The flow-difference feedback iteration method for aerostatic thrust bearings and its convergence characteristics

The flow-difference feedback iteration method for aerostatic thrust bearings is proposed to the flow balance-based iteration, and two modification methods are further provided to improve the adaptability. The bearing capability calculated by the proposed method is validated by the experimental data. Moreover, the influence of convergence rate factors, iterative initial values, and mesh grids on the iteration ratio is investigated. Compared with the conventional iteration methods, the proposed method with appropriate convergence rate factors provides a higher convergence efficiency. In addition, good convergence behavior under different iterative initial values and the mesh grid size is shown, and the convergence rate is insensitive to the finite difference method parameters. A series of calculations are conducted to investigate the generality of the proposed methods.