International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 87 (2010) 504e510

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International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpvp

Control of vibration and resonance in aero engines and rotating

machinery e An overview
D.J. Ewins
Imperial College London, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents an overview of the vibration problems which are experienced in running gas
Accepted 24 February 2009 turbines, and other high-speed machinery. The primary problem is that of resonance, where response
levels under dynamic loading can be 100 or 1000 times greater than the levels resulting from static
Keywords: loading of the same magnitude. These resonances can be caused by steady, non-oscillatory, forces being
Rotating machinery dynamics applied to a rotating disc and their prediction and observation from measurement under running
Forced vibration
conditions are essential capabilities for the machinery dynamics engineer. Additional problems can arise
Resonance
if instabilities are encountered, either from aerodynamic sources (flutter) or from rotor dynamics. In all
Damping
Campbell diagram
cases where severe vibrations are encountered, they must be controlled by the introduction of extra
Blades and bladed discs damping to the critical components, usually by incorporating friction devices. The use of visual displays
Rotor dynamics to illuminate and help to understand the complexities of vibration in rotating machinery structures is
Unstable vibration presented.
Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction about because of an acute sensitivity that is possessed by almost all

structures to two things: (i) the frequency at which a dynamic force
Whenever a structure is subjected to a dynamic load, its (vibration) is applied to the structure, and (ii) the precise location at which it is
response in terms of deflection or stress, etc. can be many times more, applied. This characteristic is illustrated in Fig. 1 which shows the
or many times less, than the corresponding response that would result vibration response at the free end of a supported beam resulting
if the load was static. In aero engines, ‘many times’ means 10 or 100 from a unit transverse force applied at different frequencies and at
times, and sometimes even 1000 times. This simple statement different points along the beam. The resulting map shows how the
explains why structural vibration is such a concern, and such a critical response amplitude at the reference point varies over a huge range
issue for heavily-loaded structural components in gas turbines. (virtually infinite, because there are some zero response points at
Dynamic loads will be generated wherever there is motion. certain conditions). Therein lies the complexity of structural vibra-
Thus, all vehicles and machines will be subjected to dynamic loads, tion, the basis for the possibility of inflicting considerable damage
and, indeed, most stationary structures, such as buildings, bridges, and the potential for avoiding it. Of course, the regions of extremely
chemical plant, will also experience dynamic loads because of the high vibration are seen to coincide with specific frequencies, and
machines connected to them, or because of the environmental these are the natural frequencies of the structure(s) in question. All
loading through the ground or in the air which supports and the ‘sharp’ maxima in the plot of Fig. 1 occur at just two frequencies
surrounds them. However, dynamic loads are a particular concern in this case, and these are two of the natural frequencies of that
in machinery because these structures, more than the others, tend structure. In contrast, the minima in the plot occur at many different
to contain very high levels of energy, and with that go large forces, locations, and not just two points. These are determined by a second
and high vibration. set of properties of the structure e its mode shapes, and here we see
just how important these are in determining response levels
2. Structural sensitivity and vibration modes alongside the more commonly-understood significance of the
natural frequencies.
Perhaps the most significant issue, however, relates to the “100-
times-greater or 100-times smaller” comment in respect of the 3. Vibration problems in aero engines
response level produced by a given magnitude of force. This comes
In rotating machinery, as in all structures, the adverse conse-
E-mail address: [email protected]. quences of vibration are numerous, and range from the most

0308-0161/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpvp.2010.07.001
 D.J. Ewins / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 87 (2010) 504e510 505

