Study of Static Fluid Forces in a Squeeze Film Damper with a Circumferential Groove

Approximate expressions are obtained for static fluid pressure and force for a centrally grooved squeeze film damper (SFD) resting at an equilibrium position without vibration. The analysis shows that, to some extent, grooved SFDs may share some characteristics with hydrostatic bearings, due to the existence of the lubricant supply pressure. Thus static fluid force and hence oil stiffness may exist in SFDs, in addition to the conventional inertial and damping coefficients for SFDs. This paper is solely focused on the static fluid forces and oil stiffness generated in an SFD with a finite length groove. Flow continuity is used at the centre of the groove, which takes into account the effects of the inlet oil flowrate and oil supply pressure. This use of flow continuity differs substantially from the traditional use of constant pressure in the central groove, and it provides better results. At the interface between the groove and the thin film land, a step bearing model with ignored fluid inertia is employed. It is verified by both the theory and previous experiments that the static fluid force and stiffness are linearly proportional to both the lubricant supply pressure and the eccentricity ratio of the SFD journal.