Tilting-Pad Journal Bearings (TPJB) are commonly used on high-performance turbomachinery
due to their excellent stability properties at high speed when compared to other designs
for oil film bearings. Hence, efforts have been made to improve the accuracy for the
available models for these mechanical devices, achieving nowadays an
elasto-thermo-hydrodynamic formulation. On the other hand, the basic design of the
Tilting-Pad Journal Bearing has been modified in order to transform it into a smart
machine element. One approach to do so is to inject pressurized oil directly into the
bearing clearance through holes drilled across the bearing pads. By adjusting the
injection pressure, it is possible to modify the dynamic characteristics of the bearing. A
controllable lubrication regime is obtained, allowing to expand the operational boundaries
of the original design. This work focuses on presenting an elasto-thermo-hydrodynamic
model (ETHD) for the Tilting-Pad Journal Bearing, including the effect of
the controllable lubrication system. The basic model is validated by comparing its results
against theoretical and experimental results available in the literature. Then, the
validated code is used to show the benefits of applying a controllable lubrication regime,
by means of the modification of the thermal and dynamic behaviour of the bearing.