A design model for circular porous air bearings using the 1D generalized flow method

Although the working principles of porous air bearings have been known for many years, most calculation procedures still involve specialized 3D CFD techniques which are not very useful to design engineers who initially require first-order engineering models for feasibility studies. This paper presents a simple design model for a circular porous air bearing based on well-established 1D generalized flow theory. Understanding porous air bearing mechanics is relatively easy with the proposed design model because it captures the essential physical phenomena governing the airflow. Moreover, the 1D model has a very simple architecture that allows easy design synthesis and requires minimal computational requirements. Comparison with experimental data shows accuracy comparable to specialized 3D techniques.