Dynamic Coefficients of Axial Spline Couplings in High-Speed Rotating Machinery

1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. P. Roger Ku ◽  
J. F. Walton ◽  
J. W. Lund

This paper provided the first opportunity to quantify the angular stiffness and equivalent viscous damping coefficients of an axial spline coupling used in highspeed turbomachinery. The bending moments and angular deflections transmitted across an axial spline coupling were measured while a nonrotating shaft was excited by an external shaker. A rotordynamics computer program was used to simulate the test conditions and to correlate the angular stiffness and damping coefficients. The effects of external force and frequency were also investigated. The angular stiffness and damping coefficients were used to perform a linear steady-state rotordynamics stability analysis, and the unstable natural frequency was calculated and compared to the experimental measurements.

Author(s):  
C.-P. Roger Ku ◽  
James F. Walton ◽  
Jorgen W. Lund

Abstract This paper provided the first opportunity to quantify the angular stiffness and equivalent viscous damping coefficients of an axial spline coupling used in high-speed turbomachinery. A unique test methodology and data reduction procedures were developed. The bending moments and angular deflections transmitted across an axial spline coupling were measured while a non-rotating shaft was excited by an external shaker. A rotordynamics computer program was used to simulate the test conditions and to correlate the angular stiffness and damping coefficients. In addition, sensitivity analyses were performed to demonstrate that the accuracy of the dynamic coefficients do not rely on the accuracy of the data reduction procedures.


Author(s):  
James F. Walton ◽  
C.-P. Roger Ku ◽  
Jorgen W. Lund

Abstract This paper presents the results of the second part of an investigation of the dynamic characteristics of an axial spline coupling in high-speed rotating machinery. In the experimental method described herein, the bending moments and angular deflections transmitted across the axial spline coupling were measured while the nonrotating shaft was excited by an external shaker. The effects of external force and frequency on the angular stiffness and damping coefficients were investigated. The angular stiffness and damping coefficients were used to perform a linear steady-state rotordynamics stability analysis, and the unstable natural frequency was calculated and compared to experimental measurements. In addition, the mechanism and source of internal rotor friction instability caused by the axial spline couplings was studied.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andrés ◽  
Thomas Abraham Chirathadam ◽  
Tae-Ho Kim

Engineered metal mesh foil bearings (MMFBs) are a promising low cost bearing technology for oil-free microturbomachinery. In a MMFB, a ring shaped metal mesh provides a soft elastic support to a smooth arcuate foil wrapped around a rotating shaft. This paper details the construction of a MMFB and the static and dynamic load tests conducted on the bearing for estimation of its structural stiffness and equivalent viscous damping. The 28.00 mm diameter 28.05 mm long bearing, with a metal mesh ring made of 0.3 mm copper wire and compactness of 20%, is installed on a test shaft with a slight preload. Static load versus bearing deflection measurements display a cubic nonlinearity with large hysteresis. The bearing deflection varies linearly during loading, but nonlinearly during the unloading process. An electromagnetic shaker applies on the test bearing loads of controlled amplitude over a frequency range. In the frequency domain, the ratio of applied force to bearing deflection gives the bearing mechanical impedance, whose real part and imaginary part give the structural stiffness and damping coefficients, respectively. As with prior art published in the literature, the bearing stiffness decreases significantly with the amplitude of motion and shows a gradual increasing trend with frequency. The bearing equivalent viscous damping is inversely proportional to the excitation frequency and motion amplitude. Hence, it is best to describe the mechanical energy dissipation characteristics of the MMFB with a structural loss factor (material damping). The experimental results show a loss factor as high as 0.7 though dependent on the amplitude of motion. Empirically based formulas, originally developed for metal mesh rings, predict bearing structural stiffness and damping coefficients that agree well with the experimentally estimated parameters. Note, however, that the metal mesh ring, after continuous operation and various dismantling and re-assembly processes, showed significant creep or sag that resulted in a gradual decrease in its structural force coefficients.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andre´s ◽  
Thomas Abraham Chirathadam ◽  
Tae-Ho Kim

