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Fulei Chu · Zhaoye Qin
Editors

Proceedings of the 11th

IFToMM International
Conference on Rotordynamics
Volume 2
Editors
Fulei Chu Zhaoye Qin
Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering
Tsinghua University Tsinghua University
Beijing, China Beijing, China

ISSN 2211-0984 ISSN 2211-0992 (electronic)

Mechanisms and Machine Science
ISBN 978-3-031-40458-0 ISBN 978-3-031-40459-7 (eBook)
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 Preface

The two volumes printed by Springer Nature constitute the proceedings of the eleventh
in a series of IFToMM International Conference on Rotordynamics. The primary aim of
the conference is to bring together the expertise of scientists and engineers in academia
and industry in the field of rotordynamics and related areas and to exchange information
with a particular emphasis on scientific and technical development. The themes of the
conference reflect current interests in a wider field of rotordynamics.
The series of IFToMM International Conference on Rotordynamics has been estab-
lished as a major forum for discussion and dissemination of recent advances in rotordy-
namics. This quadrennial conference continues a tradition that started with the inaugural
meeting in Rome in 1982. Over the years, the conference has traveled to diverse loca-
tions, including Tokyo (1986), Lyon (1990), Chicago (1994), Darmstadt (1998), Sydney
(2002), Vienna (2006), Seoul (2010), Milano (2014), and Rio De Janeiro (2018), creating
a rich history of collaborations and knowledge exchanges.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 11th IFToMM International
Conference on Rotordynamics held in Beijing, China, was postponed for one year. This
has affected the number of submissions to the conference to a certain extent. However,
delightingly, researchers from across the globe have exhibited tremendous enthusiasm
for the conference, and the themes of submissions span a vast array of subjects. This
reflects the flourishing and popularity of the field of rotordynamics. After undergoing
rigorous peer review, a total of 75 papers have been carefully selected and organized
into two volumes for inclusion in this conference proceeding.
Volume 1 focuses on the themes including:
• Active Components and Vibration Control
• Balancing
• Bearings: Fluid Film Bearings, Magnetic Bearings, Rolling Bearings, and Seals
• Blades, Bladed Systems, and Impellers
• Condition Monitoring, Fault Diagnostics, and Prognostics
• Dynamic Analysis and Stability
Volume 2 delves into the following themes:
• Electromechanical Interactions in Rotordynamics
• Fluid Structure Interactions in Rotordynamics
• Nonlinear Phenomena in Rotordynamics
• Numerical and Analytical Methods in Nonlinear Rotordynamics
• Parametric and Self-excitation in Rotordynamics
• Uncertainties, Reliability, and Life Predictions of Rotating Machinery
• Torsional Vibrations and Geared Systems Dynamics
• Aero-Engines
vi Preface

• Automotive Rotating Systems

• Optimization of Rotor Systems
• Smart Rotor Systems
The conference organizing committee is very grateful to the authors and keynote
speakers for their efforts in producing the papers and to the IFToMM TC of Rotordy-
namics for their valuable time in reviewing papers in line with the journal standard. We
would also like to thank Professors Hongguang Li, Xuejun Li, Zhong Luo, Hui Ma,
Weimin Wang, Chaofeng Li, Dayi Zhang, Yongfeng Yang, Tian He, Zhongliang Xie,
Yeyin Xu, Xingrong Huang, and Xueping Xu for handling the review tasks of late papers.
The organizers are grateful to the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for
the financial support to this conference and to Chinese Society for Vibration Engineering
and Tsinghua University, who kindly supported the promotion of this event. Finally, we
would like to mention Dr. Jun Wang and Dr. Wenliang Gao, who have been working
hard for the organization of all the papers.

Fulei Chu
Zhaoye Qin
 Contents

Numerical Analysis of Seal Force Under Brush Seal Hysteresis Effect . . . . . . . . 1

Yuan Wei, Xuhe Ran, Zhaobo Chen, and Yinghou Jiao

Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System with Friction

Effect Due to End-Face Seal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Li Hou, Pingchao Yu, and Cun Wang

Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response

with Multiple Loads Due to Fan Blade off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Jie Fu, Chao Li, Jie Hong, and Yanhong Ma

Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling

System with Rub-impact Fault and Its Dynamic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Jiewei Lin, Bin Wu, Xin Lu, Jian Xu, Junhong Zhang, and Huwei Dai

Modeling and Simulation Analysis of Dual-Rotor System in the Early

Stage of Bearing Pedestal Looseness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Cai Wang, Jing Tian, Yan-ting Ai, Feng-ling Zhang, Zhi Wang,
and Ren-zhen Chen

Similarity Design and Behavior Prediction of Rotor Systems Subject

to Non-uniform Preloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Runchao Zhao, Yeyin Xu, Zhitong Li, Zhaobo Chen, and Yinghou Jiao

Vibration Reduction Optimization Design of an Energy Storage Flywheel

Rotor with ESDFD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Dafang Lin, Siji Wang, Chengyang Wang, Zhoudian Chen, Yuan Liu,
and Jinqi Zhang

Sensitivity of Spline Self-excited Vibration to Structure Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Yingjie Li, Guang Zhao, Zexin Zhang, Yunbo Yuan, Jian Li,
and Yongquan Wang

Parametric Optimization of BNES in Torsional Vibration Suppression

of Rotor Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Jinxin Dou, Rui Xue, Hongliang Yao, Hui Li, and Jianlei Li

Aviation Spline Wear Test Bench and Fretting Wear Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Xiangyang Zhao, Guang Zhao, Yunbo Yuan, Fanrong Kuang, Mei Guo,
and Haofan Li
viii Contents

Dynamic Analysis of the Finger Seal-Rotor System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Sai Zhang, Xiuli Hu, Renwei Che, and Yinghou Jiao

Investigation on Information Assessment for Vibration Sensor Locations

Installed in Aero-Engine Based on Unbalance Response Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Alexander A. Inozemtsev, Konstantin V. Shaposhnikov,
Sergey A. Degtyarev, Mikhail K. Leontiev, and Ivan L. Gladkiy

Torsional Vibration Modelling of a Two-Stage Closed Differential

Planetary Gear Train . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Guanghe Huo, Yinghou Jiao, Miguel Iglesias Santamaria,
Xiang Zhang, Javier Sanchez-Espiga, Alfonso Fernandez-del-Rincon,
and Fernando Viadero-Rueda

Research on Robustness Analysis and Evaluation Method

of Bearing-Support System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Fangming Liu, Jie Hong, Yanhong Ma, and Xueqi Chen

Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System

with Substantial Unbalance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Pingchao Yu, Zihan Jiang, Cun Wang, and Li Hou

Dynamic Behaviors of a Bolted Joint Rotor System Considering

the Contact State at Mating Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Yuqi Li, Zhimin Zhu, Zhong Luo, Chuanmei Wen, Lei Li, and Long Jin

Identification of High-Speed Gear Traveling Wave Resonance Based

on Phase Space Reconstruction Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Ziyang Xu, Jing Wei, Haibo Wei, Zhirou Liu, Yujie Zhang, and Hao Lin

Rotordynamics of a Vibroflot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Florian Tezenas du Montcel, Sébastien Baguet,
Marie-Ange Andrianoely, Régis Dufour, Stéphane Grange,
Laurent Briançon, and Piotr Kanty

Complex Stable and Unstable Subharmonic Vibrations of a Nonlinear

Brush-Seal Rotor System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Wenbo Ma, Yeyin Xu, Yinghou Jiao, and Zhaobo Chen

Multi-objective Optimization of Active Dry Friction Damper-Rotor

Systems Based on Predictive Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Minghong Jiang, Wengheng Li, Xianghong Gao, and Changsheng Zhu
 Contents ix

Applying Central Manifold Theory in the Definition of Active Gas Foil

Bearing Configurations for High-Speed Stability of Rotors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Ioannis Gavalas, Emmanouil Dimou, and Athanasios Chasalevris

Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker Bifurcations

in Parametrically Excited Rotors on Active Gas Foil Bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Emmanouil Dimou, Ioannis Gavalas, Fadi Dohnal,
and Athanasios Chasalevris

Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System Considering

the Distribution of Strain Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Cong Liu, Yongfeng Wang, Ruiqi Jia, and Jie Hong

Optimization of Journal Bearings Considering Their Adjustable Design

and Rotor Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Denis Shutin, Alexander Fetisov, and Leonid Savin

Stability Margin Optimization for Unsymmetrical Rotor/Stator Dynamic

System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Yaqun Jiang

Remaining Useful Life Prediction for Anti-friction Bearings Based

on Envelope Spectrum and Extended Kalman Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Haobin Wen, Long Zhang, and Jyoti K. Sinha

New Comprehensive Approach for Torsional Analyses of Industrial

Powertrains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Timo P. Holopainen and Tommi Ryyppö

Modeling of the Divergently Worn Annular Seal for the Two-Way Coupled
Fluid–Structure Interaction Analysis of Shaft Vibration and Clearance Flow . . . 409
Shogo Kimura, Tsuyoshi Inoue, Hiroo Taura, and Akira Heya

Vibration Control of Rotor Bearing Systems Using Electro and Magneto

Rheological Elastomers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Mnaouar Chouchane and Faiza Sakly

A New Type of Inerter Nonlinear Energy Sink Using Chiral Metamaterials . . . . 429
Hui Li, Hongliang Yao, and Yangjun Wu

Vibration Characteristic Analysis and Optimization of the Propulsion

Shaft in the Underwater Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Yuchen An, Jing Liu, Chiye Yang, and Guang Pan
x Contents

Computation of Components System Stiffness for Variable Stator Vane

Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
Jing Chang and Zhong Luo

An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole Aero-Engine Based

on the Casing Vibrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
Weimin Wang, Jiale Wang, and Qihang Li

Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

 Numerical Analysis of Seal Force Under Brush
Seal Hysteresis Effect

Yuan Wei1(B) , Xuhe Ran1 , Zhaobo Chen2 , and Yinghou Jiao2

1 School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444,
China
[email protected]
2 School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

Abstract. Brush seal has certain advantages over traditional labyrinth seal. As
the hysteresis characteristics of the brush seal is a key factor affecting its sealing
performance, it is particularly important to conduct in-depth study on the seal force.
This paper takes hysteresis as the premise of research, and establishes the model of
brush seal force with whole circle bristles under the hysteresis considering the 3D
bending of bristles, and set up the dynamic equation of brush seal force for whole
circle bristles. This work further studies the influence of system parameters on the
brush seal force under the hysteresis, and compares the influence of each system
parameter on seal force. And then compared with the model without hysteresis to
study the influence degree of hysteresis effect on seal force. The results show that
the hysteresis has a great influence on the variation trend of brush seal force, and
the seal force is much smaller when the hysteresis effect is taken into account than
that not considered. The increase of bristle inclination is beneficial to increase the
stability of the rotor system, but for the seal force on the rotor, the greater lay
angle is not better. It is of great significance to study the seal force under the lag
of brush seal to further understand the sealing characteristics of brush seal.

Keywords: Brush Seal · 3D Bending · Hysteresis · Brush Seal Force · Rotor

System

1 Introduction
The main influencing factors of the seal force of brush seal include the fluid flow of brush
seal, the main structural parameters such as the diameter of bristle, and the assembling
angle between bristles and rotor surface, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to study the
seal force of brush seal from the interaction between bristles, airflow. Therefore, in
order to more truly reflect the force of brush seal on the rotor under the influence of
mechanical properties such as hysteresis effect, hardening effect and friction heat effect,
it is necessary to establish a fluid–structure coupling numerical model that can truly
simulate the brush seal, so as to study the mechanism of the seal force of brush seal and
its influencing factors.
Many scholars have studied the complex nonlinear problem of rotating subsystem
seal force for a long time. The seal force model has also experienced a gradual evolution

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 1–10, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_1
2 Y. Wei et al.

from simple to complex and from linear to nonlinear. In terms of the study of nonlinear
seal force, Black deduced the theoretical formula of seal force for short sealing power
system by using short bearing theory [1, 2]. Later, Childs and Nelson et al. [3–6] discussed
the flow field in sealing device in detail by using Hirs turbulent lubrication equation.
Childs et al. [3] derived the dynamic coefficient expression, and Muszynska et al. [7]
proposed the Muszynska nonlinear seal force model through a series of tests. Based
on the Muszynska nonlinear seal force model, many scholars conducted a series of
studies. Li et al. [8] determined the empirical parameters of airflow excitation force
in Muszynska model through the calculation of fluid dynamics. Li et al. [9] analyzed
the dynamic characteristics of an unbalanced rotor-seal system with sliding bearings
through Floquet and bifurcation theory. Hua et al. [10] established a nonlinear rotor-seal
system model, and studied the nonlinear behavior of the unbalanced rotor-seal model
through an effective and high-precision direct integration method. Ding et al. [11] studied
a symmetric rotor-seal system and analyzed the Hopf bifurcation of the system. Wang
et al. [12] established a nonlinear mathematical model, which was used to analyze the
motion of a rotor system under the influence of leakage of interlocking seals.
Considering the complexity of rotor system structure and the complexity of bristle
force, the linear model has great limitations to describe the system dynamics under large
whirling state. Modi [13] calculates the contact force without considering the friction
between the brush and the friction. Basu et al. [14] verified the existence of the bristle
rigidness effect of brush seal through experiments, and the rigidness effect has a serious
impact on the service life of brush seal. Akist et al. [15] established a three-dimensional
finite element model of brush seal taking into account the friction between bristles. The
study found that when the bristle was subjected to uniform pressure load, the contact
force would increase continuously. Stango et al. [16] proposed a cantilever beam model
by considering the amount of interference between the brush and the rotating shaft,
and numerically calculated the frictional contact force. Crudgington et al. [17] studied
the strength semi-empirical calculation method of blowdown effect of brush seal by
combining test and finite element method. Lelli et al. [18] established a solution model of
three-dimensional cylindrical brush and studied the deformation rule of the brush under
different aerodynamic conditions. Crudgington etc. [19] was studied by numerical and
experimental method of combining the considering bristle installation angle, the results
show that with the increase of installation angle, bristle and the contact force obviously
increases with the increase of the pressure difference. Pekris et al. [20] studied the
mechanical properties of the traditional brush seal structure and the pressure-balanced
chamber structure, the results showed that the pressure-balanced chamber brush seal
structure could reduce the friction between the bristle and the backplate, leading to the
reduction of its sealing performance and service life.
At present, there are still some deficiencies in investigating brush seal force. Most
of these studies do not consider the hysteresis effect of brush seal, which makes the
force analysis of brush seal not perfect. In this paper, the hysteresis degree of the bristle
is quantified based on the previous classification research results of single bristle [21,
22], and the bristle is divided into three parts to establish the seal force model under
hysteresis effect. The hysteresis effect and the dynamic influence of rotor-brush seal
 Numerical Analysis of Seal Force Under Brush Seal Hysteresis Effect 3

system parameters on brush seal force under different rotor eccentricity and eccentric
direction angle are studied.

2 Seal Force Analysis

2.1 Hysteresis Effect

When the rotor has radial eccentricity or the load increases, due to the action of fluid gas
pressure, friction will occur between the bristle and the backplate in the brush seal. It will
prevent the bristle from moving with the rotor, and similarly increase the instantaneous
stiffness of the bristle. This phenomenon is called the rigid effect of the bristle. Bristle
with eccentric rotor radial motion to the largest, the rotor started from radial eccentricity
or load falls, because the bristle around the tailgate and the friction of the role, and
fail to follow the rotor to restore the initial state, lead to produce certain radial spacing
and rotor surface, the contact force and rotor radial eccentricity or load increases, this
phenomenon is called the hysteresis effect of the brush. The process of hysteresis is
shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 1 (a), the rotor is in a state of equilibrium position. When the
rotor due to the increase in eccentric load and maximum eccentric position, namely,
Fig. 1 (b). Then the status of the load drop, after the rotor began to recover, because the
brush friction between the bristles and the effect of backplate friction, bristles will lag
the recovery speed of rotor speed of recovery, at this time, a gap between the bristles
and the rotor surface (yellow area) is created, as shown in Fig. 1(c).

(a) Balancing rotor (b) Maximum eccentric rotor (c) Rotor recovery

Fig. 1. Brush seal hysteresis effect

2.2 Seal Force Model

In Fig. 2, there has a certain gap at this time. In order to calculate the seal force, this
paper adopts the method of integrating the force on the bristle, and splits the bristle pack
into three portions. In the process of rotor eccentricity, there is no interaction between
the brush with hysteresis effect and the rotor. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate the
4 Y. Wei et al.

Fig. 2. Schematic of rotor under hysteresis effect

supporting force of the rotor. Expression of supporting force F Ns of the bristle s is Eq. (1):
⎧
⎪
⎪
qf L3
2EI (θB1 + 6EI )
⎪
⎪ , ϕ ∈ [0,  − ϒ] ∪ [ + ϒ, 2π ]
⎪
⎨ L2 (cos θB1 +μ cos θ sin θB1 ) s    
FNs = 0, ϕs ∈  −  2,  +  2
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ qf L3    
⎪
⎩ 2 2EI (θB1 − 6EI ) , ϕ ∈  − ϒ,  −  ∪  +  ,  + ϒ
L (cos θ +μ cos θ sin θ )
B1 B1
s 2 2
(1)

And the bristle is subjected to friction force of the rotor surface, as shown in Fig. 3.
And then, the friction force is decomposed into two directions:

Ff 2 = μFNs sin θ
(2)
Ff 1 = μFNs cos θ

Suppose the rotor rotates counterclockwise, the force of bristles at different positions
is shown in Fig. 4. The first type direction of friction force deviates from the recovery
direction of bristles. The second type of bristles are affected by the friction force as a
whole, and the end is also affected by the friction and support force of the rotor surface.
Since the bristles with hysteresis effect have been out of contact with the rotor, the force
of the bristles within the hysteresis angle are not needed to be calculated when analyzing
the seal force of the brush seal on the rotor. The absolute coordinate system X 0 O0 Y 0
was established with the rotor center as the origin and the cross section as the coordinate
plane.
Numerical Analysis of Seal Force Under Brush Seal Hysteresis Effect 5

Fig. 3. Stress on single bristle

Fig. 4. Bristles under three conditions

6 Y. Wei et al.

According to the partial force of single bristle, the supporting reaction force of all
the bristles on the rotor is integrated, and the whole circle bristles acting force can be
obtained. Equation (3) is the brush seal force:
⎧ +ϒ −φ/2 2π −ϒ
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ Fx = p( FN d ϕs + FN d ϕs + FN d ϕs + FNx d ϕs )
⎪
⎪ +φ/2
x
−ϒ
x
+ϒ
x
⎪
⎪
0
⎨ +ϒ −φ/2 2π −ϒ
Fy = p( FNy d ϕs + FNy d ϕs + FNy d ϕs + FNy d ϕs )
⎪
⎪ +φ/2 −ϒ +ϒ
⎪
⎪
0
⎪
⎪ +ϒ −φ/2 2π −ϒ
⎪
⎪
⎩ Fz = p( FN d ϕs +
z FN d ϕs +
z FN d ϕs +
z FN d ϕs ) z
+φ/2 −ϒ +ϒ 0
(3)
where p is bristle layer number.

3 Result and Discussion

3.1 Influence of Hysteresis Effect on Brush Seal Force
In this section, the effect of hysteresis on the magnitude of the seal force is investigated
when axial force is considered. When hysteresis effect of bristle is not considered or
considered, the component force of brush seal force changes with rotor eccentricity and
rotor eccentricity direction, as shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, respectively. Figure 5 shows
the case without hysteresis effect, and Fig. 6 shows the case with hysteresis effect. When
hysteresis effect is not considered, it is found through the analysis of Fig. 5 that the seal
force component also exists when the rotor does not have eccentricity. This is due to
the axial force, resulting in the seal force at the equilibrium position. In other eccentric
directions, the seal force will also increase with the increase of eccentricity.

a) Change trend of brush seal force on x0 b) Change trend of brush seal force on y0

Fig. 5. Change of brush seal force without considering hysteresis effect

When hysteresis effect is considered, it is found through the analysis of Fig. 6 that
in any eccentricity direction, the seal force will first decrease with the increase of eccen-
tricity, and then increase with the increase of eccentricity after the rotor reaches the
 Numerical Analysis of Seal Force Under Brush Seal Hysteresis Effect 7

a) Change trend of brush seal force on x0 b) Change trend of brush seal force on y0

Fig. 6. Variation of brush seal force when hysteresis effect is considered

equilibrium position. In the case of hysteresis effect, the balance position of the rotor
will change, and with the change of the balance position, the seal force will also change,
and the direction of the seal force will change.
According to the comparative analysis of Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, when hysteresis effect
is considered, the seal force will become smaller, and the changing trend of seal force
will become more complex. At the same time, the zero rotor eccentricity angle and the
maximum seal force on x 0 and y0 do not appear at 0º, 90º, 180º, and 270º due to the
presence of the bristle installation angle, resulting in some deviation. Whether hysteresis
is considered or not, x 0 has a zero seal force near 70º and 250º. Zero seal force occurs
near 160º and 340º of y0 . And the maximum seal force on x 0 corresponds to the zero
value of seal force on y0 ; And the maximum seal force on y0 corresponds to the seal
force zero value on x 0 .

3.2 Influence of Brush Inclination Angle on Seal Force Under Hysteresis Effect

This section studies the influence of brush inclination angle on seal force considering
hysteresis effect, as shown in Fig. 7(a) and Fig. 7(b), that is, the size of brush seal force
F x0 and F y0 when the brush inclination angle is 30°. Figure 7(c) and Fig. 7(d) show
the size of brush seal force F x0 and F y0 when the brush inclination angle is 45°. As
can be seen from Fig. 7, the smaller the brush inclination angle is, the larger and more
unbalanced the brush force will be. This is because the smaller the brush inclination angle
is, the greater the rotor contact force will be on the brush when the rotor is eccentric,
thus leading to the greater the seal force. The influence of brush inclination angle on the
rotor force balance point is consistent with the hysteresis angle and other parameters. In
any eccentric direction, the seal force decreases first with the increase of eccentricity,
and then increases with the increase of eccentricity when the rotor balance is reached,
that is, when the seal force is 0. In addition, the seal force decreases significantly as the
angle increases from 30º to 45º, while the seal force decreases only slightly during 45º
to 60º. Combined with the force and seal force analysis of single bristle, it is found that
the inclination angle of bristle is reasonable to set at about 45º.
8 Y. Wei et al.

According to the analysis, it is found that the increase of brush angle will make the
seal force gradually decrease, in addition, it will also make the seal force change range
decrease, which is conducive to improving the stability of the rotor system. However,
too large brush angle will lead to too small seal force, reduce the seal performance of
brush seal, so the bristle angle is not the smaller the better, but there is a reasonable
choice of interval.

a) Change trend of Fx0 when γ is 30º b) Change trend of Fx0 when γ is 30º

c) Change trend of Fx0 when γ is 45º d) Change trend of Fx0 when γ is 45º

e) Change trend of Fx0 when γ is 60º f) Change trend of Fx0 when γ is 60º

Fig. 7. Change trend of F x0 and F y0 at different brush inclination angles

 Numerical Analysis of Seal Force Under Brush Seal Hysteresis Effect 9

4 Conclusions

1. When hysteresis effect is considered, the seal force component is significantly smaller
than that without hysteresis effect, and its variation rule becomes more complex. At
the same time, the zero rotor eccentricity angle and the maximum seal force on x 0 and
y0 do not occur at 0º, 90º, 180º, and 270º due to the presence of the bristle mounting
angle, resulting in some deviation. Whether hysteresis effect is considered or not, x 0
has zero seal force near 70º and 250º. y0 has zero seal force near 160º and 340º. And
the maximum seal force on x 0 corresponds to the zero value of seal force on y0 , the
maximum seal force on y0 corresponds to the seal force zero value on x 0 .
2. With the increase of brush angle, the seal force decreases gradually, and the variation
range of seal force decreases, which is conducive to improving the stability of the
rotor system. However, too large brush angle will lead to too small seal force, reduce
the sealing performance of brush seal. So the bristle angle is not the smaller the better,
but there is a reasonable choice of interval.

Acknowledgements. The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (No. 11802168, No. 52075310).

References
1. Black, H.F., Jenssen, D.N.: Effects of high-pressure ring seals on pump rotor. ASME Paper,
71-WA/FF-38 (1971)
2. Nordmann, R., Diewall, W.: Dynamic analysis of turbo-pump rotors with fluid-mechanical
interactions. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical Dynamics (1987)
3. Childs, D.W.: Dynamic analysis of turbulent annular seals based on Hirs’ lubrication equation.
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4. Childs, D.W.: Finite-length solutions rotor dynamic coefficients of turbulent annular seals. J.
Lubr. Technol. 105(3), 437–444 (1983)
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Tribol. 107(3), 318–325 (1985)
6. Nelson, C.C., Nguyen, D.T.: Comparison of Hirs’ equation with moody’s equation for deter-
mining rotor dynamic coefficients of annular pressure seals. In: The 4th Workshop on
Rotor Dynamic Instability Problems in High Performance Turbo Machinery, Taxas A&M
University, pp. 189–203 (1986)
7. Muszynska, A., Bently, D.E.: Frequency-swept rotating input perturbation techniques and
identification of the fluid force models in rotor/bearing/seal systems and fluid handling
machine. J. Sound Vibr. 143(1), 103–124 (1990)
8. Li, Z.G., Chen, Y.S.: Research on 1:2 subharmonic resonance and bifurcation of nonlinear
rotor-seal system. Appl. Math. Mech. (English Edition) 33(4), 499–510 (2012). https://doi.
org/10.1007/s10483-012-1566-7
9. Li, S.T., Xu, Q.Y., Zhang, X.L.: Nonlinear dynamic behaviors of a rotor-labyrinth seal system.
Nonlinear Dyn. 47(4), 321–329 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-006-9025-0
10. Hua, J., Swaddiwudhipong, S., Liu, Z.S., Xu, Q.Y.: Numerical analysis of nonlinear rotor-seal
system. J. Sound Vibr. 283(3–5), 525–542 (2005)
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11. Ding, Q., Cooper, J.E., Leung, A.Y.T.: Hopf bifurcation analysis of a rotor/seal system. J.
Sound Vibr. 252(5), 817–833 (2002)
12. Wang, W.Z., Liu, Y.Z., Meng, G., Jiang, P.N.: Nonlinear analysis of orbital motion of a rotor
subject to leakage air flow through an interlocking seal. J. Fluids Struct. 25(5), 751–765
(2009)
13. Modi, V.: Modeling bristle lift-off in idealized brush seal configurations. In: Seals Flow Code
Development Workshop, Honolulu (1992)
14. Basu, P., Datta, A., Loewenthal, R.: Hysteresis and bristle stiffening effects in brush seals. J.
Propul. Power 10(4), 569–575 (1994)
15. Aksit, M., Tichy, J.: A computational model of brush seal bristle deflection. In: Joint
Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, New York (1996)
16. Stango, R.J., Zhao, H., Shia, C.Y.: Analysis of contact mechanics for rotor bristle interface
of brush sea. ASME J. Tribol. 125(2), 414–421 (2003)
17. Crudgington, P., Bowsher, A.: Brush seal blow down. In: AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference
and Exhibit, New York, vol. 4697, pp. 20–23 (2003)
18. Lelli, D., Chew, J.W., Cooper, P.: Combined 3D fluid dynamics and mechanical modelling of
brush seals. ASME J. Turbomach. 128(1), 188–195 (2006)
19. Crudgington, P., Bowsher, A., Walia, J.: Bristle angle effects on brush seal contact pressures.
In: 45th AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, vol. 5168, pp. 2–5 (2009)
20. Pekris, M.J., Franceschini, G., Gillespie, D.R.H.: An investigation of flow, mechanical, and
therma performance of conventional and pressure-balanced brush seals. J. Eng. Gas Turbines
Power 136(6), 062502 (2014)
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seal system. Int. J. Struct. Stab. Dyn. 18(5), 1850063 (2018)
22. Wei, Y., Liu, S.: Numerical analysis of the dynamic behavior of a rotor-bearing-brush seal
system with bristle interference. J. Mech. Sci. Technol. 33(8), 3895–3903 (2019). https://doi.
org/10.1007/s12206-019-0733-z
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor
System with Friction Effect Due to End-Face
Seal

Li Hou1 , Pingchao Yu1(B) , and Cun Wang2

1 College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Nanjing 211106, People’s Republic of China
[email protected]
2 Beijing Power Machinery Institute, Beijing 100074, People’s Republic of China

Abstract. The end-face seal is widely used in rotating machinery to minimize

leakage between the rotating shaft and the housing, and it requires consideration
in the system dynamics for successful design. In this paper, a nonlinear friction
model of end-face seal considering rotor swing motion is proposed. By introducing
this model, the nonlinear dynamic equations of an offset-disk rotor system with
end-face seal are established. The effects of seal structure on rotordynamics are
studied in detail from the perspective of mode and response. The results show that
the response behavior of rotor system depends on the relative relationship between
the input energy of sealing load and the energy consumed by system damping.
Through the analysis of the key parameters, it is found that one can enhance the
stability of the rotor-seal system by reducing contact radius, friction coefficient,
and axial stiffness of seal structure or improving the damping ratio of rotor system.

Keywords: end-face seal · offset-disk rotor system · Nonlinear excitation ·

vibration response · instability

1 Introduction
Aero-engine is a kind of high-speed rotating power machinery. There are a large number
of moving-static contact surfaces in the structure. The gap between the contact surfaces
not only brings losses to the engine performance, but also worsens the working conditions
and environment, directly affects the life and reliability of the components, and even
causes damage to the components. Therefore, an efficient sealing device is needed to
perform moving-static sealing on the mechanical interface.
The sealing performance of the sealing structure has a great influence on the working
efficiency of the engine components and the whole machine [1–5]. Domestic and foreign
scholars have carried out many studies on the design, mechanical properties and sealing
performance of the sealing structure. Zhang [6] studied the influence of sealing ring
structure size on the deformation of sealing contact end face. Jacobs [7] proposed a
simulation design and optimization method for microstructured mechanical end face
seals. Xie [8] studied the relationship between the surface tensile stress, the main interface

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 11–33, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_2
12 L. Hou et al.

shear stress, the side interface shear stress and the normal tensile stress of the sealing
end face and the performance of the coating end face. Li [9] studied the influence of
spring stiffness change on the end face contact mechanical seal. Considering the change
of contact pressure caused by different wear states, Magyar [10] studied the contact
behavior of seal based on finite element method. Long [11] studied the influence of
different friction states on the performance of mechanical seals. Sun [12] analyzed the
influence of spring pressure on balancing the mechanical sealing frictional characteristics
and sealing ability.
The above research is mainly aimed at the study of the seal itself. In practice, the seal
structure is used in conjunction with the rotor/stationary components and works together.
The end face seal can produce a non-negligible excitation load on the rotor, resulting in
complex dynamic behavior of the rotor. Li [9] studied the influence of the sealing system
on the vibration of a compressor rotor. The results show that the correlation coefficient of
the seal will cause the rotor instability. In [13, 14], the effects of rotor inertia, liquid film
stiffness and damping on rotor dynamics in a double flexible rotor end face seal system
were studied. Liu [15] pointed out that in the rotor-bearing-seal system, oil film force,
fluid excitation force in the seal system, rubbing, dry friction and many other factors
affect the stability of the rotor system. Sun [16] established a two-degree-of-freedom
friction vibration system model of dry gas seal under dry friction condition, and revealed
the friction vibration law between the end faces of dry gas seal. Zhang [17] established
the bending-torsion coupling dynamic equation of the rotor considering the friction of
the contact surface for the turbine pump rotor-graphite contact seal system, and analyzed
the influence of the nonlinear force of the seal on the vibration response of the rotor. The
results show that the friction of the graphite seal enhances the coupling of the bending
and torsional vibration of the rotor and may cause the instability of the rotor system.
Although many studies have been carried out on the dynamic characteristics of the
rotor-seal system, there are many types of seals involved in the actual rotating machin-
ery, and the seal structures are different. Their working principles and effects on rotor
dynamics will also be quite different. The contact end face seal of graphite structure is
a widely used sealing device in aero-engines. It usually contains one or more pairs of
graphite contact ends perpendicular to the rotating axis. The graphite structure is under
the elastic force of the compensation mechanism and cooperates with the auxiliary seal-
ing structure to prevent fluid leakage [18–20]. In the working process of the rotor, the
sealing structure which relies on the preload of the contact end face will produce the
excitation force to the transverse vibration of the rotor due to the uneven distribution of
the pressing force with the vibration of the rotor, thus inducing the complex vibration
behavior of the rotor. However, the relevant dynamic mechanism has not been revealed,
and the dynamic model of the rotor-sealing system is lacking. In view of this, this paper
takes the end face seal of graphite-rotor system in aero-engine as the background, and
takes the simplified single-disk biased rotor as the object. The nonlinear excitation force
model of end face of graphite seal is proposed, and the dynamic model of rotor system
under end face seal is established. On this basis, the influence of end face seal of graphite
and its key parameters on rotor dynamic behavior and stability is analyzed.
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 13

2 Modeling of Offset Disc Rotor-End Seal System

As shown in Fig. 1, it is a typical end face seal of graphite structure in aero-engine,
including graphite static ring, sealing moving ring, wave spring, O-ring, etc. The graphite
end face sealing static ring is installed in the stator mounting seat, the sealing moving
ring is installed on the rotor shaft to rotate with the rotor, and the wave spring behind
the graphite static ring provides the axial compression force of the graphite static ring
and the sealing moving ring to realize contact seal.

O-ring Static
subdivisions
Seal the Mounting
moving
ring bracket
Graphite
Wave springs
rings

Fig. 1. Sealing structure diagram of rotating/static end face

When the rotor works, relative motion occurs between the static ring and the moving
ring, and the contact surface produces contact friction. Because of the uniform pressing
force, the total friction force is zero, which does not affect the lateral vibration of the
rotor. However, when the rotor vibrates under the action of unbalance, the end face seal
of graphite will produce transverse excitation load on the rotor. Due to the rotor swing,
there is axial relative motion between the graphite static ring and the sealing moving
ring, and the positive pressure between them presents non-uniform distribution, and at
the same time it will produce non-uniform friction. This non-uniform friction will form a
transverse excitation force on the rotor, and the excitation has nonlinear characteristics,
which significantly changes the dynamic characteristics of the rotor and may induce
rotor vibration instability.

2.1 Mechanical Model of Rotary/Static End Seal

In order to analyze the influence of end face seal of graphite on rotor dynamics, a rotor
system model of offset disk with end face seal is established, as shown in Fig. 2.
The non-rotating component of graphite sealing structure is simplified as the axial
spring-rigid graphite ring unit shown in Fig. 2. The axial springs are evenly distributed
along the circumferential direction and the total axial stiffness is k s , which represents the
axial stiffness generated by the graphite ring and its pressing device. The graphite ring
is simplified as a rigid ring with infinite stiffness and its mass and inertia are ignored.
The transverse and torsional stiffness of the non-rotating assembly of graphite sealing
structure is considered infinite, that is, it is considered that the transverse and torsional
14 L. Hou et al.

ks
N0
x Graphite
e rings
x
z o
m
y
y rs
Jp
Jd

Fig. 2. Model of Offset Disc Rotor System with End Face Seal

motion does not occur during the contact with the rotating structure, and the graphite
static ring only has axial freedom. In the figure, the wheel disc represents the moving
ring of the sealing structure, which is considered to be rigid and integrated with the rotor.
The rotor speed in the working process is ω, only considering the transverse vibration
of the rotor, so the degree of freedom of the moving ring includes x, y, θ x , θ y . The
static ring is pressed in contact with the moving ring (disk) under the initial pressing
force N 0 . It is assumed that the contact between the static ring and the moving ring is
linear contact, and the radius of the contact circle in the static state is r s . The mechanical
parameters of the mechanical model of rotary/static end face seal include axial stiffness
k s , friction coefficient of contact surface μ, initial pressing force N 0 and contact radius
r s . In practice, these parameters are determined by the specific structure and material
properties of graphite seal.
When the rotor does not vibrate, the friction force between the moving ring and the
static ring is evenly distributed, and the resultant force is 0. Subjected to initial pressing
force N 0, the initial compression displacement of the static ring is as shown in Eq. (1):
N0
z0 = (1)
ks
When the rotor vibrates, the moving ring will move and swing, and the pressing force
between the static ring and the moving ring shows a non-uniform distribution (Fig. 3).
For any circumferential position α of the infinitesimal d α, the axial displacement caused
by the vibration of the moving ring is expressed as Eq. (2):

z = θx (rs sin α − y) − θy (rs cos α − x) (2)

Among them, r s is the average radius of the static ring. Then the positive pressure of
the corresponding infinitesimal at the circumferential position α is expressed as Eq. (3):
 ks
(z + z)d α (z0 + z) ≥ 0
dN (α) = 2π 0 (3)
0 (z0 + z) < 0

Due to the relative motion between the moving ring and the static ring, based on the
Coulomb friction law, the friction expression at the contact surface is obtained as shown
in Eq. (4):

d fs = μdN (α)t(α) (4)

 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 15

Among them, t(α) is the unit direction vector, and its direction is opposite to the
relative velocity direction of the moving ring and the static ring. For the infinitesimal at
the circumferential position α, the relative motion velocity of the moving ring and the
stationary ring is expressed as Eq. (5):

v = (ẋ − ω(rs sin α − y))i + (ẏ + ω(rs cos α − x))j (5)

where, i and j are unit vectors of x direction and y direction respectively. The t(α) is
expressed as Eq. (6):
v
t(α) = −
v
−(ẋ − ω(rs sin α − y))
= i
(ẋ − ω(rs sin α − y))2 + (ẏ + ω(rs cos α − x))2
−(ẏ + ω(rs cos α − x))
+ j (6)
(ẋ − ω(rs sin α − y))2 + (ẏ + ω(rs cos α − x))2

Substituting Eqs. (5) and (6) into Eq. (4), and decompose the friction force to obtain
the expression of the friction force of the infinitesimal in the x and y direction as shown
in Eqs. (7) and Eq. (8):
−μ(ẋ − ω(rs sin α − y))dN (α)
dfsx =  (7)
(ẋ − ω(rs sin α − y))2 + (ẏ + ω(rs cos α − x))2
−μ(ẏ + ω(rs cos α − x))dN (α)
dfsy =  (8)
(ẋ − ω(rs sin α − y))2 + (ẏ + ω(rs cos α − x))2

In addition to the friction force, the non-uniform positive pressure also gener-
ates a bending moment excitation to the rotor. The bending moment generated by the
infinitesimal at the circumferential position α is expressed as Eqs. (9) and (10):

dMsx = −(rs sin α − y)dN (α) (9)

dMsy = (rs cos α − x)dN (α) (10)

The resultant force and resultant moment of the graphite sealing ring to the moving
ring are obtained by integrating the Eqs. (7) and (8) along the circumferential direction,
as shown in Eq. (11):
⎧   −μ(ẋ−ω(rs sin α−y))dN (α)
⎪
⎪ Fsx = s dfsx = s √
⎪
⎪   (ẋ−ω(rs sin α−y))2 +(ẏ+ω(rs cos α−x))2
⎨ −μ(ẏ+ω(rs cos α−x))dN (α)
Fsy = s dfsy = s √
  (ẋ−ω(rs sin α−y)) +(ẏ+ω(rs cos α−x))
2 2 (11)
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ M = dM = −(r sin α − y)dN (α)
⎩ sx s sx s s
Msy = s dMsy = s (rs cos α − x)dN (α)
16 L. Hou et al.

Moving
rings
dα y ω
α
x x

Non-uniform
positive pressure

Fig. 3. Distribution of pressing force between moving ring and static ring when rotor vibrates

2.2 Dynamic Equation of Offset Disc Rotor-End Seal System

Section 2.1 gives the mechanical model of the end face seal. In this section, the dynamic
equation of the offset disc rotor-end seal system is established. For the offset disk rotor
system in Fig. 2, the mass of the shaft section is neglected, the mass of the disk (moving
ring) is m, the polar moment of inertia is J p , the moment of inertia of the diameter is J d ,
and the mass bias distance is e; for the offset disk rotor, the disk has both translation and
swing during the whirling process of the rotor, and the translation degree of freedom x
and y, the swing degree of freedom θ x and θ y are used. Based on the Lagrange energy
method, the dynamic equation of the bias disk rotor under the action of unbalance
and graphite sealing friction is derived. The generalized coordinate of the rotor is that
T
q = x y θx θy , the kinetic energy of the rotor is the translational and swing kinetic
energy of the disk, as shown in Eq. (12):
m 2 1
E= ẋ + ẏ2 + Jd θ̇x2 + θ̇y2 + Jp ω2 − 2Jp ωθ̇y θx (12)
2 2
The generalized force acting on the rotor system is shown in Eq. (13):
⎧
⎪
⎪ Q1 = −k11 x − k14 θy − c11 ẋ + Fsx + Fux
⎪
⎨
Q2 = −k22 y + k23 θx − c22 ẏ + Fsy + Fuy
(13)
⎪
⎪ Q3 = −k32 y − k33 θx + Msx
⎪
⎩ Q = −k x − k θ + M
4 41 44 y sy

Among them, k ij (i, j = 4) is the equivalent stiffness of the rotor shaft at the position
of the disk, k 11 is the force along the x-direction required for the unit displacement in
the x-direction of the center of the disk, k 22 is the force along the y-direction required
for the unit displacement in the y-direction of the center of the disk, k 33 is the torque of
the ox-axis required for the unit rotation angle of the disk around the ox-axis, k 44 is the
torque of the oy-axis required for the unit rotation angle of the disk around the oy-axis,
k 14 is the force along the x-direction required for the unit rotation angle of the disk
around the oy-axis, k 23 is the force along the y-direction required for the unit rotation
angle of the disk around the ox-axis, k 32 is the torque of the ox-axis required for the
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 17

unit displacement in the y-direction of the center of the disk. k 41 is the torque applied
to the oy-axis when the unit displacement occurs in the x-direction of the disc center.
The above unit displacement or unit rotation angle is based on the condition that the
displacement or rotation angle in other directions is limited to 0. c11 and c22 are the
damping coefficients of the rotor along the x-axis and the y-axis respectively. Fsx , Fsy ,
Msx and Msy are the load acting on the disk by the sealing structure, Fux , Fuy is the
component of the unbalance force of the rotor in x-axial and y-axial directions.
According to the Lagrange equation, as Eq. (14):

d ∂E ∂T
− = Qj , j = 1, 2, · · · n (14)
dt ∂ q̇j ∂qj
The dynamic equation of the offset disc rotor is shown in Eq. (15):
⎧
⎪
⎪ mẍ + c11 ẋ + k11 x + k14 θy = Fsx + Fux
⎪
⎨
mÿ + c22 ẏ + k22 y − k23 θx = Fsy + Fuy
(15)
⎪
⎪ Jd θ̈x + Jp ωθ̇y − k32 y + k33 θx = 0
⎪
⎩ J θ̈ − J ωθ̇ + k x + k θ = 0
d y p x 41 44 y

It is written as a matrix form, as shown in the following Eq. (16):

Mq̈ + (C + ωG)q̇ + Kq = F (16)
In the above dynamic equations, the equivalent stiffness of the shaft can be obtained
by Euler beam theory. For the shaft hinged at both ends, the equivalent stiffness is shown
in Eq. (17):
⎧
⎪ a2 −ab+b2
⎨ k11 = k22 = 3lEI
⎪ a 3 b3
a2 −ab+b2
⎪ k14 = k41 = k23 = k32 = 3lEI
(17)
⎪
⎩
a 3 b3
k33 = k44 = 3lEI
ab
where, a, b and l are the length parameters of the shaft.

3 Vibration Response Analysis of Rotor System

Based on the mechanical model established in the previous section, this section analyzes
the dynamic characteristics of the rotor system under the action of end face seal.

3.1 Rotor System Parameters and Calculation of Inherent Characteristics

Firstly, the critical speed and vibration mode of the rotor system are calculated by
ignoring the effect of the end face seal, so as to grasp the inherent characteristics of
the rotor system. In the vibration response analysis of the rotor system, the mechanical
parameters of the rotor are shown in Table 1. Calculate the critical speed and vibration
mode of the rotor system and summarize the results, as shown in Table 2. According to
the results in the table, the first-order forward/backward precession critical speeds of the
rotor are 2337 r/min and 2268 r/min respectively, and the vibration mode is first-order
bending. The critical speed of rotor second-order backward precession is 8074 r/min,
and the vibration mode is second-order bending.
18 L. Hou et al.

Table 1. Design conditions

parameter numeric value

Roulette parameters quality md (kg) 20
damping ratio ε 0.01
Polar moment of inertia Jp (kg*mm^2) 1.44e5
Diameter moment of inertia J d (kg*mm^2) 7.20e4
Eccentric distance e (mm) 5.00e−3
Hinge parameters Total length l (mm) 750
The length of the disc with the left support a 250
(mm)
The length of the disc with the right bearing b 500
(mm)
diameter d (mm) 30
Elastic modulus E (GPa) 205.8
Graphite sealing parameters rs (mm) 50
ks (N/mm) 2e3
N0 50
μ 0.3

Table 2. Summary of rotor critical speed

Order Critical speed Mode description

Backward precession 2268r/min/37.8Hz
Forward precession 2337r/min/38.9Hz
Backward precession 8074r/min/134.6Hz

3.2 Response Characteristics of Rotor System Under Excitation Force of End

Face Seal

In this section, the classical Newmark numerical integration method is used to solve
the dynamic Eq. (15). The time step is set to 5e−5 s, and the total calculation time is
set to 15 s. According to Sect. 3.1, the first-order critical speed of the rotor system is
2340 r/min. The speed less than 2340 r/min is called subcritical speed, and the speed
more than 2340 r/min is called supercritical speed.
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 19

3.2.1 Analysis of Rotor System Response Characteristics

The vibration response of the rotating speed system between 500–4500 r/min is calcu-
lated, and the steady-state response of the 1/4 time period is extracted and represented
by bifurcation diagram and three-dimensional waterfall diagram, as shown in Fig. 4 and
Fig. 5. It can be seen from the figure that the vibration response of the rotor system is
a single-period response without considering the seal, and the response frequency only
includes the speed frequency, and the rotor system resonates at 2340 r/min. When the
sealing effect is considered, the response of the rotor system is a quasi-periodic response.
The response frequency includes the speed frequency composition, the first-order for-
ward precession modal frequency component and the second-order reverse precession
modal frequency component. In the whole speed range, the amplitude corresponding
to the first-order forward precession frequency component is much higher than other
frequency components. In the supercritical speed range, the second-order reverse pre-
cession modal frequency component is relatively significant, and the higher the speed,
the higher the amplitude.
mm)

mm)
x-directional displacement

x-directional displacement

rotate speed r/min rotate speed r/min)

(a) The effect of sealing is not considered (b) The effect of sealing is considered

Fig. 4. Bifurcation diagram of rotor vibration displacement in x direction with rotational speed
mm
Amplitude(mm)

2340 r/min
Amplitude

1×f
1×f
fn1 fn2-

rotate speed(r/min) Frequency HZ

Frequency(HZ) rotate speed r/min

(a) The effect of sealing is not considered (b) The effect of sealing is considered

Fig. 5. Three-dimensional waterfall diagram of rotor system (x-axis vibration displacement)

20 L. Hou et al.

Stabilizati
on phase

Divergent phase

(a) Time-domain curve and its wavelet transform plot at 0-15s stage

fn1

(b) Response characteristics within 0 to 1 s of the initial divergence phase

fn1+

Precession
direction

(c) Response characteristics within 14 to 15 s of the stabilization phase

Fig. 6. Time-frequency response characteristics of rotor system at subcritical speed of 1000 r/min

The rotor time-frequency response and axis orbit at typical speed are further
extracted. The response characteristics of the rotor system at the subcritical speed of
1000 r/min are analyzed, as shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen that the response of the rotor
system diverges in the initial time period, and diverges faster in 5–10 s, and gradually
tends to be stable after 10 s, and the vibration response amplitude is about 0.5 mm. The
response evolution is dominated by the first-order forward precession mode. In the initial
stage, the system response contains the speed frequency and the significant first-order
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 21

positive precession mode frequency composition. The amplitude of the first-order for-
ward precession gradually increases with time. After 5 s, its amplitude is much higher
than the speed frequency composition, which has become the dominant rotor response.
After 10 s, the amplitude of the first-order positive precession mode frequency tends to
be stable, and the rotor response is basically stable.
The response characteristics of the rotor system at the critical speed of 2340 r/min
are shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen from Fig. 7 that the system response is diverging first
and then stable, and the response frequency is 39 Hz. At the critical speed, the response
characteristics of the seal-rotor system are consistent with the response characteristics
of the rotor system without seal, but the response amplitude of the rotor is higher when
considering the seal effect, and the seal load can significantly increase the vibration of
the rotor at the critical speed.

(a)Time domain curve for the 0-15s phase (b)Wavelet transform plot at the 0-15s stage

Fig. 7. Time - frequency response characteristics of rotor system at critical speed of 2340 r/min

The vibration response of the rotor system at supercritical speed of 3600 r/min is
shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen from the figure that the vibration amplitude of the rotor
system gradually increases within 0–9 s, and reaches the maximum at about 9 s. In this
stage, the vibration response of the rotor system is dominated by the first-order forward
precession mode, and the amplitude corresponding to the first-order forward precession
mode frequency gradually increases, resulting in a gradual increase in the vibration
response of the system. After 10 s, the amplitude of the rotor vibration decreases first,
reaches the minimum after about 14 s, and then shows an increasing trend. After 10 s, the
amplitude corresponding to the first-order forward precession modal frequency in the
system gradually decreases, resulting in the decrease of the response amplitude of the
system. In this stage, the second-order backward precession modal frequency component
gradually increases and gradually dominates the response of the rotor system. Taking the
response characteristics of 14–14.2 s as an example, the amplitude of the second-order
backward precession mode frequency component is the highest in the system frequency
component, and the axis orbit indicates that the whirling direction of the rotor system
is opposite to the speed direction, that is, the system response is dominated by the
second-order backward precession mode.
22 L. Hou et al.

fn2-:

f: fn1+ :

(a) Time-domain curve and its wavelet transform plot at 0-15s stage

fn1+
Afn1+=0.01
3

f
Af=0.009

(b) Response characteristics within 0 to 1 s in the initial stage

fn1+
Afn1+=0.38

Precession
direction
fn2-

(c) Response characteristics within 8 to 9 s

fn2-

Precession fn1+
Afn1+=0.02
direction f Af=0.009

(d) Response characteristics within 14 to 14.2 s

Fig. 8. Time-frequency response characteristics of rotor system at supercritical speed of
3600 r/min
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 23

3.2.2 Friction Force of Face Seal and the Work Analysis

The analysis in Sect. 3.2.1 shows that the end face seal makes the rotor system present
complex vibration response. This section focuses on the analysis of the friction load of
the end face seal, and further reveals the influence of the end face seal on the vibration
response of the rotor system from the perspective of the work of the seal load.
Firstly, the calculation method of the work done by the load is given. For the excitation
load acting on the vibration system, the work done by the system in one speed cycle is
shown in Eq. (18).
 Tr  Tr
WF = F(t)dq = F(t)q̇(t)dt (18)
0 0

where, q(t) and q̇(t) represent the displacement and velocity of the vibration system
respectively.
Firstly, the load characteristics of end face seal at sub-critical speed of 1000 r/min are
analyzed, as shown in Fig. 9. It can be seen that when the sub-critical speed is 1000 r/min,
the friction direction of the end face seal is always consistent with the rotor precession
direction, indicating that the friction force of the end face seal does positive work on the
rotor and inputs vibration energy into the rotor system.

x
y
Displacement y (mm)
Friction force (N)

Whirl direction

Friction force
direction

Time (s) Displacement x (mm)

(a) Frictional loads within 2-2.12s and their relationship to the axial trajectory

x Friction force direction

y
Displacement y (mm)
Friction force (N)

Whirl direction

Time (s) Displacement x (mm)

(b) Frictional loads within 14-14.12s and their relationship to axial trajectories
Fig. 9. The friction force and work of end face seal at speed of 1000 r/min
24 L. Hou et al.

For the rotor system, the friction force inputs the vibration energy to the rotor system,
and the initial damping of the rotor plays a role in dissipating the energy of the system.
The relationship between the two determines whether the vibration energy or vibration
amplitude of the system increases or decreases. Calculate and summarize the work done
by the friction force of the end face seal at different times and the work done by the
system damping force, as shown in Table 3. In order to facilitate comparative analysis,
the work of sealing friction force is taken as the benchmark for normalization. The value
in the table is positive, indicating positive work, and the value is negative, indicating
negative work. It can be seen that in the initial stage, the work of the sealing friction
force is higher than that of the rotor damping force, indicating that the work dissipated
by the damping force is not enough to balance the positive work done by the friction
force, so the vibration energy of the system gradually increases, which is shown by the
increase of the vibration amplitude in Fig. 6. After 14 s, the work of the sealing friction
force and the work of the rotor damping force are basically balanced, and the vibration
response of the system is basically stable, that is, the stable stage of the rotor vibration
response in Fig. 7.

Table 3. Work on friction force and damping force of end face seal (1000 r/min)

Time (s) Average work in a rotational cycle Normalized value of work

(10-3J)
Seal the friction Rotor damping force Seal the friction Rotor damping force
2–2.12 4.65E−03 −3.60E−03 1 −0.77
14–14.12 101.7 −101.5 1 −1.00

The friction load and its work at supercritical speed of 3600 r/min are further ana-
lyzed, as shown in Fig. 10. From the direction of the friction force and the direction
of the rotor precession, the friction force always does positive work to the rotor system
at this speed. It can be seen from the time domain curve of friction that the frequency
component of friction load gradually changes from low frequency to high frequency
over time, which is consistent with the evolution of rotor vibration response. The work
of friction and damping force at different time periods is calculated, and the calculation
results are shown in Fig. 11. It can be seen from the figure that in general, the positive
work done by the friction force is always greater than or equal to the negative work done
by the damping force, indicating that the system energy has been increasing. Specifi-
cally, it can be divided into two stages: The first stage is within 0–10 s. In this stage,
the work of the rotor damping force relative to the work of the friction force shows a
trend of decreasing first and then increasing. In the 0–5 s stage, the work of the rotor
damping force relative to the work of the friction force gradually decreases. At this
stage, the energy of the rotor system increases rapidly, which is manifested by a rapid
increase in amplitude (according to the above analysis, it is mainly the amplitude of the
first-order forward precession modal frequency). In the 5 s–9 s stage, the work of the
rotor damping force relative to the work of the friction force gradually increases. At this
time, the system energy/amplitude still shows an increasing trend, but the increase rate
slows down. The amplitude is relatively stable. After 10 s, the relative balance between
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 25

x
y

Displacement y (mm)
Friction force (N)

Whirl direction

Friction force direction

Time (s) Displacement x (mm)

(a) Frictional loads within 2-2.08s and their relationship to axial trajectories

x
y Friction force direction

Displacement y (mm)
Friction force (N)

Whirl direction

Time (s) Displacement x (mm)

(b) Frictional loads within 5-5.08s and their relationship to the axial trajectory

x Whirl direction
y Friction force direction
Displacement y (mm)
Friction force (N)

Time (s) Displacement x (mm)

(c) Frictional loads within 14-14.08s and their relationship to axial trajectories
Fig. 10. The friction force and work of end face seal at speed of 3600r/min

the work of the friction force and the work of the damping force is broken again, and
the work of the damping force decreases with time, so the vibration energy of the rotor
system increases again and the growth rate increases gradually. Although the vibration
energy of the rotor increases at this stage, the amplitude does not increase, but mainly the
increase of the vibration frequency, that is, the frequency component of the second-order
backward precession mode increases continuously. The specific evolution process of the
response is shown in Fig. 8.
26 L. Hou et al.

Do work (normalized value)

The work of friction
The work of the damping force

Time(s)

Fig. 11. The work of friction and damping force at different times

4 The Influence of Key Parameters on Rotor Vibration Response

On the basis of the previous section, this section studies the influence of the key parame-
ters of the system on the dynamic characteristics of the rotor, including rotor parameters
and sealing parameters. The rotor parameters include unbalance of rotor and rotor damp-
ing. The sealing parameters include sealing contact radius, pressing force, axial stiffness
and contact surface friction coefficient.