around the 360 of the annulus, at every stage in the engine. This
nonuniformity of the steady pressure (load) impinging on the
downstream blade row is felt by rotating blades as a time-varying
load, and thus it generates a dynamic, vibration, response. This is
illustrated by the cartoons in Fig. 2. The essential feature of this
type of excitation is that if there is a cosine nq component in the
non-uniform pressure distribution around the annulus, then this
will be seen as a dynamic load (force) which has a frequency of nU,
where U is the rotation speed. There is an added subtlety, which is
very significant in its effect, and that is that the dynamic loading,
in addition to having an effective frequency for the blades rotating
through it, has a spatial variation as well as a temporal one, and
that is an amplitude variation of cosine n4 where 4 is the angular
position around the (rotating) bladed disc, while q is the angular
position around the (stationary) engine casing.
There are other sources of excitation, not linked to the rotation
and often deriving from turbulence in the flow of external envi-
Fig. 1. Structural sensitivity to frequency and location of load. ronment, but these do not constitute such major sources of vibra-
tion as do the two described above.
serious of structural failure, through fatigue or overload, to mal-
function of devices required to operate in a high vibration envi-
ronment, discomfort for passengers, operators or passers-by, and 5. Descriptions of vibration characteristics in rotating
noise. To a first-order approximation, the levels of vibration machines
measured in m or m/s associated with each of these four types of
problem can be an order of magnitude different from that which is The actual vibration experienced in a running engine will be the
associated with the next one (so that structural vibration levels that ‘product’ of structural sensitivities and dynamic loads and this
can cause fatigue failure might be expected to be 1000 greater than response forms the centre of our attention as machine designers
those which can cause an unacceptable noise). Thus, we see that and developers. Both when studying measured data, or when
vibration is an essentially logarithmic phenomenon, in which we seeking to predict what will happen under operating conditions,
must seek to reduce levels by a factor of 10, not just 2, to achieve the response characteristics are the essential indication of struc-
a significant improvement. tural dynamic performance, and quality.
In aero engines and other rotating machines, dynamic forces are There is a format of presenting vibration response data from
experienced everywhere and so most components are subjected to a rotating machine that is particularly useful, and this we shall
dynamic loads that make them vibrate. Some of these components introduce next. When a machine is running at a constant, or very
are already highly stressed because of their function or their loca- slowly-changing, speed, it is usually assumed that steady-state
tion in the machine and, for these, adding vibration can result in conditions apply to the vibration of the various components. Thus if
a serious concern that early fatigue damage may be inflicted. In we take a short (duration w1 s) sample of data from a vibration
general, there are two groups of common vibration problems: those transducer (Fig. 3(a)) and perform a Fourier Transform on it (Fig. 3(b))
associated with the stationary parts of the engine e the casing, the we then have an indication of the frequency content of the vibrations
pipework, the vanes / and those of the rotating parts e especially at that speed. If this is repeated every few seconds for, say 5 min, while
the discs and blades. The second group tend to be the more critical the engine is gradually changing speed between minimum and
because the consequences of even a small failure on a rotating maximum values, and we stack the spectra one behind the other, Fig. 3
component are magnified by out-of-balance and secondary (c), we shall construct a simple waterfall plot of all the analysed time
damage done by debris being thrown off. samples. By using the known relationship between instant-in-time
and rotation speed, it is possible to construct a diagram showing the
vibration response frequency and amplitude features as a function of
4. Sources of vibration excitation (dynamic loading)
rotor speed e the z-mod shown in Fig. 3(d).
These ‘z-mod’ plots contain an extraordinary amount of useful
There are a number of sources of dynamic loading (excitation
information, in addition to the short-term output of measuring the
forces, in vibration parlance) present in every rotating machine.
highest response level, and this can best be seen by using a loga-
Perhaps the most common one is out of balance, which is e in
rithmic amplitude scale as this illustrates the very low-level vibra-
effect e a steady force, and not an oscillatory one, that rotates
tion behaviour (typically that which is away from resonance regions)
relative to the stationary casing part of the engine. The rotation of
as well as the high vibration levels where damage may be being
this steady force about the engine axis is felt by the casing as
inflicted. Clearly seen on this diagram are a series of radial lines,
a time-varying force which alternates at a frequency equal to the
emanating from the origin of the frequency-speed axes, and a less
speed of the rotation and is thus experienced as a dynamic load.
regular set of lines which are at near-constant frequencies e ‘hori-
There is a second source of excitation, equally common and more
zontal’ lines1. The radial lines represent the existence of vibration at
pervasive, the so-called ‘engine-order’ excitation which also
most of the integral engine orders, and almost certainly are the result
derives from another static (non-oscillatory) force. This engine
of the various sources of engine-order excitation (static forces in one
order excitation results from the inevitability that the gas stream
frame of reference being ‘seen’ by components in the other frame of
passing through the engine is never completely axisymmetric in
reference as a dynamic loading). The ‘horizontal’ lines represent
its magnitude. A range of practical features of the engine design
and operation, ranging from nonuniformity in the intake, to
obstructions such as bearing supports, nozzle guide vanes, 1
These lines are not strictly horizontal, but they vary only very slowly with
combustors, etc all result in the axial flow and pressure exerted by rotating speed and are not exact multiples of rotation speed as, are the ‘radial’
the working gas on the blading being non-uniform in intensity lines.
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Fig. 2. (a) and (b) Origin of engine order excitation forces.