Engineered Metal Mesh Foil Bearings (MMFB) are a promising low cost bearing technology for oil-free microturbomachinery. In a MMFB, a ring shaped metal mesh (MM) provides a soft elastic support to a smooth arcuate foil wrapped around a rotating shaft. The paper details the construction of a MMFB and the static and dynamic load tests conducted on the bearing for estimation of its structural stiffness and equivalent viscous damping. The 28.00 mm diameter, 28.05 mm long bearing, with a metal mesh ring made of 0.3 mm Copper wire and compactness of 20%, is installed on a test shaft with a slight preload. Static load versus bearing deflection measurements display a cubic nonlinearity with large hysteresis. The bearing deflection varies linearly during loading, but nonlinearly during the unloading process. An electromagnetic shaker applies on the test bearing loads of controlled amplitude over a frequency range. In the frequency domain, the ratio of applied force to bearing deflection gives the bearing mechanical impedance, whose real part and imaginary part give the structural stiffness and damping coefficients, respectively. As with prior art published in the literature, the bearing stiffness decreases significantly with the amplitude of motion and shows a gradual increasing trend with frequency. The bearing equivalent viscous damping is inversely proportional to the excitation frequency and motion amplitude. Hence, it is best to describe the mechanical energy dissipation characteristics of the MMFB with a structural loss factor (material damping). The experimental results show a loss factor as high as 0.7 though dependent on the amplitude of motion. Empirically based formulas, originally developed for metal mesh rings, predict bearing structural stiffness and damping coefficients agreeing well with the experimentally estimated parameters. Note, however, that the metal mesh ring, after continuous operation and various dismantling and reassembly processes, showed significant creep or sag that resulted in a gradual decrease of its structural force coefficients.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 619
Author(s):  
Kostandin Gjika ◽  
Antoine Costeux ◽  
Gerry LaRue ◽  
John Wilson

Today's modern internal combustion engines are increasingly focused on downsizing, high fuel efficiency and low emissions, which requires appropriate design and technology of turbocharger bearing systems. Automotive turbochargers operate faster and with strong engine excitation; vibration management is becoming a challenge and manufacturers are increasingly focusing on the design of low vibration and high-performance balancing technology. This paper discusses the synchronous vibration management of the ball bearing cartridge turbocharger on high-speed balancer and it is a continuation of papers [1–3]. In a first step, the synchronous rotordynamics behavior is identified. A prediction code is developed to calculate the static and dynamic performance of “ball bearing cartridge-squeeze film damper”. The dynamic behavior of balls is modeled by a spring with stiffness calculated from Tedric Harris formulas and the damping is considered null. The squeeze film damper model is derived from the Osborne Reynolds equation for incompressible and synchronous fluid loading; the stiffness and damping coefficients are calculated assuming that the bearing is infinitely short, and the oil film pressure is modeled as a cavitated π film model. The stiffness and damping coefficients are integrated on a rotordynamics code and the bearing loads are calculated by converging with the bearing eccentricity ratio. In a second step, a finite element structural dynamics model is built for the system “turbocharger housing-high speed balancer fixture” and validated by experimental frequency response functions. In the last step, the rotating dynamic bearing loads on the squeeze film damper are coupled with transfer functions and the vibration on the housings is predicted. The vibration response under single and multi-plane unbalances correlates very well with test data from turbocharger unbalance masters. The prediction model allows a thorough understanding of ball bearing turbocharger vibration on a high speed balancer, thus optimizing the dynamic behavior of the “turbocharger-high speed balancer” structural system for better rotordynamics performance identification and selection of the appropriate balancing process at the development stage of the turbocharger.