4.1 Influence of Rotor Parameters

4.1.1 Unbalance of Rotor

The influence of the unbalance of rotor on the vibration response of the rotor is calculated.
The results are represented by the rotor bifurcation diagram and the three-dimensional
waterfall diagram of the rotor system, as shown in Fig. 12. From Fig. 12, it can be
seen that when the rotor unbalance is 10 g*mm, the response of the rotor system is
dominated by the first-order modal vibration in the whole speed range, and the first-
order forward precession modal frequency is dominant in the frequency domain, and a
certain second-order backward precession modal frequency component is also included
in the supercritical speed. When the rotor unbalance is increased to 1000 g*mm, the
rotor system is characterized by the vibration of the first-order forward precession mode
at the subcritical speed. At the supercritical speed, it is characterized by the quasi-
periodic vibration formed by the superposition of the first-order positive precession
mode component, the unbalanced response composition and the second-order backward
precession mode composition. Near the critical speed, the rotor is a periodic vibration
response dominated by the speed frequency. At this time, the graphite sealing load does
not excite the unstable rotor modal frequency composition. The reason is that the rotor
vibration energy is increased, which can improve the modal stability.
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 27

fn2-

fn1+

rotate speed r/mi n

rotate speed r/mi n

(a) Unbalance amount is 10g*mm

f
fn2-
fn1+

Frequency HZ rota te speed r/min

rotate speed r/min

(b) Unbalance amount is 1000g*mm

Fig. 12. Effect of Unbalance on Vibration Response of Rotor

4.1.2 Rotor Damping

The rotor vibration response under different rotor damping is calculated, and the results
are shown in Fig. 13. Combined with the results when the damping ratio is 0.01 in Figs. 4
and 5, it can be seen that the vibration response of the rotor decreases significantly with the
increase of the damping ratio of the rotor. When the damping ratio is 0.05, the vibration
response of the rotor at subcritical speed and critical speed is a periodic oscillation
dominated by the rotational speed frequency, and the vibration response at supercritical
speed is a quasi-periodic oscillation caused by the superposition of the second-order
backward precession composition and the unbalanced response composition. When the
damping ratio is 0.1, the rotor is dominated by the frequency composition in the whole
speed range. The increase of rotor damping ratio is beneficial to improve the modal
stability of each order.
28 L. Hou et al.

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )
fn2-
f

rota te speed r/min

frequency HZ
rotate speed r/min

(a) Rotor damping ratio is 0.05

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )

rota te speed
r/min

frequency HZ
rotate speed r/min

(b) Rotor damping ratio is 0.1

Fig. 13. Influence of Rotor Damping Ratio on Rotor Vibration Response

4.2 The Influence of Sealing Mechanical Parameters

4.2.1 Sealing Contact Radius

The rotor vibration response under different sealing contact radius is calculated, and
the results are shown in Fig. 14. When the sealing contact radius is 25 mm, the rotor
is a periodic oscillation dominated by speed frequency in the whole speed range. With
the increase of the sealing contact radius, the vibration of the rotor is transformed from
the periodic oscillation dominated by the speed frequency composition to the vibration
dominated by the modal frequency composition, and the higher the sealing radius, the
higher the amplitude of the rotor system. This is because the smaller the sealing contact
radius of the seal is, the less easily the static ring is separated from the rotor disk under
the same vibration degree, and the higher the modal stability is.
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 29

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )
f

rota te speed r/min frequency HZ

rotate speed r/min

(a) Sealing contact radius is 25mm

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )

fn2-
fn1+

rota te speed
r/min
frequency
frequency HZ
HZ
rotate speed r/min

(b) Sealing contact radius is 75mm

Fig. 14. Influence of Sealing Contact Radius on Vibration Response of Rotor

4.2.2 Pressing Force

The rotor vibration response under different pressing forces is calculated, as shown in
Fig. 15. When the pressing force is 10 N, the vibration of the rotor at the subcritical speed
is dominated by the first-order forward composition mode. At the supercritical speed, it
is a quasi-periodic oscillation superimposed by the first-order forward precession mode
composition, the unbalanced response composition and the second-order backward pre-
cession mode composition. Near the critical speed, it is a periodic oscillation dominated
by the speed frequency composition. With the increase of the pressing force, the vibra-
tion amplitude of the rotor increases significantly, and the vibration is dominated by the
modal frequency composition in the whole speed range. The greater the compression
force, the more difficult it is to separate the static ring from the rotor disk under the same
vibration degree, but the static ring and the rotor disk are always compressed, and the
friction force does not change with the increase of positive pressure. The axial pressure
has no effect on the stability of the rotor.
30 L. Hou et al.

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )
f
fn2-
fn1+
rota te speed
frequency HZ r/min
rotate speed r/min

(a) Compression force is 10N

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )

f
fn2-
fn1+

rota te speed
frequency HZ r/min
rotate speed r/min

(b) Compression force is 100N

Fig. 15. Effect of Compression Force on Vibration Response of Rotor

4.2.3 Axial Stiffness

The rotor vibration response under different axial stiffness is calculated, as shown in
Fig. 16. When the axial stiffness is 1e3 N/mm, the rotor is a periodic oscillation dominated
by the speed frequency composition. With the increase of the axial stiffness, the first-
order forward mode and the second-order backward mode of the rotor are unstable,
resulting in the transition of the rotor vibration response to the vibration dominated by the
modal frequency composition, and the rotor vibration amplitude increases significantly
with the increase of the axial stiffness. This is because the lower the axial stiffness of the
seal under the same vibration degree, the less likely the static ring is to separate from
the rotor disk, the lower the axial stiffness, the higher the stability of the seal rotor.
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 31

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )
f

rota te speed r/min frequency

rotate speed r/min HZ

(a) Axial stiffness is 1e3N/mm

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )

fn2-
fn1+

frequency rota te speed

HZ r/min
rotate speed r/min

(b) Axial stiffness is 3e3N/mm

Fig. 16. Effect of Axial Stiffness on Vibration Response of Rotor

4.2.4 Friction Coefficient of Contact Surface

The rotor vibration response under different friction coefficient of contact surface is
calculated, as shown in Fig. 17. When the friction coefficient is 0.1, the rotor vibra-
tion response is a periodic oscillation dominated by the speed frequency composition.
When the friction coefficient is 0.2, the vibration response of the rotor under supercrit-
ical conditions changes, which becomes a quasi-periodic oscillation superimposed by
the unbalanced response and the second-order backward modal frequency composition.
When the friction coefficient is increased to 0.3, the rotor shows a quasi-periodic motion
formed by the superposition of modal composition and speed frequency composition in
the whole speed range, and the first-order forward precession modal frequency compo-
sition is the main one. The larger the friction coefficient is, the more energy is input to
the rotor under the same conditions, which is equivalent to more negative damping, and
the modal motion will be unstable. Reducing the friction coefficient can increase the
stability of the sealed rotor.
32 L. Hou et al.

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )
f

frequency
rotate speed r/min HZ
rotate speed r/min

(a) Friction coefficient is 0.1

Amplitude(mm)

Amplitude(mm )

f
fn 2-

frequency
rotate speed r/min
HZ
rotate speed r/min

(b) Friction coefficient is 0.2

Fig. 17. Effect of friction coefficient on rotor vibration response

5 Conclusion
Aiming at the influence of the end face seal of graphite on the dynamic characteristics of
rotor system, the nonlinear excitation load of the end face seal of graphite is proposed,
and the dynamic model of offset disk rotor with seal effect is established. Based on
numerical simulation, the dynamic characteristics and stability evolution rule of seal
rotor system are analyzed in detail. The main conclusions are as follows.
The swing of the rotor system causes the friction on the sealing contact surface to
be nonhomogeneous distributed, forming a transverse excitation load on the rotor. The
load always does positive work to the rotor and inputs vibration energy to the system.
The response behavior of the rotor system depends on the relationship between the
input energy of the sealing load and the energy consumed by the system damping. When
the system damping is not enough to dissipate the input energy of the seal load, the
steady-state response of the rotor is no longer a periodic response dominated by the
rotation frequency, and the vibration response shows a divergent trend in the whole
speed range. However, in terms of specific characteristics, it is also related to the rotor
speed, at subcritical speed, it is mainly based on the first-order forward precession modal
 Investigation on Nonlinear Behavior of a Rotor System 33

frequency composition, while at supercritical speed, it can also excite the second-order
backward precession modal frequency composition of the rotor.
Through the analysis of the influence law of parameters, it is found that reducing
the friction coefficient, sealing radius, axial stiffness of graphite seal and improving the
damping of the rotor system itself can significantly increase the stability of the sealed
rotor. The axial compression force has no effect on the stability of the rotor.

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 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine
Rotor Dynamic Response with Multiple Loads
Due to Fan Blade off

Jie Fu1 , Chao Li2 , Jie Hong1,2(B) , and Yanhong Ma2

1 School of Energy and Power Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191,
People’s Republic of China
[email protected]
2 Research Institute of Aero-Engine, Beihang University, Beijing 100191,

People’s Republic of China

Abstract. After the blade losing, the aero-engine rotor system is subjected to
multiple loads, including sudden unbalance excitation, angular acceleration exci-
tation caused by time-varying speed, and rub-impact excitation due to the fan
blade off (FBO), which results in a complex dynamic characteristic of the rotor
system. At present, the dynamic response mechanism analysis and high-precision
simulation results in this case are not complete, which seriously restricts the safety
design and verification in the engine development process. This paper analyzes
the load characteristics of the rotor when FBO occurs. Then the dynamic equa-
tion of inertia asymmetric rotor is carried out considering the combined action of
multiple loads. the dynamic response analysis model of the low-pressure rotor of
the turbofan engine with the condition of blade loss is established, the dynamic
response of inertia symmetric rotor and inertia asymmetric rotor are compared
and studied. A safety design idea of the support structure is proposed according to
the characteristics of the inertia asymmetric rotor structure. This research shows
that after the FBO occurs, the vibration response of the rotor increases sharply
when it decelerates passing the critical speed, and the rotor system appears back-
ward whirl frequency with the action of multiple loads. Compared with the inertia
symmetric rotor, the inertia asymmetric rotor is more prone to appear backward
whirl characteristics. According to the characteristics of inertia asymmetric rotor
load with multiple loads, this paper changes the dynamic characteristics of rotor
system by reducing the support stiffness, and increases the support damping to
improve the energy dissipation, so as to reduce the vibration response of the inertia
asymmetric rotor and to ensure the integrity of the support structure after blade
loss.

Keywords: Rotor dynamics · Fan blade off · Inertia asymmetry · Rub-impact ·

Safety design

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 34–55, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_3
 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 35

1 Introduction
Fan Blade Off (FBO) is a severe safety accident in the aero-engine. The study of FBO
has always been an important part of aero-engine safety design. After FBO occurs, the
diameter moments of inertia of the blade-disk structure are no longer equal in different
directions due to the FBO, and show strong inertia asymmetry. In the meanwhile, the rotor
system is subject to the combined action of multiple loads (sudden unbalance excitation,
angular acceleration excitation caused by speed change, and rub-impact excitation) [1].
The action mechanism of various loads on the dynamic response of asymmetric rotor
system and the interaction mechanism of various loads under strong nonlinear conditions
make it very difficult for researchers to accurately obtain the rotor dynamic characteristics
with the FBO.
For the study of rotor load excitation with FBO, the early Genta [2] took Jeffcott rotor
as the research object, and studied the vibration response of the rotor with sudden impact
load instead of the load excitation after FBO occurs. For the complex rotor system, Ren
Xingmin [3], Gu Jialiu [4] calculated and analyzed the sudden unbalance response by
using the improved transfer matrix method. With the in-depth research, it is found that
the inertia asymmetry of the disk will occur after the blade is lost.
Yu [1] established the dynamic model of the inertia asymmetric disk, and found that
the mass matrix and gyroscopic matrix of the inertia asymmetric disk are time-varying.
Liu Di [5] established the modal characteristic analysis method of inertia asymmetric
rotor through Hill infinite determinant to analyze the dynamic response characteristics
of inertia asymmetric rotor considering time-varying speed. Ishida et al. [6] established
a complex rotor model and analyzed the impact of inertia asymmetry characteristics on
the dynamic characteristics of the rotor system when FBO events occurs.
After the blade is lost, the vibration amplitude of the rotor system will increase
sharply, which will cause rub-impact between rotor and stator. Rub-impact will produce
impact, friction and constraint effects on the rotor system, and make complex vibration
phenomena to the rotor system [7]. Beatty [8] established a piecewise linear rub-impact
force model for the first time, and studied the typical rub-impact characteristics. Zhang
Siqi [9] gave a detailed description of the process of rotor–stator rub-impact, and found
that the rotor–stator rub-impact presented nonlinear characteristics through numerical
simulation. Liu Di [10] studied the rub-impact characteristics of rotor under sudden
unbalance excitation from the perspective of complex nonlinearity, indicating that severe
rub-impact will lead to backward whirl.
The excessive reaction forces of the support after FBO will seriously threaten the
structural integrity of the rotor system [11]. Li Chao [12] designed a buffer damping
support structure to reduce the reaction forces of the support of the rotor system with
FBO; Hong Jie [13] proposed a safety design strategy, which can effectively reduce the
vibration of the fan disk by changing the bearing position and the support stiffness.
The above research on the dynamic characteristics of rotor system when FBO occurs
is mostly focused on the impact of sudden unbalance load generated by FBO events on
the rotor system, while the specific research on the load characteristics of rotor system
after blade loss is less. In addition, there is little research on the inertial asymmetry of the
rotor with the combined action of multiple loads (sudden unbalance excitation, angular
acceleration excitation caused by time-varying speed and rub-impact excitation) after
36 J. Fu et al.

FBO occurs, which results that there is no clear concept about the dynamic response of
the inertia asymmetry rotor with the excitation of multiple loads after FBO occurs. In
this paper, when FBO occurs, the load characteristics of the rotor system are described
with the low-pressure rotor structure of a high bypass ratio turbofan engine. The dynamic
model of the inertial asymmetric rotor system is established considering the action of
multiple loads, the dynamic response of the inertial symmetric rotor and the inertial
asymmetric rotor with the action of multiple load excitation are compared and analyzed.
The safety design strategy of inertia asymmetric rotor is proposed, which provides certain
theoretical and technical support for the safety research of aeroengine.

2 Description of Rotor Load Characteristics After FBO

After FBO occurs, the motion process of the engine rotor system is variable and the load
situation is complex. Take the high bypass ratio turbofan engine as an example. After
the large diameter fan blade losing, the rotor motion state and load characteristics of
aero-engine can be divided into three stages:
1) Before FBO occurs, the rotor system with fine assembly and balance can be consid-
ered that the center of mass (G point) coincides with the center of rotation (O point).
During stable state, the rotational inertia excitation load is at a low level.
2) At the moment of FBO, the rotor system is impacted by sudden unbalance. Due to
the lack of blade, the diameter moment of inertia of the blade-disk structure shows
asymmetry, resulting in the inertia asymmetry (Jx = Jy ).
3) After the blade is lost, the speed of the rotor system will change in a short time, and the
rotor system will be affected by the angular acceleration caused by the time-varying
speed; The center of mass (G point) will no longer coincide with the center of rotation
(O point), which will cause the center of mass deviation, and the rotor system will
also subject to large unbalanced rotation excitation. The rotor unbalance vibration
makes the rotor amplitude exceed the blade-casing clearance. The blade will contact

f (t )

Jy Jy

Jx J x m0 h 2
Jp o
e
M G
Ip Je Jp me h 2
2
F M e

Fig. 1. Variation of rotor load characteristics after FBO.

 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 37

and rub the casing. Therefore, the fan casing will generate additional rubbing force
on the rotor system, as shown in Fig. 1.

3 Action Mechanism of Multiple Loads with FBO

3.1 Sudden Unbalance Load
Before FBO occurs, the initial unbalance of the rotor system is small (about 100g · mm),
and the rotation excitation is small. After the blade is lost, the unbalance increases
significantly (the unbalance can reach 106 g · mm ), and the center of mass will suddenly
deviate at the moment of FBO, which results in a sudden unbalance load.
After FBO occurs, the rotation speed will rapidly reduce to the windmill speed. With
the rapid reduction of speed, the rotor system will be affected by the tangential load
(FT = me eθ̈ ) caused by the time-varying speed (Fig. 2).
The expression is given in Eq. (1):

{0, 0}T
P(t) =   t < tB−off (1)
me e θ̈ sin θ + θ̇ 2 cos θ, −θ̈ cos θ + θ̇ 2 sin θ t ≥ tB−off

wherein, me represents the mass of the fan disk after FBO, e represents the eccentricity,
θ represents the phase angle of the fan disk, and tB−off represents the moment of FBO.

Fr = me eω 2
G
Or FT = me eθ
O ω
θ

Fig. 2. The load of unbalanced rotor during time-varying speed.

3.2 Inertial Asymmetric Disk

FBO makes the blade disk structure mass eccentricity e. The method proposed in ref-
erence [1] to analyze the inertial asymmetric disk. According to the theorem of parallel
38 J. Fu et al.

axis, the polar moment of inertia around Or point is Je = Jp −mh2 , the diameter moment
of inertia around inertia main shaft are Jx = Jp /2−mh2 , Jy = Jp /2. the diameter moment
of inertia in both directions are not equal, which are called inertia asymmetric, as shown
in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. The inertial asymmetric characteristics of the fan disk.

The control equation of the rotor system in the absolute coordinate system is
established with the Lagrange energy method, as shown in Eq. (2):
 
d ∂T ∂T ∂U
− + =Q (2)
dt ∂ q̇ ∂q ∂q

q = [x, y, θx , θy ]T is the radial and angular freedom of the disk.

The kinetic energy expression of the asymmetric disk is shown in Eq. (3):
1 1  2 1  2
Td = m(ẋ2 + ẏ2 ) + Jx θ̇x cos ωt + θ̇y sin ωt + Jy θ̇x sin ωt − θ̇y cos ωt
2 2 2
1  2  
+ Jx + Jy ω + ω θ̇x θy − θ̇y θx (3)
2
Equation (4) defines the average diameter moment of inertia J and Eq. (5) defines
the inertia unsymmetrical J .

J = (Jx + Jy )/2 (4)

J = (Jy − Jx )/2 (5)

 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 39

Substitute Eq. (4) and Eq. (5) to obtain the fan disk kinematics equation, as shown
in Eq. (6):

(Mdisc + Mdisc−c cos 2ωt + Mdisc−s sin 2ωt)q̈

(6)
+(Gdisc + Gdisc−c cos 2ωt + Gdisc−s sin 2ωt)q̇ = 0

wherein, Mdisc and Gdisc are the mass matrix and gyro matrix respectively,
Mdisc−c cos 2ωt and Mdisc−s sin 2ωt are the time-varying mass matrix of fan disk,
Gdisc−c cos 2ωt, Gdisc−s sin 2ωt are the time-varying gyro matrix of the disk.
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
m 0
⎢ m ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
Mdisc = ⎢ ⎥, Gdisc = ⎢ 0 ⎥.
⎣ J ⎦ 0 ⎣ 2J ω ⎦
J −2J ω 0
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
0 0
⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
Mdisc−c = J ⎢ ⎥, Gdisc−c = 2ωJ ⎢ 0 ⎥.
⎣ −1 ⎦ ⎣ 0 −1 ⎦
1 −1 0
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
0 0
⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
Mdisc−s = J ⎢ ⎥, Gdisc−S = 2ωJ ⎢ 0 ⎥.
⎣ 0 −1 ⎦ ⎣ 1 ⎦
−1 0 −1

3.3 Rub-Impact Excitation

After the blade is lost, the fan casing and the blade collide with each other, resulting in
mutual force. In this paper, the method proposed in reference [14] will be used to obtain
the rubbing force between the blade and the casing. The origin (i.e. the rotating center of
the disk) is O, the geometric center is Or , the distance from the blade tip to the geometric
center Or is r, and the displacement of geometric center Or in the x and y directions is
recorded as x1 and y1 , respectively. Take the i-th blade for analysis. At the moment of t,
the phase angle ϕi of the i-th blade is calculated as shown in Eq. (7):

ϕi = ωt + 2π(i − 1)/n (7)

n is the number of blades and ω is the rotor speed.

Equation (8) defines the distance from the i-th blade tip to the center of rotation (O
point):


ri = (x1 + r cos ϕi )2 + (y1 + r sin ϕi )2 (8)

φi is the included angle between ri with the x direction.

40 J. Fu et al.

As shown in Fig. 4, the velocities of the disk geometric center in the x and y directions
are respectively defined as vx1 and vy1 . Therefore, the velocities of the i-th blade tip in
the x and y directions are shown in Eq. (9):

vxi = −vx1 + ωr sin ϕi
(9)
vyi = −vy1 + ωr cos ϕi
The speed of the i-th blade tip relative to the casing is calculated as follows in Eq. (10):

vτ i = vyi cos i + vxi sin i (10)

vi
The i-th blade v yi
vxi
v y1 r
Or ri
y1 i
v
i x1
o x1
Fan disk

Fan case

Fig. 4. Speed of the blade tip relative to fan case.

The rubbing force between fan blade and casing is decomposed into rubbing normal
force and rubbing tangential force, as shown in Fig. 5. The rubbing normal force adopts
linear elastic model, and the rubbing tangential force adopts Coulomb friction model.
Establish rubbing criteria: Pi = ri − r − r0 . If Pi ≤ 0, it means that the fan blade is not in
contact with the fan casing, and there is no rotor–stator rubbing; If Pi > 0, it means that
there is no clearance between the fan blade and the casing, and there has been friction.
If rub-impact occurs, the fan casing will generate radial rubbing force Fni = kc Pi and
tangential rubbing force Fτ i = μFni on the rotor system, which are decomposed in the
x and y directions shown in Eq. (11):
 
Fxi = kc fxi f = −H (Pi )(Pi cos i − sign(vτ i )μPi cos i )
, xi (11)
Fyi = kc fyi fyi = −H (Pi )(Pi sin i + sign(vτ i )μPi sin i )
⎧
 ⎨ 1 vτ i > 0
1 P>0
In Eq. (11): H (Pi ) = , sign(vτ i ) = 0 vτ i = 0 .
0 Pi ≤ 0 ⎩
−1 vτ i < 0
Translate the component force in the x and y directions to the geometric center Or
of the disk, and obtain the friction force (shown in Eq. (12)) of the rotor blade disk in
 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 41

the x and y directions. In this paper, it did not consider the torque acting on the center
of disk:
  n n
Fx = kc fx
, fx = fxi , fy = fyi (12)
Fy = kc fy
i=0 i=0

vi
The i-th blade Fyi Fni
Fxi
r Fi
Or ri
y1 i
i
o x1
Fan disk

Fan case

Fig. 5. Rubbing force between the blade and fan case.

3.4 Rotor Dynamics Model with Multiple Loads

After FBO occurs, the inertia symmetric rotor system becomes an inertia asymmetric
one. The rotor system is subject to the combined action of multiple loads (sudden impact
load, large unbalance rotating excitation, angular acceleration excitation and rub-impact
excitation). Write multiple load excitation in the form of Eq. (11):
⎧  T
⎪
⎪ m0 e θ̇ 2 cos θ, θ̇ 2 sin θ t < tB−off
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪  T
⎪
⎨ 2 2
me eθ̇ cos θ + px , me eθ̇ sin θ + py tB−off ≤ t < t1
P(t) =  T (13)
⎪
⎪ me eθ̈ sin θ + me eθ̇ cos θ + px , −me eθ̈ cos θ + me eθ̇ 2 sin θ + py
2 t1 ≤ t < t2
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪  T
⎪
⎩ 2 2
me eθ̇ cos θ + px , me eθ̇ sin θ + py t2 ≤ t ≤ tend

wherein, mo is the mass of the fan disk before the blade losing, me is the mass of the fan
disk after FBO, e is the eccentricity, θ is the phase angle of the fan disk, px , py are the
component of the friction force in the x and y directions, tB−off is the moment of FBO,
t1 is the time when the speed starts to decrease, t2 is the time when the speed reaches
the speed of the windmill, and tend is the end time.
Therefore, the rotor dynamics equation of inertia symmetric rotor with multiple loads
is shown in Eq. (14):

M q̈ + (C + G)q̇ + Kq = P(t) (14)

42 J. Fu et al.

And the rotor dynamics equation of inertia asymmetric rotor with multiple loads
after FBO is given in Eq. (15):

(Mdisc + Mdisc−c cos 2ωt + Mdisc−s sin 2ωt)q̈

(15)
+(C + Gdisc + Gdisc−c cos 2ωt + Gdisc−s sin 2ωt)q̇ + Kq = P(t)

P(t) refers to multiple load excitation of rotor system, including initial unbalance
excitation, sudden unbalance excitation, angular acceleration excitation, large unbalance
excitation and rub-impact excitation.

4 Modeling and Analysis Method of Low-Pressure Rotor

4.1 Establishment of Low-Pressure Rotor Model

Referring to the low-pressure rotor of a typical high bypass ratio turbofan engine, a
finite element model is established. The low-pressure rotor is mainly composed of 30
fan blades, 4-stage compressor, 5-stage low-pressure turbine, fan disk and compressor
structure, fan stub shaft, low-pressure turbine shaft, turbine disk and 3 fulcrums, as
shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6. LP rotor finite element model.

The modal characteristics of the rotor system are analyzed. The first order critical
speed of the rotor system is ω1 = 4900 rpm and the mode shape is the pitch vibration
of fan; The second order critical speed is ω2 = 5964 rpm, and the mode shape is the
translation motion of the turbine; The third order critical speed is ω3 = 18028 rpm,
and the mode shape is the overall bending vibration. As shown in Fig. 7, the working
speed of the rotor system is 9000 rpm. The critical speed of the overall bending vibration
mode is designed above the working speed. The rotor system does not go through the
overall bending critical speed during the acceleration and deceleration process, which
is in accordance with the engineering design.
 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 43

200

150
Frequency Hz

100

50

4900 5964 9000

Rotational speed RPM

Fig. 7. The LP rotor resonance speed distribution.

4.2 Dynamic Response Analysis Method

First, the three-dimensional solid model of LP rotor is established through finite element
analysis software, and the established model is output to the [K], [C], [M], [G] matrix
in HBMAT format.
Use the simulation software to convert the matrix of HBMAT format into the rotor
dynamics matrix. The dynamic equations of inertia symmetric rotor and inertia asymmet-
ric rotor are constructed in the simulation software based on Sect. 3.4, and the mechanical
boundary conditions of multiple loads are applied to the rotor system.
Finally, the established rotor dynamics equation is solved by the Newmark-β method.
The dynamic analysis method is shown in Fig. 8.

Establishing three-dimensional
Unbalanced Blade-casing
solid finite element model of
load rubbing
rotor support system

Forming HBMAT format MATLAB format rotor Rotor dynamics equation Rotor dynamic response
rotor dynamics matrix dynamics matrix under complex load under complex load
[K] [C] [M] [G] [K] [C] [M] [G] environment environment

Inertial asymmetric
excitation
Rotor establishment Equation solution

Fig. 8. Dynamic analysis method.

5 Analysis of Rotor Dynamic Response with Multiple Load

Excitation
The radius of the fan is 460 mm, and the rub-impact clearance is 2.5 mm (if the radial
vibration displacement of the fan blade is greater than 2.5 mm, the rotor rub-impact
occurs). The rigidity of the fan casing is K=2 × 107 N /m, and the friction coefficient is
μ = 0.2.
44 J. Fu et al.

In the initial state, the rotor runs stably at the working speed. When FBO occurs, the
rotor system speed will rapidly reduce to the windmill speed in a short time, and keep
the windmill speed rotating continuously. The rotation speed-time diagram is shown in
Fig. 9.

t B −off working speed

t1

Windmill speed

t2

Fig. 9. Rotation speed-time diagram.

5.1 Inertia Symmetric Rotor

From the Sect. 3.4, we can get the dynamic equation of inertia symmetric rotor, as shown
in Eq. (14).
In this paper, Newmark-β method is adopted to solve Eq. (14), and the dynamic
response law of the inertia symmetric rotor with multiple loads is obtained.
Time–Frequency Displacement Response. Figure 10(a) and Fig. 10(b) show the hor-
izontal and vertical displacement response of the fan disk in time domain. It can be seen
that the initial unbalance of the fan disk is small before the blade lost, and the vibration
amplitude is small for the action of the initial unbalance load. After FBO occurs, the
amplitude of the fan disk increases sharply. When passing the first critical speed, the
amplitude of the fan disk reaches a peak. Figure 10(c) shows the amplitude of the fan
disk in time domain. From the Fig. 10(c), we can see that the peak amplitude of the
fan disk in time domain reaches 2.73 mm, which exceeds the clearance between the fan
blade and the fan casing(2.5 mm).
Rub-impact is a continuous process. Figure 10(d) is the vibration response of the fan
disk in frequency domain. In Fig. 10(d), it can be seen that the main frequency 81.33 Hz
is the frequency when the rotor system passes the first critical speed. A lot of clutter
in the frequency 85 Hz–100 Hz are caused by the rub-impact. In the frequency domain
figure (Fig. 10(d)), it can be seen that the first-order backward whirl frequency of the
rotor system is 75.17 Hz, which is due to the backward whirl frequency caused by the
action of the tangential rubbing force when rub-impact occurs.
 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 45

(a) 3 (b) 3

2 2
X displacement /mm

Y displacement /mm
1 1

0 0

-1 -1

-2 -2

-3 -3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time /s Time /s

(c) 3 (d)
0.8

0.7
2.5

0.6
2
Amplitude /mm

mm
0.5

1.5

Amplitude
0.4

0.3
1

0.2
0.5
0.1

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Time /s Frequency Hz

Fig. 10. The vibration response of the inertia symmetric fan disk (a) horizontal displacement
in time domain (b)vertical displacement in time domain (c)vibration amplitude in time domain
(d)response in frequency domain.

The Reaction Forces of the Supports. Figure 11 shows the reaction forces of No.1,
No.2 and No.3 supports of inertia symmetric rotor in time domain with the action of
multiple loads. In the normal working conditions, the amplitude of the supports’ reaction
forces is small due to the effect of initial unbalanced load. When FBO occurs, the
supports’ reaction forces increase sharply. When passing the first critical speed, the
reaction forces of supports reach the peak value, the reaction force of No.1 support
reaches 9.65 × 104 N , the reaction force of No.2 support reaches 5.944 × 104 N , and the
maximum the reaction force of No.3 support reaches 6.401 × 104 N ;
The second mode shape of the rotor system is the translation motion of the turbine,
which is small effect on the fan (including No.1 support and No.2 support). On the
contrary, it has a large impact on the turbine rear support (No.3 support). When passing
the second critical speed, the reaction force of No.3 support reaches a peak value of
about 4.068 × 104 N .
To sum up, when the rotor system passes the critical speed, the supports’ reaction
forces of the rotor system reaches the peak value. Therefore, when the rotor decelerates
beyond the critical speed point, the vibration response of the rotor is the largest and it is
the most dangerous point, which needs to be focused on.
Rub-Impact Characteristics. The rub-impact characteristics of the rotor system are
analyzed, and axis orbit of inertia symmetric rotor during rubbing in Fig. 12 is obtained.
46 J. Fu et al.

104
10

9 9.65 104 N

7 6.401 104 N

N
6 5.944 104 N

Reaction force
5

4
4.068 104 N
3

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time s

Fig. 11. The reaction forces of the supports of the inertia symmetric rotor in time domain.

Fig. 12. Axis orbit of inertia symmetric rotor during rubbing.

Figure 12 shows axis orbit of the fan disk of the inertia symmetric rotor system
during rubbing. From the Fig. 12, it can be seen that the form of rubbing between the
fan blade and the casing is full annular rub, and the rubbing is continuously.

5.2 Inertia Asymmetric Rotor

The mutually orthogonal diameter moments of inertia are no longer equal due to the fan
losing. At the rotating state, the mass matrix and gyro matrix of the rotor system are
time-varying instead of constant.
From the Sect. 3.4, we can get the dynamic equation of inertia asymmetric rotor, as
shown in Eq. (15).
In this paper, Newmark-β method is adopted to solve Eq. (14), and the dynamic
response law of the inertia asymmetric rotor with multiple loads is obtained.
Time–frequency displacement response. Figure 13(a) and Fig. 13(b) show the hori-
zontal and vertical displacement response of the fan disk in time domain. It can be seen
that the response of inertia asymmetric rotor with multiple load excitation is similar to
that of inertia symmetric rotor. the initial unbalance of the fan disk is small before the
 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 47

blade lost, and the vibration amplitude is small for the action of the initial unbalance
load. After FBO occurs, the amplitude of the fan disk increases sharply. When passing
the first critical speed, the maximum horizontal displacement reaches 2.921 mm, the
maximum vertical displacement reaches 3.692 mm. Figure 13(c) shows the amplitude
of the fan disk in time domain. From the Fig. 13(c), we can see that the peak amplitude of
the fan disk in time domain reaches 3.797 mm, which exceeds the rotor-static clearance
of 2.5 mm, and the rotor-static friction occurs between the fan blade and the casing.
Figure 13(d) is the vibration response of the fan disk in frequency domain. In
Fig. 13(d), it can be seen that the main frequency 82 Hz is the frequency when the
rotor system passes the first critical speed. From the Fig. 10(d), it also can be seen that
the first-order backward whirl frequency of the rotor system is 76 Hz, which is caused
by the action of the tangential rubbing force when rub-impact occurs.
Compared with inertia symmetric rotor, inertia asymmetric rotor is subject to more
serious rub-impact and represents more obvious rub-impact characteristics. It can be
seen from the Fig. 13(d) that there are two main frequencies in the rotor system with the
excitation of multiple loads: 82 Hz and 76 Hz. They are the first critical speed (forward
whirl) frequency and the first backward whirl frequency, which indicate that the inertia
asymmetric rotor has serious rub-impact between rotor and stator with the excitation of
multiple loads, directly resulting in the backward whirl in the rotor system.

(a) (b)
3 4

3
2

2
X displacement /mm

Y displacement/mm

1
1

0 0

-1
-1

-2
-2
-3

-3 -4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
time/s time/s

(c) (d)
4 0.8

3.5 0.7

3 0.6
Amplititude mm
Amplitude /mm

2.5 0.5

2 0.4

1.5 0.3

1 0.2

0.5 0.1

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Time /s Frequensy Hz

Fig. 13. The vibration response of the inertia asymmetric fan disk (a) horizontal displacement in
time domain (b) vertical displacement in time domain (c) vibration amplitude in time domain (d)
response in frequency domain.
48 J. Fu et al.

The Reaction Forces of the Supports. Figure 14 shows the reaction forces of No.1,
No.2 and No.3 supports of inertia asymmetric rotor in time domain with the action of
multiple loads. From the Fig. 14, the supports’ reaction forces of inertia asymmetric
rotor are similar to the supports’ reaction forces of the inertia symmetric rotor. In the
normal working conditions, the amplitude of the supports’ reaction forces is small due
to the effect of initial unbalanced load. When FBO occurs, the supports’ reaction forces
increase sharply. When passing the first critical speed, the reaction forces of supports
reach the peak value, the reaction force of No.1 support reaches 1.349 × 105 N , the
reaction force of No.2 support reaches 8.245 × 104 N , and the maximum the reaction
force of No.3 support reaches 8.194 × 104 N ;
The second mode shape of the rotor system is the translation motion of the turbine,
which is small effect on the fan (including No.1 support and No.2 support). On the
contrary, it has a large impact on the turbine rear support (No.3 support). When passing
the second critical speed, the reaction force of No.3 support reaches a peak value of
about 4.196 × 104 N .

1.349 105 N No.1 support

No.2 support
No.3 support

8.194 104 N 8.245 104 N

4.196 104 N

Fig. 14. The reaction forces of the supports of the inertia asymmetric rotor in time domain.

Table 1 is obtained by comparing the peak of the supports’ reaction forces of the
inertia asymmetric rotor system with the peak of the supports’ reaction forces of the
inertia symmetric rotor system with multiple load excitation.
From Table 1, compared with the peak value of the supports’ reaction forces of the
inertia asymmetric rotor and the peak value of the inertia symmetric rotor, the peak value
of the supports’ reaction forces increases. The supports’ reaction forces increase more
obviously at the first critical speed. Therefore, at the first critical speed, the reaction force
of No.1 support increased by 39.79%, about 38400N; The reaction force of No.3 support
increased by 37.85%, about 22500N; The reaction force of No.2 support increased by
28.81%, about 18440N. It has little influence on the peak of supports’ reaction forces at
the second critical speed.
 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 49

Table 1. Peak value comparison of the supports’ reaction forces with multiple loads

Support number No.1 support No.2 support No.3 support (the No.3 support (the
1st order) 2nd order)
The inertia 96500N 64010N 59440N 40680N
symmetric rotor
system
The inertia 134900N 82450N 81940N 41960N
asymmetric rotor
system
Variation +38400N +18440N +22500N +1280N
Change rate +39.79% +28.81% +37.85% +3.15%

To sum up, the inertia asymmetry will seriously affect the reaction forces of the
supports, make the rotor supports bear greater reaction forces, and seriously threaten the
safety of the bearing support structure.

Rub-Impact Characteristics
The rub-impact characteristics of the rotor are analyzed, mainly the axis orbit at the
rub-impact stage, as shown in Fig. 15(a). Figure 15(b) shows the backward whirl
characteristics of the inertia asymmetric.

(a) 4
(b) 0.2

3 0.15

2 0.1
Y displacement /mm

Y displacement /mm

1 0.05

0 0
1

-1 -0.05

-2 -0.1
2

-3 -0.15

-4 -0.2
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 -0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15
X displacement /mm X displacement /mm

Fig. 15. Axis orbit of inertia asymmetric rotor (a) rub-impact stage, (b) backward whirl
characteristics.

It can be seen from the Fig. 15(a) that the form of rubbing between the fan rotor
blades and the casing is local rub. There are multiple contact-collisions and rebound-
separation between blades and casing. From the Fig. 15(b), the inertia asymmetric rotor
shows the backward whirl feature after the rub-impact. The whirl direction of the rotor
system at the initial time is anticlockwise (forward whirl). After rub-impact, the whirl
direction of the rotor system turns clockwise (backward whirl) with the action of rub-
impact excitation, which is opposite to the initial whirl direction. The rotor system has
the backward whirl characteristics.
50 J. Fu et al.

Compared with the inertia symmetric rotor, the inertia asymmetric rotor has more
serious rub-impact. From the Figs. 12 and 15(a), the inertia symmetric rotor mainly rubs
in the form of contact non-separation full-cycle rubs, while the inertia asymmetric rotor
mainly rubs in the form of contact separation local rub with multiple load excitation.
From the previous analysis, it can be seen that inertia symmetric rotor has only
one backward whirl frequency with multiple load excitation, and there is no backward
whirl characteristics; However, with the combined action of multiple loads, the degree
of rub-impact of the inertial asymmetric rotor system is more serious, and the time
of rub-impact is longer. The serous rub-impact directly leads to the backward whirl
characteristics of the rotor system. Therefore, the inertial asymmetric rotor system is
more prone to backward whirl than the inertial rotor system.

6 Safety Design of Support Structure

6.1 Safety Design Strategy
With the action of multiple loads, the transient response peak of the inertia asymmetric
rotor system can reach above 1.3 × 105 N , which can affect the completeness of the
supporting structure, and in severe cases, it can cause secondary accidents such as bearing
jamming, damage to mount, shaft breakage, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to design a
safety structure of the aeroengine rotor to reduce the reaction forces of supports.
(1) The low-pressure rotor is a flexible rotor with multiple fulcrums. After FBO occurs,
the No.1 support of the rotor system is the closest to the fan and its load is the largest.
Therefore, the load environment of the No.1 support of the rotor system is the most
severe. It is necessary to carry out safety design for it.
(2) For modern aero-engines, the No.1 support is a roller bearing, which mainly bears
radial load. Figure 16(a) and (b) shows the safety design of typical support structures
at home and abroad. As can be seen from Fig. 16(a) and (b), in order to avoid
secondary failure caused by excessive reaction force of support, the safety design
of the fuse structure (design of thinned conical shell (e.g. Fig. 17(a)) and design of
fuse bolt (e.g. Fig. 17(b))) has been carried out at the No.1 support structure, so that
the rotor system can be changed from 3 to 2 fulcrums to realize the variable stiffness
design of the rotor. This will change the dynamic characteristics of the rotor system,
reduce the critical speed, thereby reducing the reaction force of support when the
rotor passes the critical speed.
(3) From the perspective of energy, damping will absorb the energy of rotor vibration
and reduce the reaction force of support. In order to reduce the peak of support’s
reaction force of the inertia asymmetric rotor with the excitation of multiple loads
and protect the safety of the support structure, the damping of the rotor can be
appropriately increased to reduce the reaction force of support of the rotor system.
Therefore, a support structure of roller bearing is designed based on the safety design
characteristics of inertia asymmetric rotor, as shown in Fig. 17(a) and (b).
The support structure mainly consists of two key structures, the fuse structure and
the low stiffness structure. When the aero-engine rotor works normally, the vibration
response of the rotor system is at a relatively low level. The reaction force of support
 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 51

(a) (b)

Fig. 16. Typical safety design of No.1 support structure (a) design of thinned conical shell (b)
design of fuse bolt.

(a) (b)

Fig. 17. A new safety design of support structure (a) working state. (b) after blade loss.

is transmitted to the left and right convex shoulder through the fulcrum bearing and the
bearing outer ring (e.g. Fig. 17(a)). However, when FBO occurs, the reaction force of
support is large, and the left and right convex shoulder are broken. The reaction force of
support is transmitted to the elastic ring through the fulcrum bearing (e.g. Fig. 17(b));
The elastic ring is made of metal rubber with low stiffness. The metal rubber produces
great damping effect and consumes vibration energy under the reaction force of support,
reduces the external transmission of vibration load, and protects the support frame and
mounting joint of the engine.

6.2 Effect of Reducing Support Stiffness

Change the stiffness of the No. 1 support to obtain the critical speed of the rotor system
under different support stiffness. As shown in Fig. 18, which shows the change of the
critical speed of the rotor system with reducing the No. 1 support stiffness.
The data in Fig. 18 is sorted out to draw Table 2.
It can be seen from Fig. 18 and Table 2 that changing the stiffness of No. 1 support
has little impact on the second critical speed of the rotor system (the translation motion
of the turbine mode). However, it has a great impact on the first critical speed of the rotor
system (the pitch vibration of fan mode). The No. 1 support relative stiffness is reduced
by 50%, and the first critical speed is reduced by 15%. When No. 1 support stiffness
becomes 1% initial support stiffness, the first critical speed of the rotor is significantly
52 J. Fu et al.

Fig. 18. Change of critical speed with reducing No. 1 support relative stiffness.

Table 2 Change of critical speed with No. 1 support relative stiffness

No. 1 support 1 0.75 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.01 0

relative stiffness
First critical 4900 4549 4145 3778 3363 3156 3132
speed
Percentage (%) 100 92.84 84.59 77.10 68.63 64.41 63.92
Second critical 5964 5928 5905 5892 5882 5879 5878
speed
Percentage (%) 100 99.40 99.01 98.79 98.93 98.57 98.56

reduced by about 35.5%. When No. 1 support stiffness becomes 0, the support structure
loses its restraint capacity, and the first critical speed decreases by 36%, which is almost
the same as that of 1%.
Therefore, when the No. 1 support stiffness is two magnitudes smaller than the initial
support stiffness, the No. 1 support has basically lost its restraint capacity. By reducing
the No. 1 support stiffness, the critical speed of the rotor can be reduced, which will
change the dynamic characteristics of the rotor and reduce the supports’ reaction forces
of the rotor system.

6.3 Effect of Increasing Support Damping

According to the previous design idea (e.g. Fig. 17), after FBO occurs, increasing the
support damping can increase the energy consumption of damping, reduce the peak
value of the reaction force of the support, and reduce the vibration response of the rotor
system.
The reaction force of No. 1 support under different damping is obtained by changing
the No. 1 support damping, as shown in Fig. 19.
 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 53

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Fig. 19. The reaction forces of supports under different No.1 support damping (a) 2 × support
damping (b) 4 × support damping (c) 8 × support damping (d) 10 × support damping.

The peak value of reaction forces of supports under different No.1 support damping
is arranged and drawn into Table 3.
It can be seen from Fig. 19 and Table 3 that the change of No. 1 support damping can
greatly change the reaction forces of rotor supports. When the No.1 support damping
becomes twice the initial support damping, the peak value of No.1 support’s reaction
force of the rotor system decreases by 16200N, about 12%. When the No.1 support
damping is increased to 10 times the initial support damping, the peak value of No.1
support’s reaction force of the rotor system decreases by 82480N, 61.14%.
Through the above analysis, the dynamic characteristics of the rotor can be changed
through reducing support stiffness, so as to restrain the vibration response of the rotor;
The peak value of supports’ reaction force of the inertia asymmetric rotor with multiple
loads can be reduced by increasing the support damping, so as to reduce the vibration
response of the rotor and ensure the structural integrity of the engine.
54 J. Fu et al.

Table 3 The peak value of each support’s reaction force under different No.1 support damping

Support number No.1 support No.2 support No.3 support (the No.3 support (the
1st order) 2nd order)
Initial No.1 support 134900N 82450N 81940N 41960N
damping
2 × support 118700N 75520N 72250N 41020N
damping
Change rate (%) −12.01 −8.41 −11.83 −2.24
4 × support 92930N 59590N 49890N 39510N
damping
Change rate (%) −31.11 −27.73 −39.11 −5.84
8 × support 61150N 39150N 33010N 36800N
damping
Change rate (%) −54.67 −52.52 −59.71 −12.30
10 × support 52420N 33490N 28030N 35820N
damping
Change rate (%) −61.14 −59.38 −65.79 −14.63

7 Conclusion

In this paper, the following conclusions are obtained by analyzing the dynamic charac-
teristics of inertia symmetric rotor and inertia asymmetric rotor with multiple loads after
FBO occurs:
(1) The load characteristics of the blade are described in detail after FBO occurs, and
the rotor dynamic model of inertia symmetric rotor and inertia asymmetric rotor
with multiple load excitation is established.
(2) After the blade loss, the vibration response of aero-engine rotor system is the largest
when it decelerates passing the critical speed, which is also the most dangerous point;
With the action of multiple load excitation, the rotor system will appear backward
whirl frequency for the excitation of rub-impact.
(3) With the action of multiple load excitation, the vibration response of the inertia
asymmetric rotor is greater than that of the inertia symmetric rotor. and the peak
reaction forces of No.1, No. 2 and No. 3 supports increase by 39.79%, 28.81% and
37.85% respectively.
(4) Compared with the inertia symmetric rotor system, the inertia asymmetric rotor
system has more serious rub-impact between rotor and stator; The inertia symmetric
rotor mainly rubs in the form of contact non-separation full-cycle rubs, while the
inertia asymmetric rotor mainly rubs in the form of contact separation local rub with
multiple load excitation; The inertia asymmetric rotor system shows backward whirl
characteristics with the action of multiple loads.
 Analysis and Safety Design of Aero-Engine Rotor Dynamic Response 55

(5) A safety design idea of the support structure is proposed, and the vibration response of
the rotor is effectively reduced by reducing the No. 1 support stiffness and increasing
the No. 1 support damping.

Acknowledgements. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the
National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of
China (Grant Nos. J2019-VIII-0008-0169, Y2019-VIII-0011-0172 and 2017-I-0008-0009).

References
1. Yu, P., et al.: Dynamic modeling and vibration characteristics analysis of the aero-engine
dual-rotor system with fan blade out. Mech. Syst. Signal Process. 106, 158–175 (2018)
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1007/0-387-28687-X
3. Ren, X.M., Gu, J.L.: Response of suddenly applied unbalance for aeroengine -bearing system.
J. Vibr. Eng. 4(3), 75–82 (1991)
4. Gu, J., Ren, X.M.: A study on solution of suddenly applied unbalance response of a rotor-
support system. Chinese J. Appl. Mech. 8(4), 56–62 (1991)
5. Liu, D., Hong, J., Su, Z., et al.: Dynamic characteristics of inertia asymmetry rotor and safety
design. J. Propul. Technol. 43(4), 200269 (2022)
6. Ikeda, T., Murakami, S.: Dynamic response and stability of a rotating asymmetric shaft
mounted on a flexible base. Nonlinear Dyn. 20(1), 1–19 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:
1008302203981
7. Muszynska, A.: Rotordynamics. Taylor & Francis, New York (2005)
8. Beatty, R.F.: Differentiating rotor response due to radial rubbing. J. Vibr. Acoust. 107(2),
151–160 (1985)
9. Zhang, S.Q., Lu, Q.S., Wang, Q.: Analysis of rub-impact events for a rotor eccentric from the
case. J. Vibr. Eng. 11(4), 492–496 (1998)
10. Liu, D., Li, C., Yang, H., et al.: Analysis of backward whirl for rubbing rotor caused by
excitation of sudden unbalance. J. Aerosp. Power 36(7), 1509–1519 (2021)
11. Sinha, S.K.: Rotordynamic analysis of asymmetric turbofan rotor due to fan blade-loss event
with contact-impact rub loads. J. Sound Vib. 332(9) (2013)
12. Li, C., Liu, D., et al.: Dynamic characteristics of flexible rotor and safety design of support
structure with fan blade-off. J. Aerosp. Power 35(11), 2263–2274 (2020)
13. Hong, J., Xu, M.-L., et al.: Structure safety design strategy of rotor-support system due to fan
blade loss. J. Aerosp. Power 31(11), 2273–2730 (2016)
14. Thiery, F., Gustavsson, R., Aidanpää, J.O.: Dynamics of a misaligned Kaplan turbine with
blade-to-stator contacts. Int. J. Mech. Sci. 99, 251–261 (2015)
 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine
Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System
with Rub-impact Fault and Its Dynamic
Response

Jiewei Lin1 , Bin Wu1 , Xin Lu2 , Jian Xu3 , Junhong Zhang1(B) , and Huwei Dai1(B)
1 State Key Laboratory of Engines, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
{zhangjh,dhwmail}@tju.edu.cn
2 Aeronautical Engineering Institute, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin 301636, China
3 Laboratory of Aeroacoustics and Vibration Aviation Technology, Aircraft Strength Research

Institute of China, Xi’an 710065, China

Abstract. Rub-impact fault is a common problem in aircraft engines. To sim-

ulate the dynamic process and rubbing force, a finite element model of blade-
coating rubbing was developed and verified experimentally through a rotor rig
test. Considering the aero-engine’s structural characteristics and material prop-
erties, a simulation model for rub-impact fault was developed. It considered the
blade-casing-coating material model selection and parameter settings, constraints,
contact, and load settings of the components, which was calculated using explicit-
implicit integration scheme. A ‘0–2-1’ supported aero-engine rotor-blade-coating
coupling system was also developed to study the rub-impact fault’s influence on
the system vibration response, combining the rubbing force obtained at differ-
ent rotating speeds and invasion depths. Results show that the rotor vibration
mainly concentrates on the fundamental frequency and its multiplications during
blade-coating rubbing. Rotating speed significantly affects the vibration of the
frequency multiplications. Moreover, the dynamic response of the rotor system
varies considerably with the invasion depth.

Keywords: rub-impact · dynamic response · numerical simulation · rotor

system · vibration

1 Introduction
To improve engine efficiency and reduce fuel consumption, the radial clearance between
the blade and the casing is decreasing, making it easier for rubbing to occur between the
rotor and stator [1]. To avoid the damage caused by blade-casing rubbing, the sealing
coating is sprayed inside the casing to reduce the contact force caused by the rub-impact
fault. Therefore, the effect of the sealing coating should be considered in the aero-engine
rub-impact fault.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 56–75, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_4
 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System 57

Rub-impact fault is common in aero-engines. Many scholars have conducted simu-

lation and test studies [2], which mainly includes two aspects, the blade-casing/coating
rub-impact study and the rotor system vibration problem caused by the rub-impact fault.
In the rub-impact research, early research was mainly based on experimental studies,
rub-impact tests were carried out by simplifying the blade into a single pendulum and
the casing into a flat plate [3]. In keeping with the real engine structure, the casing was
simplified to an arc structure and the rubbing force was collected [4]. Rub-impact test rigs
that can simulate the blade-casing rubbing fault had also been built [5, 6], which were
used to study the relationship between the rub-impact force and the invasion depth, the
rub-impact between the blade and the coating [7], verify the rub-impact force prediction
model [8]. With the development in numerical analysis methods, the blade and casing
were simplified to a cantilever beam and spring-damped system, and the rub-impact study
was performed by deriving the dynamic equation [9], and gradually from the single-
point and local rub development to the whole circle rub [10]. Due to the sophisticated
finite element technology, the blade and the casing were built as solid models and the
rub-impact process was reproduced in simulation software such as ANSYS and LS-
DYNA [11, 12]. The nonlinear dynamic characteristics of rubbing [13], contact dynamic
characteristics [14], and system dynamic response under different invasion depths and
different speeds [15] had been studied by the simulating calculation. However, less
consideration was given to abradable sealing coatings in the above studies, to better
study the rubbing characteristics of the abradable coating, the blade-coating rubbing
problem was simulated in this paper.
The dynamic response of the rotor system under the rub-impact fault has always been
the focus of studies. The earlier study was carried out to analyze the dynamics under
rotor-stator rub-impact fault, mainly focusing on the rotor-stator rubbing without the
blade [16]. Subsequently, the study of the dynamics under the blade and casing rubbing
fault started to emerge, and the effect of the blade-casing rubbing on the blade vibration,
rotor vibration and casing response vibration was studied [17]. The blade-casing rub-
impact-force model had also been derived and applied to the rotor system model for
the study of dynamic characteristics [18]. The coating was located on the casing’s inner
wall and its abradable ability reduced the energy loss of the rotor system [19], which
will influence the dynamic characteristics of the rotor system with the rub-impact fault.
The coating’s effect is often ignored in existing studies, so it is necessary to study the
dynamic response of the rotor system under blade-coating rub-impact fault.
Based on the contact dynamics theory, a blade-casing simulation model is estab-
lished, a numerical simulation based on the coating is carried out, and the accuracy of
the simulation is verified through an experimental bench. The rub-impact force char-
acteristics under different seal coting materials and invasion depths were discussed. A
rotor system dynamics model was established to study the dynamic response under the
rub-impact fault.
58 J. Lin et al.

2 Rub-impact and Rotor Dynamic Modeling

2.1 Rub-impact Modeling

A simulation model of coating-blade rub-impact was established using LS-DYNA soft-
ware, based on a simplified low-pressure compressor casing-coating-blade structure of
an aero-engine prototype. To perform numerical simulation of the rub-impact process,
certain simplifications and assumptions were made to the structure based on the calcu-
lation requirements. Since the hub primarily experiences radial loading and possesses
significantly greater radial stiffness than the blade and casing, the hub was simplified to
a rigid shell in order to expedite calculations. To better analyze the rub-impact charac-
teristics, only a single blade was involved in each impact, so the influence of the blades’
number on the calculation results was ignored. In addition, the calculation did not con-
sider the effect of temperature and aerodynamic loads. The model is shown in Fig. 1,
which was built based on the above assumptions. In this simulation model, the model
parameters were derived from real engine data and given in Table 1.

Fig. 1. Blade-coating-casing rub-impact finite element model

 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System 59

Table 1. Blade-coating-casing rub-impact finite element model parameters

Parameters Value/Unit Parameters Value/Unit

Casing diameter 300 mm Blade thickness 3 mm
Casing thickness 3 mm Rotational speed 5000 r/min
Coating thickness 2 mm Unbalance mass 6700 g.mm
Blade-coating clearance 0.5 mm Equivalent support stiffness 4e6 N/m
Blade height 40 mm Equivalent support damping 500 N.s.m−1

Material Parameter: The casing was modelled elastically and was made of Q235 steel.
Considering that the coating would be exposed to excessive load during the rub-impact
process, the coating material properties were described by plastic kinematic model,
which can consider the failure process. When the strain on the coating exceeded the
failure strain of the material, the failure elements were removed. The seal coating was
Al-Si polyphenyl ester M601, and its material parameters could be seen in Ref. [20]. The
yield strength of the blade increases with the strain rate, so the plastic kinematic model
was chosen to simulate the blade, and the material was Ti-6Al-4V. Material parameters
are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Material parameters of rub-impact components [20].

