According to the design requirements of load equalization and vibration reduction for the stern bearing, a water-lubricated stern bearing with self-adaptation capacity is proposed. The bearing is mainly composed of three parts: the bearing bush, the elastic element, and the damping alloy. The elastic element is used to realize static and dynamic load sharing of the stern bearing, reduce the edge effect of the stern bearing, and make the contact pressure evenly distributed in the axial direction, thereby improving the service life of the bearing and reducing the frictional excitation of the bearing. Damping alloy is used to attenuate the shaft vibration transmission from the bearing to the foundation to optimize the vibration transmission characteristics. The revised lubrication models for such bearings are put forward. By analyzing the vibration characteristics of the stern bearing, the results show that the vibration transmission characteristics of the thruster excited to the bearing node are optimized, and the vibration response at the first-order fixed frequency is significantly reduced. A moderate increase in the support stiffness of the foundation can significantly reduce the vibration response of the bearing.

When the ship runs, owing to the superposition of the gravity of the shaft and resistance of water, with the increment in rotational speeds, the shaft will produce different degrees of bending deformation, which immensely reduces the power transmission efficiency. Based on the aforementioned problem, the present study focuses on the influences of bending deformation of the shaft with a cavitation effect on the dynamic characteristics of the stern bearing. The mixed lubrication model with bending deformation and cavitation effect is established. At present, the deflection curve equation is employed, the finite perturbation method is applied to calculate the dynamic coefficient, and the cavitation pressure is determined by the numerical method. According to the analysis, the variation laws of equivalent stiffness and natural frequency are exhibited. It is shown that the equivalent stiffness is more affected by the speeds, especially at low speeds; There is a critical speed between 130 rpm and 150 rpm, which makes the natural frequency strike the maximum value. Finally, the research results provide a theoretical basis for the ships to avoid large vibration during navigation.