Author(s):  
Kai Feng ◽  
Xueyuan Zhao ◽  
Zhiyang Guo

With increasing need for high-speed, high-temperature, and oil-free turbomachinery, gas foil bearings (GFBs) have been considered to be the best substitutes for traditional oil-lubricated bearings. A multi-cantilever foil bearing (MCFB), a novel GFB with multi-cantilever foil strips serving as the compliant underlying structure, was designed, fabricated, and tested. A series of static and dynamic load tests were conducted to measure the structural stiffness and equivalent viscous damping of the prototype MCFB. Experiments of static load versus deflection showed that the proposed bearing has a large mechanical energy dissipation capability and a pronounced nonlinear static stiffness that can prevents overly large motion amplitude of journal. Dynamic load tests evaluated the influence of motion amplitude, loading orientation and misalignment on the dynamic stiffness and equivalent viscous damping with respect to excitation frequency. The test results demonstrated that the dynamic stiffness and damping are strongly dependent on the excitation frequency. Three motion amplitudes were applied to the bearing housing to investigate the effects of motion amplitude on the dynamic characteristics. It is noted that the bearing dynamic stiffness and damping decreases with incrementally increasing motion amplitudes. A high level of misalignment can lead to larger static and dynamic bearing stiffness as well as to larger equivalent viscous damping. With dynamic loads applied to two orientations in the bearing midplane separately, the dynamic stiffness increases rapidly and the equivalent viscous damping declines slightly. These results indicate that the loading orientation is a non-negligible factor on the dynamic characteristics of MCFBs.


Author(s):  
Timothy W. Dimond ◽  
Amir A. Younan ◽  
Paul E. Allaire ◽  
John C. Nicholas

Tilting pad journal bearings (TPJBs) provide radial support for rotors in high-speed machinery. Since the tilting pads cannot support a moment about the pivot, self-excited cross-coupled forces due to fluid-structure interactions are greatly reduced or eliminated. However, the rotation of the tilting pads about the pivots introduces additional degrees of freedom into the system. When the flexibility of the pivot results in pivot stiffness that is comparable to the equivalent stiffness of the oil film, then pad translations as well as pad rotations have to be considered in the overall bearing frequency response. There is significant disagreement in the literature over the nature of the frequency response of TPJBs due to non-synchronous rotor perturbations. In this paper, a bearing model that explicitly considers pad translations and pad rotations is presented. This model is transformed to modal coordinates using state-space analysis to determine the natural frequencies and damping ratios for a four-pad tilting pad bearing. Experimental static and dynamic results were previously reported in the literature for the subject bearing. The bearing characteristics as tested are considered using a thermoelastohydrodynamic (TEHD) model. The subject bearing was reported as having an elliptical bearing bore and varying pad clearances for loaded and unloaded pads during the test. The TEHD analysis assumes a circular bearing bore, so the average bearing clearance was considered. Because of the ellipticity of the bearing bore, each pad has its own effective preload, which was considered in the analysis. The unloaded top pads have a leading edge taper. The loaded bottom pads have finned backs and secondary cooling oil flow. The bearing pad cooling features are considered by modeling equivalent convective coefficients for each pad back. The calculated bearing full stiffness and damping coefficients are also reduced non-synchronously to the eight stiffness and damping coefficients typically used in rotordynamic analyses and are expressed as bearing complex impedances referenced to shaft motion. Results of the modal analysis are compared to a two degree-of-freedom second-order model obtained via a frequency-domain system identification procedure. Theoretical calculations are compared to previously published experimental results for a four-pad tilting pad bearing. Comparisons to the previously published static and dynamic bearing characteristics are considered for model validation. Differences in natural frequencies and damping ratios resulting from the various models are compared, and the implications for rotordynamic analyses are considered.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andrés ◽  
Joshua Norsworthy