Components Mass density (kg/m3 ) Elastic modulus (GPa) Poisson’s ratio

Casing 7900 209 0.3
Coating 1270 2.08 0.25
Blade 4430 113 0.33
Rigid shell 4430 113 0.33

Contact Parameter: Proper contact pair setting is the key to getting accurate results. In
the rub-impact process, blades and coating, the casing will be contacted and rubbed, com-
bined with the characteristics of the finite element model, through the face-to-face contact
type provided by the software, set the blade-coating and blade-casing contact relation-
ship. The key word (Contact_Surface_To_Surface) was used to set blades and casing.
The dynamic friction coefficient was 0.2, and the static friction coefficient was 0.28. The
blade-coating contact type was set using Contact_Eroding_Surface_To_Surface with a
coefficient of dynamic friction of 0.3 and a coefficient of static friction of 0.43. This
contact type ensured that after the failure of the external elements of the coating, the rest
elements can still perform normal contact calculations. The contact modeling is two-way
treatment of contact, and the contact algorithm used is the symmetric penalty function
method.
60 J. Lin et al.

Element and Mesh Division: The elements of blades, coating and casing were hexa-
hedral solid elements; the rigid shell elements were shell elements; the discrete element
was used for elastic support. The blade mesh size was 1 mm × 0.4 mm × 0.5 mm (length,
width, and height), the number was 2480; the coating mesh size was 2 mm × 1 mm ×
0.5 mm, total mesh 40000; the casing was discretized using 3000 elements (5 mm ×
2.5 mm × 1 mm in size).
Constraint Settings: The connection between the coating and the casing was a tied
connection, via the Contact_Tied_Surface_To_Surface method provided by the software.
The hub was elastically supported, and the blades were also connected to the hub using
a tied connection in the form of Contact_Tied_Nodes_To_Surface. To limit the casing-
coating movement, the endpoints on both sides were fully constrained. The hub and the
elastic units were open to the translation in X and Y directions and rotation about the
Z-axis, and the center point of the elastic unit was set with full constraint.
Load Settings: The load contains two parts: the rotational speed and the unbalanced
load. The unbalanced load was used to produce displacement of the rotor, when the
displacement was larger than the initial gap between the blade and the coating, the touch
can occur, and change unbalance can control the invasion depth. The unbalance was
equivalent to the unbalanced force loaded on the hub, which can be decomposed into
simple harmonic force in the X and Y direction, the expression is:

Fx = eω2 cos(ωt + ϕ)
(1)
Fy = eω2 sin(ωt + ϕ)

e is the rotor’s unbalance amount; ω is the rotor rational speed; ϕ is the phase angle.

2.2 Solution Process Analysis

The rotor rub-impact basic equation is:

M q̈(t) + C q̇(t) + [K + B(t)]q(t) = P(t) (2)

M is the system mass matrix, C is the system damping matrix, K is the system static
stiffness matrix, B(t) is the stiffness matrix brought about by the centrifugal load, P(t) is
the rub-impact load vector, and t is time.
Since the rotor system is affected by the centrifugal load during high-speed rotation,
the centrifugal force brings about the stiffness matrix B(t) when solving this equation,
see Eq. (2), so the centrifugal force in the blade-coating rub-impact process cannot be
neglected. The blade produces a nonlinear response under the friction load, which is
faster using the explicit method, but the centrifugal force produces a linear steady-state
response, which is suitable for implicit calculation, so an explicit-implicit method is
used to calculate the rub-impact problem. The centrifugal force of the rotor system in
the rotating state is first calculated using the implicit solution and then imported into
LS-DYNA as a preload for the explicit calculation. The rotational speed is given with
an unbalanced load, and under the unbalanced force, the blade approaches the coating,
and the touch occurs.
 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System 61

2.3 Rotor System Modeling

To analyze the rotor system dynamic response with blade-coating rubbing fault, a ‘0–2-1’
supported aero-engine rotor-blade-coating coupling system was established according
to a real low-pressure rotor structure. The lumped-mass method was used to simplify
the shaft and disk into several mass points, see Fig. 2. Meanwhile, for a better study of
the rub-impact fault, the following assumptions were made:
1. The rubbing fault only occurred on the compressor disk.
2. Considered only radial vibration, ignore torsional vibration, axial vibration, and
gyroscopic moment.
3. The mass of the rotor system was distributed on each mass point.
4. The connections between the blade, disk, and shaft were ignored.
5. The blades were only used in rub-impact simulation, their mass was counted into the
mass of the Disk 1, regardless of their structure.

Fig. 2. The rotor system dynamical model

62 J. Lin et al.

According to Newton’s second law, the rotor system motion equations are:
⎧
⎪ MD1 ẍD1 + CD ẋD1 + Kr (xD1 − xS1 ) = MD1 eD1 ω cos ωt + Fp,x
2
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MD1 ÿD1 + CD ẏD1 + Kr (yD1 − yS1 ) = MD1 eD1 ω2 sin ωt + Fp,y − MD1 g
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MS1 ẍS1 + CB ẋS1 + Kr (xS1 − xD1 ) + Kr (xS1 − xS2 ) = FB1x
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MS1 ÿS1 + CB ẏS1 + Kr (yS1 − yD2 ) + Kr (yS1 − yS2 ) = FB1y − MS1 g
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MS2 ẍS2 + Kr (xS2 − xS1 ) + Kr (xS2 − xS3 ) = 0
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MS2 ÿS2 + Kr (yS2 − yS1 ) + Kr (yS2 − yS3 ) = −MS2 g
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨ MS3 ẍS3 + CB ẋS3 + Kr (xS3 − xS2 ) + Kr (xS3 − xS2 ) = FB2x
⎪
⎪ MS3 ÿS3 + CB ẏS3 + Kr (yS3 − yS2 ) + Kr (yS3 − yS4 ) = FB2y − MS3 g
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MS4 ẍS4 + Kr (xS4 − xS3 ) + Kr (xS4 − xD2 ) = 0
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MS4 ÿS4 + Kr (yS4 − yS3 ) + Kr (yS4 − yD2 ) = −MS4 g
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MD2 ẍD2 + CD ẋD2 + Kr (xD2 − xS4 ) + Kr (xD2 − xS5 ) = MD2 eD2 ω2 cos ωt
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MD2 ÿD2 + CD ẏD2 + Kr (yD2 − yS4 ) + Kr (yD2 − yS5 ) = MD1 eD1 ω2 sin ωt − MD2 g
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ MS5 ẍS5 + CB ẋS5 + Kr (xS5 − xD2 ) = FB3x
⎪
⎩
MS5 ÿS5 + CB ẏS5 + Kr (yS5 − yD2 ) = FB3y − MS5 g
(3)

M D1 and M D2 are the masses of Disk 1 and Disk 2. M s1 to M s5 are the masses
of the concentrated points, respectively. C R is the damping coefficient of the disk, C B
is the bearing damping coefficient, and K r is the stiffness of the shaft. eD1 and eD2
are the eccentricities of the disk. F p,x and F p,x are the rub-impact forces in the X and Y
directions. These two forces are calculated by the blade-coating rubbing in the simulation
model. Since the study focuses on the response of the rotor, the structure of the blade is
not considered in the Eq. (3). F Bix and F Biy (i = 1,2,3) are the bearing forces. ω is the
rotational speed of the rotor. The parameters are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. The parameters of the rotor system

Symbol Value/Unit Symbol Value/Unit

M D1 6.72 kg M s5 1 kg
M D2 1.5 kg CR 500 N·s/m
M s1 2 kg CB 750 N·s/m
M s2 1 kg Kr 2.5e7 N/m
M s3 0.5 kg eD1 1e−3 m
M s4 2 kg eD2 1e−4 m
 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System 63

2.4 Model Validation

To simulate the rubbing process of the blade coating in aero-engine and verify the
accuracy of the numerical simulation setup, a test rig for rub-impact was constructed
(as shown in Fig. 3) along with a rub-impact simulator (as shown in Fig. 4). The test
rig was motor-driven and had a ‘0-2-1’ supported structure, which was identical to
the dynamic model of the modeled rotor system. The rotor system was equipped with
speed and displacement sensors to record the system signals. The rubbing plate was
coated uniformly with M601 abradable coating and was mounted on a displacement
table containing pressure sensors, allowing for control of the invasion depth. The pressure
sensors were used to collect the rub-impact force signal.

Fig. 3. The rotor rub-impact test rig

Fig. 4. Blade-coating/casing rub-impact simulator

64 J. Lin et al.

Rub-impact experiments were conducted on the test rig with an invasion depth of
0.4 mm and a rotating speed of 1000 r/min. A corresponding simulation calculation
group was built according to the experiment, following the finite element modeling
process described in the previous paper. The curves of the rubbing force with time were
obtained under both conditions, as shown in Fig. 5. The maximum rubbing force of the
simulation was 20.3 N, while the maximum of the experiment was 21.1 N, with an error
within 5%. In the simulation calculation, the coating was thoroughly scraped, so the
peaks of the rubbing force were less pronounced compared to the test, but the magnitude
of the force was close. As the rubbing force magnitude was the main influencing factor
of the rubbing fault, the comparison of the force verifies the accuracy of the simulation
calculation settings.

Fig. 5. Time-domain diagram of rubbing force.

To validate the accuracy of the rotor dynamics model, the vibration equations were
solved using the Newmark-β method by combining the rub-impact forces obtained from
the simulation. The rotational speed was 1000 r/min, eccentricity was 1e−3 m, and the
coating material used was M601 in the simulation. The simulated rub-impact force was
added to the solution of Eq. (3) by interpolation to simulate the rub-impact fault. The
dynamic response of the rotor system was obtained both with and without the rub-impact
fault, as shown in Fig. 6.
 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System 65

a b

c d
Fig. 6. The dynamic responses of rotor system without and with the rub-impact fault: (a) time
history of displacement without the fault in the X direction, (b) time history of displacement
without the fault in the X direction, (c) frequency spectrum without the fault, (d) frequency
spectrum without the fault.

The displacement response of the rotor system in the experiment without and with
rubbing was measured by the test rig, see Fig. 7. Without the rub-impact fault, in Fig. 7a
the vibration waveform approximates periodic sinusoidal vibration, and the fundamental
frequency amplitude is 7.9e−5 m in Fig. 7c, which is the main frequency. In Fig. 6a the
rotor is moving periodically with an amplitude of 8.1e−5 m, the simulation results agree
with the experimental results. After rubbing occurs, in Fig. 7b the system shows a clear
peak at the trough, while the frequency of double and quadruple appear in the spectrum
(see Fig. 7d). The same situation is also seen in Fig. 6b, and the double and quadruple
frequency also appears, and the amplitude is near. There are more frequency components
in the Fig. 7d, all harmonics show a decreasing trend, which is due to the use of coupling
and bearings in the experiment. When the rub happened, the misalignment occurred in
the coupling and the influence of rolling bearings also appeared. Under the effect of
both, the frequency component was changed. The influence of the coupling and rolling
bearings on the rotor system had been studied in Ref [21]. Because the main frequency
components are evident, the results verify the accuracy of the rotor system model.
66 J. Lin et al.

a b

c d
Fig. 7. The dynamic responses of rotor system from the experiment without and with the rub-
impact fault: (a) time history of displacement without the fault in the X direction, (b) time history
of displacement without the fault in the X direction, (c) frequency spectrum without the fault, (d)
frequency spectrum without the fault.

3 Results and Discussions

3.1 Analysis of Rub-impact Simulation

Based on the established finite element model, the dynamics simulation of blade cas-
ing/coating rubbing is carried out in LS-DYNA. The rub-impact process is calculated for
0.036 s at a speed of 5000 rpm, an eccentricity of 1e−3 m. Figure 8 shows the axis orbit
during the rub-impact simulation. The rotor system moves in the positive direction of
the X and Y under the action of the initial unbalance force. The first rub with the coating
occurs at 2 ms, when the rotor displacement is larger than the tip clearance for the first
time, it ends at 11 ms. Under the combined effect of the rub-impact load, centrifugal
load and elastic support, the motion orbit bends back, and the displacement increases.
As the coating is continuously scraped and consumed, the rotor undergoes a second rub
at 15 ms and ends at 22.5 ms. Subsequently, due to the reduction of the coating, the
clearance between the blade and the coating is increasing, the rub no longer occurs.
During the whole solving process, the blade and the coating are rubbed twice.
 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System 67

Fig. 8. Axis orbit diagram

When the blade and the coating rub, the maximum Mises stress at the blade tip is
487 MPa, the stress distribution diagram is shown in Fig. 9a. From the stress diagram can
be seen blade stress is mainly concentrated in the blade root, because the blade and disk
using rigid connection leads to stress concentration here, so do not analyze. Figure 9b
displays the blade tip stress when the blade rubs the casing, the maximum stress at the
blade tip is 973 MPa. Comparing the magnitude of blade stress with and without the
coating, the presence of the coating significantly reduces the blade tip stress and reduces
the risk of blade damage.

3.2 Rub-impact Results Analysis Under Different Coating Materials

Coating performance directly affects the rub-impact response, to research the coating
material effect, the rub-impact process between the coating/casing and blade in the four
cases of casing\M601\NiCrAl-Bentonit\AiSi-hBN was simulated by using the above
finite element simulation method. The material parameters are shown in the Table 4.
Compare the rub-impact force of four cases, see the Fig. 10, the blade and cas-
ing/coating rub is approximately a pulse process, and the pulse feature of the blade-
casing rub force is more obvious because the radial runout of the blade occurs under the
radial force. And when the coating exists, weakened the impact between the blade and
the casing, so that this pulse is not clear, reflecting the existence of the coating weakened
the impact. The maximum rub force in the four cases of Casing, M601, NiCrAl-Bentonit
and AiSi-hBN are 1628 N, 108 N, 213 N and 605 N respectively, and the rub force gen-
erated by the rubbing with the casing is much larger than the presence of the coating. So,
the sealing coating can effectively reduce the rub force magnitude. The peak magnitude
increases with increasing density and hardness of the coating material for three coating
materials.
68 J. Lin et al.

Fig. 9. Blade tip stress diagram when the blade rubs: (a) the coating, (b) the casing.
 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System 69

Table 4. The common coating material’s parameters [22]

Material Elastic Mass density Yield stress Tangent Failure strain

modulus kg/m3 MPa modulus
GPa GPa
M601 2.08 1.27 2.5 0.18 0.007
NiCrAl-Bentonit 0.75 2.05 1.3 0.076 0.0101
AiSi-hBN 17.22 2.26 18.2 10 0.00236

Fig. 10. Time-domain diagram of blade-casing/coating rub-impact forces

Figure 11 Shows the energy transferred from the blade to the coating in three cases.
The comparison shows the casing absorbs more energy and the rub-impact fault is more
dangerous when the coating is made by AiSi-hBN. Therefore, when choosing the coating,
the softer material can reduce the rub force and the energy transferred to the coating.

3.3 Rub-impact Results Analysis Under Different Invasion Depth

The invasion depth is determined by the initial eccentricity of the rubbing disk. Three
different eccentricities of 1e−3 m, 1.5e−3 m and 2e−3 m were set, and the maximum
invasion depths were calculated to be 1 mm, 1.5 mm and 1.75 mm, respectively. As the
eccentricity increases, the unbalanced load attached to the rotor increases and therefore
the invasion depth increases. Compare the rub forces in the three cases, see Fig. 12. The
maximum rub forces are 108 N, 239.5 N and 276 N. The deeper the invasion, the more
obvious the pulse characteristics, and due to the depth increase, in the latter two cases,
the third rub happens.
70 J. Lin et al.

Fig. 11. Time-domain diagram of the energy transferred to the coating.

Fig. 12. Time-domain diagram of blade-coating rub-impact forces under different invasion
depths.

Analyzing the energy transferred to the coating under different invasion depths, every
time contacting the coating, the energy increases once. The greater the depth of invasion,
the more energy the coating absorbs, and the greater the possibility of causing damage
to the casing. Therefore, reducing the invasion depth, can effectively reduce the damage
caused by the rub-impact fault.
 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System 71

a b

c d

e f
Fig. 13. The dynamic response of rotor system with the rub-impact fault: (a) time history of X
displacement at 1000 r/min, (b) time history of X displacement at 5000 r/min, (c) axis orbit at 1000
r/min, (d) axis orbit at 5000 r/min, (e) frequency spectrum at 1000 r/min, (f) frequency spectrum
at 5000 r/min.
72 J. Lin et al.

3.4 The Dynamic Response of Rotor System with Rub-impact Fault

To study the dynamic response of the rotor when the blade-coating rub-impact fault
occurs, combined with the low-pressure compressor speed range, the vibration charac-
teristics with rub-impact fault at high speed (5000 r/min) and low speed (1000 r/min)
were calculated. The results are shown in Fig. 13.
Figure 6a shows the variations of the displacement in the X direction vs. time without
fault, it is clear that the vibration waveform of the system is a periodic sinusoidal vibra-
tion. The system runs smoothly, and the maximum displacement is 8.1e−5 m. The rotor
system vibration frequency is the fundamental frequency, the rotor system makes stable
single periodic motion. When rubbing occurs, at low speed, the vibration waveform of
the system shows several obvious peaks at the peaks and valleys, with obvious nonlinear
characteristics. The vibration amplitude increases to 6.8e−5 m, and the axial trajectory
becomes disordered under the action of rub-impact force, as shown in Fig. 13c. In the
vibration spectrum (see Fig. 13e), there are crossover frequencies at integer multiples,
mainly double and quadruple frequencies, where the frequency amplitude is less than the
fundamental frequency. At 1000 r/min, the rub-impact fault can cause significant rotor
system nonlinear vibrations. In Fig. 13b and Fig. 13d, at high speeds, the amplitude of
the rotor increases, but the nonlinear characteristics are weakened, and the rotor moves
in multiple periods. Only 1/3- and 2/3-times frequencies exist in the vibration spectrum,
and the amplitude is much smaller than the fundamental frequency (see Fig. 13f). Com-
paring the vibration response at high speed and low speed, the system has a large change
in the time-domain graph and frequency-domain graph, which shows that the rotational
speed has a large influence on the vibration characteristics, the rub-impact fault is more
pronounced at low speeds.
To investigate the effect of invasion depth on the vibration characteristics of the
rotor system, the same method was used to calculate the vibration response at a speed
of 5000 r/min and eccentricities of 1e−3 , 1.5e−3 and 2e−3 m, respectively, and the
calculated results are presented in Fig. 14. Under the three invasion depths, the rotor
system vibration waveforms do not differ much, and the vibration spectrum is similar,
but the amplitude varies significantly, and the maximum amplitude values are 7.1e−4 ,
7.7e−4 and 1.46e−4 m. The invasion depth mainly affects the vibration amplitude and
changes the vibration response, the greater the invasion depth, the more pronounced the
rotor system vibration.
 Numerical Simulation of Aero-Engine Rotor-Blade-coating Coupling System 73

a b

c d

e f
Fig. 14. The dynamic response of rotor system at different invasion depth: time history of X
displacement at eccentricity of (a) 1e−3 m, (b) 1.5e−3 m and (c) 2e−3 m; frequency spectrum at
eccentricity of (d) 1e−3 m, (e) 1.5e−3 m and (f) 2e−3 m.

4 Conclusions
The blade-coating rub-impact simulation calculation model and the ‘0–2-1’ rotor system
dynamics model were established, the rub-impact characteristics of blade and casing and
different material coatings were calculated in LS-DYNA, and the effect of invasion depth
on the rub-impact fault was analyzed. The dynamic response with rub-impact fault at
74 J. Lin et al.

high and low speeds was compared, and the different invasion depths’ influence on the
vibration response was investigated. The main conclusions are as follows:
(1) During blade-casing/coating rubbing, the rub-impact force exhibits pulse character-
istics. In the case of blade-casing rubbing, the rub-impact force and the blade tip’s
Von-Mises stress are much higher than those with a blade-coating rub. Hence, the
presence of a coating reduces the risk of blade damage. An analysis of different
coating materials shows that the softer the coating material, the more effective it is
in protecting the blade.
(2) By adjusting the eccentricity of the rub-impact disk to vary the invasion depth, the
rub-impact force increases as the invasion depth increases. Moreover, increasing
invasion depth results in a higher vibration amplitude in the rotor system.
(3) The rotor system displays clear nonlinear characteristics at low speeds, and the
vibration frequency produced by the rub-impact fault exhibits a double frequency and
a quadruple frequency, in addition to the fundamental frequency, which is consistent
with the test data. As the rotational speed increases, the 1/3 and 2/3-time frequency
also appear, with their amplitude being much lower than that of the fundamental
frequency. The effect of rub-impact force on the rotor system decreases with the
increase in speed, leading to obscure rub-impact-fault characteristics.

References
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41–59 (2022)
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357, 168–194 (2015)
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misalignment system with blade-casing rubbing. J. Sound Vib. 497(6), 115948 (2021)
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 Modeling and Simulation Analysis
of Dual-Rotor System in the Early Stage
of Bearing Pedestal Looseness

Cai Wang, Jing Tian(B) , Yan-ting Ai, Feng-ling Zhang, Zhi Wang, and Ren-zhen Chen

Liaoning Key Laboratory of Advanced Test Technology for Aeronautical Propulsion System,
Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang 113006, China
[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. In order to quickly capture and analyze the dynamic characteristics

of the dual-rotor system at the beginning of bearing pedestal looseness, an 8-
degree-of-freedom dynamic model of the dual-rotor system including a gyroscopic
moment and a loosening fault is developed. The Newmark-β method is used to
solve the developed model. The dynamic characteristics of the dual-rotor system
at different speeds when the bearing pedestal first starts to loosen is analyzed.
A dual-rotor fault simulation test bench is built to simulate the bearing pedestal
looseness fault. The comparison results show that the dynamic simulation results
are in good agreement with the test results, and the fault frequency distribution
pattern in the envelope spectrum of the simulation results is consistent with that
of the test results, which proves the validity of the proposed dynamics model. It is
also found that there is a clipping phenomenon in the rotor vibration signal when
the bearing pedestal first starts to loosen. There are high pressure and low pressure
rotor rotation frequency, multiplication frequency and sum frequency in the fault
characteristic frequency of the dual-rotor system. Compared with the late stage of
bearing pedestal looseness, the fractional frequency and 3-times frequency do not
appear in the frequency spectrum of the loose rotor. Loose rotor axis orbit changes
more obviously in the higher speed, showing a quasi ellipse.

Keywords: Dual-rotor system · Bearing pedestal looseness · Dynamic

characteristics · Clipping phenomenon

1 Introduction
Dual-rotor systems usually generate vibrations due to insufficient assembly accuracy
[1]. Prolonged vibrations are very likely to loosen the supports, which in turn can lead
to more typical failures such as rotor-casing touching [2–4], rotor misalignment [5, 6],
bearing damage [7, 8], and other mechanical failures [9, 10]. Such failures can lead to
more complex nonlinear dynamical representations in the rotor system [11–13]. The
occurrence of faults triggers periodic bearing pedestal runout, which leads to changes
in the system stiffness and very complex dynamical representations especially when
multiple faults are coupled [14–16]. Therefore, effective prediction and extraction of the
vibration characteristics at the early stage of bearing pedestal looseness is essential for
the safe operation of a dual-rotor system.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 76–90, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_5
 Modeling and Simulation Analysis of Dual-Rotor System 77

At the early stage of exploration, scientists believed that the discrepancy between
the results calculated by empirical equations and the actual test conclusions mainly
originated from the insufficient amount of collected data, and the nonlinear influence
factors did not attract the attention of relevant scholars at that time. In 1995 Muszynska
et al. [17] proposed that rotor system nonlinear factors are related to intermittent contact
between rotor and stators, accompanied by high harmonics in both shock and friction,
and experimentally confirmed the existence of ordered cycles and chaotic responses in
rotor systems when faults occur. Since the 21st century, nonlinear influences within the
system have gradually become a research hotspot in the field. Chu and Luo et al. [18, 19]
established the vibration differential equations of a rotor system with three-degree-of-
freedom bearing pedestal looseness fault respectively, obtained the periodic solution of
the system using the hitting target method, analyzed the stability of the periodic solution
using Fourier theory, and found the path law of the system from periodic to period-like to
chaotic. Zhang et al. in reference [20] used Lagrange’s equation to model a rotor system
with loose faults, used the Runge-Kutta method to solve the dynamic response of the
rotor system, and verified the accuracy of the harmonic balance method by comparing the
bifurcation diagram, the time-frequency curve, and the Poincaré diagram. Chen et al. [21]
considered nonlinear Hertzian contact forces, bearing clearances, and other nonlinear
factors in this model to establish a coupled fault dynamics model of rotor-support-static
subsystem with loose touching and friction. The Runge-Kutta method was used to solve
the model. It is found that the looseness of the bearing at low rotational speed can lead
to the generation of multi-harmonic frequency components in the system. Frictional
harmonic components can be excited at high rotational speeds. This finding is of great
value for effective identification of friction faults. Yang et al. [22] further discussed the
effectiveness of nonlinear vibration dampers in suppressing bearing pedestal looseness
and rotor frictional vibrations based on the above model. It was shown that the nonlinear
damper can effectively suppress such nonlinear vibrations and also mitigate the adverse
effects from coupling faults. The literature [23] proposes a nonlinear measure for the
evaluation of bearing pedestal looseness in a rotor system at constant speed. The Taylor
expansion of the static equilibrium system converts the nonlinear term into a linear term,
and the difference between the linear and nonlinear models is quantified by evaluation.
The accuracy of the method is demonstrated by solving the dynamic response using the
Runge-Kutta method and verifying the reliability of the method through experiments.
The literature [24] derived a formula for calculating the time-varying stiffness of the con-
tact surface during bolt looseness and calculated the effect of time-varying joint stiffness
on the steady-state response of the rotor, and the findings of this study will provide a the-
oretical basis for the detection of bearing bolt looseness in rotating components in large
rotating machinery. Ma et al. [25] proposed a finite element model of the rotor system.
The variation law of the rotor bifurcation diagram when the bearing pedestal loose-
ness displacement varies with the loosening clearance is discussed. The results show
that when the rotor presents higher order harmonic components as the slack clearance
decreases, and the combined frequency components present a continuous spectrum.
Throughout the above research results, we find that scholars have some research
results on the mechanism of bearing loosening failure of rotor system, but no research
reports on the characterization of system dynamics at the early stage of bearing looseness.
78 C. Wang et al.

In this paper, we establish a dynamic model of the dual-rotor-mediated bearing system

based on Newton’s law of motion, and simulate the early failure of bearing pedestal
looseness at different rotational speeds based on this model. The Newmark-β method is
used for numerical calculations to analyze the time-frequency dynamics characterization
of high and low pressure rotors and their axial trajectories. A dual-rotor bearing looseness
simulation test bench is mounted to test the initial bearing looseness failure. The accuracy
of the model is investigated by comparing the test and model simulation results.
In this paper, an 8-degree-of-freedom model of a dual-rotor system containing the
early failure of bearing pedestal looseness is developed in Sect. 2. In Sect. 3.1, the
transient dynamics simulation of the loosened bearing pedestal system with the low
pressure rotor speed ni = 1500 rpm and high pressure rotor speed no = 300 rpm at low
speed, and the low pressure rotor speed ni = 5300 rpm and high pressure rotor speed
no = 15300 rpm at high speed is implemented. In Sect. 3.2, a dual-rotor bearing pedestal
looseness fault simulation test bench is built to verify the accuracy of the simulation
calculation. The main conclusions are given in the last section.

2 Dynamic Modeling of Bearing Pedestal Looseness in Dual-Rotor

System
In this paper, a simplified model of a dual-rotor inter-shaft bearing system with bearing
looseness fault is established, which reduces the bearing support forces at both ends of
the rotor to linear elastic forces and damping forces. The inter-shaft bearing is supported
between the high and low pressure rotor, and the Hertz contact force and radial clearance
of the intermediate bearing are considered in the model. The simplified model is shown
in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Model of dual-rotor inter-shaft bearing system

Based on the nonlinear Hertz contact theory, the self-weight of the high and low
pressure rotor, the radial load, the vibration of the high and low pressure rotor in both
 Modeling and Simulation Analysis of Dual-Rotor System 79

horizontal and vertical directions, and the rotation in both axial and radial directions
are considered. Considering the centrifugal force caused by the rotor misalignment and
the eccentricity of the inner and outer rings. Let bearing No. 1 be the loose bearing,
and l1 − l5 be the distance from bearing No. 1 to the low-pressure rotor, the distance
from bearing No. 2 to the low-pressure rotor, the distance from bearing No. 3 to the
high-pressure rotor, the distance from the inter-shaft bearing to the high-pressure rotor,
and the distance from the inter-shaft bearing to the low-pressure rotor, respectively. The
eight-degree-of-freedom failure dynamics model is established according to Newton’s
law of motion.
⎧
⎪ d 2x dx dα
⎪
⎪ m1 21 + Fkx + K2 (x1 + α1y l2 ) + C2 ( dt1 + dt1y l2 ) = m1 ω12 e1 cos(ω1 t) − Fx − m1 g
⎪
⎪ dt
⎪
⎪ 2
d y dy dα
⎪
⎪ m1 21 + Fky + K2 (y1 − α1x l2 ) + C2 ( dt1 − dt1x l2 ) = m1 ω12 e1 sin(ω1 t) − Fy
⎪
⎪ dt
⎪
⎪ 2
d α1x d α d 2 y1 d α1x
⎪ 1y
⎪ Jd 1 dt 2 + Jp1 ω1 dt + Fky l1 − K2 l2 (y1 − α1x l2 ) − C2 l2 ( dt 2 − dt l2 ) = Fy (l5 − l2 )
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ 2
⎨ J d α1y − J ω d α1x − F l + K l (x − α l ) + C l ( d x1 + d α1y l ) = −Fx (l − l ) 2
d 1 dt 2 p1 1 dt kx 1 2 2 1 1y 2 2 2 dt 2 dt 2 5 2
(1)
⎪ m d 2 x2 + K (x − α l ) + C ( dx2 − d α2y l ) = m ω2 e cos(ω t) + F − m g
⎪
⎪
⎪ 2 dt 2 3 2 2y 3 3 dt dt 3 2 2 2 2 x 2
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ d 2 y2
+ (y − α ) + (
dy2
−
d α2x
) = ω 2 e sin(ω t) + F
⎪
⎪ m 2 dt 2 K 3 2 l
2x 3 C 3 dt dt 3 l m 2 2 2 2 y
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ d 2 α2x d α2y d 2 y2 d α2x
⎪
⎪ Jd 2 + Jp2 ω2 + K 3 l3 (y 2 + α 2x l3 ) + C 3 l3 ( − l3 ) = −Fy l4
⎪
⎪ dt 2 dt dt 2 dt
⎪
⎩ d 2 α2y d α2x d 2 x2 d α2y
Jd 2 2 − Jp2 ω2 dt − K3 l3 (x2 + α2y l3 ) − C3 l3 ( 2 − dt l3 ) = Fx l4
dt dt

In Eq. 1, except for the constant length parameter, the parameter with subscript
1 represents the parameter of low pressure rotor, and the parameter with subscript 2
represents the parameter of high pressure rotor, x and y represent the displacement in
vertical and horizontal directions, α is the angle, Jp and Jd represent the polar and radial
rotational inertia, m is the mass, e is the eccentricity, ω is the angular velocity, K is the
stiffness coefficient, C is the damping coefficient, F is the elastic recovery force in the
corresponding direction, g is the acceleration of gravity, t is the vibration time, Fkx , Fky
are the direction loosening additional force, Fx , Fy are the inter-shaft bearing x direction
and y direction elastic recovery force, all the above parameters units are calculated in
accordance with the international units of the scale.
The simulated bearing pedestal early looseness dynamics model in this paper is
shown in Fig. 2.
In the above figure, the bolt on the left side of the bearing pedestal is loosened and
the bearing deflects around the xy plane normal direction by an angle of α. Since the
bearing pedestal is loosened at the early stage, the value of α tends to be close to 0. In the
loosening failure model, the rotor center is set to 1 point, the center of the unloosened
side is 2 points, the center of the loosened side is 3 points, the early coordinates of the
bearing pedestal center of gravity are (zx , zy ), the contact stiffness and damping of the
rotor and bearing are K1x , K1y , C1x , C1y , the loosening side occurs Bearing pedestal from
the base upward movement to make the bolt stretch, corresponding to contact stiffness
and damping are K2x , K2y , C2x , C2y , not loose side corresponding to contact stiffness and
damping are K3x , K3y , C3x , C3y , bearing pedestal center of gravity to bearing pedestal
bottom distance is h, rotor center to bearing pedestal bottom distance is H , bearing
pedestal width is L, all the above parameters units are calculated in accordance with the
international units of the scale.
80 C. Wang et al.

Fig. 2. Bearing pedestal early looseness dynamics model

According to the geometric parameter relationship in Fig. 2

d1x = Zx − Sx − (H − h)α (2)

α2
d1y = Sy − Zy − (H − h)(1 − ) (3)
2
Lα 2
d2x = −Zx − hθ − (4)
4
Lα Lα 2
d2y = Zy + H − h − + (5)
2 2
Lα 2
d3x = −Zy − hθ + (6)
4
Lα Lα 2
d3y = Zy + H − h + + (7)
2 2
According to Hooke’s law

F1x = K1x d1x F1y = K1y d1y

F2x = K2x d2x F2y = K2y d2y (8)
F3x = K3x d3x F3y = K3y d3y

Substituting the above equation to get

 Modeling and Simulation Analysis of Dual-Rotor System 81

K2x − K1x 2
Fkx = (K3x − K1x − K2x )zx − (K1x + K2x )hα + Lα − K3x [x1 + (H − h)α] (9)
4

Lα 2 hα 2
Fky = (K1y + K2y − K3y )zy + K1y (H − h − + )
2 2 (10)
Lα 2 hα 2 α
+K2y (H − h + + ) + K3y [y1 − (H − h)(1 − )2 ]
2 2 2
For computational simplicity, Eq. 1 is converted into a matrix expression.
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
ẍo ẋo xo
⎢ ÿ ⎥ ⎢ ẏ ⎥ ⎢y ⎥
⎢ o⎥ ⎢ o⎥ ⎢ o⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ẍi ⎥ ⎢ ẋi ⎥ ⎢ xi ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ÿ ⎥ ⎢ ẏ ⎥ ⎢y ⎥
⎢ i⎥ ⎢ i⎥ ⎢ i⎥
[M]⎢ ⎥ + [C]⎢ ⎥ + [K]⎢ ⎥ = [Q], where the mass matrix [M], the damping
⎢ ẍ1 ⎥ ⎢ ẋ1 ⎥ ⎢ x1 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ÿ ⎥ ⎢ ẏ ⎥ ⎢y ⎥
⎢ 1⎥ ⎢ 1⎥ ⎢ 1⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎣ ẍ2 ⎦ ⎣ ẋ2 ⎦ ⎣ x2 ⎦
ÿ2 ẏ2 y2
matrix [C], the stiffness matrix [K] and the external force array [Q] are
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
m1 m1 ω12 e1 cos(ω1 t) − Fx − m1 g − Fkx
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ m1 ⎥ ⎢ m1 ω12 e1 sin(ω1 t) − Fy − Fky ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ Jd 1 ⎥ ⎢ Fy (l5 − l2 ) − Fky l1 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ Jd 1 ⎥ ⎢ −F (l − l ) + F l ⎥
[M] = ⎢ ⎥, [Q] = ⎢
⎢
x 5 2 kx 1 ⎥,
⎥
⎢ m2 ⎥ 2
⎢ m2 ω2 e2 cos(ω2 t) + Fx − m2 g ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ m2 ⎥ ⎢ m ω 2 e sin(ω t) + F ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ 2 2 2 2 y
⎥
⎣ Jd 2 ⎦ ⎣ −Fy l4 ⎦
Jd 2 F x l4
⎡ ⎤
C2 C 2 l2
⎢ C2 −C2 l2 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ −C −C 2 J ω ⎥
⎢ l
22 l
2 2 p1 1 ⎥
⎢ 2 ⎥
⎢ C 2 l2 −Jp1 ω1 C2 l2 ⎥
[C] = ⎢ ⎥
⎢ C3 −C3 l3 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ C 3 C 3 l3 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ C3 l3 C3 l 2 Jp2 ω2 ⎦
3
−C3 l3 −Jp2 ω2 C3 l32
⎡ ⎤
K2 − K3x K 2 l2
⎢ K + K −K l ⎥
⎢ 2 3y 22 ⎥
⎢ K3y l1 − K2 l2 K2 l22 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ K l + K 2 l2 K2 l22 ⎥
[K] = ⎢ 3x 1 ⎥
⎢ K3 −K3 l3 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ K 3 K 3 l3 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ K3 l3 K3 l32 ⎦
−K3 l3 K3 l32
82 C. Wang et al.

According to the mechanical properties of rolling bearings, the contact between

rolling element and raceway is regarded as nonlinear Hertz contact [26, 27]. The dynam-
ics of the actual bearing is more complex, and for the purpose of studying the vibration
of the bearing, the bearing dynamics model established by Patil is referred to, and the
actual bearing is equated to a mass-spring-damping system, and the effects of the cage
and rolling element masses on the system are neglected. The simplified bearing dynamics
model is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Simplified model of inter-shaft bearing

According to the relationship between the nonlinear load and displacement of the
bearing

Q = Kδ n (11)

The size of n is related to the type of bearing, when it is deep groove ball bearing, n
is 3/2, when it is cylindrical roller bearing, n is 10/9. When the bearing is subjected to
external load, the relative radial deformation displacement δn will be generated between
the two raceways, its size is equal to the sum of radial displacement generated between
the rolling body and the inner and outer raceways, so there is

δn = δi + δo (12)

The total stiffness in Eq. (11) is

n
1
K= (13)
(1/Ki ) + (1/Ko )1/n
1/n

Ki and Ko in the above equation are the contact stiffness of the rolling element and
the inner and outer raceway respectively. For ball bearings, Ki and Ko are calculated as

Ki = Ko = 8.06 × 104 l 8/9 (14)

where l is the length of the roller, Ki and Ko into the formula (13) can be calculated in
the non-linear load and displacement relationship between the total stiffness K. xi , yi
 Modeling and Simulation Analysis of Dual-Rotor System 83

and xo , yo for the inner and outer ring of the bearing in the X and Y direction of and
displacement, so the inner and outer ring relative to a rolling body produced by the radial
deflection δ for

δ = (xi − xo ) cos θbi + (yi − yo ) sin θbi − Cr (15)

Cr is the radial clearance of the bearing, θbi is the angle of the i rolling body relative
to the x axis. From Eq. (2.45), the radial contact force Qi generated by a certain rolling
body is
 10/9
Qi = K (xi − xo ) cos θbi + (yi − yo ) sin θbi − (Cr + Ht) (16)

The radial force Qi generated by each rolling body in the direction of X and Y is the
sum of the component forces Fx and Fy .


Z
 10/9
Fx = K (xi − xo ) cos θbi + (yi − yo ) sin θbi − Cr cos θbi (17)
i=1


Z
 10/9
Fy = K (xi − xo ) cos θbi + (yi − yo ) sin θbi − Cr sin θbi (18)
i=1

x and y are the displacement of the inner and outer ring in the direction of X and Y.
λ1 is the switch quantity of whether the roller is in contact with the raceway, if contact
λ1 = 1, not contact λ1 = 0.

3 Analysis of Dual-Rotor System in the Early Stage of Bearing

Pedestal Looseness
3.1 Simulation Analysis of the Dynamics of the Dual-Rotor System at the Early
Stage of Bearing Pedestal Looseness
In this paper, based on the dynamics equations of the eight-degree-of-freedom dual-rotor
system, the Newmark-β method is used to solve the established model and realize the
transient dynamics simulation of the bearing pedestal early loosening system at different
speeds. The parameters of the high and low pressure rotors and intermediate bearings in
this paper are as follows.

M1 = 2.5 kg, M2 = 3 kg, Mo = 0.1 kg, Mi = 0.05 kg, Jp1 = 2.5 kg · m2 , Jp2 = 4.5 kg · m2 ,
Jd 1 = 2 kg · m2 , Jd 2 = 4 kg · m2 , k1 = 6 × 107 N/m, k2 = 6 × 107 N/m, k3 = 6 × 107 N/m,
C1 = 600 N · m/s, C2 = 600 N · m/s, C3 = 600 N · m/s, Co = 300 N · m/s,
Ci = 300 N · m/s, e1 = 1 × 10−6 mm, e2 = 5 × 10−7 mm, Z = 11, Cr = 1.2 × 10−5 mm,
Di = 1.5 × 10−3 mm, Do = 2.8 × 10−3 mm, D = 2.5 × 10−3 mm, d = 5 × 10−3 mm, α = 0,

The inter-shaft bearing is a cylindrical roller bearing of NSK-NU202EM type with

the parameters shown in Table 1.
84 C. Wang et al.

Table 1. NU202EM bearing parameters

Parameter Name Numerical value

Inner ring diameter 15 mm
Outer ring diameter 35 mm
Section circle diameter 25 mm
Roller diameter 5 mm
Number of rollers 11
Contact angle 0
Radial clearance 12 μm

The low pressure rotor speed is ni = 1500 rpm and high pressure rotor speed is
no = 300 rpm at low speed, and the low pressure rotor speed is ni = 5300 rpm and high
pressure rotor speed is no = 15300 rpm at high speed, and the corresponding rotational
frequency is shown in Table 2. The time domain diagrams, envelope spectra and axial
trajectory diagrams of the low speed bearing pedestal early looseness fault low pressure
rotor, high pressure rotor and axial trajectory diagrams are shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5,
and the time domain diagrams, envelope spectra and axial trajectory diagrams of the
high speed bearing pedestal early looseness fault low pressure rotor, high pressure rotor
are shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7.

Table 2. Rotor frequency table

Low speed Low speed High speed High speed Low speed High speed
high pressure low pressure high pressure low pressure frequency frequency
rotor rotor rotor rotor summation summation
frequency frequency frequency frequency
5 Hz 25 Hz 255 Hz 88.3 Hz 30 Hz 343.3 Hz

Fig. 4. Time domain diagram, envelope spectrum and axial trajectory diagram of low pressure
rotor with early looseness of low speed bearing pedestal failure

The time domain signals of the simulation results show good periodicity as can
be seen from Fig. 4 to Fig. 7. For the proposed dual-rotor system model, the clipping
 Modeling and Simulation Analysis of Dual-Rotor System 85

Fig. 5. Time domain diagram, envelope spectrum and axial trajectory diagram of high pressure
rotor with early looseness of low speed bearing pedestal failure

Fig. 6. Time domain diagram, envelope spectrum and axial trajectory diagram of low pressure
rotor with early looseness of high speed bearing pedestal failure

Fig. 7. Time domain diagram, envelope spectrum and axial trajectory diagram of high pressure
rotor with early looseness of high speed bearing pedestal failure

phenomenon occurs at the early looseness of the bearing housing. The rotor envelope
spectrum shows the high and low pressure rotor frequencies fo , fi , the sum of frequen-
cies fo + fi and the double frequency corresponding to the loose bearing pedestal sup-
ported rotor. Figure 4 shows the difference between high and low pressure transient
fo = 4.96 Hz, fi = 24.91 Hz and the theoretical value respectively 0.04 Hz, 0.09 Hz,
Fig. 5 shows the difference between high and low pressure transient fo = 4.97 Hz, fi =
24.91 Hz and the theoretical value respectively 0.03 Hz, 0.09 Hz, Fig. 6 shows the dif-
ference between high and low pressure transient fi = 86.98 Hz, fo = 255.1 Hz and the
theoretical value respectively 1.35 Hz, 0.1 Hz, and Fig. 7 shows the difference between
high and low pressure transient fi = 86.06 Hz, fo = 254.8 Hz and the theoretical value
respectively 2.27 Hz, 0.2 Hz. Due to the connection of the high and low pressure rotors
through inter-shaft bearing in a dual-rotor system, the rotational frequency is modulated
to produce the sum of the rotational frequencies fo + fi during system operation. The low
pressure rotor time domain amplitude is significantly higher than the high pressure rotor
86 C. Wang et al.

time domain amplitude, which is because the low pressure rotor bearing pedestal loose-
ness causes the dual rotor system to produce acceleration signals of higher amplitude.
High and low pressure rotor envelope spectrum corresponding to the measured rotor
fundamental frequency amplitude is higher, the fundamental frequency corresponding
to the most obvious two-fold frequency characteristics, low pressure bearing pedestal
looseness in the early envelope spectrum of low pressure rotor speed two-fold frequency.
From the axial trajectory diagram, we can see that the low pressure rotor axial trajectory
is more complex at the beginning of the bearing looseness, the high pressure rotor axial
trajectory at low speed is clearer in an elliptical shape, and the low pressure rotor axial
trajectory is more chaotic due to the bearing looseness. At high speed, the low pressure
rotor shaft trajectory is more chaotic than the low speed shaft trajectory, while the high
pressure rotor shaft trajectory has not changed much.

3.2 Experimental Analysis of the Dynamics of the Dual-Rotor System at the Early
Stage of Bearing Pedestal Looseness

According to the actual working condition of the double-rotor system, a double-rotor

bearing pedestal looseness fault simulation test bench was built. The structure of the test
bench is shown in Fig. 8. The inter-shaft bearing of this test system is installed between
the high and low pressure rotors, and the rotors are driven by two sets of mutually
independent control motors.

Fig. 8. Dual-rotor bearing pedestal looseness fault test bench

The LMS SCADAS Recorder SCR202 data acquisition system from Siemens was
selected for this experiment to acquire vibration signals, as shown in Fig. 9. This acqui-
sition system has 2 speed channels, 8 vibration signal acquisition channels, a maximum
sampling frequency of 102400 Hz, and 24-bit sampling accuracy. The vibration signals
can be accurately acquired, and the data can be processed and characterized.
In this experiment, six acceleration sensors, all model 333B30, were used, three of
which had sensitivities of 98.6 mV/g, 99 mV/g and 97.6 mV/g and were mounted on the
bearing housing near the low-pressure rotor, while the remaining three were mounted on
 Modeling and Simulation Analysis of Dual-Rotor System 87

Fig. 9. LMS data collector

the bearing housing near the high-pressure rotor to detect the vibration of the bearing in
three directions. The sensitivity is 99.3 mV/g, 98.3 mV/g and 100.4 mV/g, and the eddy
current sensor sensitivity is 1 mV/mm and 0.99 mV/mm, respectively. The mounting
position is shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 10. Acceleration sensor, eddy current sensor arrangement schematic

The low pressure rotor bearing pedestal bolt is slightly loosened, the inner ring speed
is taken as ni = 1500 rpm, the outer ring speed is taken as no = 300 rpm. Based on the
fault dynamics simulation to simulate the low speed bearing pedestal early looseness
fault low pressure rotor, high pressure rotor time domain diagram, envelope spectrum
diagram as shown in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12.
From Fig. 11 and Fig. 12, it can be seen that the test results show a series of errors
due to the complex structure of the test stand, which leads to a class of periodicity in
the time domain. Under the low speed condition, there is a clipping phenomenon at
the early stage of bearing pedestal looseness in the double rotor test bench. The rotor
envelope spectrum shows the high and low pressure rotor frequencies fo , fi , the sum
of frequencies fo + fi , and the duplex frequency corresponding to the loose bearing
pedestal supported rotor. Figure 11 and Fig. 12 show the high and low pressure rotor
frequencies fo = 5 Hz, fi = 25 Hz, both of which are the same as the theoretical values.
88 C. Wang et al.

Fig. 11. Time domain diagram, envelope spectrum and axial trajectory diagram of low pressure
rotor with early looseness of low speed bearing pedestal failure

Fig. 12. Time domain diagram, envelope spectrum and axial trajectory diagram of high pressure
rotor with early looseness of low speed bearing pedestal failure

The difference with the simulated value is 0.04 Hz, 0.09 Hz respectively, due to the
self-excited vibration of each component and structural part of the experimental table
under the action of external forces, and the existence of force imbalance and dynamic
imbalance factors in the experimental table, so the experimental time domain signal
amplitude is larger than the simulated value. Due to the high pressure shaft rigidity,
the high pressure rotor axis trajectory is more stable than the low pressure rotor axis
trajectory. Compared with the simulation, it basically conforms to the simulation analysis
results. The acceleration amplitude of the test time domain and spectrum is higher than
that of the simulation time domain and spectrum because we choose the measurement
point on the nearest bearing pedestal to the low pressure rotor and high pressure rotor,
as shown in Fig. 10. The acceleration amplitude is high because of the strong signal
feedback on the bearing pedestal due to the binding force generated by the bolt restraint.
The conclusion of this test is reliable from the eigenfrequency point of view, which
proves the accuracy of the model built in this paper.

4 Conclusion

In this paper, an 8-degree-of-freedom dynamics model is established for the early loose-
ness fault of the bearing pedestal of the dual-rotor system, and the vibration equations
of the system are obtained. Simulation calculations are performed using the Newmark-β
method to investigate the vibration characteristics of the high pressure rotor and low
pressure rotor at different rotational speeds. The fault characteristic frequencies of time
domain diagram, axial trajectory diagram and envelope spectrum diagram are analyzed,
and the following conclusions are obtained.
 Modeling and Simulation Analysis of Dual-Rotor System 89

1. This paper establishes a dynamics model of early looseness fault of bearing pedestal
in 8-degree-of-freedom dual-rotor system. The simulation results based on this model
are basically consistent with the experimental values. The simulation results have the
same law with the test time domain waveform and envelope spectrogram. It proves the
accuracy of the dynamics model of the early looseness fault of the bearing pedestal
of the dual-rotor system.
2. There is an obvious “clipped” signal in the time domain waveform of bearing pedestal
early looseness. In the envelope spectrum, there are high and low pressure rotor
rotational frequency, the sum of frequency and the characteristic frequency of 2-fold
of rotational frequency. In case of early looseness of the low pressure bearing pedestal,
2-fold of rotational frequency of the low pressure rotor speed appears in the envelope
spectrum.
3. Bearing pedestal early looseness low pressure rotor axis trajectory is more complex.
At low speed, the high pressure rotor axis trajectory is clearer like elliptical, low
pressure rotor because of loose bearing axis trajectory is more chaotic. In high speed,
low pressure rotor axis trajectory compared to low speed axis trajectory more chaotic,
while the high pressure rotor axis trajectory has not changed much.

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 Similarity Design and Behavior Prediction
of Rotor Systems Subject to Non-uniform
Preloads

Runchao Zhao1 , Yeyin Xu2 , Zhitong Li1 , Zhaobo Chen1 , and Yinghou Jiao1(B)
1 Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150000, China
[email protected]
2 Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

Abstract. In the study of rotor dynamics, it is of great theoretical and prac-

tical significance to design a scaled rotor system that can reflect the dynamic
characteristics and behavior of the prototype accurately. However, modern rotor
systems are usually assembled by bolted structures, the discontinuity and com-
plexity of its structure bring difficulties to the similarity design of scaled rotors.
In this regard, this paper proposes a similarity design method that can accurately
predict the dynamic behavior of discontinuous rotor systems. First, the rotor struc-
ture is treated continuously using the equivalent material modeling theory. Then,
based on the similarity theory, the scaling factors of key structural and physical
parameters are obtained. Finally, two kinds of scaled rotor systems under differ-
ent preload conditions with different sizes are designed. In addition, the first-two
critical speeds of the prototype are predicted. The calculated results show that the
maximum deviation of the rotor model with different reduced scale dimensions in
predicting the critical speed of the prototype is less than 4.03%. The reduced scale
rotor model obtained by using this similarity design method can accurately predict
the dynamic behavior of the prototype. This method provides theoretical guidance
and reference for the design of the reduced scale model of the discontinuous rotor
system.

Keywords: Similarity design · Behavior prediction · Rotor system · Critical

speed · Contact modeling

1 Introduction

Rotor systems play important roles in the field of industrial generation and power drive.
Modern large-scale rotor systems usually adopt bolted structures, the rotor is assembled
by applying proper preload force on the tie rods. Therefore, the rotor cannot be regarded
as a whole one, which brings difficulties to modeling, dynamic solution as well as scaling
design. The schematic diagram of the discontinuous bolted rotor structure is shown in
Fig. 1.
In terms of modeling of discontinuous structures, Zhang et al. [1] introduced the
concept of surface contact stiffness, then the relationship between contact stiffness and

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 91–100, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_6
92 R. Zhao et al.

Disks Tie Rods Nuts

Bolted structure

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the discontinuous bolted rotor structure

preload was given. After that, the tie rod rotor was modeled by finite element method to
model, and the effectiveness of the modeling method was verified through modal tests.
Gao et al. [2] established the spring-hinge model of the contact surface by using the
contact theory, this model takes the contact separation into account. Then they explored
the influence of the contact effect on modal through and experiment. Wriggers et al. [3]
modeled two elastomers by equivalent element method and verified the universality of
the proposed method through a simulation case. Liu et al. [4] used the fractal model
to model the contact interface, then they derived the expression of the lateral bending
stiffness of the contact interface. Xu et al. [5] studied the influence of preload on the
dynamic characteristics of the tie rod rotor, the results showed that the preload within a
small range had a great impact on the natural frequency of the rotor system. Zhao et al. [6]
modeled the rods fastened rotor system by contact theory and equivalent material layer,
the influence of preload on the rotor structure was reflected by the adjust the parameters
of equivalent material layer.
In terms of similarity design of rotor system, based on dimensional analysis, Wu et al.
[7] systematically presented the scaling laws of each unit of the rotor system for the first
time, and they studied the response of the rotor-bearing system under forced vibration.
Luo et al. [8] studied the scaling method of rotor system considering the influence of
gravity, the effectiveness of the proposed method was verified through calculation and
experimental results. Li et al. [9] considered the scaling design method of the dual-
rotor system with bolted structures, they predicted the dynamic characteristics of the
aeroengine rotor. Zhao et al. [10] proposed a scaling design method for the rotor system
with limited parameters through sensitivity analysis and optimization algorithm, the
accuracy of the proposed method was verified through modal experiments.
At present, there is little research on scaling design of rotor systems with discontinu-
ous structures. This paper combines contact mechanics model and scaling laws to solve
the similarity design problem of discontinuous rotors. The flow chart of the proposed
method is shown in Fig. 2.
This paper contains five sections. In Sect. 2, the contact mechanics relationship
between bolt structures is derived, an equivalent material modeling method is introduced
to establish continuous model of bolted rotors. In Sect. 3, the scaling factors of the rotor
system are obtained based on the similarity theory, the prototype rotor system model
studied in this paper is established, two scaled rotor models are obtained according to
the similarity laws. In Sect. 4, the dynamic behaviors of the prototype are predicted by
 Similarity Design and Behavior Prediction 93

Discontinuous rotor system

Contact mechanics Equivalent material

model method

Continuous rotor system

Dynamic behavior
Similarity theory prediction

Scaling factor 1 Scaling factor 2 ... Scaling factor i

Scaled rotor system

Fig. 2. Flow chart for similarity design of rotor system with discontinuous structures.

scaled models, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed design method. Finally,
some conclusions are summarized in Sect. 5.

2 Continuous Structure Treatment

Due to the discontinuity of actual gas turbine rotor structure, the traditional similarity
design method is no longer applicable. If the contact characteristics between the com-
ponents are ignored, the lateral stiffness and torsional stiffness of the rotor system will
inevitably increase, the resulting scaled model will further magnify the error, which will
greatly reduce the accuracy of scaled models. In order to establish the prototype model
accurately, it is necessary to consider the contact effect between disks.

2.1 Contact Mechanics Modeling

The gas turbine rotor system usually adopts bolted structure. Each disk is assembled
by applying preload on the rods. Adjusting the preload will affect the lateral bending
stiffness of the rotor structure. Based on the contact theory, the contact mechanics model
between the disks considering the full deformation process is obtained, the relationship
between the preload and the contact stiffness is given.
For a disk with a given surface roughness, the relationship between contact force
and contact deformation is [6]
 +∞ 2
1 4 0.5 − (z−μ)
f = λA √ ERm (z − h)1.5 e 2σ 2 dz (1)
2π σ h 3
where, λ is the areal density of asperities, A is the contact area of disk, σ is the standard
deviation of asperity height, E is the elastic modulus of asperity, Rm is asperity radius,
h is the distance of two surfaces, μ is the average height of asperities.
The contact stiffness between the disks can be expressed as [6]
 +∞ 2
1 4 0.5 − (z−μ)
k = λA √ ERm (z − h)0.5 e 2σ 2 dz (2)
2π σ h 3
94 R. Zhao et al.