individual modes of the structure whose natural frequencies are as the avoidance of placing any resonance intersections at or near
varying slightly as the speed changes, perhaps because of some speeds where the engine is to run for any sustained length of time.
effects caused by the existence of centripetal or Coriolis accelera- It is clear from Fig. 3(d) that the intersections which indicate
tions, or significant temperature changes. possible resonances (and thus potentially dangerously high levels
Where there is an intersection of an ‘engine-order line’ with of vibration) can be moved by changing either the running speed or
a ‘natural frequency line’, the frequency coincidence at such a point the natural frequencies. The designer usually has more flexibility in
means that a resonance may well occur, although its severity will the latter parameter and so the first choice for vibration control is
depend on two other parameters e first, the mode shape, and resonance avoidance by tuning the dimensions of critical compo-
second the amount of damping that there is in the structure. We nents so that their natural frequencies do not coincide with engine
shall discuss damping below, but suffice it to say here that these order lines at running speeds.
resonance regions are the focal points of all subsequent analysis e This is done by the analyst computing the natural frequencies
both predictive and experimental. and mode shapes of critical components, such as blades, and
Before leaving this introduction of the z-mod plot, it should be plotting these against rotation speed, and adding engine order lines
recalled that diagrams such as that shown in Fig. 3(d) have been in a diagram (the ‘spoke’ or ‘Campbell’ diagram) such as the one
constructed from a single time-history record, such as a longer shown in Fig. 4 for a fan blade (whose natural frequencies are seen
version of that shown in Fig. 3(a). to increase significantly with rotation speed as a result of centrif-
ugal stiffening effects).
6. Avoidance of resonance In practice, it is more complicated than this because blades do
not exist in an engine as individual components but they form part
Turning now to address the title of the paper, we can build on of a bladed assembly, such as the bladed disc shown in Fig. 6. A
the preceding discussion to define the primary task of the designer bladed disc has many more natural frequencies (and associated
 D.J. Ewins / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 87 (2010) 504e510 507

Fig. 3. Typical machinery vibration signal (a) time history (b) frequency spectrum (c) waterfall plot (d) z-mod diagram.
508 D.J. Ewins / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 87 (2010) 504e510

mode shapes) than does a single blade, and when these are all
presented on a frequency-speed diagram, the prospects of reso-
nance intersections in the operating speed range seems to become
an inescapable inevitability, Fig. 5(a). In fact, when the mode shape
properties are taken into account as well as the natural frequencies,
the distressingly large number of potential resonances in Fig. 5(a) is
fortunately pruned to a much more modest number, Fig. 5(b). This
characteristic e which reflects the major importance of mode
shapes, as well as natural frequencies, in determining the severity
of resonances e represents the pinnacle of a very sophisticated
modelling and analysis capability, and is well borne out by the
success of many current designs.

7. Control of resonances

Unfortunately, it is often not feasible to adjust component

dimensions sufficiently to avoid all resonances and those which
remain must be ‘controlled’ so that they are not severe enough to
cause unacceptable wear or damage. The only way of achieving this
goal is by introducing damping so that the resonance curves are less
sharp, and the peak values are reduced to safe levels. There are
many added damping possibilities, but relatively few that can
survive the environment in a gas turbine. Although new materials
and coatings are currently under active development, the principal
damping mechanism that is used in gas turbines today is dry fric-
tion. By allowing mating interface surfaces to rub against each other
in a controlled way, it is possible to generate heat from the rubbing
and thereby to extract and dissipate mechanical energy from
a vibrating structure. This mechanism is widely used in bladed
Fig. 4. Spoke diagram for fan blade.
discs, as illustrated in Fig. 6, which shows examples of root

Fig. 5. (a) Spoke diagram for bladed disc, (b) Selective nature of engine order excitation.
 D.J. Ewins / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 87 (2010) 504e510 509

Fig. 6. (a) Friction contacts providing damping in bladed discs, (b) Optimum design characteristic of under-platform damper.

