When the partially porous aerostatic thrust bearing and the journal bearings of an aerostatic spindle in a vertical milling machine are subjected to cutting load and gravitational force, the thicknesses of gaps between the thrust plate and the spindle flange will change. This study applied CFD software to analyze the effect of variations of gap thickness and rotating speed on the pressure in the gaps of the bearings and the stiffness of the spindle. The results revealed that, when the thrust plate and the spindle flange were pushed back and forth by external loading, the pressure in the gap between the spindle flange and the thrust plate was affected significantly. The pressure in the gap between the spindle and the journal bearing was slightly affected. When the spindle rotated faster, the pressure on the surface of spindle became higher and the stiffness of spindle was increased.

The influence of the spacing of the partially porous aerostatic journal bearings and the rotating speed of the spindle on the pressure distribution in the bearing gap and the housing gap were studied. Based on the finite volume method and the pressure-velocity coupling scheme of the SIMPLE algorithm with the standard k-ε turbulent model, A CFD software was used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations to figure out the pressure in the bearing gap and the housing gap. The computed results indicated that when the spacing of the bearings between air outlets was increased, the pressure got higher not only in the bearing gap, but also in the housing gap. The load carrying capacity of the bearings and the stiffness of the spindle could be improved. If the spacing of bearings was reduced by adding one more bearing to the location between the original bearings, the pressure in the narrower housing gap would decrease, while that in the wider housing gap would increase. Though the extra bearing could not help increase the net pressure exerted on the spindle effectively, it did help redistribute the housing gap pressure so that the pressure difference in the air gap could be reduced and the spindle was able to rotate stably.