Furthermore, according to Eq. (1) and Eq. (2), the relationship between contact load
and contact stiffness can be obtained as

f (d ) ∼ k(d ) (3)


n
k̃ = a0 + ai f i (4)
i=0

2.2 Structural Continuity Modeling Method

For rods fastened rotor, the disks are assembled together by applying a proper preload
force on the tie rods. In this section, the modeling method based on equivalent material
layer is introduced to realize the continuous modeling of rotor system with discontinuous
structure. The idea of this modeling method is that according to the contact stiffness
between two components, it is equivalent to a thin layer element with characteristic
material parameters, the change of equivalent material layer parameters reflects the
weakening effect of contact effect on the rotor stiffness. The length, mass and other
physical structure parameters of the rotor remain unchanged before and after equivalence.
According to the published research [6], the relationship between the elastic modulus
of the equivalent material layer and the contact stiffness is:
 
li + lj Ei Ej k̃
Eequ = (5)
li Ej k̃ + lj Ei k̃ + Ei Ej A
where, Eequ is the elastic modulus of equivalent material layer, E i and E j are the elastic
modulus of disk i and disk j respectively, li and l j are the thickness of disk i and disk j
respectively, k̃ is the contact stiffness.
The relationship between Poisson’s ratio of equivalent material layer and contact
stiffness is
   
υi li υj lj υi + υj A Eequ
υequ = + +   (6)
Ei Ej 2k̃ l i + lj

where, υequ is the Passion’s ratio of equivalent material layer, υi and υj are the Passion’s
ratio of disk i and disk j respectively.
The density of equivalent material layer is
ρi Vi + ρj Vj
ρequ = (7)
Vequ
where, ρequ is the density of equivalent material layer, ρi and ρj are the density of disk
i and disk j respectively, Vi and Vj are the volume of disk i and disk j respectively, Vequ
is the volume of equivalent material layer.
The thickness of equivalent material layer is

hequ = li + lj (8)
 Similarity Design and Behavior Prediction 95

For a given working condition, the fitting relationship between the elastic modulus of
the equivalent material layer and the preload can be obtained. Generally, within a certain
preload range, the relationship can be expressed as a quadratic polynomial function

Eequ = p1 · frod
2
+ p2 · frod + p3 (9)

where, p1 , p2 and p3 are the coefficients of quadratic polynomial fitting respectively,

f rod is the preload of rods.

3 Similarity Theory
Buckingham PI similarity theory is often used in dimensional analysis. According to
the Buckingham PI similarity theory and the differential equation of motion of the rotor
system, the scaling law of the rotor system shaft element, disk element and support
stiffness is derived in this section. The differential equation of motion of rotor shaft
section before and after scaling is
  
∂2 s s∂ δ
2
s s∂ δ
2 ∂ s ∂ δ
3 ∂ s ∂ δ
2
E I + ρ A − J + 2 i J =0 (10)
∂z 2 ∂z 2 ∂t 2 ∂z d ∂z∂t 2 ∂z d ∂z∂t

λsE λsI λsδ ∂2 P P ∂ 2 δP λsρ λsA λsδ
ρ p Ap ∂ Pδ 2 −
2 P
2 E I 2 +
(λl ) ∂ (z )
s 4 P
 ∂ (z )
P (λt )
s 4
∂ (t )
λsJ s λsδ λsJ s λs λsδ (11)
∂ ∂ 3 δP
P i ∂ J P ∂ 2 δP
d
 eml 2  eml 2 ∂z P J P
d ∂z P ∂ (t P )2 + d
2 ∂z P d ∂z P ∂t P = 0
λl λt (λsl )2 λst

In the similarity design, the dimensions of each item in the equation shall be consis-
tent, according to which the relationship between the scaling factors can be obtained as
follows
 
s λs /λs 1/2
λ D E ρ
λs =  s 2 (12)
λl

The scaling law of the disk is

 2
λdD
λdD = λdl = (13)
λsl

The scaling law of the support stiffness is

 4
λsE λsD
λbk =  3 (14)
λsl

According to the relationship between the above scaling factors, the scaling design
of rotor system supported by linear stiffness springs can be completed.
96 R. Zhao et al.

4 Modeling and Verification

The prototype model established in this study is shown in Fig. 3. The rotor system has
a total length of 1700 mm and a total mass of 153.8 kg. The compressor section is
assembled by 8 disks, the turbine section is assembled by 3 disks. The design working
speed of the rotor is 3000 r/min. The rotor is supported by 3 bearings, the scaling factor
of support stiffness is listed in Table 1.

Equivalent material layer Equivalent material layer

Bearing 1 Bearing 2 Bearing 3

Compressor Turbine

Fig. 3. Diagram of prototype of the rotor system.

In this study, two scaled rotor models with different sizes were designed. λl is the
scaling factor of rotor length. For M1 rotor, λl =0.5, which means that the length of
M1 rotor (850 mm) is a half to prototype (1700 mm). Similarly, the length of M2 rotor
(λl =0.33, 566.6 mm) is one third to prototype. According to the similarity theory in
Sect. 2.2, the scaling factors of each model were obtained as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Scaling factors for different scaled rotor model.

Rotor model λ λl λD λE λk
Prototype 1 1 1 1 1
M 1 (850mm) 1 0.5 0.25 1 0.031250
M 2 (566.6mm) 1 0.33 0.11 1 0.004115

Three working conditions are set, Case1: the bolt preload of compressor section is
50 kN, the bolt preload of turbine section is 50 kN, the support stiffness is 1e7 N/m. Case
2: the bolt preload of compressor section is 30 kN, the bolt preload of turbine section
is 100 kN, support stiffness is 5e7 N/m. Case 3: the bolt preload of compressor section
is 100 kN, the bolt preload of turbine section is 30 kN, support stiffness is 1e8 N/m.
Parameters in different cases are shown in Table 2.
 Similarity Design and Behavior Prediction 97

Table 2. Parameters of equivalent material layer under different preloads.

Parameters Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

f rod (comressor) 50 kN 30 kN 100 kN
f rod (turbine) 50 kN 100 kN 30 kN
E (comressor) 1.62e9 GPa 1.51e9 GPa 1.88e9 GPa
E (turbine) 1.62e9 GPa 1.88e9 GPa 1.51e9 GPa
Stiffness 1e7 N/m 5e7 N/m 1e8 N/m

(a) 1 BW
(b) 1 BW
100 1 FW
100 1 FW
90 2 BW 90 2 BW
2 FW 2 FW
80 1X 80 1X
Frequency (Hz)

70 Frequency (Hz) 70
60 60 4209.9 r/min
4247.3 r/min
50 50
40 40
1461.4 r/min 1444.6 r/min
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
1000 2000 3000 4000 1000 2000 3000 4000
Rotation speed (r/min) Rotation speed (r/min)

(c) (d) 1st

1 BW
100 1 FW
5000 2nd
90 2 BW
4247.3 4209.9
2 FW 4132.5
Rotation speed (r/min)

80 1X 4000
Frequency (Hz)

70
60 3000
4132.5 r/min
50
40 2000
30 1412.1 r/min 1461.4 1444.6 1412.1

20 1000
10
0 0
1000 2000 3000 4000 Prototype
1 M1
2 M2
3
Rotation speed (r/min) Rotor system

Fig. 4. Campbell diagram of rotor systems in case 1, (a) prototype, (b) model 1, (c) model 2, (d)
comparison of critical speeds.

4.1 Results of Case 1

Campbell diagram and critical speeds for different rotor models in case 1 are shown in
Fig. 4. The first two critical speeds of the prototype are 1461.4 r/min and 4247.3 r/min.
After 1:2 and 1:3 scale design, the first two critical speeds of M1 are 1444.6 r/min and
4209.9 r/min, and the first two critical speeds of M2 are 1412.1 r/min and 4132.5 r/min.
98 R. Zhao et al.

In Fig. 4 (d), with the reduction of the scaled model size, the critical speed will decrease
slightly, and the maximum error is −3.37% (1st for M2). The results show that when
the preload of compressor section and turbine section is consistent, the scaling design
method proposed in this paper can accurately reflect the critical speeds of the prototype.

4.2 Results of Case 2

Campbell diagram and critical speeds for different rotor models in case 2 are shown in
Fig. 5. The first two critical speeds of the prototype are 1887.3 r/min and 5755.4 r/min.
After 1:2 and 1:3 scale design, the first two critical speeds of M1 are 1869.5 r/min and
5624.2 r/min, the first two critical speeds of M2 are 1830.0 r/min and 5523.5 r/min. In
Fig. 5 (d), when the preload of the compressor section is less than that of the turbine
section, the change of the second critical speed is obvious, and the maximum error is −
4.03% (2nd for M2). The results show that the proposed method can accurately predict
the first two forward whirls of the prototype.

(a) 1 BW
1 FW
(b) 1 BW
1 FW
140 2 BW 140 2 BW
2 FW 2 FW
120 1X 120 1X
Frequency (Hz)

Frequency (Hz)

100 5755.4 r/min 100 5624.2 r/min

80 80

60 60

40 1887.3 r/min 40 1869.5 r/min

20 20

0 0
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Rotation speed (r/min) Rotation speed (r/min)

1st
(c) 1 BW
1 FW
(d) 2nd
140 2 BW 6000 5755.4 5624.2 5523.5
2 FW
Rotation speed (r/min)

120 1X 5000
Frequency (Hz)

100 5523.5 r/min

4000
80
3000
60
2000 1887.3 1869.5 1830
40 1830.0 r/min

20 1000

0 0
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 Prototype
1 M1
2 M2
3
Rotation speed (r/min) Rotor system

Fig. 5. Campbell diagram of rotor systems in case 2, (a) prototype, (b) model 1, (c) model 2, (d)
comparison of critical speeds.
 Similarity Design and Behavior Prediction 99

4.3 Results of Case 3

Campbell diagram and critical speeds for different rotor models in case 3 are shown in
Fig. 6. The first two critical speeds of the prototype are 2065.7 r/min and 6832.3 r/min.
After 1:2 and 1:3 scale design, the first two critical speeds of M1 are 2049.5 r/min and
6663.2 r/min, the first two critical speeds of M2 are 2004.8 r/min and 6559.7 r/min. In
Fig. 6(d), when the preload of compressor section is greater than that of turbine section,
the change of second critical speed is greater than that of first critical speed, and the
maximum error is −3.99% (2nd for M2).

1 BW 1 BW
(a) 200 1 FW (b) 1 FW
2 BW 200 2 BW
2 FW 2 FW
1X 1X
150
Frequency (Hz)

Frequency (Hz)
150
6832.3 r/min
6663.2 r/min
100
100

50 2065.7 r/min 50 2049.5 r/min

0 0
2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000
Rotation speed (r/min) Rotation speed (r/min)

1 BW
1st
(c) 1 FW (d) 6832.3
2nd
200 2 BW 7000 6663.2 6559.7
2 FW
Rotation speed (r/min)

1X 6000
Frequency (Hz)

150 5000
6559.7 r/min 4000
100
3000
2065.7 2049.5 2004.8
2000
50
2004.8 r/min
1000

0 0
2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 Prototype
1 M1
2 M2
3
Rotation speed (r/min) Rotor system

Fig. 6. Campbell diagram of rotor systems in case 3, (a) prototype, (b) model 1, (c) model 2, (d)
comparison of critical speeds.

5 Conclusions
In this paper, a scaling design method of rotor system considering the influence of inho-
mogeneous preload is proposed. First, the discontinuous rotor is treated continuously.
Second, the scaled rotors of different sizes are obtained according to the scaling law.
Finally, the effectiveness of the scaling design method is verified through the results of
critical speeds. The main conclusions are as follows.
100 R. Zhao et al.

(1) The equivalent material layer is introduced to realize the structural continuous treat-
ment of the rod fastened rotor, the physical model that can be applied to the scaling
treatment using PI similarity theory is obtained.
(2) The scale factors of each unit of the rotor system are derived, the 1:2 and 1:3 scaled
models considering the influence of preload are obtained.
(3) The first two critical speeds of prototype rotor and scaled rotor are compared. The
maximum critical speed deviation is -4.03% (2nd for M2 in Case 2). The results show
that the proposed method can accurately predict the critical speeds of discontinuous
rotor system.

References
1. Zhang, Y., Zhaogang, D., Shi, L., Liu, S.: Determination of contact stiffness of rod-fastened
rotors based on modal test and finite element analysis. J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power 132,
094501 (2010)
2. Gao, J., Yuan, Q., Li, P., Feng, Z., Zhang, H., Lv, Z.: Effects of bending moments and
pretightening forces on the flexural stiffness of contact interfaces in rod-fastened rotors. J.
Eng. Gas Turbines Power 134, 102503 (2012)
3. Wriggers, P., Rust, W.T., Reddy, B.: A virtual element method for contact. Comput. Mech.
58, 1039–1050 (2016)
4. Liu, Y., Qi Yuan, P., Li, G.Z.: Modal analysis for a rod-fastened rotor considering contact
effect based on double fractal model. Shock Vib. 2019, 1–10 (2019)
5. Xu, H., Yang, L., Xu, T.: Dynamic analysis of the rod-fastened rotor considering the
characteristics of circumferential tie rods. Appl. Sci. 11, 3829 (2021)
6. Zhao, R., Jiao, Y., Chen, Z., Li, Z., Qu, X.: Nonlinear analysis of a dual-disk rotor system
considering elastoplastic contact. Int. J. Non-Linear Mech. 141, 103925 (2022)
7. Wu, J.-J.: Prediction of lateral vibration characteristics of a full-size rotor-bearing system by
using those of its scale models. Finite Elem. Anal. Des. 43, 803–816 (2007)
8. Luo, Z., Li, L., He, F., Yan, X.: Partial similitude for dynamic characteristics of rotor systems
considering gravitational acceleration. Mech. Mach. Theory 156, 104142 (2021)
9. Li, L., Luo, Z., He, F., Qin, Z., Li, Y., Yan, X.: Similitude for the dynamic characteristics of
dual-rotor system with bolted joints. Mathematics 10, 3 (2021)
10. Zhao, R., Jiao, Y., Qu, X.: Scaling design strategy for experimental rotor systems subjected
to restricted support stiffness. Appl. Math. Model. 109, 265–282 (2022)
 Vibration Reduction Optimization Design
of an Energy Storage Flywheel Rotor
with ESDFD

Dafang Lin(B) , Siji Wang, Chengyang Wang, Zhoudian Chen, Yuan Liu,
and Jinqi Zhang

School of Power and Energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710129, China
[email protected]

Abstract. To solve the excessive vibration of an energy storage flywheel rotor

under complex operating conditions, an optimization design method used to the
energy storage flywheel rotor with elastic support/dry friction damper (ESDFD)
is proposed. Firstly, the dynamic model of the ESDFDs-energy storage flywheel
rotor coupling system is established by using the finite element method. Secondly,
through variables sensitivity analysis, support stiffness, support position, shaft
stiffness and the position of flywheel are determined as design variables. Then,
the optimization objective function is constructed by comprehensively consid-
ering critical speed constraint, influence factors of mode unbalance, proportion
of strain energy and energy consumption rate of damper. Finally, the improved
particle swarm optimization is used to optimize the design of the energy storage
flywheel rotor with ESDFDs. The results show that the damping performance of
the ESDFDs increase by 25%-40% and the unbalance sensitivity of rotor decreases
compared with initial model, and it indicates the optimization design of the energy
storage flywheel rotor with ESDFDs is effective.

Keywords: energy storage flywheel rotor · elastic support/dry friction damper ·

vibration reduction optimization design · particle swarm algorithm

1 Introduction
Energy storage has been taken as the important technology for the sustainable develop-
ment. Flywheel energy storage, a physical energy storage technology, converts electric
and kinetic energy through motors and generators. Because flywheel energy storage
presents many notable merits such as high energy density, rapid response and prolonged
lifespan, it has broadly applicated in energy storage, uninterruptible power supply and
wind power frequency regulation [1, 2]. Nevertheless, the high-speed rotation of the
flywheel under the vacuum environment, accompanied by the cyclic acceleration and
deceleration, leads to alterations in the load size and direction on the rotor-support sys-
tem, exacerbating the vibration issue. The stable operation of the rotor system is closely
related to its support parameters and damper parameters. Hence, the multi-parameter
optimization design of the flywheel rotor system assumes critical research significance.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 101–116, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_7
102 D. Lin et al.

Many scholars have focused on the optimization design of rotor dynamics. Choi
et al. [3, 4] considered the margin between the critical speed and operating speed, as
well as the minimization of shaft system mass and vibration response as key design
objectives and utilized a genetic algorithm to optimize the length, diameter of the shaft,
and support stiffness. Jiao et al. [5] aimed to minimize the vibration response of the disk,
employing the Multi-Island Genetic Algorithm and Sequential Quadratic Programming
to optimize the stiffness of the elastic supports. Jin [6] established a dynamic model
of the rotor system using the finite element method, and utilized the NSGA-II genetic
algorithm to optimize the goal of minimizing the disk vibration response, the external
force of the support, and the total mass of the shaft. Based on the sensitivity analysis of
parameters, Wang [7] obtained optimization design variables and conducted the rotor
dynamic optimization design with the goal of keeping the critical speed as far away from
the operating speed as possible. Huang et al. [8] optimized the position of the disk to
decrease its vibration response, utilizing a multi-island genetic algorithm.
In general, the scholars mentioned above primarily focus on optimizing the crucial
parameters of the rotor system to achieve the objectives of complying with the critical
speed margin design criterion and reducing vibration response. Nonetheless, flywheel
rotor regular traversals through the critical speed during the charging and discharging
phases and need to rotate continuously at any speed, which make it impossible to satisfy
the critical speed margin criteria. To further enhance the stability of the rotor system,
the rotor needs to install dampers. Therefore, the damping performance of the damper
must also be taken into consideration while optimizing the rotor system.
Most dry friction dampers are commonly used for controlling vibrations in blades.
However, the elastic support dry friction damper (ESDFD) is a novel vibration reduction
device for rotors. Fan [9] initially introduced the ESDFD, based on the principle of redis-
tributing the strain energy of the rotor-support system through elastic supports, which
increased the strain energy of supports and dissipate it through friction dampers. Fan
conducted several experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of ESDFD for vibration
reduction. Based on Fan’s work, an active elastic support/dry friction damper was pro-
posed, which can achieve active control by using electromagnet and piezoelectric ceramic
as actuators [10, 11]. The aforementioned research indicates that ESDFD possesses sig-
nificant damping capabilities and can be utilized for active control. Nonetheless, the
design method of ESDFD and rotor matching has not been investigated yet.
The rest of the paper is organized as follow. Section 2 describes the structure of
the ESDFD and establishes the dynamic model of the energy storage flywheel rotor
with ESDFDs. Section 3 constructs the optimization objective function and shows the
optimal results based on improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) [12]. Section 4
discusses the damping performance of the ESDFDs and the unbalance sensitivity of
rotor. Section 5 draws the conclusions to the above results and discussion. Section 6 is
the acknowledgments.
 Vibration Reduction Optimization Design 103

2 Dynamical Model
The energy storage flywheel rotor with ESDFDs is proposed as shown in Fig. 1. The
rotor system mainly consists of the flywheel rotor, bearing, and ESDFD. Specifically,
the flywheel rotor is supported by two elastic supports, with each support incorporating
an ESDFD.

Elastic support
Bearing

A A Upper support ESDFD

Flywheel rotor

Lower support ESDFD

A A
Fig. 1. The structure of energy storage flywheel rotor with ESDFDs

The ESDFD located between the load-carrying and the elastic support is shown in
Fig. 2a and consists of 3 key components: the elastic support, the friction pairs (consisting
of fixed ring and moving ring) and the actuator. The moving ring, fixed ring, and mounting
ring are depicted in Fig. 2b, c, and d, respectively. The moving ring is mounted on the
end cross section of the elastic support and vibrates with the elastic support, but does not
rotate with the rotor. The fixed ring is mounted on the mounting ring and can be moved
in the axial direction by the actuator. When ESDFD works, the fixed ring moves toward
the moving ring by the actuator and forms a contact aera. During the operation of rotor,
the deformation of the elastic support is caused by the unbalanced load. As a result of
the relative displacement between the moving ring and the fixed ring, friction occurs at
the contact area. The damping introduced by friction can dissipate the vibration energy.

2.1 Two-Dimensional Friction Model

A two-dimensional friction model has been developed to establish the mathematical
relationship between the friction force and the relative displacement of the friction pairs.
104 D. Lin et al.

Piezoelectric ceramic Rotor Elastic support

actuators

Mounting ring Bearing

Fixed ring Casing

Moving ring

ESDFD

a. Detailed information of ESDFD

b. Moving ring c. Fixed ring d. Mounting ring

Fig. 2. The structure of ESDFD

As showed in Fig. 3, the model comprises of two masses, mj and md , representing the
fixed ring and the moving ring respectively. The connection between fixed ring and the
mounting base is simulated by using two elastic elements and two viscous elements,
represented by kj and cj respectively. The moving ring is mounted to the elastic support.
Two elastic elements, kd , and two viscous elements, cd , are used to simulate the action
of the squirrel cage elastic support on the moving ring. The friction force results from
the relative motion between the moving ring and the fixed ring.

Y
cd kd O
X
kj
md
mj
cj Moving ring
Fixed ring

Fig. 3. Two-dimensional friction model

 Vibration Reduction Optimization Design 105

Let the vector u describe the motion of the fixed ring and the vector w that of the
moving ring.
 T  T
u = xj , yj and w = xd , yd (1)

then with this model, Eq. (2) describes the motion of the moving ring and fixed ring.

mj ü + cj u̇ + kj u = Ff
(2)
md ẅ + cd ẇ + kd w = F − Ff

where F is centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the unbalance mass on the rotor
and Ff is frictional force. The external force makes the damper to move in a circular
motion. The external force calculated by Eq. (3).

F = mεΩ 2 cos(Ωt − β) (3)

where m is the unbalance mass. ε is the eccentricity distance of unbalance mass. β is

the phase of unbalance mass.
The friction force between the fixed ring and the moving ring is Coulomb’s friction
force. So, the magnitude of the friction is related to the state of motion of the moving
ring. If the acting force on the moving ring is less than frictional force, the moving ring
is stationary relative to the fixed ring, namely the friction pairs is in the state of stick,
the frictional force is

Ff = kc (w − u) (4)

where kc is the tangential contact stiffness of the contact interface. The tangential contact
stiffness can be computed by Eq. (5) [13].

G ∗ 3.7
kc = · ·N (5)
E∗ l
where

1 2 − νj 2 − νd 1 l − νj2 l − νj2
= + , = + , (6)
G∗ 4Gj 4Gd E∗ Ej Ej

where ν denotes Poisson’s ratio. E is elastic modulus. N denotes the pressing force.
If |kc (w − u)| ≥ μN , the moving ring will slip, the friction pairs are in the state of
slipping, and the frictional force is
u̇ − ẇ
Ff = μN (7)
|u̇ − ẇ|
where μ is the frictional coefficient.
106 D. Lin et al.

2.2 Dynamics Model of the Flywheel Rotor with ESDFDs

To investigate the dynamic characteristics of the flywheel rotor and the damping perfor-
mance of the ESDFD, the model of the ESDFDs-energy storage flywheel rotor coupling
system is established by the finite element method [14]. The dynamic equation for rotor
system with ESDFDs can be expressed as Eq. (8)

M q̈ + (C − G)q̇ + Kq = Q + Qf (8)

where q denotes the vector, the rows of which are components of two-dimensional
translational degree and two-dimensional rotational degree of nodes. M , C, G, and K
are the mass, damping, gyroscopic, and stiffness matrix of the flywheel rotor-support
system, respectively. Q is the external sinusoidal forcing vector. Qf denotes the frictional
force vector.

3 Optimization Design of Flywheel Rotor System with ESDFDs

3.1 Design Parameters

There are mainly three categories of the parameters of rotor system:

1) Support parameters: position and stiffness, etc.
2) Disk parameters: position, mass, polar moment and diametral moment, etc.
3) Shaft parameters: length, inner diameter and outer diameter, etc.
Figure 4 shows a dynamic model of an energy storage flywheel rotor equipped
with ESDFDs used to optimize. The working speed range of the system is from 0 to
10 krpm. The model consists of two parts, the rotor and two ESDFDs (depicted by
the dashed boxes). The flywheel rotor is a vertical construction consisting of a flexible
shaft supported by two elastic supports located at the extremities. The two ESDFDs are
installed at the indicated elastic supports, as illustrated by the dashed boxes in Fig. 4.
L and D are respectively the length and diameter of the shaft, where l4 , l8 and l9 are
the position of the flywheel, upper support and lower support, respectively. m, Ip and
Id respectively denote the mass, the polar moment of inertia and the moment of inertia
about a diameter of flywheel. E, ρ and u respectively represent the elastic modulus,
density and Poisson’s ratio. ku and kl are respectively upper and lower support stiffness.
du and dl denote respectively upper and lower support damping. The specific parameters
of the rotor and damper are listed in Tables 1 and 2 [15] respectively.
The Mean Impact Value (MIV) method [16] can assess the degree of the influence
of individual independent variables on the dependent variable. The evaluation index Miv
is computed by means of the MIV method to determine the extent of influence of each
design parameter on the mode shape and critical speed. The dynamic characteristics of
the rotor are greatly affected by the support stiffness, support position, and flywheel axial
position. These parameters are considered as optimization design parameters listed in
Table 3.
 Vibration Reduction Optimization Design 107

Elastic support

ku d u D1 l8
l1
Moving disk

Stationery disk
D2
Shaft
E l2
ρ
l4
u
L
Flywheel D3 l3

D4
l5
D5
l6
kl l7
l9
dl
D6

Fig. 4. Dynamic model of flywheel rotor with ESDFDs

Table 1. Parameters of the Flywheel Rotor for Numerical Analysis

Categories Parameters Values Parameters Values

Support l8 /m 0.082 l9 /m 0.0775
ku /(N/m) 1.50 × 106 du /(N · s/m) 200
kl /(N/m) 14.9 × 106 dl /(N · s/m) 200
Disk m/(kg) 2990.21 Id /(kg · m2 ) 245.50
Ip /(kg · m2 ) 373.78 l4 /m 1.5505
Shaft L/m 1.968 l1 /m 0.104
l2 /m 0.951 l3 /m 0.253
l4 /m 1.5505 l5 /m 0.2425
l6 /m 0.065 l7 /m 0.110
Material E/1011 Pa 2.05 ρ/(kg/m3 ) 7820
v 0.29
108 D. Lin et al.

Table 2. Parameters of ESDFD

Parameters Values
Mass of fixed ring/kg 0.642
Mass of moving ring/kg 0.582
Stiffness of fixed ring/(N/m) 9.159 × 107
Tangential contact stiffness/(N/m) 5.08 × 107
Friction coefficient 0.16
Maximum pressing force/N 3000

Table 3. Optimization Range of Design Variables

Parameters Bound
Lower Upper
ku 1.00 × 106 N/m 3.00 × 106 N/m
kl 10.0 × 106 N/m 20.0 × 106 N/m
l8 0.060/m 0.120/m
l9 0.060/m 0.130/m
l4 1.400/m 1.600/m

3.2 Constraint Condition

The conventional design constraint that critical speeds should be kept as far away from the
operating speed as possible is inadequate for the flywheel rotor that needs to frequently
traverse critical speeds during the charging and discharging phases. Research findings
indicate that when the critical speed is maintained at a separation margin of about 8.3%
from the critical speed in rigidly supported conditions, the critical vibration peak of the
rotor can be reduced by 83.6% [17]. This can be attributed to the failure of the system
damping when the rotating speed is close to the critical speed under rigidly supported
conditions. So, the constrain is the 10% separation margin of the critical speed of rotor
system, compared with the critical speed under the rigidly supported conditions. The
constraint condition can be expressed as
f (ωcri ) = (ωcri − 0.9ω̃cri )(ωcri − 1.1ω̃cri ) (9)
where ωcri is the elastic support critical speed. ω̃cri is the rigid support critical speed.
If the value of ωcri is in the range of (0.9–1.1) ω̃cri , f (ωcri ) is less than or equal to 1.
The constraint is not satisfied. Therefore, the critical speeds under the elastic supports
within the working speed range are required to meet Eq. (10). Otherwise, the optimization
function needs to be adjusted by the penalty factor.
min(f (ωcri )) > 0 (10)
 Vibration Reduction Optimization Design 109

3.3 Objective Function

Influence Factors of Mode Unbalance

In recent years, to enhance the energy storage capacity of the flywheel rotor system,
the flywheel has undergone progressive development towards greater speeds and higher
mass. This inevitably causes the problems such as uneven mass distribution and shaft
tilting during the manufacturing and assembly process. These problems can easily lead
to severe vibration of flywheel rotor.
The design method that the sensitivity of rotor to unbalance is reduced by optimizing
the modal shape of rotor is proposed. The influence factors of modal unbalance are


R
2
ai,j ri,j
j=1
Ũi = , ai,j ∈ [0, 1], Ũi ∈ [0, 1] (11)
Ti i

where R is the total number of nodes of rotor finite element model. ai,j denotes the
weight coefficient of jth node of ith-order mode shape. ri,j is normalized displacements
at the jth node in the ith-order mode shape. i is normalized displacements of ith-order
mode shape. If the influence factors of modal unbalance becomes larger, the similarity
between mass distribution and mode is higher which will increase unbalance response.

Proportion of Strain Energy

The elastic supports redistribute the strain energy of the whole rotor-support system
and increase the elastic-supported strain energy. The ESDFD is affixed on the elastic
supports to dissipation energy. If the elastic-supported strain energy is higher, the more
energy could be consumed by the ESDFD. Therefore, the vibration of the rotor is easy
to control. Proportion of strain energy is
esdfd
Ei esdfd
Pi = , Pi ∈ (0, 1) (12)
Ei + Eish + Eirb

where

m 
n
esdfd  2
Ei = 2
0.5kz ri,z , Eirb = 0.5krb ri,rb m Eish = 0.5Ti K sh i (13)
z=1 rb=1

where Eiesdfd is sum of strain energy of elastic supports, considering that the rotor may
have multiple elastic supports. Eish denotes the shaft strain energy. kz is the zth elastic-
 is the rbth rigidly supported stiffness. K sh is the stiffness matrix of
support stiffness. krb
shaft.

Energy Consumption Rate of Damper

The ESDFD shares the elastic support with the rotor. The variation of support parameters
not only affects the dynamic characteristics of the rotor system but also has a significant
impact on the damping performance of the damper. Therefore, in the optimization design
110 D. Lin et al.

process, the influence of support parameters on the damping performance of the damper
should also be taken into account. Energy consumption rate of damper is the energy
consumed per cycle divided by the total energy of the support with ESDFD installed,
and the formula is as follows.
m
Di,z π df ,z ωcri ri,z
2
df ,z ωcri
ηi = = = , ηi ∈ (0, 1) (14)
z=1
2π Ei,z 2π · 0.5kz ri,z2 kz

where Dz,i is energy consumption in a single cycle. df ,z denotes the damping coefficient
of the zth ESDFD [18]. Ei,z is the strain energy of elastic supports.

Optimization Objective Function

Intelligent optimization algorithms are widely employed in optimizing the rotor dynam-
ics design. The objective function is crucial in optimization design, which can reflect
the design objective and should be monotonic. The optimization objective function is
constructed by comprehensively considering critical speed constraint, influence factors
of mode unbalance, proportion of strain energy and energy consumption rate of damper.
The objective function is where n is the number of modes in the working speed range.
ζi denotes the weight coefficient, ζi ∈ [0, 1]. fpenalty is the constraint of critical speed.
⎛ 
n ⎞
esdfd
ζi (1 − Pi )(1 − ηi )Ũi
⎜ ⎟
f = max(fre ) + fpenalty = max⎜ ⎟ + fpenalty
i=1
⎝1 − 
n ⎠ (15)
ζi
i=1

3.4 Optimization Design Based on MPSO

The fundamental principles for optimizing the design of flywheel rotor with ESDFDs
are as follows: ensuring that the rotor system meets the critical speed constraint, the
maximum value of the optimization objective function is obtained by MPSO within
the range of design parameters. In the paper, the dynamics calculation program for the
ESDFDs-energy storage flywheel rotor is written to calculate the optimization objective
function, and the program is embedded into the MPSO. During each iteration, the MPSO
adjusts the values of upper and lower support stiffness, upper and lower support stiffness
positions, and the flywheel position within the recommended range to maximize the
optimization objective function. The iteration terminates when the optimization objective
function is no less than 0.85. The flowchart of the optimization design process based on
MPSO is shown in Fig. 5. The initial and optimal values of design parameters are listed
in Table 4.
 Vibration Reduction Optimization Design 111

Start

Setting optimisation of design

parameters and MPSO parameters

Substitute particles into the

Generate the position of
equation
particles
i = ( 1, 2 , D ),

Update the particle best position

and global best of swarm Solve the rotor system
equation
Next iteration
Update each particle velocity and Caculate the objective function
positions of the particles of every particle

No Satisfy termination
condition ?

Yes

Solution is global best of

swarm

End

Fig. 5. Flow chart of optimization design

Table 4. Optimization Result of Design Variables

Model kl /(N/m) ku /(N/m) l4 /m l8 /m l9 /m

Initial 1.50 × 106 14.9 × 106 1.5505 0.082 0.0775
Optimal 1.82 × 106 13.1 × 106 1.4742 0.095 0.0633

4 Results and Discussion

The stiffness level of the upper and lower supports’ bearings is 108 N/m. Under the
assumption of rigid support condition, the stiffness of the upper and lower supports
is set to 1 × 108 N/m. Based the support stiffness, the dynamic characteristics of the
initial and optimized flywheel rotor models are shown in Fig. 6. As shown in Fig. 6a
and Fig. 6b, there are two 1st critical speeds in the working speed range, which are 5721
r/min and 5918 r/min, respectively. Figure 6c shows the mode shapes of the initial and
optimized models under the rigid support condition, both of which are the axial bending
mode shapes. The vibration displacement of the supports with ESDFDs are small, and
the dampers are difficult to play good damping performance.
112 D. Lin et al.

Natural vibration frequency/(rad/s)

Natural vibration frequency/(rad/s)

1000 1000

800 800
Forward whirl Forward whirl
Backward whirl Backward whirl
600 600

400 Critical speed 400

Critical speed
200 200

0 0
0 2000 4000 5721 8000 10000 0 2000 4000 5918 8000 10000
Speed of rotation (rpm) Speed of rotation (rpm)
a. Campbell diagram of initial model b. Campbell diagram of optimized model
1
Relative displacement

0.5

-0.5
Flywheel Initial
Support Optimized
-1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Axial location/m

c. Mode shape
Fig. 6. The dynamic characteristics of the flywheel rotor under rigid supports

To evaluate the efficacy of the optimization design method, an amount of unbalance

is deliberately introduced into the flywheel rotor to induce vibration. The upper and
lower end faces of the flywheel are employed as the position of adding unbalance.
Based on the dynamic balance grade of G2.5 under GB/T 9239.1–2006 standard and
the calculation procedure in the literature [19], the permitted unbalance distribution of
the rotor is computed and listed in Table 5. By utilizing the values in Tables 1, 4, and 5,
the dynamic characteristics of the flywheel rotor equipped with ESDFDs are calculated.
The results are listed in Table 6 and Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Table 5. Distribution of Unbalance

Upper end of flywheel Lower end of flywheel

Unbalance/(g·cm) Phase/° Unbalance/(g·cm) Phase/°
188.5 0 159.42 0
 Vibration Reduction Optimization Design 113

Table 6. The Proportion of strain energy of Rotor System

Mode Model Shaft Upper support Lower support

1st Initial 5.57% 41.91% 52.52%
Optimal 3.35% 40.35% 56.30%
2nd Initial 13.15% 55.68% 31.17%
Optimal 7.62% 57.39% 34.99%

The proportion of strain energy of rotor system is listed in Table 6. It is shown that
compared with initial model, the proportion of strain energy of shaft of 1st and 2nd
modes of optimized model are lower. Therefore, the more strain energy of rotor system
is concentrated in the elastic support, which is favorable for the ESDFD.
Figure 7 is the Campbell diagram of the flywheel rotor. Figure 7a shows that there
are two critical speeds of initial model in the working speed range. Figure 7b shows there
are two critical speeds of optimized model in the working speed range. Under rigidly
supported conditions, the critical speed of initial and optimized model are 5721r/min
and 5919r/min respectively. The gray shaded area of the figure shows the speed range
that considers a separation margin of about 10% compared to the critical speed under
rigidly supported conditions. Compared the initial model, the 1st and 2nd critical speed
of optimized model increases slightly, but both meet the constraint condition of critical
speed.
Natural vibration frequency/(rad/s)

Natural vibration frequency/(rad/s)

1000 Forward whirl 1000 Forward whirl

Backward whirl Backward whirl
800 800

600 600

400 Critical speed 400 Critical speed

200 200

0 0
0 550 2120 4000 5149 6293 10000 0 570 2230 4000 5327 6509 10000
Speed of rotation (rpm) Speed of rotation (rpm)

a. Initial model b. Optimized model

Fig. 7. Campbell diagram of the flywheel rotor

Figure 8 is the mode shape of flywheel rotor. The 1st-order-mode shape of optimized
model is similar with initial model, but the 2nd-order-mode shape is slightly different.
For 2nd-order-mode shape, the position of flywheel is closer to the intersection of mode
shape and dotted line which means the sensitivity of flywheel to unbalance is lower.
114 D. Lin et al.

1 1

Relative displacement
Relative displacement

0.5 0.5

0 0

-0.5 -0.5
Flywheel Initial Flywheel Initial
Support Optimized Support Optimized
-1 -1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Axial location/m Axial location/m

(a) 1st mode (b) 2nd mode

Fig. 8. The mode shape of flywheel rotor

Figure 9 is the unbalance response of the flywheel of initial and optimized model
without ESDFDs. As can be seen in the figure, the mass unbalance response at the 1st
and 2nd critical speed decrease by 70.42% and 75.16% compared with initial model,
and it indicates the sensitivity of optimized model to unbalance is greatly reduced.

350
(550,346.40) Initial model
300 Optimized model
Amplitude/(μm)

250

200

150

100 (570,102.48) (2120,96.75)

50
(2230,24.03)
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Speed of rotation (rpm)

Fig. 9. Mass unbalance response of the flywheel without ESDFDs

Figure 10 shows the mass unbalance response of the upper support in the initial and
optimized models, both with and without the implementation of ESDFDs. The damper
parameters for the initial and optimized models are identical. In Fig. 10a, the vibration
reduction efficacy of ESDFDs at the 1st and 2nd critical speeds is noted to reach 25.37%
and 33.33%, respectively, for the initial model. In Fig. 10b, the vibration reduction
efficacy of ESDFDs at the 1st and 2nd critical speeds is noted to reach 32.33% and
45.54%, respectively, for the optimized model. When compared to the initial model, the
vibration reduction efficacy of ESDFDs in the optimized models is shown to increase
by 27.43% and 36.63%, respectively.
As it is obvious from the results, the optimization method has yielded a decrease in
the flywheel rotor’s sensitivity to the unbalance, as well as a considerable improvement
in the damping performance of the ESDFDs.
 Vibration Reduction Optimization Design 115

1000
Without ESDFDs
550,860.91 With ESDFDs
800

Amplitude/(μm)
550,642.53
600

2120,446.95
400

200

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Speed of rotation (rpm)

a. Initial model
400
Without ESDFDs (2230,395.60)
With ESDFDs
300
Amplitude/(μm)

200
(2230,215.43)
(570,180.10)
(570,121.88)
100

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Speed of rotation (rpm)

b. Optimized model
Fig. 10. Mass unbalance response of the upper support with ESDFDs

5 Conclusions

The following conclusions are drawn from the work:

(1) The energy storage flywheel rotor with ESDFDs designed by the optimization design
method of this paper is less sensitive to the unbalance and the damping performance
of ESDFDs is improved by 25% –40%. This indicates the optimization design of
the energy storage flywheel rotor with ESDFDs is effective.
(2) The optimization objective function constructed in this paper considers not only the
dynamic characteristics of the rotor, but also the damping performance of damper.
The constructed objective function is suitable for multi-parameter optimization
design of energy storage flywheel rotor with ESDFDs.

Acknowledgments. This work was supported by the National Science and Technology Major
Project of China (Grant No. J2019-IV-0005-0072).
116 D. Lin et al.

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flywheel bearings. Energy Storage Sci. Technol. 10(05), 1631–1642 (2021)
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optimization of a two-disk rotor system. J. Propul. Technol. 35(11), 1530–1536 (2014)
9. Fan, T.Y., Liao, M.F.: Dynamic behavior of a rotor with dry friction dampers. Mech. Sci.
Technol. (05), 743–745+760 (2003)
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friction damper with piezoelectric ceramic. J. Aerosp. Power 28(10), 2223–2227 (2013)
12. Wang, H.: Rotordynamic Characteristic of Variable Speed Turbo-shaft Engine. Northwestern
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sity, Xi’an (2015)
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Aerosp. Power 32(12), 3031–3038 (2017)
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 Sensitivity of Spline Self-excited Vibration
to Structure Parameters

Yingjie Li1 , Guang Zhao1 , Zexin Zhang1 , Yunbo Yuan2(B) , Jian Li3 ,
and Yongquan Wang4
1 School of Energy and Power Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024,
China
2 School of Control Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024,
China
[email protected]
3 AECC Hunan Aviation Powerplant Research Institute, Zhuzhou 412002, China
4 AECC Shenyang Engine Research Institute, Shenyang 110015, China

Abstract. Many aviation splines have to work in grease-lubricated or non-

lubricated environments because of structural, weight and space restrictions. When
a spline rotor system works at speeds above the critical speed, a poor lubrication
or a specific misalignment will lead the spline in such a rotor experiencing self-
excited vibration. In this paper, a constant stiffness and time-varying damping
model is established for the spline coupling used in helicopter tail transmission
shaft system. A multi-degree-of-freedom model for helicopter tail transmission
shaft system is developed according to Timoshenko beam theory and lumped-mass
method. The coupled differential equations are solved using Newmark-β method.
According to the magnitude of low-frequency component, the self-excited vibra-
tion sensitivities to critical system parameters (i.e., spline tooth number, modulus,
pressure angle and tooth width) are investigated for splines used in helicopter
tail transmission shaft system. This study provides a reference for the mechanism
research and suppression of the self-excited vibration of splines encountered in
helicopter tail transmission shaft system.

Keywords: Aviation Spline · Self-excited Vibration · System Parameters ·

Sensitivity

1 Introduction
In aero-engines, spline couplings are widely used in aviation accessory transmission
systems because of their lightweight, high balance potential at high speed, high load
capacity, and good misalignment compensation capacity [1, 2]. Floating splines in loose
fit often operate under various working conditions and bear mechanical loads such as
centrifugal force, periodic torque, impact torque, and misalignment load [3]. Although
lubrication can effectively extend aviation splines’ service life, many of them can only
operate in grease-lubricated or non-lubricated environments due to structure, weight,
and space limitations.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 117–132, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_8
118 Y. Li et al.

When the rotor runs across the critical speed, the poor lubrication of the spline tooth
surface and the large misalignment angle between the internal and external splines will
cause an increase in the spline friction coefficient or the negative damping of the rotor
system, which may induce the instability of the rotor, excite the rotor resonance, and
generate the self-excited vibration of the floating spline. Because of the supercritical
operation of the rotor at this time, the resonance frequency of the rotor is low-frequency
vibration, that is, sub-synchronous whirl. The low-frequency amplitude is high and the
energy is large, which will cause serious damage or accidents [4].
Many researchers have paid attention to the stability of rotating machinery with
splines. Williams and Trent [5] considered the spline tooth surface sliding friction and
unbalance, calculated the influence of nonlinear and asymmetric support stiffness on
the asynchronous vorticity of the system, and confirmed for the first time that spline
friction was the source of the asynchronous whirl of the rotor. However, this research
was based on the assumption of a rigid rotor, and its engineering applicability was lim-
ited. Marmol et al. [6, 7] established the friction model of the tooth surface of splines,
calculated the internal damping coefficient of splines, and then predicted the internal
damping of splines with different structures. They observed the instability phenomena
during the experiments but did not find instability in the simulation because their model
had too many uncertain parameters. Based on Marmol’s research, Ku et al. [8] only
studied the influence of spline angle stiffness and damping coefficient on rotor stabil-
ity. Experimental test results showed that self-excitation vibration occurred when the
speed exceeded the critical speed of the rotor. Park [9] found that the change of cross-
stiffness caused by angular damping generated by spline friction was the main source
of asynchronous whirl instability of the rotor. On the basis of literature [6–9], Zhu et al.
[10] put the spline model into the dynamic equation of the three-support double-span
rotor system. The findings demonstrate that the spline-rotor system exhibits self-excited
vibration once the friction coefficient of the spline tooth surface reaches a critical value
and crosses the rotor’s critical speed. The low-frequency is the system’s initial natu-
ral frequency. Brommundt et al. [11] analyzed the nonlinear problem of gear coupling.
Walton et al. [4] and Gao [12] deduced four key coefficients of the spline in the turbine
using the mechanical analysis method. According to the energy method, it was judged
that the stability of the spline-rotor system was greatly affected by the angular damping
coefficient and the lateral damping coefficient. Zhao et al. [13, 14] found the self-excited
oscillation phenomenon of the loose fit spline through the test. The results show that
increasing the misalignment angle of the spline can improve the instability speed of
the system. Kang et al. [15] found in the helicopter transmission system that the inner
damping due to the friction in the spline and on the supporting surface of both ends of
the spline is the springhead of self-excited vibration. Li et al. [16] analyzed the research
and development trend of spline self-excited vibration. Wang et al. [17, 18] and Huang
et al. [19] proposed the boundary conditions for rotor instability and carried out test
verification for the stability analysis of the spline-rotor system.
The above research models the spline stiffness and damping coefficient from the
perspective of energy and mechanical analysis, and determines the boundary conditions
of spline self-excited vibration from simulation calculation and experimental research.
However, the influence of spline structural parameters on the self-excited vibration of the
 Sensitivity of Spline Self-excited Vibration 119

system has not been investigation. Therefore, aiming at the spline structure parameters
(spline tooth number, modulus, pressure angle, tooth width), this paper explores the
influence of various parameters on spline self-excited vibration from the aspects of
rotational speed and amplitude produced by self-excited vibration.

2 Analytical Model
2.1 Spline Stiffness
The conventional solving methods of spline stiffness are simulation, experimental
tests, and theoretical derivation. Nevertheless, the simulation calculation ignores the
microstructure of the spline tooth surface, and the test error is significant. Therefore, the
material mechanics method is used in this paper [20]. According to the contact stiffness
of involute spline, the method of material mechanics simplifies the single spline tooth to
the variable cross-section cantilever beam on the elastic basis. It is considered that the
comprehensive elastic deformation δ j of the meshing spline includes bending deforma-
tion δ Bj , shear deformation δ Sj , compression (tensile) deformation δ cj , additional elastic
deformation δ Mj of the foundation and contact deformation δ Cj at the meshing point of
the tooth surface.

Fig. 1. Deformation analysis of a single tooth

Cantilever Beam Deformation

In the calculation, the gear tooth is divided into n segments, and the section i is the
shadow part in the Fig. 1. Equation (1), (2) and (3) define bending deformation, shearing
deformation and compression (tensile) deformation.
    
F Ti3 + 3Ti2 Li + 3Ti L2i sj Ti2 /2 + Ti Li sj
δBbi = cos βj
2
− cos βj sin βj (1)
Ee 3Ii 2Ii
  
F 12(1 + a)Ti
δBsi = cos2 βj (2)
Ee 5Ai
120 Y. Li et al.

 
F Ti
δBci = sin βj
2
(3)
Ee Ai

where, F is the force, T i is the thickness of the section i, Ii is the moment of inertia of
the section i, sj is the tooth thickness of the load action point, si is the thickness of the
section i, L i is the distance from the segment i to the load point along the x direction, L j
is the equivalent meshing distance of the distance from the load point j to the tooth root
along the x direction, β j is the angle between load F and y axis, Ai is the section area,
B is the tooth thickness, s is the thickness of the pitch circle, α is the Poisson’s radio, E
is the modulus of elasticity, E e is the equivalent modulus of elasticity, when B/s > 5, E e
= E/(1 − α2 ), otherwise E e = E.
Related parameters can be expressed as:
Lj
Ti = (4)
n
2n − 2i + 1
Li = Lj (5)
2n

Ai = B · si (6)

B · si3
Ii = IZc = (7)
12

βj = arccos(db /dj ) (db ≤ dj ) (8)

dj = df + 2Lj (9)

ai = arccos(db /di ) (10)

s · di
si = − di [inv(ai ) − inv(β)] (11)
d
where, d b is the base circle diameter, when i = n, sj = sn , when i = 0, sf = s0 .
If the interval from the j point on the spline to the tooth root is divided into small
blocks i along the x direction as shown in Fig. 1, the bending, shearing and compression
deformations of each small block are obtained and accumulated respectively, then the
bending deformation, shear deformation and compression (tensile) deformation of the
spline cantilever beam can be calculated as follows:
n
δBj = δBbi (12)
i=1
n
δSj = δBSi (13)
i=1
 Sensitivity of Spline Self-excited Vibration 121

n
δCj = δBci (14)
i=1

Additional Deformation Caused by the Root of the Tooth

The spline tooth root is considered to be a rigidly fixed cantilever beam for the pur-
poses of calculating the bending, shearing, and compression deformation of the spline
above. However, since the spline’s root is elastic, it is important to take into account the
additional deformation of the meshing point brought on by the elasticity of the tooth
root.
For the case of wide teeth (B/s > 5), it is treated as a plane strain problem.
⎡  2     ⎤
F cos2 βj Lf 1 − a − 2a2 Lf 0.4167tg 2 (βj )
δM j = ⎣5.306 +2 + 1.534 1 + ⎦ (15)
BEe Hf 1 − a2 Hf 1+a

Lf = Lj − sj · tan(βj )/2 (16)

where, H f = sf .

Contact Deformation at Mesh Point

According to the literature [21], the contact deformation δ C of the meshing point of the
tooth surface can be calculated according to the following formula:

1.275
δCj = (17)
2Ee0.9 Be0.8 F 0.1

where, F is the unit normal load. It can be seen from the above formula that the contact
deformation of the meshing point is only related to the elastic modulus of the material,
force and equivalent tooth width. When the tooth widths of two meshing surfaces are
equal, Be = B. When the tooth widths of the two meshing surfaces are not equal, Be
takes a smaller tooth width value.
In this way, by the superimposition of the above three deformations, the total elastic
deformation of a single tooth calculated by the material mechanics method can be written
as follows:

δj = δBj + δMj + δCj (18)

Therefore, the meshing stiffness of the single tooth:

Kj = 1/δj =
 n
     
F T 3 + 3Ti2 Li + 3Ti L2i 12(1 + a)Ti sj Ti2 + 2Ti Li sj Ti
cos βj
2
+ − cos βj sin βj + sin βj2
+
Ee 3Ii 5Ai 4Ii Ai
i=1
   −1
F · cos2 βj Lf 2 1 − a − 2a2 Lf 0.4167tg 2 (βj ) 1.275
5.306 +2 + 1.534 1 + +
B · Ee Hf 1 − a2 Hf 1+a 2Ee0.9 Be0.8 F 0.1
(19)
122 Y. Li et al.

Then, Spline tooth pair contact stiffness:

1
K= (20)
δjext + δjint

where, δ ext j is the total elastic deformation of external spline, δ int j is the total elastic
deformation of internal spline.
Lateral stiffness of the spline [12]:
z
kl = K (21)
2
where, z is the number of the spline tooth.
Angular stiffness of the spline [12]:

B2 z
kα = K (22)
24

2.2 Spline Damping

According to the principle of conservation of energy, it is deduced that the lateral damping
coefficient and angular damping coefficient of splines are [6]:
2μT
cl = (23)
ωc rπ δ0 cos2 ϕ
μTB
cα = (24)
2ωc rπ α0 cos2 ϕ
where, μ is the contact friction coefficient of the spline tooth surface, T is the spline
transmission torque, ωc is the difference between the system speed ω and the criti-
cal speed, r is the pitch radius, δ 0 is the difference between the internal and external
spline displacement, α 0 is the difference between the internal and external spline angular
displacement, ϕ is the pressure angle.

2.3 Spline-Rotor System

Based on the Timoshenko beam element model, as shown in Fig. 2, the finite element
model of the rotor system is constructed. The Timoshenko beam element model considers
the influence of shear deformation based on the traditional Euler-Bernoulli beam element
model.
For a two-node element of 8 degrees of freedom, its generalized coordinates are
assumed to be:
 T
X = xi , yi , θxi , θyi , xi+1 , yi+1 , θxi+1 , θyi+1 , i = 1, 2, 3, ... (25)

A dynamic model is established for the helicopter tail transmission system (Fig. 3), in
which nodes 6 and 11 represent floating spline coupling, nodes 3, 20, 26, and 30 are
bearing supports, and nodes 16, 21, and 27 are diaphragm couplings.
 Sensitivity of Spline Self-excited Vibration 123

Fig. 2. Timoshenko beam element

Fig. 3. Spline-rotor system

Then the spline stiffness matrix in the fixed coordinate system is:
⎛ ⎞
kl ωcl 0 0
⎜ −ωcl kl 0 0 ⎟
KS =⎜
⎝ 0
⎟ (26)
0 kα ωcα ⎠
0 0 −ωcα kα

where, the cross term in the equation is generated by transforming the damping matrix
in the rotating coordinate system to the fixed coordinate system.
The spline damping matrix in the fixed coordinate system is:
⎛ ⎞
cl 0 0 0
⎜0 cl 0 0⎟
Ds =⎜
⎝0
⎟ (27)
0 cα 0⎠
0 0 0 cα

The rotor system is connected by diaphragm couplings, ignoring the damping of the
diaphragm coupling, and its stiffness matrix is:
⎛ ⎞
kc1 0 0 0
⎜ 0 kc1 0 0 ⎟
Kc =⎜
⎝ 0
⎟ (28)
0 kc2 0 ⎠
0 0 0 kc2

where, k c1 and k c2 are the lateral stiffness coefficient and angular stiffness coefficient of
the diaphragm couplings.
124 Y. Li et al.

The nonlinear characteristics of the four supporting bearings in the rotor system are
neglected. The stiffness matrix and damping matrix are:
⎛ ⎞
kb1 0 0
0
⎜ 0 kb1 0 ⎟
0
Kb =⎜
⎝ 0
⎟ (29)
0 0 ⎠
kb2
0 0 0
kb2
⎛ ⎞
cb1 0 0 0
⎜ 0 cb1 0 0 ⎟
Cb =⎜
⎝ 0
⎟ (30)
0 cb2 0 ⎠
0 0 0 cb2

where, k b1 and k b2 are the lateral stiffness coefficient and angular stiffness coefficient
of the bearings, cb1 and cb2 are the lateral damping coefficient and angular damping
coefficient of the bearings.
In summary, the total equation of motion of the system is:

M Ẍ + (C − ωJ s )Ẋ + KX = Fu (t) (31)

where, M is the total mass matrix of the system, including shafting, splines, diaphragm
coupling, bearing, and disk mass, C is the system damping matrix, including shaft-
ing damping (Rayleigh damping), spline damping, and bearing damping, K is the sys-
tem stiffness matrix, including shafting stiffness, spline stiffness, bearing stiffness, and
diaphragm coupling stiffness, Js is the system gyro matrix, Fu is the unbalanced force
on the system.

2.4 System Parameter

For the above system, the parameters of spline, the dynamic parameter of bearing and
diaphragm coupling are given, as shown in Tables 1, 2 and 3.
 Sensitivity of Spline Self-excited Vibration 125

Table 1. Dynamic parameters of bearings and diaphragm couplings

Lateral stiffness Angular stiffness Lateral damping Angular damping

/(N/m) /(Nm/rad) coefficient coefficient
/(Ns/m) /(Ns/rad)
Bearing 1 2 × 107 1 × 106 750 350
Bearing 2 4 × 106 2 × 105 750 350
Bearing 3 2 × 107 1 × 106 750 350
Bearing 4 2 × 107 1 × 106 750 350
Diaphragm 9.9 × 108 3.98 × 104 -- --
couplings 1
Diaphragm 9.9 × 108 3.98 × 104 -- --
couplings 2
Diaphragm 9.9 × 108 3.98 × 104 -- --
couplings 3

Table 2. Parameters of splines

Number of Module /mm Pressure /° Tooth width Poisson’ ratio Elastic module
teeth /mm /GPa
16 1.25 30 14 0.33 80

Table 3. Parameter of the system

Node 1–5 5–8 9–12 12–16 17–21 22–27 28–30

Outer diameter /m 0.06 0.035 0.021 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03
Inner diameter /m 0 0.022 0.012 0.012 0.015 0.015 0.015
Shaft length /m 0.12 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.75 1 0.13

3 Influence of Each Parameter on the Self-excited Vibration

of the System

According to the parameters, Newmark- β is used to calculate the response of the system.
Figure 4 is the response diagram of the system 0–6000 r/min. It can be found from the
Fig. 4 that the first-order critical speed of the system is about 1800 r/min, and the second-
order critical speed is 3000 r/min. The modal shape of the system is drawn (Fig. 5). The
first order mode is the bending vibration of the long shaft, and the second mode is mainly
the bending vibration of the short shaft.
126 Y. Li et al.

