all the possible conditions of the presence of water in the oil that can describe the situation. For instance, the case of water-in-oil fine emulsion has never been considered neither the experimental study of the water effect in the case of bearings. Experiments presented in this study were carried out on an eight shoes tilting pad thrust bearing supplied with water-contaminated oil. The contamination rate reached 10% of water by mass while the mixture was a water-in-oil emulsion. Results show that the presence of water is not such detrimental as could have been expected for the cases studied and moreover, that the bearing could have an enhanced behaviour while operating with the presence of water in the oil.