damping, tip damping and under-platform dampers, the first two 8. Robust design considerations
being opportunistic damping from standard design features while
the third one represents a deliberate, designed-in device used to There is an additional feature which is increasingly taken into
achieve significant damping of the more serious resonances. Fig. 6 consideration in managing the vibration characteristics of critical
also shows one example of a resonance being effectively controlled structures such as those found in aero engines e and that is
by judicious choice of damper parameters. ‘robustness’ e the consequences of uncertainty (in production unit
There are several other damping and control methods being dimensions and properties) and the variability (in measures of
developed. Worth mentioning is the idea of SMART or active performance) which results. This is nowadays referred to as robust
structures and devices which can use control methods to reduce design but is a feature that has long been a major concern in the
vibration levels by generating dynamic forces to oppose those vibration of the bladed assemblies in gas turbines.
which are generated under operating conditions. These will be The specific issue relates to blade mistuning e the inevitable
methods in the future, but one specific application is already scatter that will be present in the properties of a set of nominally-
available, albeit not yet in aero engines and that is the active identical blades which will be installed on a given bladed disc
magnetic bearing (AMB). Developed as highly efficient, non-con- assembly. This is an issue because when accepting a blade-to-blade
tacting, bearings for high-speed applications, the AMB also has the scatter in basic individual blade properties (uncertainty of) of
advantage of including the means of controlling the dynamics of reasonable proportions (e.g. 2e5% variance mass, natural
the rotor it is supporting. frequencies, etc.), it is often found that the resulting scatter in blade
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Fig. 7. Uncertainty and variability: blade mistuning.

resonance response levels is larger by an order of magnitude (i.e. bearings and working fluid, then that rotor can become unstable at
variances of resonance peak amplitudes of the set of blades of the very high rotation speeds.
order of 50%, with individual maxima on one assembly spanning Clearly, damping is the most important single issue in unstable
a 10:1 spread, or more) e see Fig. 7. There is relatively little that can vibration, although it must be noted that its effect, as well as its
be done to reduce this variability in vibration response levels and so originating physical phenomena, can be very complicated.
designs have to be based on the worst case. This is one reason why
additional damping has to be introduced, although the increase in
mechanical damping also serves to reduce the scatter for mistun- 10. Summary
ing, and so it is particularly effective as a means of controlling the
excesses of this phenomenon. Vibrations in high-power rotating machinery can be very
damaging to the machines’ reliability, integrity and efficiency. In-
9. Unstable vibrations built sources of dynamic loading mean that resonant and other
vibrations are inevitable in such machines, and these need to be
It is perhaps appropriate to include mention of two types of managed by proper design.
unstable vibration that can afflict rotating machines (although The preferred approach to managing vibration is to tune designs
rarely, as the consequences of their occurrence are usually drastic). so as to avoid the most serious resonances that could be encoun-
The more common of the two is blade flutter, which can occur in tered, and this is done by ensuring the critical frequency crossings
turbomachines when the aerodynamics and the structural do not exist in the running speed range. This task requires intimate
dynamics interact very strongly with each other (so that the understanding of the sensitivity of the critical structures, and of the
working fluid excites the blade to move and in so doing that excitation forces that are exerted on them.
movement generates larger forces in the fluid,/ and so on). The Not all such resonances can be avoided, however, and for those
solution to flutter problems is twofold e (i) to ensure that the that remain, constraining the maximum resonance vibration levels
special aerodynamic conditions that can make flutter possible are to acceptable limits must be achieved by adding damping. Exten-
not encountered under normal running conditions and (ii) to sive use is made of dry friction for this purpose and new materials
ensure that here is sufficient mechanical damping in the blades to and damping mechanisms are under active development.
overcome the ‘negative’ damping that the flutter-inducing aero- Considerable feedback about the dynamic characteristics of an
dynamics effectively provide. operating machine can be obtained by measuring vibration levels
The second type of unstable vibration e rotor dynamics insta- under running conditions and displaying these data in the z-mod
bility e is extremely rare, but still worth a mention. This instability, format.
which causes the whole rotor to go out of control, can occur
because there is excessive ‘internal’ damping in the rotor. It is
Further Reading
known that if there is considerable mechanical damping in a rotor,
such as might be the case if the assembly joints are not adequately [1] Braun SG, Ewins DJ, Rao SS, editors. Encyclopedia of vibration. Academic Press;
tight, and if there is insufficient ‘external’ damping from the 2001.