Fig. 4. Spline-rotor system response

Fig. 5. Spline-rotor system vibration mode

3.1 Number of the Spline Teeth

When the boundary conditions such as spline transfer torque and tooth surface friction
coefficient remain unchanged, the variation of spline self-excited vibration with the
number of spline teeth is shown in the Fig. 6.
It is discovered that the self-excited vibration happens when the system’s rotational
speed is higher than 50 Hz, taking into account dynamic friction damping and the spline’s
stiffness. This phenomenon mainly manifests as follows: low-frequency vibration occurs
when the system speed exceeds the rotor’s critical speed. Its amplitude will continue to
increase with the increase of the speed. And its vibration frequency is about the first-order
natural frequency of the short shaft.
When the rotational speed of the system exceeds 3000 r/min, the system begins to
appear in the phenomenon of self-excited vibration. And with the increase of rotational
speed, the amplitude of low-frequency vibration of the system becomes larger. Because
the damping coefficient of the spline is affected by the amplitude of spline vibration,
when the amplitude of the system is large, the input energy of spline internal friction
damping to the system is small. And when the amplitude is reduced, the input energy
of spline internal friction damping to the system is increased. Thus, the self-excited
vibration amplitude of the system decreases at the rotation speed of 4800–5000 r/min
and then continues to increase (Fig. 6 a)).
 Sensitivity of Spline Self-excited Vibration 127

Fig. 6. The self-excited vibration of spline changes with the number of teeth

Furthermore, with the increase in spline teeth, the self-excited vibration amplitude
becomes smaller. The system with 14 teeth has the most significant low-frequency vibra-
tion amplitude when the speed is 4600 r/min, and the system with 21 teeth has the smallest
low-frequency vibration amplitude as the number of teeth increases.
When the number of teeth is 21, the rotational speed of the system with self-excited
vibration is about 3400 r/min, and when there are 14 teeth, the speed of the system
with self-excited vibration is about 3100 r/min. The speed threshold of the system’s
self-excited vibration will rise as the number of spline teeth increases. The system’s
self-excited vibration’s amplitude varies only slightly when the spline is changed from
14 to 21 teeth; instead, the velocity value at which self-excited vibration appears is
primarily affected.

3.2 Spline Module

The variation of spline self-excited vibration with the spline module is shown in the
Fig. 7.
The amplitude of the spline self-excited vibration and the modulus do not have a
proportionate connection. When the module of the spline changes between 0.75 mm–
2 mm, the self-excited vibration amplitude of the system also changes. The self-excited
vibration amplitude of the system at 4600 r/min was extracted for four different modules,
and it was found that the self-excited vibration amplitude of the system is the smallest
when the module is 0.75 mm. The amplitude of the spline self-excited vibration increases
128 Y. Li et al.

Fig. 7. The self-excited vibration of spline changes with the spline module

initially and subsequently diminishes as the spline modulus increases. When the mod-
ulus fluctuates between 1.25 mm and 2 mm, the system’s overall self-excited vibration
amplitude steadily lower. The calculation results show that the self-excited vibration of
the system changes very little in amplitude and speed range when the spline modulus is
changed from 0.75 mm to 2 mm.

3.3 Spline Pressure Angle

The variation of spline self-excited vibration with the spline pressure angle is shown in
the Fig. 8.
With the increase of spline pressure angle, the amplitude of system self-excited vibra-
tion becomes smaller at the rotation speed of 4600 r/min. When the rotational speed is
4600 r/min, the system low-frequency amplitude is the maximum when the pressure
angle is 28°, and the spline low-frequency vibration amplitude is the minimum when
the pressure angle is 45°. When the pressure angle decreases gradually, the maximum
low-frequency amplitude of the system in the 1600–6000 r/min speed range decreases
gradually, but the speed range of self-excited vibration increases gradually and con-
tinuously. The speed range of spline self-excited vibration fluctuates as the pressure
angle changes from 28° to 45°. The speed of self-excited vibration varies little, but the
amplitude of low-frequency vibration varies significantly.
 Sensitivity of Spline Self-excited Vibration 129

Fig. 8. The self-excited vibration of spline changes with the spline pressure angle

3.4 Spline Width

The variation of spline self-excited vibration with the spline width is shown in the Fig. 9.
When the system’s rotational speed surpasses 3000 r/min, the system will appear
the self-excited vibration. With the increase of rotational speed, the amplitude of low-
frequency vibration of the system becomes larger. However, with regard to the amplitude
of 4600 r/min, the system’s low-frequency amplitude is most significant when an 8 mm
tooth width is employed, and it becomes smaller as the tooth width is increased. Further-
more, with the increase of tooth width, the rotational speed of self-excited vibration in
the system increases gradually, and the apparent range decreases gradually. The speed
value of the system’s self-excited vibration gradually rises as tooth width grows, but the
speed range visibly diminishes. When the tooth width varies from 8 mm to 16 mm, the
speed range of the system’s self-excited vibration fluctuates wildly, as does the amplitude
range of the low-frequency.
In this paper, the influences of four spline parameters on the self-excited vibration
of the system are discussed, which are spline tooth number, modulus, pressure angle,
and tooth width. According to the spline contact stiffness model described above, it
can be found that spline tooth number, modulus, pressure angle, and tooth width will
have an impact on the spline stiffness. According to the calculation of the spline contact
stiffness K, it can be determined that spline tooth width significantly impacts the spline
contact stiffness. That was followed by pressure angle, number of teeth, and modulus.
In addition, the internal friction damping coefficient of spline is inversely proportional
130 Y. Li et al.

Fig. 9. The self-excited vibration of spline changes with the spline width

to the radius of spline pitch circle, the pressure angle and the transverse displacement
amplitude difference of tooth surface. During the calculation, one parameter changes,
and the other three are fixed values. But the spline contact stiffness and the internal
friction damping of the spline will change. The spline stiffness and damping change
will change the self-excited vibration of the spline-rotor system. Therefore, the system
response at 4600 r/min is also different.
The variation of the self-excited vibration of splines is caused by the direct influence
of spline structural parameters on spline stiffness and damping coefficient. The self-
excited vibration of splines is also affected by system vibration. Therefore, the spline
structure parameters should be carefully calculated and then determined.
In general, the spline tooth width has the most significant impact on the self-excited
vibration of the spline, followed by the pressure angle. In contrast, the number of teeth
and modulus have little impact on the self-excited vibration of the spline. Therefore,
in terms of the sensitivity of spline self-excited vibration to each parameter, increasing
the tooth width and pressure angle within a tolerable range can restrict the spline’s
self-excited vibration.
However, restricting the system’s self-excited vibration from the spline structure
parameters only changes the spline’s production range or threshold of self-excited vibra-
tion. That does not completely eradicate the self-excited vibration of the spline. The
 Sensitivity of Spline Self-excited Vibration 131

internal friction damping of the spline is the main contributor to the self-excited vibra-
tion of splines. And it is possible to think about utilizing spline materials with lower
friction coefficients in order to avoid the self-excited vibration of the spline-rotor system.

4 Conclusions
In this paper, a constant spline stiffness and time-varying damping model is derived
for the spline-rotor system of the helicopter tail transmission shaft. A multi-degree-of-
freedom model of the helicopter tail transmission shaft system is established by using the
Timoshenko beam theory and lumped-mass method. The coupling dynamics equation
of the system is solved by using the Newmark-β method, and the following conclusions
are obtained:
1) The generation of spline self-excited vibration needs to cross the critical speed, and
the spline self-excited vibration frequency is the first bending frequency of the short
axis.
2) The spline tooth width has a significant influence on the self-excited vibration ampli-
tude and speed range of the system, and the spline self-excited vibration is more
sensitive to the tooth width. The spline modulus and tooth number have relatively
little effect on the amplitude of self-excited vibration of the system, and the spline
self-excited vibration is less sensitive to modulus and number of teeth. Spline pressure
angle tremendously influences the speed range of self-excited vibration.
3) To reduce the amplitude of spline self-excited vibration, it is necessary to consider
all structural parameters comprehensively.

Acknowledgement. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12172073) and National Science and Technology major
projects (779608000000200007).

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 Parametric Optimization of BNES in Torsional
Vibration Suppression of Rotor Systems

Jinxin Dou1(B) , Rui Xue2 , Hongliang Yao1 , Hui Li1 , and Jianlei Li1
1 School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Northeastern University,
Shenyang 110819, China
[email protected]
2 China North Vehicle Research Institute, Beijing 100072, China

Abstract. This investigation presents an optimal design of a bi-stable nonlin-

ear energy sink (BNES), which is used to suppress the torsional vibration of the
rotor system. The specific structure and working principles of the BNES are intro-
duced, and the dynamic equations of the rotor system equipped with the BNES
are established. In steady-state responses, a single objective optimization strategy
is established to minimize the angular displacement amplitude of the vibration
response; In transient responses, the objective function is selected to maximize
the energy dissipation rate of the BNES. The parameters are optimized by the
genetic algorithm (GA). The results show that the BNES with optimal parame-
ters has better vibration suppression performance on the transient responses and
steady-state responses of the rotor system.

Keywords: Rotor system · Torsional vibration suppression · Nonlinear energy

sink · Bistability · Optimization

1 Introduction
Currently, numerous methods for suppressing vibration have been proposed by scholars,
including dynamic balancing [1], support stiffness adjustment [2], and active control
[3]. In addition, passive control techniques have gained widespread use in vibration
mitigation due to their simple design and lack of need for sophisticated algorithms [4].
While attaching a linear dynamic absorber to the main structure is a frequently used
passive control method, it only provides good vibration suppression effects near the
anti-resonance point [5, 6]. As a result, vibration control techniques such as damping
optimization [7], semi-active control [8], and nonlinearization of linear absorbers [9] are
gradually gaining prominence.
Nonlinear energy sinks (NESs) are a passive control method that primarily consists of
nonlinear stiffness, damping elements, and NES mass [10]. Nonlinear stiffness provides
a nonlinear restoring force [11], while NES enhances vibration suppression efficiency
by transferring vibrational energy unidirectionally from the main system to the NES
mass through the target energy transfer (TET) mechanism [12].

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 133–146, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_9
134 J. Dou et al.

Research studies have demonstrated that multi-stable NESs have a superior advan-
tage over mono-stable ones due to their ability to consume more energy through jumps
between multiple stable states. Therefore, researchers have proposed various multi-
stable NESs, including the bi-stable NES introduced in reference [13], which has been
effectively utilized to suppress bending vibration in rotor systems. In reference [14], a
comparison was made between the vibration suppression performance of tri-stable and
bi-stable absorbers. In reference [15], the dynamic response of a bi-stable absorber was
studied from a nonlinear characteristics perspective.
The aforementioned research has shown the effectiveness of using multi-stable NESs
to suppress vibration. However, there has been limited investigation into the application
of multi-stable NESs for torsional vibration suppression, with only one experimental
study currently available [16]. Therefore, to broaden the scope of multi-stable NESs
in torsional vibration suppression, this paper proposes a bi-stable NES for use in rotor
systems. The structural principles, vibration characteristics, and vibration suppression
effects of the proposed NES are examined through theoretical and experimental research.

2 BNES Structure and System Dynamic Equations

2.1 BNES Structure
As shown in Fig. 1(a), the outer magnetic holder is fixed on the shaft, while the inner
magnetic holder contains a built-in bearing, which is equivalent to the NES mass. The
nonlinear stiffness is achieved through the positive and negative stiffness magnetic pair
units (four in total).
The specific structure of the positive and negative stiffness magnetic pair units is
shown in Fig. 1(b). The magnetic force in the x-direction of magnetic pair N1 is used
to provide negative stiffness, while the magnetic force in the x-direction of magnetic
pairs P1 and P2 is used to provide positive stiffness. The permanent magnets in the
structure have the same size and material, and their magnetization directions are along
their axial directions. The magnets in each magnetic pair are configured in a mutually
exclusive manner. Assuming that the NES mass only has displacement in the x-direction
during torsional vibration. When the NES mass is at the initial position, it is in a critical

(a) Outer magnet (b) Magnet pair The initial Magnet pair
holder P1 position P2
z

Inner magnet
holder
rm
y
Magnet pair
N1 θm
Magnet x
Fig. 1. Structure of BNES
 Parametric Optimization of BNES in Torsional Vibration Suppression 135

equilibrium state. If the system generates torsional vibration that deviates from the
static equilibrium position, the positive and negative stiffness magnetic pairs will jointly
produce the required nonlinear restoring torque. r m is the rotation radius of the magnets.

2.2 Magnet Restoring Force

The magnetic calculation model of the permanent magnet is shown in Fig. 2. The inner
and outer surfaces of the left magnet are defined as face 1 and face 2, and the inner and
outer surfaces of the right magnet are defined as face 3 and face 4, respectively. The
radius and thickness of the magnet are Rm and cm , and the distance between the two
magnets is hm . The displacement difference between the two magnets in the x-direction
is em .

1 2
p2 (r2, α) 3 4
r23
Rm z'
o em
x' p3 (r3, β)

y' cm
hm

Fig. 2. Magnetic calculation model

Based on the theory of static magnetism [17], the surface density of a magnet can
be expressed as

σ = μ0 · M = Br , (1)

where μ0 is the magnetic permeability of vacuum; M is the magnetization intensity; Br

is the residual magnetic flux density of the magnet.
Faces 2 and 3 have been chosen as the reference for calculating the force exerted
between the permanent magnets. The magnetic charge density at any point p2 on face 2
is

q2 = Br r2 dr2 dα, (2)

where r 2 and α are the polar coordinates of any point on face 2.

The magnetic field strength generated at any point p3 on face 3 by the magnetic
charge at point p2 is
1 q2 Br r2 dr2 dα 1
H= r23 = r23 . (3)
4πμ0 |r23 |3 4πμ0 |r23 |3

The magnetic charge at any point p3 on face 3 is

q3 = Br r3 dr3 dβ, (4)

136 J. Dou et al.

where r 3 and β are the polar coordinates of any point on face 3.

According to the theory of equivalent magnetic charges, the magnetic field force
experienced by point p3 can be expressed as

Br2 r2 r3 dr2 dr3 dαdβ

dF23 = Hq3 = r23 . (5)
4πμ0 |r23 |3
In Cartesian coordinate system, the coordinates of point p2 are (r 2 cosα, r 2 sinα, z2 ),
and the coordinates of point p3 are (r 3 cosβ + em , r 3 sinβ, z3 ), then

r23 = (r3 cos β − r2 cos α + em )i + (r3 sin β − r2 sin α)j + hm k, (6)

where i, j, and k are unit vectors in the x-, y-, and z-direction respectively.
On face 3, the magnetic force in the x-direction at point p3 is

r3 cos β − r2 cos α + em
x
dF23 =  3/2 r2 r3 dr2 dr3 dαdβ. (7)
(r3 cos β − r2 cos α + em )2 + (r3 sin β − r2 sin α)2 + (hm )2

Similarly, on face 3, the magnetic force in the z-direction at point p3 is

z −hm
dF23 =  3/2 r2 r3 dr2 dr3 dαdβ. (8)
(r3 cos β − r2 cos α + em ) + (r3 sin β − r2 sin α)2 + (hm )2
2

By integrating Eq. (7) and Eq. (9), the force between the two faces along the x- and
z-direction is
 2π  2π  Rm  Rm
x = Br2 r3 cos β − r2 cos α + em
F23  3/2 r2 r3 dr2 dr3 dα dβ,
4πμ0 0 0 0 0 (r3 cos β − r2 cos α + em )2 + (r3 sin β − r2 sin α)2 + (hm )2
(9)
2  2π  2π  Rm  Rm −hm
z = Br
F23  3/2 r2 r3 dr2 dr3 dα dβ.
4πμ0 0 0 0 0 (r3 cos β − r2 cos α + em )2 + (r3 sin β − r2 sin α)2 + (hm )2
(10)

The force in the x-direction between other faces is

 2π  2π  Rm  Rm
Br2 Aij ri rj dri drj dαdβ
Fijx =  3/2 . (11)
4πμ0 0 0 0 0 A2ij + Bij2 + Cij2

Similarly, the force along the z-direction between other faces is

 2π  2π  Rm 
Br2 Rm −Cij ri rj dri drj dαdβ
Fijz =  3/2 . (12)
4πμ0 0 0 0 0 A2ij + Bij2 + Cij2

The expressions of Aij , Bij and C ij (i = 1,2; j = 3,4) can be written as

⎧
⎨ A13 = r3 cos β − r1 cos α + em ,
B = (r3 sin β − r1 sin α)2 , (13)
⎩ 13
C13 = cm + hm ;
 Parametric Optimization of BNES in Torsional Vibration Suppression 137

⎧
⎨ A24 = r4 cos β − r2 cos α + em ,
B = (r4 sin β − r2 sin α)2 , (14)
⎩ 24
C24 = cm +hm ;
⎧
⎨ A14 = r4 cos β − r1 cos α + em ,
B = (r4 sin β − r1 sin α)2 , (15)
⎩ 14
C14 = 2cm +hm .
The force between two permanent magnets is the combined force of four magnetic
charge surfaces, which can be expressed as
x(z) x(z) x(z) x(z)
x(z)
Fsum = F23 + F14 − F13 − F24 . (16)

Then, the torque produced by each magnetic pair can be expressed as

Tm = Fsum
x(z)
rm . (17)

It is assumed that the radius and thickness of the negative stiffness magnet pair are
Rmn and cmn respectively, and the distance between the two magnets is hmn . The radius
and thickness of the positive stiffness magnet pair are Rmp and cmp respectively, and the
distance between the two magnets is hmp . The magnet material used is Neodymium Iron
Boron, and the specific parameters are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. BNES parameters

Parameter Value Parameter Value

Rmn /mm 5 hmp / mm 2.3
cmn / mm 4 r m /mm 70
Rmp /mm 2.5 μ0 /(T·m−1 ·A) 4π × 10–7
cmp / mm 5 Br / T 1.34
hmn / mm 3

Based on the parameters above, the relationship curve between magnetic torque T p
and displacement of the positive stiffness magnetic pair P1 and P2 is shown in Fig. 3(a),
and the relationship curve between magnetic torque T n and displacement of the negative
stiffness magnetic pair N1 is shown in Fig. 3(b). Adding the magnetic torques acting on
the NES mass, the relationship curve between the magnetic torque and displacement of
the positive and negative stiffness magnetic pair structure can be obtained, as shown in
Fig. 3(c).
Fitting the precise values in Fig. 3(c), an approximate expression for the nonlinear
torque T N can be written as
 
TN (θ ) = 4 × 2.89 × 108 rm θ − 396.94rm
4 3 2
θ . (18)
138 J. Dou et al.

0.8 0.4 0.6

(a) (b) (c) Accurate value
Fitting value
0.4 0.2 0.3
Tp (N·m)

TN (N·m)
Tn (N·m)
0.0 0.0 0.0
A B C

-0.4 -0.2 -0.3

-0.8 -0.4 -0.6

-3 0 3 -3 0 3 -3 0 3
θ (deg) θ (deg) θ (deg)

Fig. 3. Nonlinear force of the BNES

2.3 Dynamic Model of the Rotor-BNES System

The application of BNES to torsional vibration suppression in a single-disc rotor system
is shown in the simplified model of the coupled system in Fig. 4. The material for the
shaft and the disc is steel, with a density of 7850 kg/m3 .

Tr
K1 TN

C1 C2
J1 J2 J3

Fig. 4. Rotor-BNES system dynamics model

where J 1 is the equivalent moment of inertia of the motor rotor; J 2 is the equivalent
moment of inertia of the disk; J 3 is the equivalent moment of inertia of BNES; K 1
represents√the torsion stiffness of the shaft section between the motor and the disk;
C1 = 2ξ1 Jr K1 is the damping of the rotor system, where J r is the equivalent moment
of inertia of the rotor system, ξ 1 is the damping ratio of the rotor system; C 2 is the
damping of BNES; T r = T ra cos(ωt) is the external excitation torque, where ω is the
rotational speed and T ra is the excitation amplitude; T N is the nonlinear restoring torque
of BNES, and its expression is

TN = kn1 (θ2 − θ3 ) + kn2 (θ2 − θ3 )3 , (19)

where k n1 and k n2 are obtained from Eq. (18) through curve fitting.
According to the torsional vibration dynamic model shown in Fig. 4, the motion
equation of the coupled system is

J1 θ1 + C1 θ1 − θ2 + K1 (θ1 − θ2 ) = 0

J2 θ2 − C1 θ1 − θ2 − K1 (θ1 − θ2 ) + C2 θ2 − θ3 + TN = Tr . (20)
J3 θ3 − C2 θ2 − θ3 − TN = 0
 Parametric Optimization of BNES in Torsional Vibration Suppression 139

By substituting ϕ i = θ i − θ i+1 (i = 1, 2) into Eq. (20), the rotation of the rigid body
is eliminated, and Eq. (20) can be rewritten as
       
J1 +J2 J1 +J2
1 0  C1 − 1
C2  K1 − 1
K2
1
T r + 1
TN
ϕ + J1 J12 J2 ϕ + J1 J12 J2 ϕ = J1 J2 +J3J2 .
01 − J2 C1 JJ22+J 3
J3 C2 − J2 K1 JJ22+J n
Jn K2 − J2 J3 TN
(21)

3 Parameter Optimization and Result Analysis

3.1 Parameter Setting
In the numerical simulation, BNES parameters are shown in Table 1, and some BNES
parameters and rotor system parameters are shown in Table 2. The Runge-Kutta method
is used to solve the vibration response of the coupled system.

Table 2. Simulation parameters

Parameter Value Parameter Value

J 1 /(kg·m2 ) 0.003 K 1 /(N·m/rad) 20.5
J 3 /(kg·m2 ) 0.0015 C 2 /(N·m·s/rad) 0.01
d j2 /mm 120 ξ1 0.02
l j2 /mm 40

3.2 Parameter Optimization Under Transient Response

The energy absorption efficiency of BNES under transient excitation can be quantita-
tively analyzed by the ratio between the dissipated energy of BNES and the input energy.
Then the energy dissipation rate of BNES can be written as [18]
t  2
C2 θ̇3 (t) − θ̇2 (t) d τ
ηd (t) = 0
× 100%. (22)
2 J2 θ̇2 (t0 )
1 2

The sum of instantaneous kinetic energy and potential energy En can be expressed
as [4]
1 1
En = J3 θ̇3 (t0 )2 + kn2 [θ3 (t) − θ2 (t)]4 . (23)
2 4
Then, the energy percentage, which represents the proportion of the energy of the
NES and the mechanical energy of the rotor system, can be expressed as
En
ηm = × 100%. (24)
En + 21 J2 θ̇2 (t0 )2 + 21 k1 [θ2 (t) − θ1 (t)]2
140 J. Dou et al.

The modifications in magnetic parameters are ultimately reflected in the changes of

stiffness coefficient. Therefore, J3 , kn1 , kn3 , and c2 are directly selected for parameter
optimization. To enhance the energy dissipation performance of BNES, the parameter
optimization problem for BNES under transient response is solved by maximizing ηd
as the objective. As a result, the objective function, optimization variables, and their
corresponding constraint ranges can be expressed as

max ηd
J3 ,kn1 ,kn3 ,c2
⎧
⎪
⎪ 0.0005 kg · m2 ≤ J3 ≤ 0.0015 kg · m2
⎨ . (25)
−7.6 N · m/rad ≤ kn1 ≤ −7.8 N · m/rad
s.t.
⎪
⎪ 24000 N · m/rad3 ≤ kn3 ≤ 30000 N · m/rad3
⎩
0.005 N · m · s/rad ≤ c2 ≤ 0.015 N · m · s/rad

The parameters of the BNES are optimized using a genetic algorithm, with a popu-
lation size of 30 individuals and a maximum number of 30 iterations. The possibility of
crossover is 0.8, while the probability of mutation is 0.01.

3.3 Vibration Reduction Analysis Under Transient Response

The magnitude of the impulse is set as θ̇2 = 3 rad/s. By optimizing within the parameter
space, convergence is achieved, and the optimal design parameters are J3 = 0.001 kg·m2 ,
kn1 = 7.7 N·m/rad, kn3 = 26000 N·m/rad3 , c2 = 0.015 N·m·s/rad.
Figure 5(a) shows the transient response curves of the rotor system without BNES.
The black dashed line represents 5% of the initial amplitude. It is seen that the vibration
amplitude of the rotor system decays faster with the addition of BNES. This can be
explained by analyzing Fig. 5(c), which shows that BNES undergoes inter-well motion
in the time interval of 0–0.28 s, rapidly consuming the initial energy between its two
equilibrium points. Finally, BNES stabilizes at equilibrium point C.
Figure 6 shows the dynamic characteristics of the proposed BNES. According to
Fig. 6(a), it is found that the largest energy dissipation rate ηd reaches 33.66%. Based on
Fig. 6(b), it is seen that E n reaches the maximum value of 7.14 × 10−3 J in an instant of
times in the snap-through motion region, indicating that the energy is transferred from
the rotor system to the BNES. Inspecting Fig. 6(c), it is observed that the energy of the
BNES occupies a large proportion in the snap-through motion region.
The wavelet spectrum of the rotor system after adding BNES is shown in Fig. 7. It
is seen that the 1:1 resonance occurred between the rotor system and BNES.
 Parametric Optimization of BNES in Torsional Vibration Suppression 141

(a) 2
Amplitude (deg) (b) 2 (c) 2

Amplitude (deg)

Amplitude (deg)
1 1 1
C
0 0 0

A
-1 -1 -1

-2 -2 -2
0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2
Time (s) Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 5. Transient response curves of the rotor-BNES system under θ̇2 (t0 ) = 3 rad/s: (a) the rotor
system without BNES, (b) the rotor system with BNES, and (c) the BNES displacement.

(a) 40 (b) 8 (c) 100

(1.5, 33.66) 6 80
En (J)×10-3
ηd (%)

60

ηm (%)
20 4
40
2
20

0 0 0
0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2
Time (s) Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 6. Dynamic characteristics of the BNES under θ̇2 (t0 ) = 3 rad/s: (a) the energy dissipation
rate, (b) the energy of BNES, and (c) the energy percentage of BNES.

Fig. 7. Wavelet spectra of the rotor-BNES system under θ̇2 (t0 ) = 3 rad/s: (a) the rotor system
without BNES, (b) the rotor system with BNES, and (c) the BNES displacement.

3.4 Parameter Optimization Under Steady-State Responses

The vibration suppression rate is a metric used to evaluate the vibration suppression
performance of BNES under steady-state response. It can be defined as
AL-NES −AA-NES
p= , (26)
AL-NES
where AL-NES and AA-NES represent the resonance peak of the rotor system with BNES
and active BNES respectively.
The aim of parameter optimization is to minimize AA-NES . Therefore, a single-
objective optimization strategy subject to Eq. (21) is proposed, which entails an objective
142 J. Dou et al.

function and constraints that can be expressed as

min AA - NES
J3 ,kn1 ,kn3 ,c2
⎧
⎪
⎪ 0.0005 kg · m2 ≤ J3 ≤ 0.0015 kg · m2
⎨ . (27)
−7.6 N · m/rad ≤ kn1 ≤ −7.8 N · m/rad
s.t.
⎪
⎪ 24000 N · m/rad3 ≤ kn3 ≤ 30000 N · m/rad3
⎩
0.005 N · m · s/rad ≤ c2 ≤ 0.015 N · m · s/rad

The parameter setting of GA is consistent with Sect. 3.2.

3.5 Vibration Reduction Analysis Under Steady-State Response

In this section, T ra = 0.2 N·m is set. The optimal parameters corresponding to the
convergence results are J3 = 0.0015 kg·m2 , kn1 = 7.71 N·m/rad, kn3 = 27850 N·m/rad3 ,
c2 = 0.01 N·m·s/rad.
The amplitude-frequency response curve of the rotor system is shown in Fig. 8(a).
The amplitude of the rotor system without BNES at 16 Hz is 4.36 deg. After adding
BNES, the rotor system exhibits a strongly modulated response (SMR) phenomenon
in the frequency range of 14–22 Hz, indicating that BNES effectively suppresses the
vibration of the rotor system near the resonance frequency. The maximum amplitude
of the rotor system is 2.05 deg, which is a 52.98% reduction compared to the system
without BNES.
Figure 9 shows the time-domain responses of the rotor system at 16.5 Hz. As depicted
in Fig. 9(a), the rotor system without BNES performs periodic motion. As described in
Fig. 9(b), the rotor system exhibits nonlinear beating vibration. Figure 9(c) shows that
BNES performs chaotic motion and oscillates between its two equilibrium points.
According to Fig. 10(b), the Poincaré diagram shows a distributed point set lacking
annular features, while the phase diagram exhibits irregular reciprocating motion, indi-
cating that the rotor system is in a chaotic state. Figure 10(c) illustrates the sweeping
motion of BNES between its two equilibrium points and its chaotic behavior, providing
additional confirmation to the findings in Fig. 8.

(a) 6 (b) 4
with locked BNES
with active BNES
Amplitude (deg)

Amplitude (deg)

3
4
2
2
1

0 0
10 15 20 25 10 15 20 25
Frequence (Hz) Frequence (Hz)

Fig. 8. Frequency response curves of the coupled system under T ra = 0.2 N·m: (a) the rotor
system without and with BNES, and (b) the BNES.
 Parametric Optimization of BNES in Torsional Vibration Suppression 143

(a) 3 (b) 3 (c) 3

Amplitude (deg)
Amplitude (deg)

Amplitude (deg)
0 0 0

-3 -3 -3
2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (s) Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 9. Time response curves of the coupled system under T ra = 0.2 N·m: (a) the rotor system
without BNES, (b) the rotor system with BNES, and (c) the BNES.

(a) 3 ×10
2
(b) 3 ×10
2
×102
(c) 3
2 2 2
dx1/dt (rad/s)

dx1/dt (rad/s)

dx2/dt (rad/s)
1 1 1
0 0 0
-1 -1 -1
-2 -2 -2
-3 -3 -3
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
x1 (mm) x1 (mm) x2 (mm)

Fig. 10. Phase portraits and Poincaré maps of the coupled system under T ra = 0.2 N·m: (a) the
rotor system without BNES, (b) the rotor system with BNES, and (c) the BNES.

4 Experimental Research
4.1 Experimental Set-Up for BNES Effectiveness
To verify the capability of BNES to suppress torsional vibrations, a rotor system test rig
(shown in Fig. 11) is established. BNES is installed near the disk, and zebra tape is applied
to the outer surface of both the disk and the PLA light disk. The rotating pulse is measured
using a laser sensor, and the data is collected and analyzed using LMS.Testlab. The laser
sensor is mounted on an adjustable support base, while corresponding zebra belts are
installed on each end of the rotating shaft. By measuring the relative displacement of
the two belts, the amount of torsional vibration in the disk can be determined.

Disk Motor

Zebra tape Coupling

Remote optical
NES laser sensor

Fig. 11. Test device

144 J. Dou et al.

4.2 Experimental Results

(1) Sweep frequency
The motor speed increased steadily from 60 r/min to 1500 r/min, and the col-
ormap of the rotor system is obtained, as shown in Fig. 12. As illustrated in Fig. 12(a),
the rotor system without BNES exhibits multi-order torsional vibration excitation.
However, the addition of BNES, as depicted in Fig. 12(b), resulted in a significant
weakening of the intensity of harmonic components. Moreover, both figures indi-
cate that the first-order resonance frequency of the rotor system is approximately
16.6 Hz, consistent with the simulation results.

Fig. 12. Colormaps of the rotor system: (a)with lock BNES, and (b)with active BNES.

Figure 13 displays the angular displacement fluctuation curves of the rotor system.
The red dotted line depicts the vibration response of the rotor system without BNES,
revealing a large torsional fluctuation amplitude. However, upon the addition of BNES,
the response amplitude significantly decreases, as demonstrated by the blue solid line.
The root mean square of the angular displacement fluctuation curve decreases from
1.73 deg to 0.41 deg, and the vibration suppression rate is 76.30%, indicating BNES
possesses excellent vibration suppression capability.

(a) 4 Without BNES

(b) 4 Without BNES
With BNES With BNES
Amplitude (deg)
Amplitude (deg)

0 0

-4 -4
5 80 155 90 90.25 90.5
Time (s) Time (s)
Fig. 13. Time response curves of the rotor system: (a) comparison result with and without NES,
and (b) partially enlarged view.
 Parametric Optimization of BNES in Torsional Vibration Suppression 145

5 Conclusions

(1) By formulating the optimization strategies of the BNES under transient excitation,
the optimal parameters of the BNES are obtained.
(2) The dynamic response of the rotor system under different transient excitation shows
that BNES can quickly dissipate the energy of the main structure.
(3) The vibration suppression rate of BNES for steady-state response can reach 52.98%
in simulations and 76.30% in experiments.

Acknowledgments. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (Grant No. 52075084), the Foundation of Equipment Pre-research Area
(Grant No. 50910050302), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(Grant No. N2303005) for the financial support for this study.

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 Aviation Spline Wear Test Bench and Fretting
Wear Measurement

Xiangyang Zhao1 , Guang Zhao1 , Yunbo Yuan2(B) , Fanrong Kuang1 , Mei Guo3 ,
and Haofan Li4
1 School of Energy and Power Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024,
China
2 School of Control Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024,
China
[email protected]
3 AVIC Shenyang Engine Design Institute, Shenyang 110066, China
4 AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute, Shenyang 110035, China

Abstract. Splines are widely used in aircraft power plants for their high load
carrying capacity. Fretting wear and fatigue occur sometimes and have been a
prominent problem for aviation splines. Currently, the wear mechanism of avia-
tion splines is still not clear, which endangers and shortens their service life seri-
ously. This paper establishes an aviation spline wear test bench, which is mainly
composed of spline rotor system, lubrication system, control and test systems.
The test bench can rotate continuously for several hours without any interruption
and can realize accurate angular misalignment through adjusting the horizontal
position of support bearings. Based on the proposed test bench, some fretting wear
experiments are conducted using involute aviation splines under both aligned and
misaligned conditions. Spline weight loss, wear debris weight and tooth wear
depth are selected to quantify fretting wear behavior. Experimental results show
that angular misaligned splines have obvious fretting wear, whereas the aligned
ones almost have no wear.

Keywords: Aviation splines · Fretting wear · Angular misalignment · Test

bench · Experiment

1 Introduction
Splines are widely used in power plants as an important part of mechanical power trans-
mission systems because of its high bearing capacity [1]. The spline bears complex
load and environmental conditions, and various factors lead to extensive and long-term
failure. In many forms of spline failure, the wear caused by misalignment is particu-
larly prominent [2]. Wear seriously affects the safety and reliability of aviation splines.
Exploring the mechanism of spline wear and developing anti-wear design technology
have become the focus of many researchers.
The spline bears both periodic and impact loads, which produce alternating contact
stress on the working tooth surface of the spline and will lead to slight vibration between

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 147–155, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_10
148 X. Zhao et al.

the contact tooth surfaces. Because the internal and external excitations that promote this
vibration cannot be eliminated, the micro-amplitude vibration is inevitable, resulting in
fretting wear of the spline. Fretting wear cannot be ignored in the dynamic model of the
aviation transmission system. To ensure the accuracy of calculation and the reliability
of the transmission system, the prediction of spline wear is important [3–5].
Many researchers have researched spline wear through experiments and finite ele-
ment analysis. Ku et al. [6] conducted a spline wear test and believed that it is difficult
to achieve a perfect centering state in practice. Their results indicate that misalignment
has an important impact on the reliability and life of splines. In practical applications,
tooth fatigue and fracture can be avoided by reducing the number of teeth. Cuffaro et al.
[7] studied the behavior of early wear and fatigue failure caused by abnormal contact
and vibration caused by geometric errors. Zhao G et al. [8] established an aviation spline
vibration wear test bench and predicted the amount of spline wear. Cuffaro et al. [9,
10] developed a spline wear test bench, tested the influence of misalignment, surface
roughness and lubrication on spline wear, and studied the experimental method of sur-
face pressure measurement and monitoring of spline teeth. Xue et al. [11] studied the
tooth surface wear of floating involute spline couplings and proposed a wear predic-
tion model suitable for floating involute spline couplings. Zhao et al. [12] established a
numerical model of spline wear with multiple errors using an improved Archard wear
model. However, the above work rarely realizes the mechanism research on the coupling
characteristics of spline misalignment, vibration and wear failure behavior, and most of
them only focus on one. Previous studies lack effective experimental evidence to fully
reveal this failure mechanism. Obtaining first-hand data through experiments to clarify
the failure mechanism is of great significance for the management and maintenance of
aviation splines.
To this end, this paper develops an aviation spline wear performance test bench. The
study of spline misalignment, vibration and wear coupling characteristics, and a speed
and torque working condition loading function can be realized. In a long-term wear
process, the vibration, torque and temperature monitoring and alarm are realized. At the
same time, an accurate measurement method of fretting wear was developed, and the
influence of angular misalignment spline on wear was discussed.

2 Spline Wear Test Bench

According to the force form and friction and wear characteristics of an aviation involute
spline pair in the actual working process, the quantitative experimental study of spline
wear is carried out, and the aviation spline wears performance test bench is developed, as
shown in Fig. 1. The test bench is mainly composed of a spline rotor system, lubrication
system, control system and test system. The two-dimensional sketch model of the test
bench is shown in Fig. 1a, and it has been assembled and debugged in the laboratory,
as shown in Fig. 1b. The test platform adopts two 75 kW variable frequency motors,
which are driven and loaded by two inverters. The maximum speed of the motor is
4500 rpm. The load generator current is fed back to the drive motor through the common
DC bus to achieve energy savings. According to the spline torque and power of the
central transmission rod, the rated torque of the test platform is selected at 213 Nm,
 Aviation Spline Wear Test Bench and Fretting Wear Measurement 149

and the rated speed is 3200 rpm. The torque sensor is connected to the control screen
through a data line to facilitate the reading of the load and speed values. The maximum
allowable inclination misalignment of the centering adjustment device is 0.5°. In order to
facilitate the disassembly of the spline from the test bench, the inner and outer splines are
rigidly connected to their respective flange shafts through a ring of bolts. The geometric
parameters of the spline are shown in Table 1. The spline material and hardness are
16Cr3NiWMoVNbE @ HRC36–44, the spline tooth surface roughness is 1.6, and the
spline tooth surface has no coating and hardening.

Fig. 1. Spline wear test bench: (a) two-dimensional sketch model, (b) test bench object.

Table 1. Parameters of spline.

Types Internal spline External spline

Number of teeth 19 19
Module (mm) 1.5 1.5
Pressure angle (z) 30 30
Tooth width(mm) 32 32
Major diameter (mm) 30.75 30
Minor diameter (mm) 27.18 26.25
Pitch diameter (mm) 28.5 28.5
150 X. Zhao et al.

Figure 2. Shows the test system of the test bench, which is developed to monitor
the vibration signal of the test bench. The arrangement of acceleration sensor, displace-
ment sensor, temperature sensor and torque sensor is shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. The
acceleration sensor is used to monitor the vibration signal of the spline. The sensitivity
of the acceleration sensor at room temperature is about 100 mV/g. The displacement
sensor is used to monitor the vibration displacement of the inner and outer splines in
X and Y directions. The sensitivity of the displacement sensor at room temperature is
about 8mV/mm; the temperature sensor is located near the inner bearing of the motor
and is used to monitor the temperature of the motor bearing. The signals of the above
sensors are collected and recorded in real-time by an 8-channel acquisition instrument.
The data is processed and analyzed on the data analysis software by connecting the data
transmission line to the PC. The collected signals are transmitted to the controller at the
same time to realize the feedback control of torque and temperature and the alarm of
torque, temperature and vibration.

Fig. 2. Configuration of test system for the test bench

3 Functional Analysis of the Test Bench

3.1 Implementation of Angular Misalignment

Before setting the spline angular misalignment in the horizontal direction, the whole
tester is fully aligned, including the radial and axial directions. The misalignment of
each connection structure ( coupling, spline, bearing seat) should be guaranteed within
0.05 mm, each structure should be fixed, and the angular misalignment adjustment should
be carried out after the complete alignment adjustment is completed. The adjustable
bearing seat is fixed on the cast iron platform through the bottom plate, the guide rail
and the guide key. The vertical plate is fixed on the bottom plate by bolts, the bolts
are adjusted by the horizontal displacement, and the guide rail and the guide key are
adjusted horizontally. The radial displacement of the horizontal bearing seat is changed
by adjusting the horizontal displacement of the bolt to realize the angular misalignment
control of the spline. After the misalignment angle is reached, the fixed bolt is fixed, and
after adjustment, the accurate angular misalignment is measured by the laser alignment
instrument. The test bench alignment spline adjustment method is shown in Fig. 3.
 Aviation Spline Wear Test Bench and Fretting Wear Measurement 151

Fig. 3. Test bench alignment spline adjustment method

3.2 Spline Torque Application and Feedback Measurement

The drive frequency converter and the passive frequency converter are used to control the
speed of their respective motors to achieve loading. During the long-term experiment, the
shaft speed may fluctuate slightly, but it is generally stable at the set value. At present, the
speed control method is adopted, and the torque is applied through the speed difference
between the two. The controller is implemented by a touch screen combined with a
controller. The torque of the actual spline is tested and calibrated by the passive motor
side torque speed sensor. Through the actual measurement, the average torque displayed
by the controller is the actual torque of the spline.
The advantages of the spline wear test bench are:
(1) Research on the coupling characteristics of spline misalignment, vibration and wear:
Because misalignment will affect the vibration of the rotor, the misalignment and
vibration adjustment of the vibration and wear performance tester of the aviation
spline-rotor system is realized by the angular misalignment adjustment device and
the unbalanced mass applied to the stepped flange shaft bolt. The contact stress and
fretting wear between the external spline test piece and the internal spline test piece
are affected by the two, so as to realize the research on the coupling characteristics
of spline misalignment, vibration and wear.
(2) Loading function of speed and torque conditions: Through the drive and loading
system, the adjustment of the large cycle of the spline condition in the actual engine
is realized.
152 X. Zhao et al.

4 Wear Measurement
Spline weight loss, wear debris weight and tooth wear depth are selected to quantify
fretting wear behavior. The spline weight loss is the sum of internal spline weight loss
and external spline weight loss. The wear debris weight is the common wear debris
of the inner and outer splines. The tooth wear depth includes the tooth thickness at
the internal spline pitch circle and the tooth thickness at the external spline pitch circle.
Measurement method of spline weight loss: The spline needs to be cleaned, weighed, and
data recorded before and after the experiment, and the weighing operation is repeated
three times and averaged; the precision of the high-precision weighing instrument is
0.01 g. Measurement method of wear debris weight: At the end of the experiment, the
wear debris left on the spline tooth surface was collected, weighed and data recorded, and
the weighing operation was repeated three times, and the average value was taken. Before
and after the experiment, the spline was scanned by a blue light scanning instrument,
and then the tooth thickness at the pitch circle before and after the spline experiment
was obtained by post-processing software. The wear amount was estimated according
to the reduction of the tooth thickness at the pitch circle. The precision of the blue light
scanning instrument is 0.01 mm. The tooth wear depth measurement process is shown
in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Flow chart of spline tooth thickness measurement

The process is described in detail in Fig. 4: 1,Before the spline is scanned by blue
light, the impurities on the surface of the spline are cleaned up. 2,The titanium powder
solution is sprayed on the surface of the spline by using an air pump pen to form a
uniform thin layer of titanium powder. 3, More than three reference points are calibrated
on the spline end surface, which is used as a reference system for shape modeling to
 Aviation Spline Wear Test Bench and Fretting Wear Measurement 153

facilitate scanning. 4, Open the blue light scanning instrument, adjust the height and
angle of the blue light scanning instrument, and ensure that all reference points are in
the blue light irradiation area. Open the software set the relevant parameters and start
scanning. 5, Using post-processing software, the tooth thickness at the spline pitch circle
is measured. Clean the spline surface, oil the spline surface, seal and save.

5 Test Result Analysis

Based on the test bench, the experimental temperature was 110 °C, the experimental
speed was 3000 rpm, the experimental torque was 200 Nm, and the spline fretting
wear tests with angular misalignment of 0.00° and 0.15° were carried out under dry
friction. The total running time of each angular misalignment condition is 50h, and the
spline weight loss measurement, wear debris weight collection and measurement are
performed every 10h. After the operation, the statistical measurement of the tooth wear
depth is performed. Two replicate experiments were conducted for each of the above
misalignment conditions. The comparison of spline wear morphology after the operation
of each working condition is shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that when completely aligned,
the internal and external splines have almost no wear, and the tooth surface is intact;
when the angular misalignment is 0.15°, a layer of wear marks appears on the tooth
surface of the internal and external splines.

Fig. 5. Comparison of the morphology of the spline after wear at each misalignment angle

The above-mentioned measured spline weight loss, wear debris weight, and tooth
wear depth are the results of the average of two repeated experiments, as shown in Table 2.
154 X. Zhao et al.

It can be seen that the wear quality can be neglected when the spline angular misalignment
is 0.00°. With the increase of spline angular misalignment, the wear quality of the spline
increases. When the angular misalignment is 0.15°, the average grinding tooth thickness
at each pitch circle of the inner and outer spline is 0.167 mm and 0.176 mm, respectively.

Table 2. Experimental results of spline wear at various misalignment angles

Misalignment Spline Internal External Wear Internal External

angle (z) weight spline spline debris spline wear spline wear
loss (g) weight loss weight loss weight (g) depth (mm) depth (mm)
(g) (g)
0.00 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
0.15 1.750 0.835 0.915 2.250 0.167 0.176

According to the experimental results, the curve of spline wear loss with wear oper-
ating time is drawn, as shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen that as the spline wear time
continues, the weight loss of the inner and outer splines and the weight of the wear
debris generally increase approximately linearly, and the wear rate decreases slightly.
The wear debris weight is always greater than the spline weight loss, possibly due to the
oxidation reaction on the spline tooth surface, and oxygen is stored in the wear debris.

Fig. 6. Change curve of spline wear with wear operation time

 Aviation Spline Wear Test Bench and Fretting Wear Measurement 155

6 Conclusion

By introducing the self-made aviation spline wear test bench and fretting wear measure-
ment method, the influence of angular misalignment on spline wear is analyzed. The
main conclusions are:
1) The test bench has the function of large torque quantitative loading, misalignment,
vibration and wears quantitative coupling loading. It provides technical support for
the study of spline misalignment, vibration and wear coupling characteristics.
2) The experimental platform can realize the precise control of spline angular misalign-
ment.
3) An accurate fretting wear measurement method was developed.
4) The misaligned spline has obvious fretting wear, and almost no wear on the aligned
spline.

References
1. Zhao, G., Zhao, X.Y., Qian, L.T., Yuan, Y.B., Ma, S., Guo, M.: A review of aviation spline
research. Lubricants 11(1), 1–20 (2023)
2. Chen, C.H.: Common Faults of Aeroengine Mechanical System, 1st edn. Aviation Industry
Press, Beijing (2013)
3. Marmol, R.A., Smalley, A.J., Tecza, J.A.: Spline Coupling Induced Nonsynchronous Rotor
Vibrations. J. Mech. Des. 102(1), 168–176 (1980)
4. Sang, K.P.: Determination of loose spline coupling coefficients of rotor bearing systems in
turbomachinery. PhD. Thesis. Texas A&M Univ, College Station, USA (1991)
5. Al-Hussain, K.M.: Dynamic stability of two rigid rotors connected by a flexible coupling
with angular misalignment. J. Sound Vib. 266(2), 217–234 (2003)
6. Ku, P.M., Valtierra, M.L.: Spline wear-effects of design and lubrication. J. Eng. Indu. 97(4),
1263–1265 (1975)
7. Cuffaro, V., Cura, F., Mura, A.: Experimental investigation about surface damage in straight
and crowned misaligned splined couplings. Key Eng. Mater. 577, 353–356 (2014)
8. Zhao, G., Li, S.X., Guo, M., Sun, H., Sun, X.C., Han, Q.K.: Aerospace spline vibration wears
prediction and experiment. Journal of Aeronautical Dynamics 33(12), 2958–2964 (2018)
9. Cuffaro, V., Cura, F., Mura, A.: Analysis of the pressure distribution in spline couplings.
Mechan. Eng. Sci. 226(12), 2852–2859 (2012)
10. Cuffaro, V., Curà, F., Mura, A.: Surface characterization of spline coupling teeth subjected to
fretting wear. Procedia Engineering 74, 135–142 (2014)
11. Xue, X., Liu, J., Jia, J., Yang, S., Li, Y.: Simulation and verification of involute spline tooth
surface wear before and after carburizing based on energy dissipation method. Machines
11(1), 78 (2023)
12. Zhao, Q., Yu, T., Pang, T., Song, B.: Spline wear life prediction considering multiple errors.
Eng. Fail. Anal. 131, 105804 (2022)
 Dynamic Analysis of the Finger Seal-Rotor
System

Sai Zhang, Xiuli Hu, Renwei Che, and Yinghou Jiao(B)

School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 92 XiDaZhi Street,

Harbin 150001, China
[email protected]

Abstract. Finger seals are widely concerned because of their good sealing per-
formance and low cost. Due to its unique structure and installation, there are
complex interactions between the seal laminates, which undoubtedly affect the
overall stiffness of the seal. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct an in-depth study
on the sealing force model of finger seals. This paper divides the interaction seal
force of the finger seal into two parts, the finger beam and finger boot, and estab-
lishes a nonlinear seal force model that considers the interaction between finger
laminates. A nonlinear dynamics rotor-finger seal system is built, and its dynamic
laws are studied by Poincaré mapping, axis trajectory, spectrum diagram and phase
diagram. The research in this paper can be used to predict the dynamic behavior
of finger seal-rotor systems and ensure the stable operation of rotor systems.

Keywords: Finger Seal · Rotor Dynamic · Friction

1 Introduction
Seals are important elements of gas turbines. The specific fuel consumption due to
leakage can increase by as much as 0.58% for high-pressure turbines [1]. A good sealing
system is key to improving the performance and reducing the fuel consumption of the
engine. Finger seals have been widely considered in turbines due to their low leakage
and low cost. The first finger seal was proposed by Johnson et al. [2], in which contact
between finger feet and shaft existed, and such contact would reduce the sealing service
life. To eliminate wear, a new type of noncontacting finger seal was proposed [3, 4].
The downstream fingers of the noncontacting finger seal have lift pads on their ends to
provide the necessary film force, and then the fingers do not contact the shaft.
To ensure the good performance of noncontacting finger seals, research has been
carried out. The major topics to be investigated are lifting force and leakage perfor-
mance. The mass-spring-damper models of noncontacting finger seals are widely used
to investigate the leakage and hysteresis performance [5–7]. Braun et al. [8, 9] used
the Navier–Stokes equation and obtained three-dimensional temperature and pressure
results where the high-pressure side, the speed of rotation, and the heat transfer coef-
ficient are the controlling parameters. Li et al. [10] investigated the effects of rotation
speed, axial pressure differential, and lifting distance on the lifting force and leakage.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 156–167, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_11
 Dynamic Analysis of the Finger Seal-Rotor System 157

Du et al. [11, 12] presented a model that combines seal dynamic performance and seal
leakage to analyze the dynamic performance through leakage. The effects of the change
in the clearance between the seal and rotor, the maximum amplitude of rotor motion,
and the ratio of friction force to finger stiffness were investigated using the model. Zhao
et al. [13] considered the effect of side leakage, which was transformed into seepage
flow through a porous medium, to predict the leakage performance. Cutting grooved
structures on the lift pad or the shaft surface is useful to improve the hydrodynamic film
force. The effect on the lifting force and flow performance of the grooved structures
under the lift pad was investigated by Jia et al. [14] and Zhang et al. [15, 16] using a
two-way FSI method. Smith et al. [17] investigated the lifting properties and sealing
capability of four finger seal embodiments by parametric experiments. The sealing per-
formance of a noncontacting finger seal on a herringbone-grooved rotor was tested by
Proctor et al. [18].
Based on the studies above, the seal performance of finger seals has been widely
investigated. However, there is little research on the effects of the nonlinear finger seal
force on the dynamic characteristics of the rotor system. It is well known that the seal
force is one of the main causes of rotor instability [19–21]. Thus, further studies on
the dynamic behavior of finger seal-rotor systems are needed. In this paper, a nonlinear
finger seal force model considering the interaction between finger laminates is estab-
lished. The model comprehensively considers the effects of key parameters such as the
pressure difference, surface roughness and structure parameters of finger seals on the
nonlinear sealing force. The dynamic characteristics of the rotor-finger seal system with
and without considering the interaction between laminates are compared. The results
of this paper can provide a theoretical prediction method for the dynamic behavior of
finger seal-rotor systems.

2 Method
2.1 Geometric Relationship

Based on the structural characteristics of finger seals, the following assumptions are made
in the analysis process: the seal finger is simplified as a circular arc cantilever beam with
equal section; it is assumed that the seal finger is always elastically deformed; and the
friction between the back plate and finger laminate is not considered because it only acts
on one laminate and is much smaller than the other forces.
Figure 1 shows the geometric relationship between the rotor and fingers. The
direction of the finger deformation is not along the rotor radius. From the geometric
relationship, the equations between deformation and rotor displacement can be obtained:
 2  
er + 2 Rr · er · cos α + β + ϕ − θf = u2 + v2 + 2 Rr (u · sin m2 + v cos m2 )
u2 + v2 + CO22 + 2 CO2 (u sin m3 + v cos m3 ) − R2r = 0
(1)
158 S. Zhang et al.
  
where er is the rotor displacement; CO2 = er2 + R2r − 2er Rr cos ϕ − θf ; Rr is the
rotor diameter; u and v are the radial and tangential deformation
 at the end of the finger,
R2r +R2s −R2cc  
respectively; m2 = arccos 2Rr ·Rs , m3 = m2 + arcsin CO2 sin ϕ − θf .
e

Fig. 1. Geometric relationship between rotor and finger

2.2 Interaction Between Seal Laminates

The finger seal is installed in a staggered manner that allows the interstices on the seal
laminates to be covered. However, this type of mounting can affect the seal stiffness. Two
cantilever beams installed in a staggered manner can be used as an example to illustrate
this impact in a more visual way. As shown in Fig. 2a, a rigid plate moves upward,
supporting two cantilever beams on it. In the contact area between the two beams, the
frictional force acting on beam 2 is toward the lower right due to its greater deformation
than beam 1. In comparison, the point of action of the frictional force on beam 2 is lower
than that on beam 1; thus, its effect on downward deformation is greater. This in turn
enhances the overall stiffness. Figure 2b shows the structure of the two laminates. It
can be seen that, due to the staggered installation of the laminates, a pair of interaction
friction forces produce different deformations on different fingers. The friction forces
acting on the finger beam and finger foot are discussed separately.
For the friction force acting on the finger foot, it can be seen that the arms of Ff 1
and Ff 2 are changed according to the finger deformation. Because the deformations of
the finger in contact are very close, Ff 1 and Ff 2 can be considered the same (Fig. 3).
 Dynamic Analysis of the Finger Seal-Rotor System 159

Beam 1 Fixed

Force acting
on beam 1
Beam 2
Force acting
on beam 1
Rigid plate with upward translation
a. Diagram of two staggered beams b. Diagram of two seal laminates

Fig. 2. Staggered structure force analysis schematic

Fig. 3. Friction force acting on the finger foot

For the laminates at the edge, each finger contacts two fingers of the adjacent lami-
nate. For the other laminates, each finger contacts four fingers of the adjacent laminate.
Figure 4 shows the friction force acting on the finger beam. Due to the misalignment
installation of the laminates, the ranges of the friction force are consistent. Over the
entire angular, the magnitudes of Ffb1 and Ffb2 are:
 1   i,j 
α −0.5αr
Ffb1 = 0 ul P
1 2 hf − I
  i,j
s − v (θ ) − v i+1,j+1 (θ + 0.5α ) R d θ
 r s
αul (2)
Ffb2 = 0.5α r
P 2 hf − I s − v (θ − 0.5α r ) − v i+1,j (θ ) R d θ
s

where hf is the section height, Is is the interstice width, and Rs is the finger arc radius.