High speed rotors supported on bump-type foil bearings (BFBs) often suffer from large subsynchronous whirl motions. Mechanically preloading BFBs through shimming is a common, low cost practice that shows improvements in rotordynamic stability. However, there is an absence of empirical information related to the force coefficients (structural and rotordynamic) of shimmed BFBs. This paper details a concerted study toward assessing the effect of shimming on a first generation BFB (L = 38.1 mm and D = 36.5 mm). Three metal shims, 120 deg apart, are glued to the inner surface of the bearing cartridge and facing the underside of the bump foil strip. The shim sets are of identical thickness, either 30 μm or 50 μm. In static load tests, a bearing with shims shows a (nonlinear) structural stiffness larger than for the bearing without shims. Torque measurements during shaft acceleration also demonstrate a shimmed BFB has a larger friction coefficient. For a static load of 14.3 kPa, dynamic loads with a frequency sweep from 250 Hz to 450 Hz are exerted on the BFB, without and with shims, to estimate its rotordynamic force coefficients while operating at ∼50 krpm (833 Hz). Similar measurements are conducted without shaft rotation. Results are presented for the original BFB (without shims) and the two shimmed BFB configurations. The direct stiffnesses of the BFB, shimmed or not, increase with excitation frequency, thus evidencing a mild hardening effect. The BFB stiffness and damping coefficients decrease slightly for operation with rotor speed as opposed to the coefficients when the shaft is stationary. For frequencies above 300 Hz, the direct damping coefficients of the BFB with 50 μm thick shims are ∼30% larger than the coefficients of the original bearing. The bearing structural loss factor, a measure of its ability to dissipate mechanical energy, is derived from the direct stiffness and damping coefficients. The BFB with 50 μm thick shims has a 25% larger loss factor—average from test data collected at 300 Hz to 400 Hz—than the original BFB. Further measurements of rotor motions while the shaft accelerates to ∼50 krpm demonstrate the shimmed BFB (thickest shim set) effectively removes subsynchronous whirl motions amplitudes that were conspicuous when operating with the original bearing.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andre´s ◽  
Adolfo Delgado ◽  
Jose´ Baker

Brush seals effectively control leakage in air breathing engines, albeit only applied for relatively low-pressure differentials. Hybrid brush seals (HBS) are an alternative to resolve poor reliability resulting from bristle tip wear while also allowing for reverse shaft rotation operation. A HBS incorporates pads contacting the shaft on assembly; and which under rotor spinning, lift off due to the generation of a hydrodynamic pressure. The ensuing gas film prevents intermittent contact, reducing wear and thermal distortions. The paper presents rotordynamic measurements conducted on a test rig for evaluation of HBS technology. Single frequency shaker loads are exerted on a test rotor holding a hybrid brush seal and measurements of rotor displacements follow for operating conditions with increasing gas supply pressures and two rotor speeds. A frequency domain identification method delivers the test system stiffness and damping coefficients. The HBS stiffness coefficients are not affected by rotor speed though the seal viscous damping shows a strong frequency dependency. The identified HBS direct stiffness decreases ∼15% as the supply/discharge pressure increases Pr = 1.7 to 2.4. The HBS cross-coupled stiffnesses are insignificant, at least one order of magnitude smaller than the direct stiffnesses. A structural loss factor (γ) and dry friction coefficient (μ) represent the energy dissipated in a HBS by the bristle-to-bristle and bristle-to-pads interactions. Predictions of HBS stiffness and damping coefficients correlate well with the test derived parameters. Both model predictions and test results show the dramatic reduction of the seal equivalent viscous damping coefficients as the excitation whirl frequency increases.


Author(s):  
Phuoc Vinh Dang ◽  
Steven Chatterton ◽  
Paolo Pennacchi ◽  
Andrea Vania ◽  
Filippo Cangioli

Journal bearings have been widely used in high-speed rotating machinery. The dynamic coefficients of oil-film force affect the machine unbalance response and machine stability. The oil-film force of hydrodynamic bearing is often characterized by a set of linear stiffness and damping coefficients. However the linear oil-film coefficients with respect to an equilibrium position of the journal are inaccurate when the bearing system vibrates with large amplitudes due to a dynamic load. The study on nonlinear oil-film forces is still rare and most papers are confined to theoretical analyses. The purpose of this paper is to derive some new non-linear force models (28-co., 24-co. and 36-co. models) to identify these dynamic coefficients based on experimental data. The fundamental test model is obtained from a Taylor series expansion of bearing reaction force. Tests were performed with a nominal diameter of 100mm and a length–to–diameter ratio of 0.7 using a suitable test rig in which it is possible to apply the static load in any direction. The results show that these three models are feasible to identify the oil-film forces in which the second-order oil-film coefficients received from the 24-co. model are more stable compared to those of other two nonlinear models.


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