Some case studies of hydrodynamic bearings in power plants in Japan

The service reliability of power plants strongly depends on the excellent performance and integrity of hydrodynamic bearings. Consequently, the bearings must be properly designed so as to control vibration amplitudes of rotor due to mass unbalance in passing critical speeds and also suppress self-excited vibrations of rotor even over maximum rated speeds. Furthermore, the bearings must be designed so as to maintain required tribological performance even under severe operating conditions. However, various tribological troubles have been experienced in power plants in Japan. The actual troubles are analysed, focusing on not only direct mechanical causes but also specific bearing designs that surfaced the troubles. Furthermore human factors that decided such designs are also studied. The powerful database of troubles and analyses will contribute greatly to designing advanced power plants with enhanced service reliability in the future. To this end, trouble information should be disclosed, shared and transferred limitlessly. Cooperation of users of power plants is essential to making more advanced design specifications, because no one has easier access to operating and trouble information of power plants than users.