Fig. 4. Friction force acting on the finger beam

160 S. Zhang et al.

The deformations and rotation angle of the friction forces are calculated by the
following equations:
⎧ 2
⎪
⎪ d v MR2s
⎨ 2 +v =−
dθ EJz (3)
⎪
⎪ du NR M
⎩ −v = −
dθ EA EA
where E is the elastic modulus, A is the section area, N and M are the axial force and
bend moment, respectively, and J z is the section parameter.
Mohr’s integral is also used:
 αul
N e Ni M e Mi Q Q
i = ( + + η e i )Rs d θ (4)
0 EA EI GA
where i represents the rotation angles, tangential deformations and normal deforma-
tions generated by forces.
Then, the total tangential and normal deformations can be obtained:
⎧
⎨ u = uN + uf + ufb
v = vN + vf + vfb (5)
⎩
αAll = αN + αf + αfb

where the lower corner markers N, f , fb represent normal force and friction force acted
by the rotor, friction force acting on the foot, and friction force acting on the beam.
Combining Eq. (1) and (5), the normal force acting on the finger can be obtained
using the Newton–Raphson method. It is important to know that Ffb1 and Ffb2 in Eq. (2)
depends on the final tangential deformation. Therefore, it is not possible to find the
unknown force at once. First, it is necessary to assume the initial value of the deformation
caused by Ffb1 and Ffb2 and use the overrelaxation method to obtain the final result. In
rotor dynamic calculations, it is undoubtedly impractical to repeat the above calculation
process for each solution. Therefore, the obtained seal force is fitted as a polynomial
function of rotor displacement to greatly improve the solution speed.
Since the mass of the fingers is much smaller than that of the rotor, according to the
momentum theorem, when the rotor comes into contact with the seal, the change in seal
velocity has little effect on the rotor velocity. In comparison, the seal stiffness and the
interaction between laminates have a greater impact on rotor motion. In addition, the
degree of freedom of the rotor-seal system will greatly increase if the rotor velocity is
considered in the nonlinear seal force model because the dynamic equations of fingers
should be induced. Thus, the nonlinear seal force in this paper does not consider the
influence of the rotor velocity.

2.3 Finger Seal-Rotor System

As shown in Fig. 5, to clearly investigate the effects of the nonlinear seal force, a finger
seal-rotor system with rigid supports is established. The parameters of the rotor system
are as follows (Table 1):
 Dynamic Analysis of the Finger Seal-Rotor System 161

Table 1. Parameters of the rotor system

Parameters Symbol Value Units

Disk radius Rr 107.95 mm
Thickness of finger laminate B 1.00 mm
Inner diameter of the seal Ri 107.95 mm
Outer diameter of the seal Ro 122.76 mm
Rotor diameter Dsh 36.00 mm
Rotor length L sh 1150.00 mm
Rotor damping Dr 200 Ns/m
Unbalanced distance e 0.10 mm
Dimensionless scale Is 0.40 mm

Fig. 5. Finger seal-rotor system

The dynamic equation of the system is:

              
mr 0 ẍ cr 0 ẋ kr 0 x Fsx meω2 cos ωt 0
+ + = + −
0 mr ÿ 0 cr ẏ 0 kr y Fsy meω2 sin ωt mr g
(6)
Dimensionless transformations are adopted:
         
Ẍ D 0 Ẋ K 0 X Gx
+ + = (7)
Ÿ 0 D Ẏ 0 K Y Gy
nl +meω2 cos τ
Fsx
y kr cr
where X = Is ,Y = Is ,τ
x
= ωt,Gx = mr ω2 Is
,K = mr ω2
,D = mr ω , and Gy =
nl +meω2 sin τ −m g
Fsy r
mr ω2 Is
.

3 Results and Discussion

Predicting rotor system dynamic behaviors mainly focuses on the rotational speed.
Figure 6a shows the bifurcation diagram of the rotor system for various rotational speeds
considering the interaction between laminates. When the rotational speed is less than
162 S. Zhang et al.

2200 rpm, the system maintains period-1 motion. In the range of ω ∈ [2200, 3200]
rpm, the system exhibits quasiperiodic motion. Then, the system turns into a period one
motion in the range of ω ∈ [3300, 7900] rpm. When the rotational speed is greater than
7900 rpm, the system exhibits quasiperiodic motion again. Figure 6b shows the bifur-
cation diagram of the rotor system for various rotational speeds without considering the
interaction. There is a jump in the diagram at 1900 rpm. Figure 6c shows the frequency

Fig. 6. Dynamic characteristics with and without laminate interaction

 Dynamic Analysis of the Finger Seal-Rotor System 163

component at this rotational speed, and 2f r appears. Figure 6d shows the response time
history during a virtual runup without sealing. The trend is basically consistent with the
bifurcation diagram. Comparing Fig. 6a and 6b, it can be seen that when the interaction
between laminates is considered, the system shows more nonlinear phenomena, and the
amplitude of period one motions slightly decreases.
Figure 7 shows the bifurcation diagrams with different rotor configurations. Com-
pared with Fig. 7, it can be seen that the rotor structures with different length-to-diameter
ratios all exhibit quasiperiodic motion at lower rotational speeds. Moreover, the longer
the rotor is, the lower the speed at which the quasiperiodic phenomenon occurs. When
the rotor length equals 1.3 m, the quasiperiodic motion occurs again at 4500 rpm. In
contrast, when the rotor length is 1 m, the system maintains period-one motion at a
higher rotational speed.

Fig. 7. Bifurcation diagrams with different rotor configurations

Figure 8 shows the dynamic response at 2700 rpm with and without considering the
interaction between laminates. When the interaction is not considered, there is only one
rotational frequency. The corresponding axis orbit and phase diagram are circles, and
the Poincaré map is a single point. In contrast, when the interaction is considered, a new
frequency component f w appears in Fig. 8a. The Poincaré map is a circle, as shown in
Fig. 8f, and the system exhibits quasiperiodic motion.
Figure 9 shows the dynamic response at 9550 rpm with and without considering
the interaction between laminates. When the interaction is considered, the frequency
component fw and combined frequency component appear. The Poincaré map is a circle,
as shown in Fig. 9f. The axis orbit and phase diagram show a petal shape (Fig. 9d, 9 h). It
should be noted that the f w appearing in Fig. 9b is the same as that appearing in Fig. 8b,
which means that the two nonlinear phenomena are caused by the seal force. When the
interaction is not considered, only the rotational frequency appears in Fig. 9a, and the
system exhibits period-1 motion.
164 S. Zhang et al.

Fig. 8. Dynamic response at 2700 rpm

 Dynamic Analysis of the Finger Seal-Rotor System 165

Fig. 9. Dynamic response at 9550 rpm

166 S. Zhang et al.

4 Conclusion

In this paper, a nonlinear finger seal force model was established. The model considered
the interaction between finger laminates, which is determined by the key structure and
working parameters. A finger seal-Jeffcott rotor system was established. The dynamic
responses of the rotor system were obtained. The dynamic characteristics with and with-
out considering the interaction were compared. The main conclusions are summarized
as follows:
1. The interaction slightly decreases the vibration amplitude of the system when no
nonlinear phenomenon appears.
2. The interaction between laminates makes the system show more nonlinear phenomena.
When the interaction is considered, the system exhibits quasiperiodic motion in the range
of ω ∈ [2200, 3200] and ω > 7900 rpm.
3. As the rotor length decreases, the nonlinear phenomena at high speeds weaken and
eventually disappear. However, at lower rotational speeds, quasiperiodic motion always
appears.

Acknowledgment. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant Nos. 11972131 and 12072089).

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2. Johnson, M.C., Medlin, E.G.: Laminated finger seal with logarithmic curvature. Patent No.
5108116. USA (1992)
3. Arora, G.K.: Noncontacting finger seal with hydrodynamic foot portion. Patent No. 5755445.
USA (1998)
4. Proctor, M.P., Steinetz, B.M.: Noncontacting Finger Seal (2004)
5. Marie, H.: Dynamic simulation of finger seal-rotor interaction using variable dynamic coef-
ficients. In: 42nd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, p. 4931
(2006)
6. Temis, J.M., Selivanov, A.V., Dzeva, I.J.: Finger seal design based on fluid-solid interaction
model. In: Turbo Expo: Power for Land, Sea, and Air, pp. V3A-V15A. American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (2013)
7. Braun, M.J., Kudriavtsev, V.V., Steinetz, B.M., et al.: Two-and three-dimensional numerical
experiments representing two limiting cases of an in-line pair of finger seal components. Int.
J. Rotating Mach. 9, 171–179 (2003)
8. Braun, M.J., Pierson, H.M., Deng, D.: Thermofluids considerations and the dynamic behavior
of a finger seal assembly. Tribol. T. 48, 531–547 (2005)
9. Braun, M.J., Pierson, H.M., Kudriavtsev, V.V.: Finger seal solid modeling design and some
solid/fluid interaction considerations. Tribol. T. 46, 566–575 (2003)
10. Li, H., Braun, M.J.: The sealing behavior and force analysis of a double-laminate single-
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 Investigation on Information Assessment
for Vibration Sensor Locations Installed
in Aero-Engine Based on Unbalance Response
Analysis

Alexander A. Inozemtsev1 , Konstantin V. Shaposhnikov2(B) ,

Sergey A. Degtyarev2 , Mikhail K. Leontiev3 , and Ivan L. Gladkiy1
1 UEC-Aviadvigatel JSC, Perm, Russia
2 Engineering and Consulting Center On Rotordynamics Alfa-Tranzit Co., Ltd., Moscow, Russia
[email protected]
3 Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow, Russia

Abstract. During design and development of every new aero-engine it is often

necessary to verify its numerical model. Vibration readings obtained from per-
manent sensors often are not suitable for such verification or for engine detailed
diagnostics. Therefore, it is frequently necessary to equip aero-engine with addi-
tional sensors and conduct special experiments. Proposed in the paper method
allows to estimate preliminary information assessment for vibration sensor loca-
tions based on damped critical speed calculation and their mode shape analysis.
Vibration sensor information assessment is further clarified based on unbalance
response analysis. Investigation of various unbalance cases for engine’s rotors per-
mit to obtain vibration sensors information assessment scatter as their maximum
and minimum values. Approbation of the method was performed during simu-
lation of high-bypass turbofan engine in software for rotordynamics simulation
DYNAMICS R4. Performed analysis allowed to develop vibration sensors scheme
installed on engine cases with high information assessment on aero-engine critical
speeds and their mode shapes.

Keywords: Aero-engine · vibration sensors · rotordynamics · scheme of

vibration sensors · critical speed · unbalance response · rotor-case-suspension ·
modeling · DYNAMICS R4

1 Introduction

During design and development of every new aero-engine it is often necessary to verify
its numerical model. Such verification usually requires numerical reproduction of all
critical speeds that are allowed in operating range of the engine. Permanent sensors
are usually installed at engine suspension mounts and control vibration only in one or
two directions (radial and axial, or just radial) [1–3], thus their readings may not be
very suitable for numerical model verification, since aero-engine critical speeds due

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 168–187, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_12
 Investigation on Information Assessment 169

to dynamic system orthotropy may have significant displacements at directions that

are not controlled by permanent sensors. In addition, vibration amplitudes recorded
by permanent sensors can be small and without obvious vibration peaks, increasing
difficulty of clear identification of certain critical speeds. Conventional aircraft vibration
monitoring systems are also limited in areas of vibration diagnostics [4]. Therefore, for
numerical model verification and frequently for diagnostics it is necessary to equip aero-
engine with additional sensors and conduct special experiments. Aero-engine OEM’s
often do not openly disclose such experiments, and if some vibration sensors schemes
are shown, there are usually no details on how sensor locations were chosen. However,
in case of vibration diagnostics it is common in aviation industry to set vibration sensors
at cases of the engine as close as possible to bearing supports [5]. Example for vibration
sensors scheme developed for diagnostics of F100-PW-220 can be found in paper [6].
Vibration sensor selection methods for prognostics and health monitoring was proposed
by Xu [7], but application requires large number of fault history information detected
by each sensor, and hence proposed method is not applicable to newly designed engine
or engine with small database vibration history. Hou and Cao proposed method for
vibration sensor selection for aero-engine based on analysis of its variable vibration
indexes and demonstrated that for some engine configurations vibration sensors installed
in the middle section of the engine case may be more efficient for engine vibration
monitoring, than sensors installed close to mounts [8]. Current paper is focused on
problem of vibration sensors scheme development with high information assessment
on aero-engine critical speeds based on their calculation and analysis for its numerical
model.

2 Model Description
High-bypass turbofan engine model built with usage of two-node finite elements – beams
and shells in commercial software for rotordynamics simulation DYNAMICS R4 [9] is
shown in Fig. 1a. Low pressure (LP) and high pressure (HP) rotors, cases and suspension
mounts are main subsystems of the model, Fig. 1b. Principle of large structure repre-
sentation in form of multiple subsystems is common in rotordynamics [10–12]. Each
subsystem is represented by corresponding mass and inertia, stiffness and damping
matrices.
Auxiliary units of the engine were considered in the model by their mass and inertia
properties attached to the engine cases in accordance with their real angular position.
Case struts damping was taken into account using nondimensional relative damping
coefficient ξ = 0.1 as recommended in [13], while damping coefficients for all dampers
of the engine were assumed to be constant and equal to Cxx = Cyy = 105 N·s/m. The
value of damping was set equal for each damper to simplify the simulation of the model
and to keep vibration of the supports of the engine within allowable safe limits. Matrices
of each subsystem are combined together at corresponding connection nodes, forming
joint matrices of the entire dynamic system of aero-engine. In short form the general
equation of motion for the aero-engine dynamic system can be written as:
M q̈ + C q̇ + Kq = Q (1)
M – mass and inertia matrix; C – damping and gyroscopic matrix; K – stiffness matrix;
Q – generalized vector of external forces; q – displacement vector. Usage of lightweight
170 A. A. Inozemtsev et al.

Fig. 1. Aero-engine model in DYNAMICS R4: (a) 3-D representation (b) Subsystem model
structure

cases in structure schemes of modern aero-engine may lead to appearance of their natural
frequencies in the operating range of the engine. Such case structure natural frequencies
can be lower than bending natural frequencies of the engine rotors. In such a way for
accurate rotordynamic modeling aero-engine dynamic system should be considered as
uniform rotor-case-suspension system.
Aero-engine resonant modes which may appear in operating range of the engine can
be generally classified into three main groups: rotor, case and coupled modes. Each group
can be further classified as axial, torsional or lateral modes. Main types of aero-engine
lateral resonant modes are shown in Fig. 2. Green color relates to forward precession
motion of the dynamic system, blue – to backward. The term critical speed will be further
used for description of engine model vibrations only in lateral direction.

Fig. 2. Aero-engine lateral resonant modes (critical speeds) classification: (a) Rotor mode; (b)
Case mode; (c) Coupled mode (rotor-case-suspension)

For the rotor modes the largest deformations will be inherent to structure elements
of the engine rotors, while for case modes – to structure elements of its cases. For the
coupled modes significant deformations will be located both on rotor and case structural
 Investigation on Information Assessment 171

elements. Coupled rotor-case-suspension modes are more complex than the rest modes
and more difficult to predict, since their critical speeds and mode shapes may significantly
differ from the critical speeds and mode shapes of separate rotors or engine case modes.
For the correct mode shape classification, it is necessary to analyze each mode shape
taking into account mode shapes of main subsystems of the engine model, distinguishing
subsystems with obvious significant deformations. It should be noted that observed aero-
engine critical speed mode shapes classification is general, which assumes that even for
pronounced rotor modes, small deformations will be still observed on its cases, while
for the case modes small deformations will be observed on its rotors. When selecting
places for vibration sensors in aero-engine for verification of its numerical model it is
necessary to take into account the nature of the main type of mode shapes which are
planned to be identified during experimental measurements. Each individual mode shape
is characterized by position and number of its node and antinode points [14]. For efficient
identification of each specific aero-engine resonant mode, vibration sensors should be
installed in places distant from the node points of corresponding mode shape.
Design features of engine mounts, asymmetric arrangement of massive auxiliary
units on its cases, existence of clearances in its bearings and dampers lead to appearance
of orthotropy for dynamic systems elastic properties in orthogonal direction, which in
turn affects the orbits of engine elements transforming them to pronounced elliptical
shape. Presence of orthotropy in the dynamic system of aero-engine also leads to neces-
sity take into account in its critical speed analysis not only direct but also backward
precession mode shapes. Mixed precession mode shapes, where one part of the rotor
is subjected to direct precession, while the other – to backward are also inherent to
appear in such complex dynamic systems as aero-engine. Existence of dynamic systems
orthotropy may also significantly influence on vibration sensors information assessment,
especially when they are installed in orthogonal directions.
Critical speed mode shape analysis performed for aero-engine model helped to form
statistics on potential resonant mode types excited by its LP and HP rotors in the range
of rotor speeds 0%–130% of its maximum operating speed, Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Statistics on aero-engine critical speed mode shapes excited by LP and HP rotor

It can be seen from the obtained results that 57%–69% of the aero-engine critical
speeds obtained by simulation were related with coupled modes, while 29%–31% were
172 A. A. Inozemtsev et al.

associated with rotor modes. At the same time case modes were not detected in the
operating range of the engine when excitation was considered by LP rotor, and 14% of
resonant modes total number were identified as the case modes when HP rotor excitation
was taken into account. High percentage of coupled modes detected in the operating
range of the engine shows that vibration sensors location on cases of aero-engine will
be efficient for its critical speeds control.

3 Method
3.1 Method for Vibration Sensors Preliminary Information Assessment
Evaluation
Vibration sensors preliminary information assessment can be evaluated based on analysis
of damped critical speed mode shapes obtained by simulation for model of the aero-
engine. Proposed method was first described in details in [15]. Main steps of the method
are shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Method for vibration sensors location information assessment preliminary evaluation

Damped critical speeds are calculated from transformation of general equation of

motion of the dynamic system to free vibration equation, assuming Q = 0 in Eq. (1).
Then, the solution of the homogeneous equation can be obtained in exponential form as:
q(t) = u · eλt (2)
 Investigation on Information Assessment 173

where u – are eigenvectors of rotordynamic system; λ− are its eigenvalues. Both

eigenvectors and eigenvalues are complex, where each eigenvalue has the form:

λ = σ + iωd (3)

where σ – system damping exponent, and ωd – is the damped natural frequency or the
whirl speed. When dynamic system of aero-engine is subjected to harmonic excitation,
coincidence of its natural frequency with excitation frequency brings to appearance
of critical speed. As stated in the proposed method each critical speed mode shape is
preliminary analyzed and classified based on mode shape type (rotor mode, case mode,
coupled mode). Nodal and antinode points are defined for each mode shape. Vibration
vectors projections (Utx , Uty ) of aero-engine model elements at places of virtual sensors
locations for each of the selected N critical speed mode shapes are implemented as:

Utx = Re(Utx ) + Im(Utx )i (4)

   
Uty = Re Uty + Im Uty i (5)
 
Absolute values of vector projections for model elements |Utx |, Uty  for each of the
selected critical speed mode shapes are obtained as:

|Utx | = (Re(Utx ))2 + (Im(Utx ))2 (6)

    2   2
Uty  = Re Uty + Im Uty (7)

In order to form the tables of information assessment, grades GxN , GyN are calculated
for each sensor for each of the selected N critical speed mode shape. It should be noted
that sensors are evaluated in groups by subsystems in which they are installed in model
e.g. sensors of the outer case including permanent sensors of the front mount belong
to one subsystem, while sensors of the inner case including permanent sensors of the
rear mount belong to another subsystem. Thus, grade of each sensor represents the ratio
of absolute vibration vector projection of model element in place where the sensor is
installed to maximum value of vibration vector projections defined for a group of sensors
which includes this sensor:
|Utx |
GxN = (8)
max|Utx |
 
Uty 
Gy =
N   (9)
maxUty 

Assessment criteria: 1 – best value, 0 – worst value and all grades are set in range:

0 ≤ GxN ; GyN ≤ 1 (10)

Cells in all tables are also highlighted with colors set in accordance with proposed
assessment criteria. Graphical interpretation for each table of information assessment
174 A. A. Inozemtsev et al.

for sensors installed in horizontal and vertical direction is represented with contour color
plots with color distribution set in compliance with assessment criteria. Overall grade
for each sensor is calculated in the table as a sum of its grades for each of the observed
N critical speed mode shapes:

N
Gx,y = Gx,y
1
+ Gx,y
2
+ ... + Gx,y
N
(11)

Each sensor information assessment is further determined in percentage as a ratio of

overall sensor’s grade to number of considered N critical speed mode shapes:
 N
Gx,y
Ix,y = · 100% (12)
N

3.2 Clarification of Vibration Sensors Information Assessment Based

on Unbalance Response Analysis
Obtained sensors preliminary information assessment can be potentially overestimated
since mode number N in its denominator includes excitation of all possible critical speeds
for aero-engine dynamic system. Excitation of specific critical speed depends on a certain
residual unbalance distribution, hence some critical speeds may not be excited simul-
taneously, while the other critical speeds may require «exotic» combination of residual
unbalances located at specific rotor parts and may not be excited with typical unbal-
ance distribution of rotor modules. Thus, vibration sensors information assessment can
be further clarified based on unbalance response analysis. For method implementation
different cases of residual unbalance distribution for LP and HP rotor of the engine can
be modeled, while unbalance response readings can be recorded for all sensor locations.
General description of main steps of the method is shown in Fig. 5.
Tables of information assessment can be formed for each unbalance case, where the
grades for each sensor represent the ratio of vibration amplitudes Ax , Ay recorded by the
sensor for each N critical speed detected in unbalance response to maximum vibration
amplitude defined for the group of sensors which includes this sensor:
Ax
GxN = (13)
max(Ax )
Ay
GyN =   (14)
max Ay

Overall grade for each sensor is calculated following Eq. (11), while each sensor infor-
mation assessment is determined in percentage as a ratio of overall sensor’s grade to
number of critical speeds N detected in each unbalance case:
 N
Gx,y
I x,y = · 100% (15)
N
When information assessment tables and their color plots are obtained for variety of
unbalance cases general data processing is performed. Tables processing allow to obtain
 Investigation on Information Assessment 175

Fig. 5. Method for vibration sensors information assessment clarification based on unbalance
response analysis

arithmetic mean for sensors grades, based on which averaged versions of color plots can
be built. Application of boxplot analysis for sensors information assessment can help to
estimate the scatter of maximum and minimum values predicted by unbalance response
analysis for each sensor and clarify preliminary vibration sensors scheme developed
based on aero-engine damped critical speed analysis. Small scatter means that sensors
information assessment is not sensitive to unbalance distribution on engine rotors and
sensor will be efficient to control critical speeds based on his grades.

4 Simulation Results

4.1 Model Set Up

For approbation of the proposed methods, model of high-bypass turbofan engine was
prepared for further analysis and set on operating mode thermal state. At the flange joints
of its outer and inner cases 14 sections were selected for evaluation of vibration sensor
information assessment, Fig. 6. To simplify simulation in each section vibration sensors
were strictly oriented in horizontal and vertical directions. Permanent vibration sensors
were installed in front (Vfront ) and rear (Vaft ) suspension mounts of the engine.
176 A. A. Inozemtsev et al.

Fig. 6. Vibration sensor locations in aero-engine model: (a) Outer case sensors; (b) Inner case
sensors

4.2 Vibration Sensors Preliminary Information Assessment Evaluation

Preliminary information assessment for vibration sensor locations in model of aero-

engine was evaluated based on the proposed method (see Fig. 4). Analysis was imple-
mented for engine model critical speed mode shapes excited by LP and HP rotors in
range of speeds 0%–130% of each rotor maximum operating speed. For LP rotor exci-
tation 13 critical speeds were predicted in the operating range, while for HP rotor – 58
critical speeds. Obtained simulation results helped to form tables of information assess-
ment for sensor locations in horizontal and vertical direction, Fig. 7. Resonant mode
types in table were designated as: R – rotor mode, C – case mode, RCS – Coupled mode
(rotor-case-suspension). Operating modes were highlighted with separate lines: ground
idle mode (IDLE) and maximum operating mode (MAX).
Graphical interpretation as contour color plots for each table are shown in Figs. 8
and 9. Grade scale for each plot was set based on assessment criteria: 1 – best value,
0 – worst value. Each color plot was subdivided in outer and inner case in accordance
with sensor groups position in scheme of the engine. Y-axis in each subplot represents
the sensor number, while X-axis of each plot corresponds to critical speed mode ordinal
number. Color plots usage in conjunction with tables of information assessment gives
quick visual representation on zones of critical speed with high and low grades, allowing
to form vibration sensors scheme from sensors with high information assessment about
engine critical speeds.
 Investigation on Information Assessment 177

Fig. 7. Preliminary tables of information assessment for vibration sensor locations to control
critical speeds of aero-engine model: (a) excited by LP rotor (b) excited by HP rotor

Preliminary information assessment for all sensors installed in the model was cal-
culated based on sensor overall grades obtained from tables of information assessment,
Fig. 10.
Simulation results demonstrated that none of the sensors can fully detect and control
all of the critical speeds in the operating range. Thus, for efficient identification of the
aero-engine resonant modes it is necessary to form the scheme of vibration sensors with
high information assessment about its critical speeds excited both by LP and HP rotor.
Hence based on the obtained results preliminary vibration sensors scheme can be formed
from uniaxial vibration sensors for vibration control in X and Y direction installed at the
brackets attached to the flange joints of the outer case of the engine in sections № 1, 4,
5. Simultaneously at the inner case uniaxial vibration sensors for vibration control in X
and Y direction should be installed at the brackets attached to flange joints in sections №
6–12. From initially observed 14 sections for sensor location only 10 sections were used
to form vibration sensors scheme for identification of the aero-engine critical speeds.
178 A. A. Inozemtsev et al.

Fig. 8. Contour color plots for preliminary evaluation of information assessment for vibration
sensor locations to control critical speeds excited by LP rotor: (a) horizontal (b) vertical

For sensors type selection (general usage/high temperature) aero-engine cases ther-
mal state analysis should be performed. Increase of temperature of engine cases may
significantly influence on sensitivity change of installed on them accelerometer sensors.

4.3 Vibration Sensors Information Assessment Clarification based on Unbalance

Response Analysis

In order to clarify vibration sensors preliminary information assessment, model of aero-

engine was prepared for further unbalance response analysis. Residual unbalance for
LP and HP rotors of the engine was set corresponding to G 6.3 balance grade [16].
Due to volume restrictions of the current paper only three common cases of residual
unbalance distribution were observed for each rotor: “in phase unbalance case” where
residual unbalance was equally spaced among two lumped unbalances set with the same
phase angle in c.g. of compressor and turbine modules of each rotor; “out of phase
case” where residual unbalance was also equally spaced among two lumped unbalances
with the 180 degree phase difference related to each other in c.g. of compressor and
turbine modules of each rotor; “first bending mode unbalance case” where residual
unbalance was equally spaced among three lumped unbalances set along rotor body in
antinode places corresponding to first bending mode of each rotor. It should be noted that
proposed method is not limited to observed three cases of residual unbalance distribution
and number of cases can be increased as many as necessary if required for the analysis.
 Investigation on Information Assessment 179

Fig. 9. Contour color plots for preliminary evaluation of information assessment for vibration
sensor locations to control critical speeds excited by HP rotor: (a) horizontal (b) vertical
180 A. A. Inozemtsev et al.

Fig. 10. Preliminary information assessment and overall grades for sensor locations to control
critical speeds in aero-engine model: (a) excited by LP rotor; (b) excited by HP rotor

Obtained simulation results were summarized in form of multi-curve 3-D plots for
each unbalance case shown in Figs. 11 and 12. Permanent vibration sensor readings
were indicated with orange color. Operating modes of the engine were highlighted with
separate lines. Speed ratio on the X-axis for each plot presents the ratio of exact rotor
speed (ω) to rotor speed at MAX mode (). Sensor numbers were marked on the Y-axis,
while Z-axis corresponds to vibrovelocity vibration amplitude.
Based on proposed method (see Fig. 5) results processing was further performed for
each unbalance response plot of each unbalance case of each rotor. As an outcome of the
analysis vibration sensors information assessment tables, color plots and sensor infor-
mation assessment diagrams for vibration control in vertical and horizontal directions
were obtained for each unbalance case.
Simulation results revealed that for LP rotor excitation in all unbalance cases only 9
critical speeds were detected in operating range of the rotor from 13 predicted by critical
speed preliminary analysis. At the same time for HP rotor excitation only 47 critical
speeds were detected in operating range of the rotor from 58 predicted by critical speed
preliminary analysis. It can be seen from comparison of the obtained simulation results
that amplitude frequency spectrum of the HP rotor is denser, than for LP rotor. Data
processing for each unbalance case of the HP rotor requires significantly more time,
since vibration peaks identification for HP rotor unbalance response is more difficult.
It is worth noting that vibration amplitude curves obtained for permanent sensors by
simulation is smoother than for some additional sensors installed on case of the engine
model. Number of obvious vibration peaks corresponding to engine resonant modes is
smaller, confirming that usage of permanent sensors readings for detailed verification of
numerical model of the engine will be difficult.
 Investigation on Information Assessment 181

Fig. 11. Unbalance response simulation results – LP rotor excitation: (a) in phase unbalance case
(b) out of phase unbalance case (c) first bending mode unbalance case
182 A. A. Inozemtsev et al.

Fig. 12. Unbalance response simulation results – HP rotor excitation: (a) in phase unbalance case
(b) out of phase unbalance case (c) first bending mode unbalance case
 Investigation on Information Assessment 183

General result processing performed for all unbalance cases of each rotor allowed to
obtain mean tables of information assessment for vibration sensor locations to control
critical speeds excited by LP and HP rotors in vertical and horizontal directions, Fig. 13.
Their graphical interpretation in form of contour color plots for evaluation of infor-
mation assessment for vibration sensor locations to control critical speeds excited by
engine LP and HP rotor is shown in Figs. 14 and 15.

Fig. 13. Mean tables of information assessment for vibration sensor locations to control critical
speeds of aero-engine model: (a) excited by LP rotor (b) excited by HP rotor

Evaluation of overall grades for each sensor installed in the model to control critical
speeds of the aero-engine for observed unbalance cases allowed to find information
assessment maximum and minimum values. Further performed result processing permit
to obtain scatter plots for all sensors to control critical speeds excited by LP and HP
rotor of the aero-engine, Fig. 16.
Based on calculation results established initial vibration sensors scheme formed on
preliminary information assessment evaluation can be adjusted and number of recom-
mended sensors can be reduced. At the outer case of the engine, it is recommended to
use uniaxial vibration sensors for vibration control in X and Y directions installed at
184 A. A. Inozemtsev et al.

Fig. 14. Averaged contour color plots for evaluation of information assessment for vibration
sensor locations to control critical speeds excited by LP rotor built based on unbalance response
analysis: (a) horizontal (b) vertical

the brackets attached to the flange joints in sections № 1 and 5, since performed unbal-
ance response analysis confirmed their high information assessment. Sensor № 4 was
removed from the scheme, since unbalance response analysis revealed lower values of
its information assessment.
At the inner case of the engine, it is recommended to leave in initial scheme uniaxial
vibration sensors in sections № 6, 8–12 to control vibration in X and Y directions,
since unbalance response analysis confirmed their high information assessment, which
is also higher than information assessment of permanent aft vibration sensor installed
on the mount. Sensor № 7 was removed from the scheme because set of critical speeds
with high grades controlled by this sensor is similar to № 6, but his overall grade was
generally lower. Sensors № 8 – 12 showed similar overall grades to control critical speeds
excited by HP rotor, but they have high grades for different sets of critical speeds, thus in
order to control all of them, these sensors were left in the clarified aero-engine vibration
sensor scheme. Vibration sensors scheme developed based on preliminary analysis for
identification of aero-engine critical speeds which was consisting from 10 sections was
finally reduced to 8 sections for sensor installation.
 Investigation on Information Assessment 185

Fig. 15. Averaged contour color plots for evaluation of information assessment for vibration
sensor locations to control critical speeds excited by HP rotor built based on unbalance response
analysis: (a) horizontal (b) vertical
186 A. A. Inozemtsev et al.

Fig. 16. Scatter of information assessment for vibration sensor locations clarified by unbalance
response analysis to control aero-engine critical speeds: (a) excited by LP rotor (b) excited by HP
rotor

5 Conclusion

To sum up, proposed method allows to estimate preliminary information assessment for
vibration sensor locations based on damped critical speed calculation and their mode
shape analysis. Performed analysis allows to form vibration sensors scheme installed
on cases of aero-engine with high information about its critical speeds. Vibration sensor
information assessment can be further clarified based on unbalance response analysis.
Investigation of various unbalance cases for engine’s rotors can help to estimate vibration
sensors information assessment scatter as their maximum and minimum values and
reduce the number of sensors necessary for efficient identification of engine critical
speeds. Approbation of the method was performed on model of high-bypass turbofan
engine, allowing to evaluate information assessment for vibration sensor locations and
further form the scheme of sensors with high information assessment on aero-engine
critical speeds and their mode shapes. Developed sensors scheme can be used in real
aero-engine special tests performed for verification of its numerical model.
 Investigation on Information Assessment 187

Acknowledgement. The authors would like to thank UEC-Aviadvigatel JSC for their permission
to publish this work.

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of the 9th IFToMM International Conference on Rotor Dynamics, pp. 2199–2214. Springer
International Publishing, Cham (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06590-8_181
13. Nicholas, J.C., Whalen, J.K., Franklin, S.D.: Improving critical speed calculations using
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 Torsional Vibration Modelling of a Two-Stage
Closed Differential Planetary Gear Train

Guanghe Huo1,2 , Yinghou Jiao1(B) , Miguel Iglesias Santamaria2 , Xiang Zhang1 ,

Javier Sanchez-Espiga2 , Alfonso Fernandez-del-Rincon2 ,
and Fernando Viadero-Rueda2(B)
1 School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Nangang Dist, 92 West
Dazhi Street, Harbin, People’s Republic of China
[email protected]
2 Department of Structural and Mechanical Engineering, ETSIIT University of Cantabria, Avda.
de los Castros S/N, 39005 Santander, Spain
[email protected]

Abstract. In this paper, a torsional dynamic model of a two-stage double-helical

planetary gear train is developed, and the vibration characteristics and coupling
relationship are studied. Firstly, a purely torsional model was established based
on structure diagram and different mesh phasing. Then, the runout error is taken
into account. Finally, according to frequency spectrum analysis, the coupling rela-
tionship of two stages is studied. It is shown that the runout error of the planet in
different stages has a different impact on the torsional vibration of transmission
error. It also shows that the coupling relationship exists and affects each other
between two stages, and the excitation frequency for the output element of two
stages can be composed of a series of the mesh frequencies of each stage, the
meshing frequency of high stage (1st stage) is dominated in two stages.

Keywords: Vibration · Double-helical Planetary gear · Coupling

1 Introduction

Single and multistage planetary gear train is widely used in helicopter, wind turbine
and ship because of its large transmission ratio, high transmission efficiency, strong
bearing capacity and small size. Especially for a large heavy-duty machine, multistage
are commonly used based on a design given gear transmission ratio.
Early model focused on linear time-invariant, Kahraman [1] studied and summarized
the free vibration of different types compound planetary gear set and different modes
were observed. Later, the nonlinear time-varying models [2, 3], includes time-varying
meshing stiffness, backlash and friction, were developed. Dai et al. [4] studied theatri-
cally and experimentally the meshing force of single planetary gear system. Therefore,
it is clearly indicted from above literatures that time-varying meshing stiffness is basic
parameter that affect dynamic characteristics.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 188–201, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_13
 Torsional Vibration Modelling of a Two-Stage Closed Differential 189

Moreover, in terms of meshing stiffness, mesh phasing is an important component.

For the planet lord sharing characteristics, Sanchez et al. [5] studied the influence of
different mesh phasing. Vangipuram et al. [6] investigated the influence of mesh phasing
on parametric instabilities of a planetary gear with a flexible ring gear. Wang et al. [7]
studied the suppression effects of planet mesh phasing on vibrations of planetary gears
and proposed several rules for how mesh phasing generated. Peng et al. [8] used mesh
phasing determine gear’s fault.

Nomenclature
S, P, C, R Sun, planet, carrier TE Transmission error
and ring
θ zs , θ zpi , θ zc , θ zr Angular λs , λpi , λr The phase angle of
displacement of run-out error of sun,
sun, planet, carrier planet and ring
and ring
Rbs , Rbpi , Rbc, Rbr Base circle’s radius J zs , J zpi , J zr , J zce The moment of inertia of
of sun, planet, sun, planet, carrier and
carrier and ring ring
β b , α sp , α rp Base helix angle, k spi , cspi , k rpi , crpi Meshing stiffness and
meshing angle of damping of sun-planet i
sun-planet and and ring-planet i
ring-planet
espi , erpi Meshing error of f m, f e Meshing frequency and
sun-planet i and error frequency
ring-planet i
δ spi , δ rpi Meshing ESSP, ESIP Equally spaced sequential
displacement of phase, equally spaced in
sun-planet i and phase
ring-planet i
ωs , ωpi , ωc , ωr Angular speed of ees , eepi , eer The magnitude of run-out
the sun, planet, error of sun, planet and
carrier and ring ring
Superscripts
1 First stage 2 Second stage

With the emergence of various machines, the single-stage planetary gear system can
no longer meet the work requirements of high transmission ratio due to gear size limita-
tions. So mechanical products of multi-stage planetary gear trains appeared. Li et al. [2]
established a torsional model and studied the nonlinear characteristics, includes bifurca-
tion and chao, and the impact of damping ratio, working speed and backlash on motion.
It is revealed that Variation law of speed from single period motion to chaotic motion.
Considering the elastic ring component, Wei et al. [9] analyzed theatrically and exper-
imentally the modulation sideband phenomenon caused by unavoidable manufacturing
errors. Zhang et al. [3] proposed a translation–torsion coupling model of a wind turbine,
studied the influence of friction on nonlinear characteristics.
190 G. Huo et al.

For double-helical planetary gear, Lu et al. [10] developed a nonlinear model,

includes sliding friction, time-varying meshing stiffness, backlash, axial stagger as well
as gear mesh errors, and the influence of tooth friction on the periodic vibration and
nonlinear vibration was investigated. Wang et al. [11–13] proposed step by step three
nonlinear model such as torsional model and 3D model, comprehensively and deeply
studied the nonlinear behaviour of double-helical gear train in GTF by taking spline
stiffness, bearing stiffness and tooth friction into account.
For the vibration analysis of multistage planetary gear system with a complex struc-
ture, the torsional vibration model is a basic model and the purpose of this paper is to pre-
liminarily discuss the coupling characteristics of closed differential planetary gear train
from the perspective of torsional dynamics model (1DOF). Therefore, this study estab-
lishes a purely torsional model of two stage planetary gear system, and this model consid-
ers time-varying meshing stiffness, connecting stiffness between two stages. Moreover,
equations of motion in general coordinates are obtained by using the Lagrange equation.
The vibration behaviour and coupling between two stages of whole system is analysed.

2 Torsional Model
The schematic of double-helical two-stage planetary gear system is shown in Fig. 1, this
system is comprised of two stages, epicyclic planetary gear system (1st stage) and star
planetary gear system (2nd stage). The ring of stage 1 and sun of stage 2 are connected,
so do carrier of stage 1 and ring of stage 2, i.e., the connected components rotate at the
same speed.
The model is obtained based on following several assumptions:
1). Each gear body is assumed to be rigid, and the flexibilities of the teeth of each gear
are replaced by a spring-damper unit along the meshing line.
2). Each component is assumed to move in the torsional direction, i.e., they only have
1 degree of freedom.
3). Each planet gear is absolutely same and assigned around sun gear.

2.1 Relative Displacements

Here, defining angular displacement θ (m) zi (i = s, r, c and pn (n = 1, 2,…, N), m = 1
and 2) as only motion of each component in each stage, which is obtained in a global
coordinate system. It is noted that the upper right letter 1 is stage 1, number 2 is stage
2 and it is assumed that counter clockwise direction is positive. Therefore, for the mesh
between sun or ring and each planet i in first stage, the equivalent meshing displacements
in their contact direction are defined as shown in Eq. (1).
(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)
δspi = (Rbs θzs(1) + Rbpi θzpi − Rbc θzc
(1)
) cos(βb ) − espi (t)
(1)
(1)
δrpi = (R(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)
br θzr − Rbpi θzpi − Rbc θzc ) cos(βb ) − erpi (t)

where, Rbi (i = s, r, c and pn (n = 1, 2,…, N)), β b and espi are the radius of base circle,
helix angle of base circle and transmission error and, respectively.
 Torsional Vibration Modelling of a Two-Stage Closed Differential 191

Fig. 1. The structure schematic of double-helical two stage planetary gear system

In same way, the equivalent meshing displacements in their contact direction of

second stage are defined as shown in Eq. (2).
(2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2)
δspi = (−Rbs θzs(2) − Rbpi θzpi ) cos(βb ) − espi (t)
(2)
(2)
δrpi = (−R(2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2)
br θzr + Rbpi θzpi ) cos(βb ) − erpi (t)

Moreover, defining the relative angular displacements between connected members in

two stages as δ (1,2) rs and δ (1,2) cr, which are shown in Eq. (3). It should be pointed
out that a torsional spring is used to connect two members.
(1,2)
δrs = θzr(1) − θzs(2) ,δcr
(1,2) (1)
= θzc − θzr(2) (3)

2.2 Meshing Error Excitation

The meshing error must exist because of manufacture and assemble process, which can
be composed of run-out error, planet position error and index error. The error value in
this studied model is all 5Micron. Here, run-out error is taking an example, the equivalent
meshing displacements projected onto the corresponding meshing line direction by the
192 G. Huo et al.

eccentricity error of each component in each stage are presented as following equations.
(1) (1) (1)
espi−s (t) = ees sin[(ωs(1) − ωc(1) )t + λ(1) (1)
s + αsp − φpi ]
(1) (1) (1)
espi−pi (t) = −eepi sin[(ωpi )t + λ(1) (1)
pi + αsp ]
(1) (1) (1)
erpi−r (t) = eer sin[(ωr(1) − ωc(1) )t + λ(1) (1)
r − αrp − φpi ]
(1) (1) (1)
erpi−pi (t) = −eepi sin[(ωpi )t + λ(1) (1)
pi − αrp ]
(2) (2)
(4)
(2)
espi−s (t) = −ees sin(ωs(2) t + λ(2) (2)
s − αsp − φpi )
(2) (2) (2)
espi−pi (t) = eepi sin(ωpi t + λ(2) (2)
pi − αsp )
(2) (2) (2)
erpi−r (t) = −eer sin(ωr(2) t + λ(2) (2)
r + αrp − φpi )
(2) (2) (2) (2)(2)
erpi−pi (t) = eepi sin(ωpi t + λpi + αrp )

where, eejpi ( j = s or r), λj ( j = s, pi and r), α and φ pi are magnitude of error, initial
assembly angle, pressure angle and orientation angle of planet #i, respectively.

2.3 Equations of Motion

According to Lagrange equation [2, 3], the equations of motion of two stages can be
derived, are shown in Eq. (5).

n
(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)
Jzs(1) θzs(1) + (kspi δspi + cspi δ̇spi )Rbs cos(βb ) = Tin
i=1
(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)
Jzpi θzpi + (kspi δspi + cspi δ̇spi − krpi δrpi − crpi δ̇rpi )Rbpi cos(βb ) = 0
n
(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)
Jzr(1) θzr(1) + (krpi δrpi + crpi δ̇rpi )Rbr cos(βb ) + krs (1,2) (1,2)
δrs = 0
i=1
n
(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)
(1) (1)
Jzce θzc − (kspi δspi + cspi δ̇spi + krpi δrpi + crpi δ̇rpi )Rbc cos(βb )
i=1 (5)
(1,2) (1,2)
+kcr δcr = 0
n
(2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2)
Jzs(2) θzs(2) − (kspi δspi + cspi δ̇spi )Rbs cos(βb ) − krs (1,2) (1,2)
δrs = 0
i=1
(2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2)
Jzpi θzpi − (kspi δspi + cspi δ̇spi − krpi δrpi − crpi δ̇rpi )Rbpi cos(βb(2) ) = 0
n
(2) (2) (2) (2) (2)
(2) (2)
Jzr θzr − (krpi δrpi + crpi δ̇rpi )Rbr cos(βb(2) ) − kcr (1,2) (1,2)
δcr = −Tout
i=1

In which, J i is moment of inertia of each part except the carrier in 1st stage, and J zce
represents equivalent moment of inertia of the carrier in 1st stage, which is different with
moment of inertia of the carrier, is shown as J zce = J c + n × mpi × Rc 2 . K jpi and cjpi
are the meshing stiffness and corresponding meshing damping. It is assumed that each
 Torsional Vibration Modelling of a Two-Stage Closed Differential 193

pair of gears (S-Pi and R-Pi) is meshing at the initial moment, but as the gear rotates,
the mesh may separate, so the mesh displacement is a piecewise function as follows

δ ,δ >0
δjpi = jpi jpi , j = s or r (6)
0, else

3 Results and Discuss

For the simulation study, the two-stage planetary gear train with the basic parameters is
studied. Table 1 lists the basic parameters of whole system.

Table 1. Parameters of the two-stage double-helical planetary gear train studied

Stage First Stage Second Stage

Element Sun Planet Ring Sun Planet Ring
Teeth number 38 76 190 80 55 190
Normal module (mm) 6
Normal pressure angle (°) 20
Helix angle (°) 25
Number of planets (N) 3 5
Planets spacing angle (°) 120 72
Mesh Phasing ESSP ESIP

The different stages have different mesh frequencies, but there is a relationship
between two stages, which is f 1 m = ψ f2 m, and ψ = 3.375 depends on teeth number.

3.1 Stability Time-Domain Response

The Newmark-beta method is adapted to solve the dynamic equations, shown in Eq. (5).
In order to obtain a stable solution, the results of the about first 6.5 s are removed.
In 1st stage, the time-domain stationary response curves of each element (sun, planet,
ring) without any meshing error, are shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 under a constant 1200 rpm
input speed and a constant 72400 Nm load torque. Here, the result of the angular dis-
placement is a linear curve with respect to time the angular displacement, and the only
difference is the slope and the positive and negative values. Therefore, taking the angular
velocity (negative value) of planet as an example, i.e., its rotation direction (clock wise)
is opposite to the definition of the positive direction. Moreover, the angular displacement
of the part rotating in the positive direction increases linearly and vice versa.
194 G. Huo et al.

As shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, the angular speed of sun is more stable and less
fluctuating, the ideal angular speed is 125.66 rad/s and angular acceleration is between
−40 rad/s2 and 40 rad/s2 . Angular velocity of planet fluctuates between −52.2 rad/s
and −26.38 rad/s, and the ideal angular speed is −52.28 rad/s. Angular velocity of ring
fluctuates between −16.75 rad/s and −16.66 rad/s, and the ideal angular speed is −
16.39 rad/s, therefore, the angular speed agrees well with ideal value. Moreover, the
acceleration fluctuation of the planet gear is more severe than that of the sun and the ring
gear.

a) Angular velocity b) Angular acceleration

Fig. 2. Stationary response of sun in 1st stage

a) Angular velocity b) Angular acceleration

Fig. 3. Stationary response of planet in 1st stage

Similarly, in 2nd stage, the time-domain stationary response curves are shown in
Figs. 5, 6 and 7. As shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, it can be known that the direction and of
the angular displacement and magnitude of average angular velocity for each component
correspond to the theoretical rotation direction and theoretical value.
According to the curves of the angular displacement and the calculated velocity
value, as shown in the above Figures, it is noted that the mean calculated velocity value
agree well with ideal angular velocity value.
 Torsional Vibration Modelling of a Two-Stage Closed Differential 195

a) Angular velocity b) Angular acceleration

Fig. 4. Stationary response of ring gear in 1st stage

a) Angular velocity b) Angular acceleration

Fig. 5. Stationary response of sun in 2nd stage

a) Angular velocity b) Angular acceleration

Fig. 6. Stationary response of planet in 2nd stage

3.2 Coupling Analysis

It is critical to study coupling properties of two stage due to the structure diagram, shown
in Fig. 1. In order to study the coupling characteristics, the acceleration of planet in each
196 G. Huo et al.

a) Angular velocity b) Angular acceleration

Fig. 7. Stationary response of ring in 2nd stage

stage is chosen to study the coupling characteristics. The reason is that the planet meshes
with both the sun and the ring simultaneously, which causes the excitation of planet is
complicated and it could reflect the main excitation frequency of each stage.

3.2.1 Without error

Fig. 7 is the acceleration in the frequency domain under input speed is 1200rpm. It is
observed from Fig. 8a) that meshing frequency and its frequency multiplication, such as
f 1 m and 2f 1 m, is the main excitation frequency. Moreover, the meshing frequency of
2nd stage also appear. Excepting that, the modulations of f 1 m and f2 m, also become
the main excitation frequencies, particularly the peak at f 1 m + f2 m.
As shown in Fig. 8b), there is some different situation. Although main excitation
frequencies include it own meshing frequency and harmonic frequencies, it is clear that
frequencies, are related to meshing frequency of 1st stage, not only appear, but also are
the dominant frequency such as 2f 1 m, which is similar with Fig. 8a). Overall, influence
of the other frequencies which is related to 2f 1 m, cannot be ignored.

a) 1st stage b) 2nd stage

Fig. 8. Angular acceleration frequency spectrum of planet in each stage
 Torsional Vibration Modelling of a Two-Stage Closed Differential 197

3.2.2 Run out Error

Next, the influence of run out error on the coupling is studied. As shown in Fig. 9a),
sideband effects appear on either side of the location corresponding to the meshing
frequency in angular acceleration frequency spectrum of planet in 1st stage. Also, the
same phenomenon occurs in the 2nd stage, shown in Fig. 9b), because the ring gear of
the 1st stage is the input of the 2nd stage. The runout error of planet in 1st stage excites
some frequencies of 2nd stage, although its magnitude is small.

a) 1st stage

b) 2nd stage
Fig. 9. Angular acceleration frequency spectrum of planet #1 in 1st stage with runout error

When the runout error in planet of 2nd stage, the corresponding figure is given in
Fig. 10. The exciting frequency almost do not change. Comparing with the results of
Fig. 8, runout error of planet in 2nd stage do not change coupling relationship.

3.3 Torsional Vibration Analysis

Here, the torsional vibration can also be called transmission error (TE) because of pure
torsional dynamic model, which is the difference of angular displacement, is shown as
198 G. Huo et al.

a) 1st stage b) 2nd stage

Fig. 10. Acceleration frequency spectrum of planet #1 in 2nd stage with runout error

follows:

TE = θreal − θideal (7)

Here, the global transmission error is defined as the transmission error of the output
element and is chosen to study the influence of error on torsional vibration.

3.3.1 Without Error

The steady time domain global transmission error result and the corresponding fre-
quency domain result of output element without any meshing error are shown below. As
shown in Fig. 11, the excitation frequency of output element is composed of a variety of
frequencies, which are related to meshing frequency of each stage, specifically for 2nd
stage.

a) Time domain b) Frequency domain

Fig. 11. Torsional vibration response of output element without any error
 Torsional Vibration Modelling of a Two-Stage Closed Differential 199

3.3.2 Run Out Error

In this section, Figs. 12 and 13 show time domain global transmission error and the
corresponding frequency domain result when considering the runout error of planet #1.
It shows that the eccentricity error affects the vibration of the output shaft, but for the
same magnitude of error value, the influence of the second stage is greater than that of
the first stage. For torsional vibration of output element, the meshing frequency is the
main frequency.

a) Time domain b) Frequency domain

Fig. 12. Torsional vibration of output element with run out error of planet #1 in 1st stage

a) Time domain b) Frequency domain

Fig. 13. Torsional vibration of output element with run out error of planet #1 in 2nd stage

4 Conclusions
A torsional dynamic model of two-stage double-helical planetary gear train with different
mesh phasing is established, and the vibration and coupling relationship are analysed. In
order to verify the accuracy of the established model, the calculated angular displacement
and angular velocity are compared with the theoretical values. The conclusions from this
study are:
200 G. Huo et al.

1) The run-out error of planet has an important impact on excitation frequency of output
element and the influence of 2nd stage is bigger than 1st stage. The runout error of
planet in 1st stage affects the excitation frequency in 2nd stage, but the runout error
of planet in 2nd stage almost do not affect the excitation frequency in 1st stage.
2) According to the coupling analysis, the coupling characteristics between the two
stages exists and affects each other. Among the exciting frequencies, the meshing
frequency and its harmonic frequency of each stage dominates. Moreover, some
combination meshing frequencies, coupled to each other between two stages, are
also not negligible.
3) This paper’s focus is one degree of freedom, i.e., the established model is pure tor-
sional model. Moreover, the coupling results of this paper shows that exciting fre-
quencies in each stage include meshing frequencies of two stages, which is a nice
coupling result. The results of the coupling characteristics of the torsion model can
be used as the research basis for the further research of the bending-torsion model.

Acknowledgments. The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant No. 11972131) and (Grant No. 12072089). The first author Guanghe Huo also would
like to acknowledges financing of his stay at the University of Cantabria by means of a CSC (China
Scholarship Council) grant number 202106120133, which is financed by the government of the
People’s Republic of China.

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 Research on Robustness Analysis and Evaluation
Method of Bearing-Support System

Fangming Liu1 , Jie Hong2 , Yanhong Ma1 , and Xueqi Chen1(B)

1 Research Institute of Aero-Engine, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
[email protected]
2 School of Energy and Power Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China

Abstract. Modern engines often use bearing outer ring with mounting edge in the
front support structure of the rotor fan to reduce the number of parts and reduce the
weight of the engine. During the working process, the front bearing of the fan is in
a complex load environment. Among them, the bearing inner ring rotates at high
speed with the rotor, which is subjected to significant centrifugal loads. Coupled
with the periodic impact excitation caused by the non-synchronous procession,
the lateral or angular impact load of the rotor, etc., the bearing and its supporting
structure will produce a variety of damage accumulations, and even structural
failures. To solve this problem, taking the structural system as the research object,
considering the structural form and its rotor motion state under different load
environments, and guided by the failure modes and their resulting mechanical
processes, the quantitative evaluation parameters and calculation methods for two
types of failure modes, interface contact failure and bearing failure, are proposed
Among them, interface contact failure includes contact sliding, wear, and contact
fatigue, and bearing failure includes tilt of inner and outer rings of bearings, rollers
fall off, unsmooth movement when engine shutdown. On this basis, a method and
process for evaluating the robustness of the bearing-support system have been
developed.
The results show that the proposed evaluation method can effectively char-
acterize the damage of bearing-support system under different loads, and deter-
mine the main damage modes, which can provide evaluation method support for
bearing-support system damage control and robust decision.

Keywords: Bearing-support system · Interface contact state · Robust design ·

Failure mode

1 Introduction
During the motion of the aero-engine, the rotor will inevitably excite the support struc-
ture, and the motion state of the rotor will change accordingly, resulting in damage
accumulation and structural failure of the bearing and its support structure. The fan front
bearing-support system also exposed some problems during the whole machine test,
such as wear of the bearing inner and outer rings, unsmooth movement when engine
shutdown, and excessive vibration. Therefore, it is urgent to form a complete robustness
evaluation method and process to assess the damage of the bearing-support system.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 202–223, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_14
 Research on Robustness Analysis 203

In terms of bearing damage and failure modes, scholars have carried out sufficient
research. The commonly-seen failures of bearings mainly consist of plastic deformation,
wear, corrosion, crack, and fracture [1–3]. The reasons for these failures include extreme
operating conditions, inadequate lubrication, improper mounting, and deficient sealing
[2]. El Laithy et al. [4] reviewed the research on rolling contact fatigue in bearings and the
associated microstructural alterations. Darmo et al. [5] investigated the fatigue fracture
on a double-row tapered roller bearing, and the thermal softening was the leading reason
for the initial crack. Zhang et al. [6] investigated that the failure mechanism of the fatigue
failure of the main bearing threaded hole in a high-strength diesel engine was the high
cycle fatigue failure caused by the gas-dominated stress amplitude exceeding the bearing
capacity of the material and structure. Xu et al. [7] studied the dynamic behaviors and
contact characteristics of ball bearings under the effects of 3D clearance fit. The results
indicate that the larger fit clearance of the unilateral bearing may lead to misalignment.
However, there are few reports on the damage and failure of bearing-support system
containing connect interfaces.
Improving the robustness of the mechanical properties of structural systems has
become the main goal of current engineering structure design [8]. The goal of robust
design of structural systems is to reduce the sensitivity of structural mechanical properties
to changes in working conditions and load environments by controlling damage, thereby
improving the robustness of structural systems. Hong Jie et al. [9] analyzed the failure
of the rotor connection interface. Based on the tolerance model, they carried out a robust
design for the contact stress of the connection interface of the rotor structure system.
Yue Wei et al. [11] established the stiffness damage model of the rabbet joint structure
and proposed the robust design method of the rabbet joint structure. Jie Hong [12]
proposed a mechanical model for evaluating sliding damage in bolted connections. Jie
Hong [13] established a mechanical model of joint interface stiffness loss and proposed
a joint structure stiffness loss suppression method based on strain energy distribution
optimization for dynamic design of discontinuous rotor system. LI Junhui et al. [14] used
the finite element method to study the main factors affecting the joint stiffness and contact
stress of the gear structure, and proposed the corresponding structural design method
of the gear structure. Bing-long Lei [15] established quantitative evaluation parameters
based on interface deformation coordination, and optimized geometric characteristic
parameters of rotor. Xueqi Chen [16] established an evaluation method for the influence
of interface contact damage evolution on rotor dynamic characteristics. L. A. Sosnovskiy
[17] proposed a prediction method of interface wear and fatigue caused by friction.
To sum up, existing research on the damage and failure of bearing structures mostly
focuses on the contact fatigue and wear damage of single components of bearings, with
less consideration given to the bearing-support system. Especially for bearings and mul-
tiple connection structures under complex load environments, there is still a lack of
systematic and effective methods for evaluating the robustness of interface contact dam-
age and mechanical properties. For the typical fan front bearing and its support structure,
the structural system is taken as the research object, comprehensively considering the
changes in the mechanical properties of the bearing-support system under different load
environments and rotor motion states, the damage evaluation parameters for the bearing
and the two connection interfaces are proposed,
204 F. Liu et al.

2 Structure System and Load

2.1 Composition of Structural System
As shown in Fig. 1, the typical fan front bearing-support system is composed of fan
rotor, bearing, bearing seat, bearing frame, fan case and other structures. And the front
bearing is the roller bearing, whose mounting edge of the outer ring is connected to the
inner mounting edge of the bearing seat by bolts, forming a bearing-support system. It
provides lateral and angular displacement constraints for the front end of the fan rotor
and transmits part of the radial load to the bearing seat, the bearing frame and the main
mounting.

Bearing frame
Bearing seat
Bolted joint
The bearing outer ring Fan rotor
Roller
The bearing inner ring Cage Front journal

Fig. 1. Typical bearing-support system in aero-engine

2.2 Interface Contact Characteristic

A typical fan front bearing-support system consists of multiple components and forms
a whole through the connection structure. This paper focuses on the two connections:
the roller-bearing connection, the outer ring-bearing seat connection. As shown in the
Fig. 2, the contact interface between the roller and bearing includes bearing outer ring-
bearing seat cylindrical face, bearing outer ring-bearing seat end-face, front and rear bolt
end-face, which form a flange-bolt connection interface. The contact interface between
the bearing outer ring and the bearing seat includes the outer ring-roller face and the
inner ring-roller face.

2.3 Load Environment

Assembly and Centrifugal Load. During the initial assembly, the bearing outer ring and
bearing seat are connected by bolts, under the stress caused by the initial bolt pretension
and the small interference fit of the cylindrical-face. Among them, the initial pretension
 Research on Robustness Analysis 205

Bearing outer ring-Bearing seat end-face

p f p
Bolt end-face Bolt end-face
f
Bearing outer ring-Bearing seat cylindrical face f Bearing outer ring-Roller face

Bearing inner ring-Roller face

Fig. 2. Contact interface and contact characteristic parameters

ensures the axial compression under complex load. And the initial interference fit ensures
the connection structure always maintains centering, preventing the interface damage
and increased vibration caused by looseness of cylindrical-face. Under the action of
assembly load, due to different configuration and material parameters, the deformation
ratio of bearing outer ring and bearing seat is different, which may lead to certain
contact damage in the assembly state, as shown in Fig. 3. At the same time, the angular
deformation will lead to the change of the contact position between the bearing outer
ring and the roller, resulting in collision and contact damage.

l pre,0
Bolt
Pretens ion l pre Bolt
Pretens ion

Cylindrical interference fit

(a) Before assembly (b) After assembly

Fig. 3. Deformation trend of structural system before and after assembly

The fan rotor is supported by the front and rear fulcrums. Due to the positive Poisson’s
ratio of the material, the rotor contracts axially while expanding radially under centrifugal
load. Moreover, since the rear fulcrum is positioned axially by ball bearing, the front
journal moves backward during axial contraction, resulting in axial displacement of the
bearing inner ring, as shown in Fig. 4b.
If the axial deformation of the inner ring does not occur, the center surfaces of the
bearing inner ring and the bearing inner ring coincide. The rotor and the bearing inner ring
will transfer radial load to the bearing outer ring through the roller under centrifugal load.
This radial load contributes to the radial compression at the cylindrical-face, as shown in
206 F. Liu et al.

Axial displacement Centrifug

of inner ring al load

Axial deformation ω
direction

(a) Static state (b) Rotating state

Fig. 4. Deformation trend of fan rotor under centrifugal load

Fig. 5a. When the fan rotor deformation causes axial displacement of the bearing inner
ring, the radial load caused by the centrifugal load will produce additional bending load
on the bearing outer ring, and the outer ring will have angular deformation compared
with the inner mounting edge of the bearing seat, and lead to bolt pretension loss, contact
state change, constraint stiffness decrease, local separation of contact interface and even
contact damage occur, as shown in Fig. 5b.

Additional Interface separation

The interface keep
bending load on local area
compression
Radial load
Radial load

(a) (b)
Fig. 5. Influence of axial displacement of bearing inner ring on deformation

Rotational Inertia Load. The rotating inertia load caused by the asymmetric mass of
the rotor will generate the bearing dynamic load, as shown in Fig. 6.

Force transmission route

of rotational inertia load

Fig. 6. Force transmission route of rotational inertia load on bearing-support system

 Research on Robustness Analysis 207

Looking along the face fore, the fan rotor rotates clockwise. At the same time, the
rotational inertia load and the resulting bearing dynamic load are the rotational excitation
that rotates clockwise with the fan rotor, and generate periodic excitation Fs,r for the
bearing-support system which remains stationary, as shown in Fig. 7.

Fs,r
Fs,r

L L

(a) T=t0 (b) T=t1>t0

Fig. 7. Periodic excitation characteristics of bearing-support system under rotational inertia load

Generally, the rotor works above the multiple critical speeds. If the asymmetric
distribution of the rotor mass distribution in the initial state only manifests as a center
of mass center eccentricity, the self-centering effect in post critical range makes the
lateral displacement of the rotor caused by the rotational inertia load and the amplitude
of the periodic excitation Fs,r on the bearing-support system small, and the interface
contact damage caused by the rotating inertia load is slight. However, when the rotor has
a certain skewness in principal axis of inertia, a large rotational inertia moment will be
generated in post critical range. And a large value of periodic excitation will be generated
on the bearing-support system. Such periodic excitation will cause periodic changes in
the contact state at the interface, which may lead to interface wear or fatigue damage.
Stable Lateral (Angular) Inertia Load. When the engine is in an extreme working
environment such as lateral overload or maneuvering flight, the bearing-support system
will have obvious lateral or angular deformation because of lateral inertia load caused
by overload or angular inertia load caused by maneuvering flight.
For fan rotor, deformation can produce a large additional lateral or angular load Fs,in ,
as shown in Fig. 8. For bearing-support system, the direction and amplitude of lateral
and angular inertial load is always the same, so the additional load is static load for
bearing-support system. The static load has a constant influence on the contact state,
which may cause some changes in the contact characteristics.
When the support system is under stable lateral (angular) inertia load, asymmetry
of load results in asymmetry of deformation, thus leading to different stiffness in each
direction (nonlinearity of bearing stiffness), as shown in Fig. 9. Under lateral overload,
the stiffness in vertical direction ks,V 1 = ks,V 2 is different, but the stiffness in horizontal
direction ks,H 1 = ks,H 2 is the same. The vertical and horizontal stiffness ks,V 1 = ks,V 2 =
ks,H 1 = ks,H 2 are different under maneuvering flight. The nonlinear stiffness of the
support may cause the rotor to be in the state of non-synchronous procession, which
may lead to the vibration exceeding the limit. At the same time, there may also be
misalignment, and then produce frequency doubling, leading to vibration intensification.
208 F. Liu et al.

Before deformation
Before deformation
After deformation
After deformation

5g Ω

(a) Lateral overload (b) Maneuver flight

Fig. 8. Fan rotor deformation under extreme working conditions

Before deformation
After deformation
ks,V1 cs,V1

ks,H1 ks,H2

cs,H1 cs,H2

ks,V2 cs,V2

(a) Deformation diagram (b) Mechanical model

Fig. 9. Bearing frame deformation under extreme working conditions

Impact Excitation. The generation of impact excitations mainly includes the following
two types: first is the lateral impact excitation generating during aircraft hard landing,
second is the rotational impact excitation that the rotor may produce on the bearing-
support system when the rotor is in non-synchronous procession.
During aircraft hard landing, the rotor may have a large lateral deformation instan-
taneously, and collide with the bearing-support system, resulting in impact excitation.
This kind of impact excitation shows the characteristics of extremely short time and high
peak value in the time domain Although the load at this time is similar to that of the
steady lateral (angular) inertial load, the interface is more prone to damage and failure
because the excitation amplitude is much larger.
The fan rotor is usually in non-synchronous procession state due to the influence
of factors such as rotor-stator rubbing, asymmetric structural mechanical properties,
interactive excitation between high and low rotors and so on. The rotor’s procession
trajectory is not circular. When the procession radius is large, the rotor may produce
periodic impact excitation on the bearing-support system. The amplitude of the periodic
impact excitation is relatively small, and the impact on the contact state and the interface
damage caused by the periodic impact excitation are similar to that of the steady rotational
inertia load.
In addition to directly causing the contact state change and contact damage of the
interface, the periodic impact excitation will also arouse the modal vibration of the
bearing-support system. If the excitation frequency is close to or even equal to the
 Research on Robustness Analysis 209

modal frequency of the bearing-support system itself, the modal vibration amplitude
will increase greatly, and the bearing-support system will have modal resonance, leading
to the response amplitude is increased. And the modal resonance will lead to contact
damage or failure.

3 Damage and Failure Analysis of Bearing-Support System

3.1 Failure Mode
According to the different failure locations, the failure modes of the bearing-support
system can be divided into two types: One is the failure of the two contact interfaces in
the structural system, and the other is the failure of the bearing function.
Interface Contact Failure. For the interface, three types of interface contact damage,
namely sliding damage, wear and contact fatigue, may occur in the working process, and
thus result in failure. The magnitude of the quantitative evaluation parameter indicates
the magnitude of the interface damage accumulation during working cycle.
Interface Wear. Wear is the process of continuous damage to surface materials of objects
in contact with each other during relative motion. It is the inevitable result of friction.
When wear accumulates to a certain extent, the interface morphology changes, and the
surface material peels off and loses, resulting in wear damage. In this paper, Archard
friction work law to describe the amount of interface wear damage under external load
changes Contact friction work is used to quantitatively evaluate the wear damage, as
shown in “Eq. (1)”.

Wwear = Ff dr (1)

where, W wear is the contact friction work, F f is the friction force between the two
members pressed together, and d r is the relative sliding distance. When the contact pair
is sticking, the friction work generated by the position is ignored. When the contact pair
is sliding, the friction work is calculated only with the interface contact characteristic
parameters under the maximum load state in the loading cycle.
Interfacial wear damage is usually caused by periodic loads. According to different
load types, the possible wear and damage mechanism of the bearing-support system
at the interface can be divided into two types: One is the interface wear caused by the
periodic excitation caused by the rotating inertia load or the non-synchronous procession
of the rotor. The other is the centrifugal load and the resulting interface sliding change
with the rotating speed. In the process of multiple working cycles, the interface wear
occurs. However, from the point of view of the degree of interface wear, the former is
much higher than the latter.
Because clearance fit is used at the cylindrical-face, the radial constraint stiffness is
provided only by the bending stiffness of bolts and the tangential friction at the end-face.
And the axial pretension of the bolt decreases after the end-face wears, tangential friction
also decreases, resulting in stiffness loss and nonlinear change of bearing stiffness with
load. The flatness of the end-face surface cannot be guaranteed after wear, and the outer
ring may skewness, causing misalignment.
210 F. Liu et al.

Interface Sliding. The mechanism of sliding damage is that the friction between the
interfaces cannot restrain the uncoordinated deformation under complex loads, which
is mainly represented by the change of tangential relative position between the inter-
faces. The relative sliding distance d r is used to describe the interface sliding damage
quantitatively.
According to the above analysis of the load environment of the bearing-support
system, it can be seen that the possible sliding damage mainly includes the following
two forms: 1) Under centrifugal load, axial displacement occurs in the bearing inner
ring. The radial load caused by centrifugal load in the rotor and bearing inner ring
will generate additional bending load on the bearing outer ring through the roller. The
mounting edge of the bearing outer ring will undergo angular deformation, which may
cause relative sliding in end-face dr,1 and cylindrical-face dr,2 , as shown in Fig. 10a. 2)
Under the lateral inertial load or impact load, the mounting edge of the bearing outer
ring has a certain lateral displacement. Moreover, because the outer bearing ring and
the bearing seat usually adopt clearance or transition fit at the cylindrical-face surface,
the centering effect is not strong, resulting in the sliding of the end-face d r , as shown
in Fig. 10b. Under the action of inertia load, the position relation of the bearing and
support structure changes step by step. Under the impact load, the interface sliding
shows a sudden change.

Before deformation After deformation Before deformmation After deformation

End-face
sliding dr,1 End-face
sliding dr

Additional
bend
Lateral
Centrifugal Cylinderdr,2 inertial load
load
(a) under centrifugal load (b) under lateral
Fig. 10. Different interface sliding forms of bearing-support system

Interface sliding directly leads to the decrease of radial constraint stiffness of the
bearing-support system (under the same lateral load, the greater the interface sliding,
the greater the lateral displacement of the bearing-support system, and the lower the
constraint stiffness). In addition, interface sliding will cause misalignment, and abnormal
frequencies such as double frequency will appear in dynamic response of rotor.
Interface Contact Fatigue. Fatigue damage refers to the accumulation of damage in the
process of cyclic loading, which can be generally divided into high period fatigue and
low period fatigue. It is mainly manifested as the initiation and expansion of cracks
in interfacial materials under internal forces, which is generated by the accumulation
of damage in cyclic loading. At present, the critical surface method is usually used to
study the fatigue damage characteristics of the interface, and the SWT model is a more
commonly used fatigue damage life model [18], as shown in “Eq. (2)”. Where, σmax is
the maximum stress perpendicular to the plane, and ε is the maximum strain difference
 Research on Robustness Analysis 211

perpendicular to the plane.

ε
θ = σmax (2)
2
For a plane at angle θ , substitute τy,x = μp into “Eq. (2)”. The expression for θ can be
written as shown in “Eq. (3)”. Where, pm is the maximum contact stress, and p is the
represents the change in contact stress. The value of C f depends on the magnitude of
the friction coefficient. Therefore, the multiaxial fatigue damage parameters θ mainly
depend on the product pm p . Therefore, indicator parameter of fatigue strength Pfatigue =
pm p were used to quantitatively evaluate the interface fatigue damage.
 1 d εθ
θ ≈ σθ p=pm · · · p = Cf pm p (3)
2 dp
The possible contact fatigue damage of bearing-support system at the interface is
mainly concentrated on the end-face of the bearing outer ring and the bearing seat,
and may also be caused by periodic excitation caused by rotating inertia load or non-
synchronous procession. When the cracks in the material extend to a certain extent,
fatigue fracture may occur, leading to the reduction of radial constraint stiffness and
even constraint failure of the bearing-support system.
Bearing Failure. For bearing, three types of damage, tilt of inner and outer rings of
bearings, rollers fall off, unsmooth movement when engine shutdown may occur.
Tilt of Inner and Outer Rings of Bearings. In the working process, the bearing inner and
outer rings the may have angular displacement, so that the bearing roller is in abnormal
motion, resulting in the change of the rolling position of the roller on the inner and outer
rings.
After angular displacement is generated in the inner and outer rings. On the one
hand, the roller will produce a large rolling load (radial force F N and tangential drag
force F T ). On the other hand, the contact position between the roller and the inner and
outer rings will change (from line contact to point contact). The rolling radial force will
cause the roller to generate traveling wave excitation load. Rolling tangential force will
produce greater friction force, which may lead to obvious wear and fatigue damage in the
conflict area. What’s more, the tilt of inner and outer rings can also lead to misalignment
Therefore, the tilt angle θr is used to describe the relative tilt of inner and outer rings
quantitatively. According to engineering experience, when the tilt angle is greater than
6’, the bearing will suffer greater damage (Fig. 11).
Rollers Fall Off. Typical fan front bearing-support system uses inner ring positioning,
roller and bearing outer ring can slide against each other. Under centrifugal load, the
rear fulcrum of the fan rotor expands radially and contracts axially. The rear fulcrum
of the fan rotor is ball bearing, which limits its axial displacement. Therefore, the inner
ring of the front journal bearing of the fan will have axial displacement backward. The
roller and cage will be axial displaced backward along with the inner ring of the bearing,
resulting in the change of the contact position between the outer ring and the roller. As
shown in Fig. 12. When the roller is detached from the bearing outer ring (when the axial
212 F. Liu et al.

FN,outer

Conflict area Conflict

FT,outer area

r
FT,inner
Conflict area H

FN,inner

Fig. 11. Bearing rolling load diagram in working progress

displacement of the roller exceeds the maximum allowable displacement l − l ≤ 0),

the contact area between the roller and the bearing outer ring becomes smaller, resulting
in a sharp increase in the contact stress at the contact position, and contact damage is
likely to occur.

l+ l l- l=0
l l
Axial deformation
(a) No axial displacement of inner ring (b) Axial displacement of inner ring

Fig. 12. Axial deformation diagram of bearing inner ring in working process

Unsmooth Movement when Engine Shutdown. Under normal conditions, there is a cer-
tain radial clearance of the bearing. However, under asymmetric loads (such as lateral
inertial loads), there will be a certain relative displacement between the inner and outer
rings, resulting in reduced clearance at some positions of the bearing and increased clear-
ance at some positions, as shown in position A in Fig. 13b. When the roller is moved to
the position A, the contact deformation δin between the roller and the inner ring raceway
and the contact deformation δout between the roller and the outer ring raceway increases,
which leads to greater resistance when the roller reaches here, and further leads to the
wear of the roller and the inner and outer rings of the bearing.
Because there is a flange-bolt connection between the bearing outer ring and the
bearing seat, certain sliding will occur on the end-face under asymmetric load. After
engine shutdown, the elastic restoring force of the flange edge cannot overcome the
friction force at the position of the end-face, resulting in a certain residual deformation
 Research on Robustness Analysis 213

Bearing clearance

(a) Before deformation (b) After deformation

Fig. 13. Unsmooth movement due to asymmetric load

of the bearing outer ring, which cannot be restored. Thus, the distance between the inner
and outer rings of the bearing decreases, resulting in unsmooth movement when engine
shutdown (Fig. 14).

(a) Under asymmetric load (b) Engine shutdown

Fig. 14. Diagram of deformation during under asymmetric load and shutdown

The core of unsmooth movement is that the restraint state of the bolted connection
structure under external load cannot be restored. In this paper, considering the changes
in surplus bolt pretension caused by local deformation of the interface under external
loads, the surplus bolt pretension is used to reflect the change of local constraints of the
connection structure. The greater the change in the surplus bolt pretension compared to
the initial assembly pretension, the more likely it is to cause deformation that cannot be
restored, and the more likely it is to cause unsmooth movement when engine shutdown.

3.2 Structural System Robustness Evaluation Method

Various types of interface damage may occur simultaneously in bearing-support sys-
tem, and the different damage will interact with each other. Therefore, it is necessary to
comprehensively consider the randomness of fit characteristic parameters and load char-
acteristic parameters to carry out a complete robustness evaluation of bearing-support
system. Based on this, the flow chart is as shown as Fig. 15:
1) Calculate damage under normal working loads. Firstly, analyze the deformation, the
interface contact characteristics of the bearing-support system from the assembly to
the maximum operating speed state. Secondly, use the three evaluation parameters
214 F. Liu et al.

proposed in the previous section to evaluate whether the bearing is damaged. Then,
use the three types of interface contact damage evaluation parameters and algorithms
established to calculate the wear, sliding and fatigue damage.
2) Calculate the damage caused by periodic impact excitation due to the bearing-support
system clearance. Periodic impact excitation is one of the loads that need to be consid-
ered in addition to the design conditions and may occur during the working process.
By calculating the structural dynamic response, deformation and interface contact
characteristics, the damage of the bearing-support system in a cycle is evaluated.
3) Calculate damage under lateral loads. Comparing the bearing dynamic load under
stable lateral inertial load or hard landing, it is believed that when the bearing dynamic
load is large, the deformation of the connecting structure is large and the contact state
is poor. And evaluate the failure of bearing and contact damage of interface in this
state.
4) Calculate damage under maneuvering flight. Analyze the deformation, the interface
contact characteristics. Then, evaluate the failure of bearing and contact damage of
interface in Maneuver flight.

Bearing-support system design

requirements

Preliminary engineering design

Damage assessment under Damage assessment under Damage assessment under Damage assessment under
assembly and centrifugal load periodic impact excitation lateral load maneuvering flight

Yes Amplitude of lateral No

impact excitation hard landing

Damage assessment under Damage assessment under

stable lateral load hard landing

No
Whether it meets the damage
control requirements of bearing
Yes

No
Whether it meets the damage control requirements
of the outer ring-bearing seat interface

Yes
No
Whether it meets the damage control requirements
of the roller-outer ring interface
Yes
Completion of interface damage
and robustness assessment

Fig. 15. The evaluation process robustness of the bearing-support system

 Research on Robustness Analysis 215

4 Examples of Robustness Evaluation

4.1 Modeling of Bearing-Support System

Based on typical fan front bearing-support system, solid 186 elements are used in
bearing-support system. For the components far away from the connected structure,
the rough mesh with the element size of 6 mm can be used. A grid with an element
size of 0.3 mm is used for members close to the connected structure. Establish the
three-dimensional solid finite element model as shown in Fig. 16.
The interface of finite element model of bearing-support system is set as shown in
Fig. 16, yellow represents bonded and red represents frictional.And the friction coeffi-
cient is 0.15 and the gap of the outer ring-bearing seat cylindrical-face is set as 0.01 mm
in diameter. Considering the connection of the bearing-support system, fixed support are
applied to the position of mounting joint (A in Fig. 16) and ball bearing (B in Fig. 16).
Under the action of axial compression of the bolt head and nut, the mounting edge of
bearing outer ring and the rear journal of bearing seat will be in a state of compression
at the end-face and the tightening torque is set to 10 N·m (equivalent bolt pretension of
5674 N). The fan rotor working speed of is given to 10000 RPM.

Y
X
Z

Fig. 16. Finite element model, connects and boundary condition of bearing-support system

4.2 Damage Evaluation Under Assembly and Centrifugal Load

In this section, ANSYS workbench was used for simulation calculation. The deformation
distribution characteristics of the bearing-support system were calculated, as shown in
Fig. 17. It can be seen that the inner ring of the bearing undergoes axial displacement
relative to the outer ring.
Bearing damage evaluation parameters from assembly to maximum working speed
were calculated, as shown in Table 1. The relative tilt angle θr of inner and outer rings
is 1.647’, which far less than 6’. The maximum axial displacement reaches l − l =
4.713 mm ≥ 0. Therefore, the roller will not be separated from the outer ring of the
bearing under centrifugal load. Since the connection structure will loosen due to the
positive Poisson’s ratio and the deformation of the compressed part, the bolt surplus
216 F. Liu et al.

-1.514×10-2mm -4.132×10-3mm 9.142×10-3mm

1.010×10-2mm
-4.029×10-3mm 1.285mm

-4.524×10-3mm 1.296mm

(a) Radial deformation (b) Axial deformation

Fig. 17. Deformation diagram under centrifugal load

Table 1. Bearing damage evaluation parameters.

Evaluation parameters Tilt angle θr l − l Surplus pretension

1.647’ 4.713 mm 5665 N

pretension in maximum working speed state has a relatively small change compared to
that in assembly state. Therefore, the bearing damage is relatively small in this state.
The calculated interface damage is shown in Table 2. The contact friction work on
the outer ring-bearing seat cylindrical-face, end-face and roller-outer ring face increased
by multiple order of magnitude. Therefore, the probability of wear damage on the three
interface increases in order. The maximum unrecoverable sliding distance on flange-
bolt connection interface is relatively large (greater than initial offset). This means that
sliding damage is prone to occur at the interface. The fatigue indicator parameters on
the end-face is small, while which is relatively large on the other two interfaces. That is,
it is easy to produce fatigue damage on cylindrical-face and roller-outer ring face.

Table 2. Interface damage evaluation parameters.

Contact Friction Work Unrecoverable Sliding Fatigue indicator

Distance MAX parameter
Cylindrical-face 5.433 × 10−3 J 0.021 mm 12321 MPa2
End-face 1.437 J 0.035 mm 2885 MPa2
Roller-outer ring face 10.86 J – 28157 MPa2

Figure 18 shows the damage morphology of the roller and bearing outer ring during
the engine shutdown inspection after 318 h of operation. There is obvious wear on the
roller and the bearing outer ring raceway, and there is a certain phenomenon of swapping
block on the roller. The calculation results are consistent with the actual engine test
results.
 Research on Robustness Analysis 217

(a) Roller face (b) Roller-outer ring face

Fig. 18. Morphology of the damaged bearing outer ring

4.3 Damage Evaluation Under Periodic Impact Excitation

This section considers the damage evaluation of periodic collision impacts between the
rotor and stator when there is clearance in the bearing. Based on the joint simulation of
ANSYS Workbench and LS-Dyna, on the basis of considering the centrifugal load, the
unbalance of the fan rotor is set to 300 g mm, the bearing clearance is set to 0.01 mm,
the low pressure rotor speed is set to 10000 RPM, the structural damping ratio is 0.003.
The calculation results are shown in Fig. 19.

Fig. 19. Load bearing under periodic impact excitation

Compared with the evaluation results of bearing damage under normal working
conditions (as shown in Table 1), The change in bearing damage evaluation parameters
is relatively small, as shown in Table 3. Therefore, the bearing damage is less likely to
occur in this state.

Table 3. Bearing damage evaluation parameters.

Evaluation parameters Tilt angle θr max l − l max Surplus pretension

1.144’ 4.715 mm 5652.2 N

The calculated interface damage is shown in Table 4. Compared to centrifugal load,

contact friction work, maximum unrecoverable sliding distance slightly increases, but the
218 F. Liu et al.

overall change is not significant. The fatigue indicator parameters on end-face and roller-
outer ring face is small. This means that fatigue damage may only occur on cylindrical-
face.

Table 4. Interface damage evaluation parameters.

Contact Friction Work Unrecoverable Sliding Fatigue indicator

Distance MAX parameter
Cylindrical-face 5.709 × 10−3 J 0.026 mm 13028 MPa2
End-face 1.783 J 0.046 mm 256 MPa2
Roller-outer ring face 11.74 J – 2601 MPa2

4.4 Damage Evaluation Under Lateral Load

This section uses ANSYS workbench for simulation calculation. Firstly, it is necessary
to compare bearing forces under steady lateral loads and “hard landing” impact loads.
Therefore, in this section, on the basis of considering centrifugal load, the steady lateral
load is set as the lateral force that does not change with time of 5 g. The “hard landing”
impact load is set as a lateral force with an action duration of 11 ms and a size of 5 g,
and the damping ratio is set as 0.003.
It is calculated that the force of the outer ring is 875.9 N under steady lateral load.
The maximum force of the outer ring is 1265 N, which is much greater than the lateral
load. Therefore, it is considered that the “hard landing” state is a state of poor contact,
which needs to be evaluated for damage.

Radial deformation Min

Min 0.00352mm
0.00352mm
Y

x
z
Radial deformation
Max Max
0.0156mm 0.0156mm

Fig. 20. Radial deformation distribution of bearing outer ring under “hard landing” condition

The radial deformation of the outer ring under lateral load is shown in Fig. 20. It
can be seen that, under the action of centrifugal load on the rotor, the bearing outer
ring has umbrella-shaped and radial outward deformation, and the distribution of radial
deformation along the circumference is not uniform due to the huge lateral load on
the fan rotor. The radial deformation on the lower side is relatively large, resulting in
the maximum angular deformation on the lower side (3.877’≤6’). The maximum axial
 Research on Robustness Analysis 219

displacement reaches l−l = 4.712 mm ≥ 0. Therefore, the roller will not be separated
from the outer ring of the bearing under centrifugal load.

2.561870
N
Only bolt pretension
x x No overload No hard landing

x
Hard landing Hard landing
25. 76MPa 21. 40MPa
N 5673.4N
x 5.
77 807. 6N 5665N
87

36. 84MPa
Y 5655.6N

Surplus bolt pretension

Radial load
x x
o z 275. 18N

x
55. 92MPa 61. 98MPa Y
x Y
x o z 1265. 2N o Z 678.8N
(a)Normal contact
(b)Radial load of roller (c)Surplus bolt pretension
stress
Fig. 21. Normal contact stress, load distribution and surplus bolt pretension diagram

Figure 21 show that lateral load will change the deformation and load distribution
characteristics of bearings. In the load direction, the roller load increases and the radial
deformation of the outer ring increases. In addition, the radial deformation of the outer
ring will affect the contact state between the roller-bearing seat at the interface. There-
fore, it is necessary to further analyze the contact damage of two interface. Due to the
asymmetry of the lateral load, the surplus pretension on the lower side is relatively large,
up to 5678.8 N. But compared to the assembly state, the change is relatively small.
Therefore, it is not easy to cause unsmooth movement when engine shutdown (Table 5).

Table 5. Bearing damage evaluation parameters.

Parameters Tilt angle θr max l − l max Surplus pretension max

3.877’ 4.712 mm 5678.8 N

The calculated interface damage is shown in Table 6. Compared to centrifugal load,

the change of contact friction work and maximum unrecoverable sliding distance is not
relatively small. Fatigue indicator parameter increases slightly in cylindrical-face and
roller-outer ring face, but increases exponentially (53 times) on the end-face. This means
that fatigue damage is likely to occur on end-face during hard landing.

4.5 Damage Evaluation Under Maneuvering Flight

This section uses ANSYS workbench for simulation calculation. On the basis of con-
sidering the centrifugal load, the maneuvering angular velocity of the given structural
system is 3.5 rad/s.
The deformation diagram under maneuvering flight is shown in Fig. 22. It can be
seen that the inertia torque generated by the fan rotor will generate additional lateral
220 F. Liu et al.

Table 6. Interface damage evaluation parameters.

Contact Friction Work Unrecoverable Sliding Fatigue indicator

Distance MAX parameter
Cylindrical-face 1.447 × 10−3 J 0.025 mm 14436 MPa2
End-face 1.593 J 0.038 mm 156414 MPa2
Roller-outer ring face 11.94 J – 30920 MPa2

Y
Y
x x
z z

Local
bending

(a) Outer ring (b) Inner ring

Fig. 22. Deformation diagram under maneuvering flight conditions

inertial load, and the axial displacement of the inner ring under centrifugal load will
cause the lateral inertial load to generate bending load at the same time. As a result,
obvious local bending deformation occurs in the outer ring. The maximum relative tilt
angle of inner and outer rings is 37.651’.Excessive tilting of the inner and outer rings
will cause significant bearing damage.

1
5
.3
6
2
7
8
0
N
Roller out of outer ring Only bolt pretension
0.546mm x
No maneuver flight
Hard landing
x Maneuvering flight
0.63mm Maneuver flight
0.359mm
x
807. 6N
0.133mm
x 5799N
Y Y
x 5787N 5673.4N
Radial load

x
o z o z
13003N 5678N
x
13861N
22523N
x
1388M
MPa
27780N Y
x x
Roller press the inner ring
o Z 6155N
(a)Normal contact stress (b)Radial load of roller (c)Surplus bolt pretension
Fig. 23. Normal contact stress, load distribution and surplus bolt pretension diagram

Under maneuvering flight conditions, the contact state and radial load distribution are
shown in Fig. 23. It can be seen that the tilt of the fan rotor will generate additional bending
moment on the bearing under maneuvering flight, leading to local bending deformation
of the bearing outer ring and non-uniform compression load of the roller. Compared with
the lateral load, the load of roller caused by maneuvering flight changes more violently,
which is manifested as that the bearing capacity of only one side roller and the maximum
load of roller significantly increase under maneuvering flight, which will have an adverse
 Research on Robustness Analysis 221

effect on the strength and life of the rollers. This also leads to a significant asymmetry
in the surplus bolt pretension. The maximum surplus bolt pretension reaches 6155 N,
which increases by 8% compared to the assembly state and the dispersion increases,
which may cause certain unsmooth movement when engine shutdown (Table 7).

Table 7. Bearing damage evaluation parameters.

Parameters Tilt angle θr max l − l max Surplus pretension max

37.65’ 4.734 mm 6155 N

The calculated interface damage is shown in Table 8. The contact friction work, unre-
coverable sliding distance and fatigue indicator parameter increase by multiple orders
of magnitude compared to the centrifugal load. This means that the wear, sliding and
fatigue damage are easy to occur.

Table 8. Interface damage evaluation parameters.

Contact friction work Unrecoverable sliding Fatigue indicator

distance MAX parameter
Cylindrical-face 3.123 × 10−3 J 0.176 mm 43068 MPa2
End-face 3.227 J 0.201 mm 28619 MPa2
Roller-outer ring face 49.99 J 1.928 × 106 MPa2

5 Conclusion
In this paper, for a typical fan front bearing-support system, the possible failure modes are
analyzed for different loads. And according to the failure modes, a robustness evaluation
method and process for the bearing-support system is proposed.
1. By analyzing the structural characteristics, motion status, and complex load envi-
ronment of a typical fan front bearing-support system, the interface contact damage
characteristics and bearing damage characteristics were mastered.
2. There are three types of interface contact failure mode that may affect the mechanical
properties of the bearing-support system: contact fatigue damage, relative slip dam-
age, and wear damage. And three quantitative evaluation parameters are proposed:
unrecoverable sliding distance, contact friction work, and fatigue indicator param-
eter, which are used to evaluate the interface contact damage accumulation of the
bearing-support system under complex load environments.
222 F. Liu et al.

3. There are also three types of bearing failure mode that may affect the mechanical
properties of the bearing-support system: tilt of inner and outer rings of bearings,
rollers fall off, unsmooth movement when engine shutdown may occur. And three
quantitative evaluation parameters are proposed: relative tilt angle of inner and outer
rings, maximum allowable displacement, surplus bolt pretension, which are used to
evaluate the bearing damage accumulation under complex load environments.
4. Taking a typical bearing-support system as an example, robustness evaluation method
and process are introduced. The results show that the evaluation method proposed in
this paper can effectively characterize the impact of different loads on the robustness.
And by comparing the evaluation results under different working conditions, the
main failure mode under each working condition are determined. The failure mode
under centrifugal load mainly focuses on interface contact failure. Each interface
may experience a certain degree of sliding damage. At the same time, the cylindrical-
face is prone to fatigue damage, and the roller-outer ring face is prone to wear and
fatigue damage. The influence of periodic impact excitation and lateral impact load
mainly focuses on fatigue damage compared to centrifugal load. The possibility of
fatigue damage to cylindrical-face doesn’t vary significantly, while the end-face and
roller-outer ring face have a reduced likelihood of fatigue damage under periodic
impact excitation and increased likelihood under hard landing. The failure mode
under maneuvering flight includes interface failure and bearing failure, in which the
possibility of wear, sliding, and fatigue damage of each interface is significantly
increased. It is also easy to cause excessive tilting of the inner and outer rings and
unsmooth movement when engine shutdown.

Acknowledgements. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52075018. 52205082), and National Science
and Technology.

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 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration
of a Flexible Rotor System with Substantial
Unbalance

Pingchao Yu1(B) , Zihan Jiang1 , Cun Wang2 , and Li Hou1

1 College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Nanjing 211106, People’s Republic of China
[email protected]
2 Beijing Institute of Power Machinery, Beijing 100074, People’s Republic of China

Abstract. Substantial unbalance is a possible condition usually induced by large

blade off or bird strike during operation of aero-engine, and related dynamics are
very crucial to the safety design of aero-engine. The main purpose of this paper
is to get insight into the nonlinear transient lateral vibration of a flexible rotor
with considering the nonlinearity of substantial unbalance. A new nonlinear rotor
dynamic model with substantial unbalance is first built based on Lagrange method
and finite element method. Then the effects of substantial unbalance on rotor’s
modal and stability characteristics are analyzed. Finally, the transient vibration
responses during rotor decelerating process are discussed. The results show that
there exist multiple modal coupling regions. In those regions, some vibration
modes are instable, which may lead to the divergence of steady-state response or
lead to several new resonance peaks. The rotation speed variation has a significant
effect on rotor’s transient response. Obvious amplitude oscillation phenomenon
can be observed, and it becomes more intense with the increase of decelerating
time. Improving system damping can effectively reduce the nonlinear effect caused
by substantial unbalance.

Keywords: Transient lateral vibration · flexible rotor · substantial unbalance ·

speed variation

1 Introduction
In gas turbine engines, substantial unbalance is a possibility during the operation period,
and is usually induced by fan blade out, bird strike, etc. [1, 2]. Substantial unbalance
may lead to large unbalance force and other nonlinear effects on the spinning rotor.
As a result, several secondary structural failures such as bearing damage or vibration
instability occur. How to maintain the safety of the rotor system becomes a major concern
in aero-engine design [3]. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the dynamics of
the substantial unbalance rotor system.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 224–242, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_15
 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System 225

As one of the most common troubles in rotating machinery, unbalance problem

has been studied since the birth of the rotordynamic [4]. Traditional analysis mainly
investigated the behavior of lateral vibration of the unbalance rotor system. It is well
known that unbalance will produce the synchronous excitation whose amplitude is pro-
portional to the square of the rotational speed, thus it usually causes the synchronous
lateral vibration [5]. In addition, the unbalance is the basic vibration source and can
lead to many other secondary faults such as rub-impact, misalignment, and etc. The
vibration characteristics of the rotor system under those coupling excitations have also
been researched extensively. For example, Patel [6] built an unbalance-rubbing-crack
coupling dynamic model of rotor system and studied the nonlinear dynamic behaviors.
Yang investigated the dynamic characteristics of rotor system with unbalance, pedestal
looseness and rub-impact [7].
Generally, only unbalance forces are considered in traditional dynamic analysis.
Under this case, it is a kind of linear system. However, in the case of substantial unbalance,
some nonlinear factors may be excited. Over the past several decades, the nonlinear
lateral-torsional coupled dynamics of the unbalance rotor have attracted the attention
of many scholars. Bernasconi [8] established the equations of motion of a continuous
shaft and analysed the bisynchronous torsional vibrations of rotating shafts. Applying
Lagrangian dynamics, Mohiuddin [9] and Al-Bedoor [10] developed models for the
coupled torsional and lateral vibrations of an unbalanced rotor. Hong [11] studied the
bending-torsional modal characteristics and found the instability phenomena. Recently,
Li [12] analysed the bending-torsional vibration responses of a rotor-bearing-coupling
system based on experiment and numerical simulation.
In fact, when there is a substantial unbalance in the disk, the moment of inertia will
change and inertia asymmetry appears [13]. Besides, the angular and translation motions
of the unbalance disk can generate some additional dynamic terms [14]. However, those
aspects are not included in the existing dynamic modeling. Furthermore, the rotation
speed must be slow down in actual aero-engine for the purpose of flight safety once
substantial unbalance suddenly happens. At that time, the variation of rotation speed
may affect rotordynamics significantly, but most studies mainly focus on the condition
of constant rotation speed. This paper aims to understand the nonlinear transient vibration
of a flexible rotor system with substantial unbalance. The lateral vibration responses are
the focus of the paper; thus, the torsional vibration is not contained in the analysis.
First, the nonlinear dynamic model of the substantial unbalance model is derived based
on Lagrange method. Based on that, the dynamic equations of the flexible rotor are
established by introducing above nonlinear model into the rotor finite element model.
Then the modal and instability characteristics of the unbalanced rotor are discussed.
Finally, the transient lateral vibrations are investigated in detail.

2 Dynamic Modeling of a Flexible Rotor with Substantial

Unbalance

In this paper, a simplified flexible rotor system is built to study the dynamic characteristics
under the substantial unbalance condition, as shown in Fig. 1. The flexible rotor is similar
to the low-pressure rotor of aero-engine in structure and dynamics. It has three supports
226 P. Yu et al.

and two disks. The cantilever disk1 represents fan part while disk2 represents turbine
part. The parameters of the flexible rotor system are presented in Table 1. It should be
noted that parameters of disk1 listed below are given without considering the effect of
substantial unbalance.

l1 l2
l3 l4
D1 d1 D 2 d2 D3 d3 D4 d4

E ρ μ md2
md1 K (1)
b C (1)
b K (2)
b C (2)
b
Jp2 K b(3) Cb(3)
Jp1 x Jd2
Support 1 Support 2 φ Disk2 Support 3
Jd1
Disk 1
ψ z
ω
y
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a flexible rotor system

As can be seen in Fig. 2(a), it is symmetric in orthogonal direction for the ideal disk
without unbalance. The diameter moments of inertia in x direction and y direction are
same, i.e. Jdx = Jdy = Jp /2, where Jp is polar moment of inertia. In some cases, such
as blade out, a substantial unbalance is generated, then the diameter moments of inertia
are not same, as seen in Eq. (1).

Jdx = Jp /2, Jdy = Jp /2 − mb rb2 (1)

where mb and rb are the mass and mass center of blade respectively, as shown in Fig. 2(b).
Obviously, an inertial asymmetry is induced for the substantial balance disk. In general,
only unbalance force is considered in dynamic analysis of the unbalanced rotor. This
simplification is reasonable in small unbalance condition. However, if the unbalance is
large, then not only the unbalance force but also the change of inertia caused by mass
eccentric should be taken account.
In following parts, it is assumed that a substantial unbalance exists in disk1 and
corresponding dynamic modeling will be performed.

2.1 Finite Element Modeling of Rotor System

The dynamic model of above flexible rotor system is built in ANSYS software, as shown
in Fig. 3. The shaft is modeled by beam element named BEAM188. This beam element
is based on Timoshenko beam theory. Each beam element has 2 nodes and 8 degree of
freedoms (Dofs). The mass matrix and stiffness matrix of Timoshenko beam element
 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System 227

Table 1. Parameters of the flexible rotor system

Component Parameter Symbol Value

Disk1 without Mass (kg) m1 120
unbalance Polar moment of inertia J p1 15
(kg·m2 )
Diameter moment of J d1 7.5
inertia (kg·m2 )
Disk2 Mass (kg) m2 80
Polar moment of inertia Jp2 6
(kg·m2 )
Diameter moment of Jd2 3
inertia (kg·m2 )
Shaft Shaft (mm) l, l 1 , l 2 , l 3 , l 4 2000, 300, 300, 1200, 200
Outer diameter (mm) D1 , D2 , D3 , D4 160, 160, 80, 80
Inner diameter (mm) d1, d2, d3, d4 140, 140, 70, 70
Material Density (kg/m3 ) ρ 7800
Young’s modulus (GPa) E 210
Poisson’s ratio µ 0.3
Support Support stiffness (N/m) k b1 , k b2 , k b3 5e7, 5e7, 5e7
Support damping (N cb1 , cb2 , cb3 0,0,0
m/s)

have been described in literatures [15, 16]. The support is simulated by spring element
named COMBIN14, and the corresponding stiffness and damping are set in real data
of COMBIN14. The disk2 is modeled by mass element named MASS21, and the mass
and moment of inertia are also set in real data. The detail information for spring element
and mass element can refer to literatures [17, 18]. The disk1 is not modeled in the beam
finite element model, because the traditional mass element cannot be applied for this
substantial unbalance disk. The corresponding dynamic equation will be derived in next
subsection. There are 24 nodes and 84 Dofs for the final dynamic model, including 20
beam elements, 1 mass element and 3 spring elements. After the finite element model
has been built, the dynamic matrix can then be exported through HBMAT command, and
the governing equations of the rotor system without disk1 can be obtained, as follows:

Mr q̈ + (Cr + Gr )q̇ + Kr q = 0 (2)

where Mr , Cr , Gr , Kr and q are the mass matrix, damping matrix, gyroscopic matrix,
stiffness matrix and displacement vector, respectively. Gr = ωGr0 , where ω is the
rotation speed of rotor and Gr0 is the gyroscopic matrix under the unit rotation speed.
Rayleigh damping Cr = αMr + βKr is applied to form corresponding damping matrix,
where α and β are coefficients.
228 P. Yu et al.

(a) M, Jp, Jdx, Jdy

o x

(b)

y
e
o x

rb
mb
Lost blade

Fig. 2. The disk (a) without unbalance, and (b) with unbalance

Beam element Mass element

Spring element

Fig. 3. Beam finite element model of flexible rotor

2.2 Model of Disk with Substantial Unbalance

Figure 4 presents an unbalanced disk with 4 lateral Dofs denoted as x, y, θ x , θ y . θ is the
rotation angle about axis z, thus θ̇ and θ̈ are the rotation speed and rotation acceleration,
 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System 229

respectively. In this paper, the variation of rotation speed will be considered, i.e., θ̈ = 0.
In addition, Jdx = Jdy caused by substantial will also be included. Above two points lead
to the big difference between the dynamic equation of the unbalanced disk with that of
the traditional rigid disk. Lagrange method will be used to derive its dynamic equation.

Mass center Jdx

geometric Mass

z
center center
O O Jdy

y
m
y
Fig. 4. The Dofs and structure parameters of unbalanced disk

(1) Rotational kinetic energy

The second kind of Euler angle is used to represent the rotation of the unbalanced
disk, as shown in Fig. 5. Coordinate system O’x0 y0 z0 , whose center is fixed with
disk center O’, is parallel with global fixed coordinate system Oxyz (not marked
in Fig. 5). O’x2 y2 z2 is a moving coordinate system fixed with disk, where O’x 2
is along the line between the mass centroid and the geometric center, and O’y2 is
perpendicular to O’x 2 in the disk plane.

The rotating motion of disk is equivalent to the moving process of O’x0 y0 z0 to

O’x2 y2 z2 through Euler angle α, β and ϕ. Thus, the angular velocity components in
O’x2 y2 z2 are as follows:
⎧
⎨ ωx2 = α̇ cos β sin ϕ + β̇ cos ϕ
⎪
ωy2 = α̇ cos β cos ϕ − β̇ sin ϕ (3)
⎪
⎩
ωz2 = −α̇ sin β + ϕ̇

Then the rotational kinetic energy of the unbalanced disk is:

1
Tr = (Jdx ωx22 + Jdy ωy22 + Jp ωz22 ) (4)
2
As mentioned above, Jdx = Jdy for the unbalanced disk. Then three parame-
ters named average diameter moment of inertia J , inertia asymmetry J and inertial
asymmetry coefficient  are introduced, and they are defined as:
1  1  J
J = Jdx + Jdy , J = Jdx − Jdy ,  = (5)
2 2 J
230 P. Yu et al.

x1 x0 x0
x1
x2
z2
z2
z1
x2 ϕ α z1
Mass
β
z0 center
O α
O z0

β
y0 ϕ
y0
y1
y1 y2
y2
(a) (b)

Fig. 5. (a) The second kind of Euler angle, (b) rotation of unbalanced disk

where  is a non-dimensional parameter and can reflect the asymmetry degree of

different disks. Substituting Eqs. (5) and (3) into Eq. (4), one can obtain:
⎧ ⎫
1 ⎨ J ( β̇ 2
+ α̇ 2
) − 2J α̇ β̇ sin 2ϕ ⎬
Tr = (6)
2 ⎩ −J (β̇ 2 − α̇ 2 ) cos 2ϕ + 2J ϕ̇ 2 + ϕ̇(β̇α − α̇β) ⎭

Due to the fact that lateral vibration of the disk is a small quantity, there exist
following expressions:

α̇ = θ̇y , β̇ ≈ θ̇ , ϕ̇ = θ̇ = ω (7)

The rotational kinetic energy can be changed in following form by substituting Eq. (7)
into Eq. (6):
⎧ ⎫
1 ⎨ J (θ̇x + θ̇y ) − 2J θ̇x θ̇y sin2θ − J (θ̇x − θ̇y )cos2θ ⎬
2 2 2 2

Tr = (8)
2 ⎩ +2J θ̇ 2 + θ̇ (θ̇x θy − θ̇y θx ) ⎭

(2) Translational kinetic energy

Based on composition principle of velocities, the velocity of disk mass center V
in the fixed coordinate system Oxyz can be expressed as:

V = VO + Ṽ (9)

where VO is the velocity of the disk geometric center, i.e. convected velocity. VO =
 T
ẋ ẏ 0 , among which ẋ and ẏ is the velocity components in x and y direction of
the fixed coordinate system Oxyz. The velocity component in z direction is regarded
 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System 231

as zero because the disk axial vibration is not considered in this study. Ṽ is the
velocity of the disk mass center in the moving coordinate system O’x2 y2 z2 , i.e.
relative velocity. The relative velocity Ṽ is generated by the disk rotational motion.
Its expression is shown as:
⎛ ⎞
−θ̇ sin θ
Ṽ = e⎝ θ̇ cos θ ⎠ (10)
θy θ̇ sin θ − θ̇y cos θ + θ̇x sin θ + θx θ̇ cos θ

where e is the distance between disk mass center and geometric center, i.e., eccentric-
ity. In traditional analysis, the axial velocity component in Eq. (10) is not considered
because e is very small. Based on expressions of VO and Ṽ, the translational kinetic
energy of the unbalanced disk is obtained:
1 1
Tt = m(ẋ − eθ̇ sin θ )2 + m(ẏ + eθ̇ cos θ )2
2 2 (11)
1
+ m[(θ̇θy sin θ + θ̇ θx cos θ + θ̇x sin θ − θ̇y cos θ )e]2
2
Then Lagrange method is used to derive the dynamic equation, as shown in
Eq. (12):
 
d ∂Td ∂Td  T
− = 0, qd = x, y, θx , θy (12)
dt ∂ q̇d ∂qd

where qd is the generalized displacement and Td = Tt + Tr is the kinetic energy of

the unbalanced disk. Substituting expressions of kinetic energy of the unbalanced
disk into Eq. (12), the dynamic equation is derived as:
   
Md + Mdc cos 2θ + Mds sin 2θ q̈d + Gd + Gdc cos 2θ + Gds sin 2θ q̇d
      
+ Kd θ̇ + Kd θ̈ + Kdcθ̇ + Kdcθ̈ cos 2θ + Kdsθ̇ + Kdsθ̈ sin 2θ qd = f(t)
(13)
 
where Md , Gd and Kd θ̇ + Kd θ̈ are the constant parts of the mass matrix, gyro-
 
scopic matrix and stiffness matrix, respectively. Mdc , Mds , Gdc , Gds , Kdcθ̇ + Kdcθ̈
 
and Kdsθ̇ + Kdsθ̈ are the coefficients of the time-varying parts of the mass matrix,
gyroscopic matrix and stiffness matrix, respectively. f(t) is the excitation vector.
Under constant rotation speed, θ = ωt. The expressions of above dynamic matrix
232 P. Yu et al.

are as:
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
m 0
⎢ m ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
Md = ⎢ ⎥, Mdc = ⎢ 0 ⎥,
⎣ 1 2 +J ⎦ ⎣ − 21 me2 −J ⎦
2 me
1
2 me
2 +J 1
2 me
2 + J
⎡ ⎤
0
⎢ 0 ⎥
Mds =⎢
⎣
⎥
2 ⎦,
0 −J − 1
2 me
−J − 21 me2 0
⎡ ⎤
0
⎢ 0 ⎥
Gd = θ̇ ⎢
⎣ ,⎥
 0  2J + me2 ⎦
− 2J + me2 0
⎡ ⎤
0
⎢ 0 ⎥
Gdc = θ̇ ⎢
⎣
 ⎥
2 ⎦,
 0  − 2J + me
− 2J + me2 0
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
0 0
⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
Gds = θ̇ ⎢ ⎥, K = θ̇ 2 ⎢ 0 ⎥,
⎣ 2J + me2  0 ⎦ d θ̇ ⎣ − 1
me 2 ⎦
 2
0 − 2J + me 2 − 2 me
1 2
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
0 0
⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢
2⎢ 0
⎥
Kd θ̈ = θ̈ ⎢
⎣ 1
⎥
2 + J ⎦, Kdcθ̇ = θ̇ ⎣ 1 2
⎥,
⎦
1 2 0  2 me 2 me
− 2 me + J 0 − 2 me
1 2
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
0 0
⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
Kdsθ̇ = θ̇ 2 ⎢ ⎥, K = θ̈ ⎢ 0 ⎥,
⎣ 0 1
me ⎦
2 dc θ̈ ⎣ 0 − me ⎦
1 2
2 2
1
2 me
2 0 − 21 me2 0
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
0 meθ̇ 2 cos θ
⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢ meθ̇ 2 sin θ ⎥
Kdsθ̈ = θ̈ ⎢
⎣ 1 2
⎥,
⎦ f(t) = ⎢
⎣
⎥.
⎦
2 me
− 21 me2

Different with the traditional disk, the inertial asymmetry due to the sub-
stantial unbalance is included. Meantime, an axial velocity component is also
considered when the inclination motion occurs for the unbalanced disk. As
a result, the additional terms −2J θ̇x θ̇y sin 2θ − J (θ̇x2 − θ̇y2 ) cos 2θ and
m[(θ̇θy sin θ + θ̇θx cos θ + θ̇x sin θ − θ̇y cos θ )e]2 /2 appear in the rotational kinetic
energy and the translational kinetic energy respectively. Those additional terms lead
 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System 233

to the parametric terms in equation of motion Eq. (13). To summary, the mass eccen-
tricity and the resulting inertial asymmetry are the physical reason of the parametric
terms in the equation of motion. It should be noted that the time-varying terms related
to Mdc , Mds , Gdc , Gds are similar to that of the asymmetric rotor, but the value in the
matrix must be corrected by me2 . In addition, the unbalance leads to the additional
stiffness terms. Among them, Kd θ̇ , Kdcθ̇ , and Kdsθ̇ are all related to rotation speed
θ̇ , while Kd θ̈ , Kdcθ̈ and Kdsθ̈ are all related to angle acceleration θ̈.

2.3 Governing Equation of Whole Rotor System

Based on the model established in Sects. 2.1 and 2.2, the dynamic governing equation
for the whole system is given as follows:

(Mr + Md + Mdc cos 2θ + Mds sin 2θ)q̈ + (Cr + Gr + Gd + Gdc cos 2θ + Gds sin 2θ)q̇
        (14)
+ Kr + Kd θ̇ + Kd θ̈ + Kdcθ̇ + Kdcθ̈ cos 2θ + Kdsθ̇ + Kdsθ̈ sin 2θ q = f(t)

The dynamic matrixes Mr , Cr , Gr and Kr correspond to the rotor system without

substantial unbalanced disk1, and they have been described
  in Sect.
 2.1. The dynamic
matrixes Md , Mdc , Mds , Gd , Gdc , Gds , Kd θ̇ + Kd θ̈ , Kdcθ̇ + Kdcθ̈ and Kdsθ̇ + Kdsθ̈
correspond to the unbalanced disk1. Those dynamic matrixes are all expanded to 84 ×
84 dimension in order to be added with dynamic matrixes Mr , Cr , Gr and Kr . Since the
unbalanced disk is located at node 1, only the elements corresponding to node 1 are not
zero, while other elements are all zero. The dynamic model built in this paper not only
precisely considers the influence of substantial unbalance, but also includes the effect
of the variation of rotation speed, which is a development on the existing model.

3 Mode and Stability Analysis of the Flexible Rotor System

The substantial unbalance condition is generally caused by Fan blade out (FBO). For
a typical high bypass ratio turbofan engine, the unbalance produced by the loss of the
fan blade can reach 1–7 kg·m, and the corresponding asymmetry coefficient ranges
from 0.04 to 0.3 [19]. In the subsequent analysis, we assumed that the diks1 has the
substantial unbalance. The corresponding unbalance parameters are chosen referring to
the fan structure with FBO in actual aero-engine, and their values are listed in Table 2.

Table 2. The unbalance parameters of disk1

No Diameter moment of Inertia asymmetry  Eccentricity e (mm)

inertia (kg·m2 )
Jdx1 Jdy1
1 9 6 0.15 30
2 10.5 4.5 0.3 60
234 P. Yu et al.

Firstly, the modes and stability of substantial unbalance rotor are analyzed. In modal
analysis, the rotor speed is constant. Therefore, θ = ωt, Kd θ̈ , Kdcθ̈ and Kdsθ̈ terms are
all zero. In this case, Eq. (14) degenerates into a parametric vibration equation with
time-varying frequency being 2ω, as shown below:

(Mr + Md + Mdc cos 2ωt + Mds sin 2ωt)q̈ + (Cr + Gr + Gd + Gdc cos 2ωt + Gds sin 2ωt)q̇
  (15)
+ Kr + Kd θ̇ + Kdcθ̇ cos 2ωt + Kdsθ̇ sin 2ωt q = f(t)

Without considering external excitation f(t) and damping Cr , the system mode can
be obtained by the Hill method [20, 21]. Figure 6 shows the modal frequency and
stability results when e = 60 mm. Because of the time-varying features of the dynamic
matrix, there contain both the fundamental frequency and the harmonic modal frequency
for any order modes. For example, ωn1+,0 is the fundamental frequency (subscript 0)
of 1st order forward whirl mode (subscript n1+), and ωn2+,−1 is the negative 1st order
harmonic frequency (subscript −1) of the 2nd order forward whirl mode (subscript n2+).
The fundamental frequency corresponds to the modal frequency of the traditional linear
rotor (without time-varying dynamic matrix). The harmonic frequency is determined by
both the fundamental frequency and the time-varying frequency.
Figure 6 (a) shows the modal coupling phenomenon between fundamental frequency
and harmonic frequency occurring in the substantial unbalanced rotor. The modal cou-
pling means that two modal frequency curves coincide with each other in a certain
rotation speed region. One can find three regions. The first is [2910, 3210] rpm, where
modal coupling occurs between ωn1+,0 and ωn1+,−1 . This region coincides with the 1st
order critical speed of rotor system. The second is near 4320 rpm, where modal cou-
pling occurs between ωn2+,0 and ωn2+,−1 . This region coincides with 2nd order critical
speed of rotor system. The third region is [3690, 3780] rpm, where modal coupling
occurs between ωn2+,0 and ωn1+,−1 as well as ωn1+,0 and ωn2+,−1 . Figure 6 (b) shows
the real part of eigenvalue. In above three modal coupling regions, the real parts of the
rotor eigenvalue are all greater than 0. As a result, the rotor modal response will diverge
gradually over time, leading to the instability of the system dynamics. Therefore, we
can infer that modal coupling will lead to system’s instability. In nature, the instable
phenomenon of the substantial unbalanced rotor system is induced by the time-varying
parametric terms in mass, gyroscopic, stiffness matrices. The modes and instability of
the time-varying rotor system have been studied in many publications. More details can
be found in those researches [22–24].
Furthermore, Newmark method is used to solve Eq. (15) to obtain the steady-state
vibration of the rotor at constant rotation speed. In the calculation, the eccentricity e =
60 mm and the damping ratio is 0.01. The damping ratio is coveted into the Rayleigh
damping factor based on the process described in literature [25], and then it is applied into
dynamic equation. In order to intuitively compare vibration amplitudes under different
eccentricities, normalized displacement x = x/e is introduced in the subsequent analysis,
where x is the vibration displacement actually calculated.
Figure 7 shows the rotor amplitude-speed curves, where “nonlinear” means that
the time variation of each dynamic matrix due to substantial unbalance is considered;
“linear” means that only the unbalance force f(t) is considered and it will be regarded
as a traditional unbalanced rotor. The results show that the linear rotor has two peak
 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System 235

(a) 100 3690~3780rpm (b) 20

1X 15 2910~3210rpm
80

Real part of eigenvalue

ωn2+,0 10
Modal frequency (Hz)

4320rpm 3690~3780rpm
5
60 ωn1+,0
0
ωn2+,-1
40 ωn1+,-1 -5 4320rpm
-10
20
2910~3210rpm -15

0 -20
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000
Rotation speed (rpm) Rotation speed (rpm)

Fig. 6. (a) Modal frequency, (b) modal stability of the unbalanced rotor under constant rotation
speed

rotation speeds of 3070 rpm and 4330 rpm, which correspond to the 1st and 2nd order
critical speeds of the linear rotor. When considering the time-varying effect caused
by substantial unbalance, it can be seen that the nonlinear rotor becomes unstable in
the 1st order resonance region, and a new peak rotation speed appears at 3730 rpm.
These two rotation speed regions just correspond to the instability region in Fig. 6. At
4330 rpm, the amplitude of the nonlinear rotor is slightly larger than the linear rotor, but
the whole rotor is stable. In general, the modal coupling and instability will lead to more
complicated response characteristics of rotor system: If the modal coupling is serious,
the vibration response usually diverges; If the modal coupling is relatively weak, the
vibration amplitude may increase which induces a new resonance peak point.
Figure 8 shows the rotor amplitude-speed curves with different damping ratios. It can
be seen that with the increase of system damping, the vibration response at the 1st order
resonance speed tends to converge, while the resonance peak of 3730 rpm disappears.
Therefore, we can conclude that the rotor’s stability can be effectively improved by
increasing system’s damping.

4 Transient Responses of the Flexible Rotor System

Generally, once FBO occurs, the substantial unbalanced rotor will quickly run down, and
finally operate at the low-speed windmilling condition. Therefore, this section focuses on
analyzing the vibration response of the substantial unbalanced rotor during the process
of deceleration. By comparing Eqs. (14) and (15), one can find that when the rotation
speed is changing, the dynamic equations are no longer a periodic time-varying system.
Meantime, an additional dynamic matrix terms will be generated. Consequently, the
vibration response will be different from that under the constant rotation speed.

4.1 Linear Case

Figure 9 shows three kinds of decelerating curves. It assumed that the rotor evenly
decelerates from 8000 rpm to 1000 rpm, and the deceleration time td is set as 2 s, 4 s and
236 P. Yu et al.
5
10

4
Linear
10 Nonlinear

Normalized ampliutde
3
10 3730rpm
2
10
4330rpm
3070rpm
1
10

0
10

-1
10

-2
10
2000 4000 6000 8000
Rotatioin speed (rpm)
Fig. 7. Steady-state vibration amplitude of the unbalanced rotor system

6
10
5 Damping ratio 0.01
10 Damping ratio 0.05
4 Damping ratio 0.1
10
Normalized amplitude

3
10
2
10
1
10
0
10
-1
10
-2
10
2000 4000 6000 8000
Rotation speed (rpm)
Fig. 8. Effect of rotor damping on the stability of the unbalanced rotor system

8 s respectively. First of all, without considering the time variation of dynamic matrix,
the transient response of linear rotor system during decelerating process is calculated by
Newmark method, as shown in Fig. 10. Figure 10(b) is the comparison of the envelope
for the time responses in Fig. 10(a) under different td . For the purpose of comparison,
the steady-state response results are also given in Fig. 10(b). It can be seen that under
the decelerating condition, rotor resonance speed and the corresponding peak value are
slightly lower than those in the steady-state condition. Amplitude oscillation occurs
when rotor passes through the critical speed. The shorter the decelerating time is, the
more obvious this phenomenon is.
 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System 237

8000

Rotation speed (rpm)

6000

4000

td=2s t =4s td=8s

d
2000

Curve1 Curve2 Curve 3

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (s)
Fig. 9. Three kind of decelerating curves used in calculation

8
(b) Steady state
(a) Decelerating td=2s td=2s Decelerating
6 td=4s
Normalized amplitude
Normalized amplitude

td=8s
td=4s 4

2
td=8s

0
8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000
Rotation speed(rpm) Rotation speed (rpm)

Fig. 10. The vibration response in time-domain for the linear unbalanced rotor system

The time-frequency results of the time-domain responses for td = 2 and 8 s are

obtained through the wavelet transform, as shown in Fig. 11. One can see that at the
resonance speed, the modal frequency component is obvious. If the deceleration time is
long enough (td = 8 s), the frequency component decays quickly, and the rotor response
is mainly dominated by the rotation frequency. However, when the rotor decelerates
rapidly (td = 2 s), the modal frequency component is not fully attenuated after the rotor
passes through the resonance speed. At that time, both the modal frequency and rotation
frequency exist in the rotor’s response. Therefore, the amplitude oscillation occurs when
rotor just passes through the resonance speed is generated. Meanwhile, this is also the
reason for the different transient responses of the rotor under different deceleration times.
238 P. Yu et al.

(a) (b)

fn2+ fn2+

Resonance fn1+ Rotation Resonance fn1+

speed

Fig. 11. Time-frequency responses of the linear unbalanced rotor for (a) td = 2 s, (b) td = 8 s

4.2 Nonlinear Case

Considering the time-varying of dynamic matrix brought by substantial unbalance, the

nonlinear transient response during deceleration process is analyzed. Figures 12 and 13
show the time-domain vibration when e = 60 mm and e = 30 mm, and the damping
ratio is 0.05 in the calculation. When e = 30 mm, the time-domain vibration response
of the nonlinear rotor is similar to that of the linear rotor (presented in Sect. 4.1). The
amplitudes and resonance speeds under different deceleration time are also close. One
major difference between nonlinear case and linear case is that the responses are more
complex before the rotor passes through the 2nd resonance speed. One can see that the
nonlinear rotor presents an extremely significant amplitude oscillation phenomenon at
that time. When e = 60 mm, the transient response and amplitude oscillation of the
substantial unbalanced rotor become more complicated. When the rotor passes through
two resonance regions, the rotor vibration level is very high, and no obvious resonance
point can be observed. At the same time, the longer the deceleration time is, the higher the
rotor amplitude is, and the rotor’s transient responses under different deceleration time
have obvious difference. Moreover, the vibration amplitude of the substantial unbalance
rotor when passing through the instable regions is not magnified infinitely. The reason
may be that the vibration energy has not been fully accumulated during the deceleration
condition.
Figure 14 shows the time-frequency results obtained by the wavelet transform of
time-domain responses. When e = 30 mm, the frequency-domain response of the rotor
in the process of deceleration is still dominated by the rotation frequency, and its ampli-
tude reaches the maximum at the 2nd order resonance point. However, it should be noted
that when the rotor is close to the 2nd order resonance point, the non-negligible back-
ward whirl modal frequency components fn1− and fn2− appear in the frequency-domain
response. These two frequency components last for a certain time before they decay.
Obviously, the appearance of these two frequency components is the main reason for
the aforementioned rotor amplitude oscillation phenomenon. In addition, one can see
that the amplitude of above modal frequency components is significantly lower than that
of the rotation frequency, indicating that the transient vibration response of the rotor is
still dominated by the unbalanced force at that time. Therefore, the nonlinear transient
 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System 239

(a) Decelerating (b) Decelerating td=2s

td=2s

Normalized amplitude
Normalized amplitude

td=4s td=4s

td=8s td=8s

Rotation speed(rpm) Rotation speed(rpm)

Fig. 12. Time response of the nonlinear unbalanced rotor for (a) e = 60 mm, (b) e = 30 mm

300 8
(a) (b) td=2s
Instability region
250 for steady-state case td=4s
Normalized amplitude

6
td=2s td=8s
Normalized amplitude

200
td=4s Steady state
150 td=8s 4
Steady state
100
2
50

0 0
8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000
Rotation speed (rpm) Rotation speed (rpm)

Fig. 13. Envelope of the time-domain response in Fig. 12, (a) e = 60 mm, (b) e = 30mm

response for e = 30 mm is generally similar to the result of the linear rotor. Moreover,
it can be found that compared with linear rotors, the backward whirl modal frequency
components of substantial unbalanced rotors are more likely to be excited during the
decelerating process.
When e = 70 mm, before and after the rotor passes through the two-order resonance
speeds, the frequency components f n1− and f n2− are more obvious. Meantime, the cor-
responding amplitude and the lasting region are longer. More importantly, the amplitude
of those frequency components is basically equivalent to the rotation frequency ampli-
tude, resulting in a significant increase of rotor amplitude and more complex vibration
characteristics. By comparing the response results of td = 2 s and 8 s, one can find that
the with the increase of deceleration time, the amplitude of the backward whirl modal
frequency when passing through the resonance region becomes larger. At that time, the
backward whirl modes have a significant effect on rotor response.
Figure 15 shows the nonlinear transient responses under different damping ratios.
In the calculation, e = 60 mm. It can be seen that when the damping ratio is 0.01, the
rotor amplitude is higher than that when the damping ratio is 0.05. Obvious instability
occurs when rotor passes through the critical speed. For example, the rotor amplitude
240 P. Yu et al.

(c)
(a) (b)

fn2+:70Hz
fn2+
fn1+ fn1+ 4200rpm fn2-
fn2-:39~44Hz fn1+
fn2-:37Hz
3000rpm fn1-
fn1-:24Hz fn1-:24~29Hz

Fig. 14. Time-frequency responses when (a) e = 30 mm, td = 2 s, (b) e = 60 mm, td = 2s, (c) e
= 60 mm, td = 8 s

reaches 105 when td = 4 s. With the increase of rotor damping, rotor amplitude decreases
and vibration response tends to be stable. When the damping ratio is 0.1, the response
characteristics are close to those in Fig. 12(b), i.e., there are two obvious resonance points
during decelerating process, and the resonance speed and resonance amplitude are close
to linear rotor. Obviously, increasing the system’s damping is beneficial to improve the
stability of transient response.

(a) td=2s Decelerating (b) Decelerating td=2s

Normalized amplitude
Normalized amplitude

td=4s td=4s

td=8s td=8s

Rotation speed(rpm) Rotation speed(rpm)

Fig. 15. Influence of damping on response of nonlinear unbalanced rotor, (a) damping ratio 0.01,
(b) damping ratio 0.1

5 Conclusions
The main subject of this paper is to understand the effect of substantial unbalance on
nonlinear lateral transient dynamics of a flexible rotor system. Based on Lagrange method
and finite element method, a new nonlinear rotor dynamic model with the substantial
unbalance is built. The model shows that the substantial unbalance not only generates
traditional unbalance force, but also leads to the time-varying of dynamic matrix and
introduces additional stiffness terms. As a result, some new nonlinear phenomena with
regard to modes and vibration responses appear in the substantial unbalanced rotor.
Through the modal analysis, it is found that substantial unbalance can cause the modal
coupling and instability in some speed regions. Those instable regions mainly include
 Investigation on the Transient Lateral Vibration of a Flexible Rotor System 241

two types: One is in the vicinity of resonance speeds just corresponding to the modal
coupling of ωn1+,0 with ωn1+,−1 as well as ωn2+,0 with ωn2+,−1 ; Another corresponding
to modal coupling regions of ωn2+,0 with ωn1+,−1 (or ωn1+,0 with ωn2+,−1 ). The former
may lead to the divergence of steady-state response, while the latter generally causes
new resonance peaks in steady-state response. The speed variation has a significant
effect on nonlinear transient response. Obvious amplitude oscillation phenomenon can
be observed before rotor passes through the 2nd resonance speeds during decelerating
process. The longer the decelerating time is, the more intense the amplitude oscillation
is. The main mechanism is that backward whirl modes are excited when the substantial
unbalanced rotor decelerates. In addition, with the decrease of the eccentricity or the
increase of damping, both the steady-state and transient responses tend to behave like
the traditional linear unbalance rotor, in which the unbalance force dominates system’s
response.

Acknowledgements. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52005252, 52105130), Jiangsu
Province Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. BK20211187), the Aeronautical Science Foun-
dation of China (Grant No. 2020Z039052007) and the Postdoctoral Science Foundation Project
(Grant No. 2022M711615).

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 Dynamic Behaviors of a Bolted Joint Rotor
System Considering the Contact State at Mating
Interface

Yuqi Li1,2,4(B) , Zhimin Zhu1 , Zhong Luo2 , Chuanmei Wen3 , Lei Li2 , and Long Jin1
1 School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and
Technology, Liuzhou 545006, People’s Republic of China
[email protected]
2 School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Northeastern University,
Shenyang 110819, People’s Republic of China
3 School of Electronic Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology,
Liuzhou 545006, People’s Republic of China
4 Guangxi Earthmoving Machinery Collaborative Innovation Center, Guangxi University of

Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, People’s Republic of China

Abstract. The bolted joint is widely used in the aero-engine rotor system, which
introduced a larger number of contact interfaces. These bolted joints are subjected
to complex vibrations during operation and cause changes in the contact state at
the mating interface, leading to a time-varying mechanical characteristics. This
study aims to investigate the effect of the contact state at the mating interface on
the dynamic behavior of the rotor system. Details are as follows: (1) obtaining the
hysteresis curve of the bolted joint using the finite element method to explore the
contact behavior at the mating interface; (2) an Iwan-based analytical model of
bolted joint considering the contact state is proposed; (3) an adaptive parameter
identification method for the analytical model is developed by using the initial
loading data; (4) the dynamic model of bolted joint rotor system considering the
contact state at the mating interface is established by multiscale relevance between
the local joint structure contact state and rotor system, then relevant numerical
studies were carried out, and (5) the numerical simulation results are verified by
established bolted rotor test rig. The studies would provide guidance for the design
of the aero-engine rotor system.

Keywords: Dynamic modeling · vibration analysis · bolted joint rotor · mating

interface contact · hysteresis characteristic

1 Introduction
In large rotating machinery, the bolted joint rotor systems are widely applied since
different materials and assembly requirements of the various components, such as the
aero-engine, turbomachinery, etc. [1–3]. As for the aero-engine shown in Fig. 1a, it
would introduce several mating interfaces inevitably due to the bolted joint rotor system

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 243–256, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_16
244 Y. Li et al.

used [4]. And it would cause the vibration response of joint rotor to exist distinguishable
characteristics significantly with the integral rotor due to the frictional dissipation and
contact state time-varying characteristic at the mating interface [5]. However, the existing
studies mainly focused on the integral rotor vibration performance and bolted rotor
system’s piecewise linear characteristics, the contact state at the mating interface is
ignored, which leads to the real vibration characteristics of the bolted joint rotor fail to
be revealed by numerical simulation results [6]. Based on the description of the above
present situation, deriving a dynamical model of a bolted joint rotor system considering
the contact state at the mating interface has become one of interest for investigations at
present.
In the past decades, abundant efforts have been attempted to inquire into the mechan-
ical performance of the bolted jointed structure considering the contact state at mating
interface from various viewpoints [7, 8]. Meanwhile, several nonlinear mechanics mod-
els are established, which be applied to analyze that mechanical performance of bolted
joint structure, such as Iwan model, LuGre model, Valanis model and Bouc-Wen. For
instance, Tan et al. [9] took a single bolt lap beam as an example, established a Jenkins-
based analytical model of bolted joint with threads, and then analyzed the effect of the
non-parallel bearing surface and external force on connection performance. Liang et al.
[10] proposed a modified analytical four-stage model used to explore the preload relax-
ation mechanism of the bolted joint structure under a static tension case. By using the
virtual material model, Liu et al. [11] accurately simulated and analyzed the influence
of the non-uniform distribution of pressure and variable stiffness of bolted joint on its
vibration performance. Taking bolted flange connections in an aero-engine as the object,
Mir-Haidari et al. [12] developed a lumped model of bolted flange joint, and parametric
studies on the effect of different loads on its nonlinear dynamic behavior were carried
out. Aiming at revealing the hysteretic behavior and contact stiffness of bolted joint
mating interface under lateral vibration, Li et al. [13] established a multi-scale contact
model of the bolted joint based on the Iwan model to explore the above characteristics
in detail, and verified the model using the developed test rig which could measure the
interface fretting response of bolted joints.
In the past few years, research focused on the modeling method and dynamic anal-
ysis of bolted jointed rotor systems have in-depth even more [14–16]. To name a few
examples, Yu et al. [17] presented a numerical model of bolted flange joint with a spigot
adopting the Jenkins element considering the sticking and sliding statuses of spigot,
and then the effect of damping introduced by bolted joint on the dynamic performance
of joint rotor system by introducing the above numerical model into rotor system. Li
et al. [18] combined the Lagrange modeling method to derive a numerical model of
the rod-fastened rotor-bearing system considering the contact effect of the mating inter-
face and investigated the bistable behaviour and hysteretic cycle of the rotor system,
which the contact was be regarded as an addition damping. Wu et al. [19] established
a rod-fastening rotor system considering the nonlinear contact stiffness between the
disks in bending direction and further discussed the effect of several typical paraments
on the dynamic response of rod-fastening rotor-bearing system, including the preload
and friction coefficient of the mating interface. Li et al. [20], based on the mechanical
relationship between the adjacent disks, developed a joint element with two nodes and
 Dynamic Behaviors of a Bolted Joint Rotor System 245

explored the effect of dynamic joint parameters on the vibration performance of the rotor
system.
Based on the exploration of the above literature, despite the nonlinear mechanics
model of bolted jointed structure has perfect enough, and the dynamic investigation
of bolted joint rotor system has intensified enough, the effect of contact state at the
mating interface for the dynamic characteristics of a bolted joint rotor system is rarely
considered in the existing research. Thus, in the present work, a bolted joint structure is
developed shown in Fig. 1b, and its nonlinear mechanical model considering the contact
state at mating interface is derived according to its hysteresis characteristic. Furthermore,
a parameter identification method is presented employing the initial loading data of the
hysteresis curve, which is acquired by FE analysis. Based on that, a dynamic model
of a bolted joint rotor system considering the contact state at the mating interface is
established, then experimentally and numerically investigated the effect of preload on
the dynamic performance of bolted rotor system. The observed results of the present
work could further enhance the vibration performance prediction accuracy of the joint
rotor.

(a) Low pressure rotor High pressure rotor (b)

Mating interface

Bearing Bolted joint Bearing

Fig. 1. Sketch of a certain type of aero-engine, (b) structure of the bolted joint established in this
paper.

2 Nonlinear Mechanical Modeling of Bolted Joint Structure

As shown in Fig. 2a, a FE model of the bolted joint structure is developed consisting
of an upper disk, lower disk, and bolts, where all degree-of-free-doms (DOFs) of the
lower disk are constrained, and the upper disk is subjected to lateral harmonic excitation.
Additionally, its relative displacement and corresponding lateral harmonic excitation are
acquired and plotted in one diagram, as shown in Fig. 2b. It can be observed that there
exists significant hysteresis behavior in the force-displacement curve which is referred to
hysteretic curve, and the area of hysteretic curve is equivalent the dissipation of frictional
energy in one cycle of loading [21, 22]. That is owing to the variation of contact state
at the mating interface further causes the stiffness softening behavior. According to the
246 Y. Li et al.

lateral force loading direction, the hysteretic curve is divided into three states, described
as initial loading, reloading, and unloading [23]. Furthermore, as can be seen from Fig. 2c
that the initial loading state consists of two linear parts and one nonlinear part, which is
called stick state, micro slip state, and macro slip state, respectively, based on the contact
state at the mating interface [24, 25].
Actually, the mating interface could be regarded as composed of infinite elastic con-
tact points, as exhibited in Fig. 3a, and each contact point would generate a certain
friction owing to the normal pressure provided by the preload. However, the maximum
friction generated by each elastic contact point is different, attributed to the non-uniform
distribution of normal pressure provided by preload. That causes the slip behavior of each
elastic contact point of the mating interface does not occur synchronously, described as
the contact behavior alternate changes process from stick state (i.e., no relative sliding
occurred at all) to microslip state (i.e., part of contact positions occurred relative slid-
ing) to macroslip state (i.e., the whole contact interface occurred relative sliding) under
lateral harmonic excitation. According to the actual scenarios, a well-known Jenkins
element is employed and form an Iwan model through parallel n Jenkins elements and
a spring element as depicted in Fig. 3b, which could be used to describe that hysteresis
characteristic. For a Jenkins element, it would enter into a slip state with its relative
displacement ui exceed to the critical slip displacement ũi , , and its friction force would
be a constant value (i.e., the critical slip force f˜i ). Therefore, a Jenkins element can be
expressed as [26]

k̃ u , 0 < |ui | ≤ ũi Stick
fi (ui ) = i i ˜ (1)
±fi , ũi < |ui | Slip

where k̃i is the spring stiffness of Jenkins element, f i is the friction of the ith Jenkins
element.

(a) (b) (c) 10 -2

10 -2
12
10 Initial loading Stick
Reloading Microslip
Lateral force / kN

Lateral force / kN

5 Unloading Macroslip
8

-5 4

-10
0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
-6 10 -6
Relative displacement / m 10 Relative displacement / m

Fig. 2. The FE model of the bolted joint, (b) force-displacement curve of the bolted joint under
lateral harmonic excitation, (c) force-displacement curve of the initial loading state.
 Dynamic Behaviors of a Bolted Joint Rotor System 247

Jenkins
(a) (b) element
F
m
F k1 k2 kn ka

Fig. 3. (a) Sketch of the mating interface of the bolted joint under microcosmic view, (b) Sketch
of the Iwan model of the bolted joint

Based on the above theoretical framework, the Iwan model can be described as
follows by adding the friction of each element and the resilience of spring [7, 13].
⎧
⎪
⎪  l N
⎪
⎪ ˜ + k̃i δ + ka δ Initial loading
⎪
⎪ f i
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ i=1 i=l+1
⎪
⎪
⎨  l N 

F(δ) = − f˜i + k̃i ( − δ) + f˜i + ka δ Unloading (2)
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ i=1 i=l+1
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ l N 
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ f˜i + k̃i (δ + ) − f˜i + ka δ Reloading
⎩
i=1 i=l+1

where  is the maximum displacement at last loading state, k a is the stiffness of spring,
δ is the relative displacement between upper and lower disk.
In Eq. (2) the parameters associated with the Jenkins element, i.e. ũi , f˜i , k̃i and the
stiffness of spring k a must be identified. Therefore, a discrete parameter identification
method is proposed using the initial loading data of the hysteresis curve, and the detailed
identification process is listed in Fig. 4. It should be mentioned that the contact behavior
introduced by a bolted joint could be captured accurately using the Iwan model (i.e.,
Eq. (2)) and the above parameter identification method.

Initial loading data

A least square
procedure

Determine the stick and Discretize the microslip

macroslip states state into n-1 linear parts

Calculate the Calculate the slope Record the two endpoints Calculate the slope
abscissa of each part xi
slope of stick k1 of macroslip kn+1 of each part (k2-kn)
(i=1,2 ,n)

Fig. 4. Flowchart of the discrete parameter identification method.

248 Y. Li et al.

3 Dynamic Modelling of the Bolted Joint Rotor

Mating interface

A B

Disk O1 Disk O2

Fig. 5. Sketch of the bolted joint rotor system.

In the present work, a dynamic model of bolted joint rotor considering the contact
state combines the Lagrange modeling method and the above mechanical model of
the bolted joint. Meanwhile, the schematic diagram of the bolted joint rotor is shown in
Fig. 5, where the system is divided into four lumped points, described as rolling bearings
mA , mB , and jointed disks mo1 , mo2 . Moreover, the shafts are defined as massless, and
only the horizontal and vertical degrees of freedom are considered.
To derive the dynamic model bolted joint rotor, the shaft stiffness is seated k, cA
and cB are designed as the damping coefficient in the rolling bearings, cO1 and cO2 are
defined as the damping coefficient introduced by the shafts, and the nonlinear force,
in the x and y directions, introduced by the contact behavior at the mating interface of
bolted joint is expressed as the F cx and F cy , the detailed expression is shown in Eq. (2).
Furthermore, the kinetic, potential energy, and dissipation function of the rotor system
can be written as follows:
1 1 1 1
V = mA ẋA2 + ẏA2 + mB ẋB2 + ẏB2 + mO1 ẋO1
2
+ ẏO1
2
+ mO2 ẋO2
2
+ ẏO2
2
2 2 2 2
(3)
1 1 1 1
U = k(xA − xO1 )2 + k(yA − yO1 )2 + k(xO2 − xB )2 + k(yO2 − yB )2
2 2 2 2 (4)
+Fcx (xO1 − xO2 ) + Fcy (yO1 − yO2 )

Ug = mA gyA + mB gyB + mO1 gyO1 + mO2 gO2 (5)

1 1 1 1
D= cA ẋA2 + ẏA2 + cB ẋB2 + ẏB2 + cO1 ẋO1
2
+ ẏO1
2
+ c2 ẋO2
2
+ ẏO2
2
(6)
2 2 2 2
Based on the above formula, the dynamic governing equation of rotor system
can be obtained employed Lagrange’s equations. According to the literature [27], the
Lagrange’s equations can be expressed as follows:

d ∂L ∂L ∂D
Fi = − + (7)
dt ∂ q̇i ∂qi ∂ q̇i
 Dynamic Behaviors of a Bolted Joint Rotor System 249

where L = V −U , F i is the external force; qi is the generalized coordinate of the system.

In this manner, the governing equation of the rotor system can be established by
substituting Eqs. (3), (4), (5), (6) into Eq. (7), which can be represented as:
⎧
⎪ m ẍ + cA ẋA + k(xA − xO1 ) = Fx
⎪ A A
⎪
⎪
⎪ mA ÿA + cA ẏA + k(yA − yO1 ) + mA g = Fy
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ mO1 ẍO1 + cO1 ẋO1 − k(xA − xO1 ) + Fcx = Fux1
⎪
⎪
⎨ m ÿ + c ẏ − k(y − y ) + F + m g = F
O1 O1 O1 O1 A O1 cx O1 uy1
(8)
⎪
⎪ m ẍ + c ẋ + k(x − x ) − F = F
⎪ O2 O2
⎪
O2 O2 O2 B cy ux2
⎪
⎪ mO2 ÿO2 + cO2 ẏ3 + k(yO2 − yB ) − Fcy + mO2 g = Fuy2
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ mB ẍB + cB ẋB − k(xO2 − xB ) = Fx
⎪
⎩
mB ÿB + cB ẏB − k(yO2 − yB ) + mB g = Fy

where F x and F y represent the nonlinear bearing force in x and y direction; F uyi (i =
1,2) is the unbalanced force introduced by disks O1 and O2 , respectively, and that can
be expressed as follows:
⎧
⎪
⎪ Fux1 = mO1 e1 ω2 cos(ωt)
⎨
Fuy1 = mO1 e1 ω2 sin(ωt)
(9)
⎪
⎪ F = mO2 e2 ω2 cos(ωt + σ )
⎩ ux2
Fuy2 = mO2 e2 ω2 sin(ωt + σ )

where ω is the angular velocity of rotor system; σ is the eccentric phase difference
between the two jointed disks.
Based on the Hertz contact theory and combining the literature [28], the nonlinear
bearing force can be written as:
⎧
⎪  2/3  
Nb
⎪
⎪ F = −C δj H δj cos θj
⎨ x b
j=1
(10)
⎪  2/3  
Nb
⎪
⎪
⎩ Fy = −Cb δj H δj sin θj
j=1

where the C b is the contact stiffness of the rolling bearing; θ j is the rotation location of
jth ball of bearing at t time, expressed as θj = 2π(j − 1)/Nb + ωc t; the count of balls
are be written as N b , and the ωc is rotating speed of the bearing cage, which is given
by ωc = ω · r/(R + r); ω, r, R is the rotating speed of the shaft, radius of the outer
race and inner race, respectively; the contact deformation δ j between the ball and race
is obtained by δj = x cos θj + y sin θj − r0 ; r 0 is the radial clearance of the bearing; H is
the Heaviside function used to neglect the case of δ j < 0;
250 Y. Li et al.

Table 1. Structure parameter values of the rotor system.

Physical parameter Value

mA , mB , mO1 , mO2 (kg) 2, 2, 5, 5
cA , cB (N s/m) 1050, 1050
cO1 , cO2 (N s/m) 2100
k (N/m) 2 × 107
σ π
g (m/s2 ) 9.8
e1 , e2 (m) 2 × 10–3

Table 2. Structure parameter values of the ball bearing.

Radius of outer Radius of Radial Numbers of ball Contact stiffness BN

race R (mm) inner race r clearance r 0 elements N b C b (N/m3/2 )
(mm) (µm)
63.9 40.1 10 8 13.31 × 109 3.08

4 Numerical Simulation Results and Discussions

It should be mentioned that the effect of the contact behavior of mating interface on the
dynamic performance of bolted joint rotor, the evolution of the contact state, and the
dissipation of frictional energy generated by slip behavior could be captured accurately
using the above model. However, for the bolted joint structure in references 14 to 20,
the contact behavior in the radial direction was regarded as linear, and the contact state
and the dissipation of frictional energy were ignored in general, which would lead their
model to fail to describe the real mechanical properties of the bolted joint structure.
Comparing the Iwan-based analytical model and the adaptive parameter identification
method presented in the present work, the model in references 14 to 20 was complicated
and led to a certain limitation. Therefore, the research of the present work has a certain
innovation, which improved the research gaps of the effect of contact behavior and the
dissipation of frictional energy on the vibration characteristic of the bolted joint rotor,
and further understanding of the contact mechanism profoundly.
 Dynamic Behaviors of a Bolted Joint Rotor System 251

Based on the above theoretical framework and established model, this section focuses
on the dynamic performance of the bolted joint rotor system considering the contact state
at the mating interface, in which the effect of preload on its dynamic characteristics is
emphasized. The physical parameters of the rotor system and the parameters of the ball
bearing are listed in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively. Then, by using the Runge–Kutta–
Fehlberg method, the vibration response, and spectra of bolted joint rotor system at
rotating speed n = 1200 rpm are demonstrated to reveal the dynamic characteristics of
the rotor system in different preload cases. And the preload cases include three kinds:
low, middle, and high. In addition, at the beginning of solve, what needs to be emphasized
is that the bolted joint should be regarded as a linear spring until the response of the
system reaches a steady state, which could significantly reduce the effect of transient
response on initial loading and the identification of maximum displacement .

(a)
10-6 Low preload Middle High 10-6
2
2 1.5
1
x-Amplitude / m

1
0.5
0 0

-0.5
-1
-1
-2 -1.5

6.25 6.3 6.35 6.4 6.45 6.345 6.35 6.355

Times / s
-5 Low preload Middle High -5
(b) 10 10
-1.49
-1.5
-1.5
-1.52
y-Amplitude / m

-1.51

-1.54 -1.52

-1.56 -1.53

-1.54
-1.58

6.25 6.3 6.35 6.4 6.45 6.255 6.26 6.265 6.27 6.275
Times / s

Fig. 6. Vibration response of the bolted joint rotor system at different preload cases: (a) in the x
direction, (b) in the y direction.
252 Y. Li et al.

Then, the vibration response of the system in horizontal (x) and vertical (y) directions
are obtained, as shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen from these diagrams that show the higher
amplitude of vibration response in the lower preload case, indicating that the higher
preload would restrain the system vibration both horizontally and vertically. To further
analyze the effect of preload on the vibrational frequency of the system, the spectra
system in different preload cases are obtained, as depicted in Fig. 7. Unsurprisingly, the
same tendency as their amplitude of vibration response can be observed in their first-and
second-order rotating frequencies, whereas there exists no effect of different preload
cases on their frequency component. This phenomenon is because the higher preload
would extend the stick state of bolted joint structure, which be found in our previous
research. That would cause a higher coupling stiffness and reduce frictional dissipation,
leading to a lower vibration amplitude.

-6
(a) 10-6 (b) 1 10-6 (c) 1 10
1

0.8 6.99×10-7 0.8 6.96×10-7 0.8 6.94×10-7

x-Amplitude / m
x-Amplitude / m
x-Amplitude / m

0.6 0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4 0.4

0.2 -8 0.2 -8 0.2 4.33×10-8

4.41×10 4.35×10
0 0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Order Order -7 Order
(d) 2 10-7 (e) 3 10-7 (f) 3.5 10

2.5 3
1.5
y-Amplitude / m
y-Amplitude / m
y-Amplitude / m

2.5
2
2
1 5.87×10-8 1.5
-8 5.82×10-8 1.5
2.28×10 1 5.80×10-8
2.27×10-8 1 2.26×10-8
0.5
0.5 0.5
0 0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Order Order Order

Fig. 7. Frequency spectrum of the bolted joint rotor system at different preload cases: (a) in the
x direction with low preload, (b) in the x direction with middle preload, (c) in the x direction with
high preload, (d) in the y direction with low preload, (e) in the y direction with middle preload,
(f) in the y direction with high preload.

5 Experimental Study

In order to verify the above dynamic characteristic of the bolted joint rotor system
considering the contact state at the mating interface demonstrated at different preload
cases, a bolted joint rotor system test rig is set up for some validation, described as a
PC, a data acquisition equipment, two displacement sensors, etc (Fig. 8).
Considering the experimental result under the case of a large slip between the two
disks are obviously, a rotating speed at n = 1500 rpm is selected, which approaches the
rotating speed when impact between the screw hole and bolts occurs. Based on this point,
the effect of the preload on rotor vibration performance is further explored and verified
 Dynamic Behaviors of a Bolted Joint Rotor System 253

in detail by comparing its vibration response and frequency spectra under preload of 3 N
and 6 N, as shown in Fig. 9.
By comparing the amplitude of vibration response and frequency spectrum under
different preload cases in Fig. 9, it can be observed that a higher amplitude of vibration
response would be obtained for a lower preload at the same rotating speed. In addition, the
evolving tendency of their frequency spectrums is consistent with the vibration response.
That is, the higher preload would suppress the rotor dynamic, which demonstrates the
obtained numerical simulation results exist a good agreement with the experimental
result. In future work, the effect of some typical parameters on the motion state of bolted
joint rotor system considering the contact state at the mating interface would be further
explored, including preload, the area of mating interface, and the friction coefficient of
the mating interface, etc.

Fig. 8. Test rig of bolted joint rotor system: (a) global view of experimental setup, (b) bolted joint
structure, (c) vibration signal collection position.
254 Y. Li et al.

(a) (b)
0.25
0.5 0.450
X 25
0.2 Y 0.210
x-Amplitude (mm)

x-Amplitude (mm)
0.15
0
0.1

X 50
0.05
Y 0.028
-0.5 -0.413
0
2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 0 20 40 60 80
Time (s) Frequency (Hz)
(c) (d)0.2
0.404
0.4 X 25
0.15 Y 0.187
x-Amplitude (mm)

0.2 x-Amplitude (mm)

0 0.1

-0.2 0.05 X 50
Y 0.026
-0.4 -0.363
0
2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (s) Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 9. Vibration response and frequency spectrum at rotating speed n = 1500 rpm: (a) vibration
response with preload of 3 N, (b) frequency spectrum with preload of 3 N, (c) vibration response
with preload of 6 N, (d) frequency spectrum with preload of 6 N.

6 Conclusions
In the present work, the nonlinear mechanical model of the bolted joint structure is
established based on its hysteresis characteristic using the Iwan model. Then, according
to the evolution process of the contact state, a discrete parameter identification method is
proposed using the initial loading data of the hysteresis curve obtained from the FE result.
By combining the above nonlinear mechanical model of bolted joint and the Lagrange
modeling method, the dynamic model of bolted joint rotor system considering the contact
state at the mating interface was established. Furthermore, taking three different preloads,
for example, their dynamic response and frequency spectrum are numerically solved and
discussed using the Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg method. Finally, the dynamic performance
of the bolted joint rotor system considering the mating interface under different preload
cases is verified by an experimentally investigation. Several representative conclusions
of the present work are summarized as follows:
1) For the bolted joint structure, owing to the alternate changes of contact state at the
mating interface under a lateral harmonic excitation, the hysteresis behavior would
be found in its force-displacement curve, which would cause frictional dissipation.
2) The amplitude of response and frequency spectrum of bolted joint rotor system would
increase in a lower preload, which is attributed to large coupling stiffness and lesser
frictional dissipation generated by bolted joint in the higher preload case. And the
 Dynamic Behaviors of a Bolted Joint Rotor System 255

same phenomena could be observed in the experimental result, which agree with the
simulation results.
3) There exists no effect on the frequency component of the system under different
preload cases. That is, the frequency components fail to be a standard to explore the
dynamics performance of bolted joint rotor systems under different preload cases.

Credit Authorship Contribution Statement

Yuqi Li: Software, Writing - original draft, Funding acquisition. Zhimin Zhu: Formal
analysis. Zhong Luo: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration.
Chuanmei Wen: Data curation, Writing - review & editing. Lei Li: Formal analysis,
Investigation. Long Jin: Writing - review & editing.

Acknowledgments. This research was supported by Guangxi Natural Science Foundation under
Grant No. 2022GXNSFBA035488, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant
No. 11872148 and U190820023, Science and Technology Project of Guangxi under Grant No.
GK AD22080042, and Doctoral foundation of Guangxi University of Science and Technology
under Grant No. XKB 21Z64.

Conflict of Interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest, including specific financial
interests and relationships relevant to the subject of this paper.

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 Identification of High-Speed Gear Traveling
Wave Resonance Based on Phase Space
Reconstruction Method

Ziyang Xu1 , Jing Wei1,3(B) , Haibo Wei2 , Zhirou Liu1 , Yujie Zhang1 , and Hao Lin1
1 College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044,
People’s Republic of China
[email protected]
2 College of Aerospace Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, People’s
Republic of China
3 State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission, Chongqing University,

Chongqing 400044, People’s Republic of China

Abstract. High-speed thin-walled gears are widely used in the aviation geared
drivetrain, but they face the threat of traveling wave resonance (TWR). Therefore,
it is necessary to identify them, and this paper proposes a method based on phase
space reconstruction, called phase space characterization of resonance (PSCOR).
High-speed gearing experiments are designed to verify this method. Besides, for
the experimental gear, its instantaneous displacement and dynamic stress in the
TWR state are analysed. The results show that the TWR of high-speed gears can
be accurately identified by the PSCOR method. And when the TWR occurs, gear’s
displacement and stress fields rapidly rotate, whose speeds depend on the resonant
frequency. Furthermore, the petaloid distribution of high stress fits the mode shape
with nodal diameters, and its fast movement leads to the alternating stress with
high frequency.

Keywords: traveling wave resonance · high-speed gears · phase space

reconstruction

Nomenclatures
Aw Amplitude correction factor ri Boundary radius
(i) (i) (i)
B(i) i-th reduction matrix V1 , V2 , V3 Eigenvectors
ci Center of the minimum sphere xi i-th time response data
f Phase space mapping function X (i) i-th reconstruction matrix
fe Exciting force frequency Y (i) i-th inner product matrix
fk Natural frequency of k-th TWR β (i) i-th sub-time-series
fm Meshing frequency β (r) Subseries of a resonance peak
fs Shaft frequency ζi Phase point expansion rate
(continued)

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 257–267, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_17
258 Z. Xu et al.

(continued)
(i)
Gk Phase point space coordinates  (t) Time window
k Order of the TWR θ (t) Response signal of β (r)
Nr Number of sampling points θ (t) Windowed signal

1 Introduction
High-speed gears are widely used in aviation transmission systems. Under the back-
ground of lightweight structure, it mostly adopts the thin-walled design. This also leads
to the occurrence of traveling wave resonance (TWR) at high speed and heavy load.
TWR refers to the resonance phenomenon where the nodal diameter (ND) modal shape
is activated, which will greatly increase the risk of gear failure and even destroy the
transmission system. Therefore, it is very important to accurately identify the traveling
wave resonance. This is not only helpful to guide the design of aviation gears to avoid
the influence of resonance, but also conducive to the maintenance of flight safety.
The characteristic of TWR is hidden in the dynamic response information of gears.
And phase space reconstruction is a method to mine the hidden nonlinear behavior in
time series [1], which has been used in wind speed prediction [2], rotating machinery
state characterization [3], gear fault diagnosis [4] and so on. The phase point distribu-
tion obtained from the reconstructed phase space is related to the state of the system
[5–7]. Actually, resonance occurs referring to the system state changes, which can be
characterized by reconstructing phase space in theory, but it is lack of related research
support.
Therefore, the phase space reconstruction method is used to deal with the dynamic
response data of high-speed gears. The phase point distribution in the phase space is
constructed to reflect the state of gear, and the index to describe the structural charac-
teristics of the gear is proposed according to the characteristics of TWR. This method is
called the phase space characterization of resonance (PSCOR). A high-speed gear trans-
mission experiment is designed to verify the proposed method. At the same time, the
instantaneous displacement and dynamic stress characteristics of the gear under TWR
are analyzed.

2 Methodology of the PSCOR

It is assumed that the unstable dynamic response of the transmission system working n
times is expressed as

β = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xi , . . . , xn ), (1)

where x i is the i-th time response data. It is divided into p sub-time series which are
approximately steady-state:
 
X = X (1) , X (2) , . . . X (i) , . . . , X (p) . (2)
 Identification of High-Speed Gear Traveling Wave Resonance 259

On the basis of the phase space mapping relationship f : β (i) → X (i) , any sub-timing
(i)
β is mapped to a multi-dimensional space and reconstructed into a matrix X (i) . The
key to the mapping process is to determine the required time delay τi and the embedding
dimension mi . The former is calculated by the average mutual information method [8],
while the latter is calculated by the false nearest neighbour method [9].
For all sub-time series, AMI method and FNN method are used to obtain the time
delay and embedding dimensions that map them to phase space. Then the corresponding
reconstruction matrix X (i) is obtained and placed in the cell array X of length p:

X = [X (1) , X (2) , . . . X (i) , . . . , X (p) ], (3)

X (i) = f (β (i) ), i = 1, 2, ... , p. (4)

Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to reduce the phase point distribution
from high-dimensional space to three-dimensional space to observe its structure [6]. For
the reconstruction matrix X (i) , the inner product matrix is constructed:

Y (i) = X (i) X (i) .

T
(5)
(i) (i) (i)
The eigenvectors V 1 , V 2 , V 3 are called the main vectors, and they are the first
three eigenvalues. X (i) is projected to these three directions to get the reduction matrix
(i) (i) (i)
B(i) = X (i) [V 1 , V 2 , V 3 ] ⊂ RNi ×3 . (6)

A visible phase trajectory is formed by the successive connection of the phase points.
If its motion is always constrained in a certain volume of phase space [7], then the limiting
surface is called the boundary of the spatial distribution of phase points. According to
the minimum bounding sphere calculation method proposed by Welzl based on linear
programming algorithm [10], the phase point of the reconstructed reduction matrix B(i)
is enclosed in the minimum sphere with ci as the center and ri as the radius.
The boundary radius ri and the phase point expansion rate ζi are used to quantify
the phase point spatial distribution characteristics to reflect the sub-time series β (i)
corresponding to the state of the system. The former characterizes the volume of the
phase point distribution, while the latter is defined to measure the average level of the
phase point deviating from the spherical center:
 
Ni 
G
(i)
− ci


1 k
ζi = , (7)
Ni ri
k=1

where, the phase point Gk(i) deviates from the center of the sphere and approaches
the
 boundary, indicating that the higher its activity in the phase space, the closer
 (i) 
Gk − ci /ri to 1. Average the corresponding ratio of all phase points to reflect the
overall level. Therefore, the higher the vibration frequency of the system is, the larger
the proportion of phase points with high activity is, and the expansion rate of phase
points increases.
260 Z. Xu et al.

After the high frequency traveling wave resonance is excited, the structural vibration
increases significantly, and the local peak value is formed in the distribution of ri and
ζi . Because the TWR with the same order is divided into two types, namely the forward
and backward ones, two adjacent peaks will overlap, so it is necessary to further judge
the properties of peaks.
Given that β (r) is the subseries of a resonance peak, it is mapped to the frequency
domain for two purposes. The first one is to quantitatively obtain the amplitude at the
resonance frequency, which could be further used to develop the traveling wave model.
Another is to verify that the peak is indeed induced by the TWR. This is judged by whether
its frequency matches the resonance excitation frequencies. In a rotating coordinate
system, they can be expressed as [11]:

f e = f m ∓ k · fs , (8)

where, fe is the exciting force frequency of TWR; fs and fm are the shaft frequency and
meshing frequency of the k-order TWR, respectively, and the negative sign corresponds
to the forward traveling wave resonance (FTWR), and the positive sign corresponds to
the backward traveling wave resonance (BTWR).
Furthermore, in order to reduce the leakage caused by signal truncation, the time
window is applied:

θ (t) = θ (t) ·  (t), (9)

where θ (t) is the response signal corresponding to β (r) , with Nr sampling points;  (t)
is the time window, such as Rectangular, Hanning, and Hamming window. For the win-
dowed signal θ (t), Fourier transform is used to get its frequency spectrum. However,
the calculated amplitude declines due to the effect of windows, and thus it needs to be
restored by the amplitude correction factor Aw [12], which is defined as
Nr
Aw = N −1 , (10)
r
t=0  (t)
where, Aw depends on the type of windows. By multiplying it and each spectral line, the
spectrum is rescaled to obtain the final result of mapping β (r) to the frequency domain.

3 Experimental Design on High-Speed Gear TWR

TWR can cause structural deformation, which can be reflected by dynamic strain. The
strain testing method obtains the gear strain signal in the complex sound field environ-
ment formed by the high-speed test, and its testing accuracy is high. Furthermore, the
continuous acceleration test is used to study the TWR characteristics of thin web gears
under unsteady conditions.
A test gearbox for bevel gear pair is designed, as shown in Fig. 1. Among them, the
active bevel gear is used as the objective gear to analyze its TWR. The dynamic strain
of the gear is collected by the strain gauge, and then the strain signal is converted into
an electrical signal, which is transmitted to the data acquisition system outside the test
gearbox through the slip ring.
 Identification of High-Speed Gear Traveling Wave Resonance 261

The test gearbox is placed on a high-speed experimental platform to carry out a

uniform acceleration test with an input torque of 30N·m and an input speed of 4500–
8000 rpm. The speed-up time is 70s. The high-speed experimental platform also includes
an input motor, a gear reducer and an output motor, as shown in Fig. 2. The input one
controls the torque and the output one controls the speed.

Diving gear
Input Slip ring 1
shaft

Driven gear

Output
Slip ring 2 shaft

Fig. 1. The configuration of the experimental gearbox.

Fig. 2. Layout of high-speed experimental platform.

4 TWR Characteristics of the Experimental Gear

4.1 Instantaneous Displacement Characteristics
Limited by the high-speed, airtight, oil-mist working environment of the gearbox, it
is difficult to directly measure the instantaneous displacement and dynamic stress on
the web of high-speed rotating gears. Thus, the time-varying displacement of the gear
drivetrain in the experiment is simulated by the finite element method.
262 Z. Xu et al.

Due to the low stiffness of thin-walled bevel gears in the axial direction, the TWR
behaviour is most obvious in this direction. Therefore, the axial component is used to
study the displacement response. Regardless of BTWR or FTWR, the instantaneous
displacement field is similar to the 3-ND mode shape: the field is divided into six sec-
tors of approximately equal size, including three positive sectors (distributing positive
displacement) and another three negative parts, and these two types alternate over time,
as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.
There is a larger axial displacement near the outer edge of the gear, where a node is
selected and taken as the starting point, i.e. θ = 0. Taking t 0 = 0.05 s, t = 2.5 × 10–5 s
as the initial time and sampling period, axial displacements of the node set are captured.
As shown in Fig. 3(b) and Fig. 4 (b), the axial displacement on the same circumference
is distributed in the form of waves, which are called deformation waves. However, this
wave is not a simple harmonic same as the standard mode shape. Instead, affected by
the meshing force, additional deformations are superimposed on waves in the meshing
area and its adjacencies.

Fig. 3. Movement of axial displacement during the 3-ND BTWR: (a) displacement field, (b)
deformation wave movement over time on the selected circle.

Additionally, the BTWR and the FTWR have obvious phase differences: for the
FTWR, its deformation wave moves in the same direction as the gear rotates, and the
opposite is for the BTWR. The circle angle corresponding to the peak at t 0 will experience
another peak after 4.4t, which is consistent with the resonance period 1/f k . f k is the
natural frequency of k-th TWR, and it is equal to 9151.7 Hz (k = 3) from the modal
analysis.
In the same time period, the angle rotated by the deformation wave is nearly 30 times
that of the gear. It suggests that even if the gear rotates at a high speed, the deformation
wave caused by TWR still rotates considerably faster than it, resulting in the rapid
time-space movement of the displacement field.
 Identification of High-Speed Gear Traveling Wave Resonance 263

Fig. 4. The time-space movement of displacement during the 3-ND FTWR: (a) displacement
field, (b) deformation wave.

4.2 Dynamic Stress Characteristics

The stress at the node is measured by the Mises stress, and another non-resonant working
condition (only changing the input speed to 4500 rpm) is introduced to highlight dynamic
stress characteristics by comparing them with the resonant ones. As shown in Fig. 5(a),
the meshing influence area A generates excessive stress caused by the tooth surface
contact and the tooth root bending, which is greater than the rest parts. Hence, for each
working condition, the stress field is normalized by using 80 MPa as the maximum value,
to avoid the stress on the web being diluted or even masked. Moreover, due to the input
torque, the stress is also accumulated at the shaft area B.
However, when the TWR is excited, as proposed in Fig. 5(b) and (c), the stress on
the web gathers and forms a high-stress region C that fits the 3-ND mode shape. For
both BTWR and FTWR, this area runs from the outer surface of the gear shaft to the
outside of the rim, like a petal, so it is called the petal-type high-stress area. In addition,
different from the areas A and B fixed in the stationary reference frame, the petal-type
area C shows up movement characteristics similar to the displacement field: the field
corresponding to the FTWR rotates in the same direction of the gear, while the BTWR
moves in reverse.
Since low-stress parts exist between adjacent petals in area C, for any point on the
web, the suffered stress alternates between high and low levels as the gear rotates. On
the other hand, the moving speed of this area is faster than that of the gear. A couple of
these two phenomena result in the web being subjected to alternating stress with a high
frequency.
Taking the selected node in Fig. 3 as the observation, the dynamic stress is further
analyzed: the responses under three working conditions are normalized based on the
maximum stress and mapped to the frequency domain, as shown in Fig. 6. By contrast,
for the TWR, the dynamic stress has obvious high-frequency harmonics that severely
impact on the dynamic responses. Especially in the frequency domain, the dominant
264 Z. Xu et al.

Fig. 5. The stress field of the targeted gear under different working conditions: (a) the non-resonant
one; (b) the backward traveling wave resonance; (c) the forward one.

amplitudes are formed at the excitation frequencies f m + 3f s and f m -3f s for BTWR and
FTWR, respectively.

5 Experimental Validation of the Proposed Method

5.1 Time-Frequency Response of the Captured Experimental Strains
The experimental strain obtained is described by micro-strain με. In the process of
increasing speed, the gear expands continuously under the increasing centrifugal force,
so the strain increases with the increase of rotational speed, as shown in Fig. 7. There
are local peaks in the regions I-IV. Among them, the region I is similar to II, which
may be TWR. But it’s impossible to judge accurately. Therefore, the Short-Time Fourier
transform (STFT) is used to process the dynamic strain signal to further quantify the
resonance characteristics.
In the spectrum as shown in Fig. 8, the excitation frequency is an oblique line, while
the natural frequency of the gear is almost horizontal. They intersect and form a peak.
Two neighbourly resonance peaks occur, by the action of excitation frequencies f m ±
3f s . This shows that the 3-ND mode (k = 3) is excited. The left peak is for the BTWR
and the right peak is for the FTWR.

5.2 Identification of the TWR by PSCOR

Because the boundary radius r can reflect the vibration amplitude, and the phase point
expansion rate ζ is related to the main vibration frequency, both are used to quantify
the state evolution of the vibration gear, as shown in Fig. 9. The peak overlaps I and II
of these two indexes are in line with the judgment conditions of TWR: high frequency,
 Identification of High-Speed Gear Traveling Wave Resonance 265

Fig. 6. Stress response in time and frequency domains for the targeted gear under different work-
ing conditions: (a), (b) for the non-resonant one; (c), (b) for the backward traveling wave resonance;
and (e), (f) for the forward one.

Fig. 7. Evolution of the acquired experimental strain with time.

high amplitude and adjacent peaks. The rotational speed of the left peak is relatively
low, corresponding to BTWR and the right one for FTWR.
For the other two r peak in Fig. 9, their phase point expansion rate ζ is low, indicating
that the phase points near the center of the sphere, and the system is in low frequency
vibration. In addition, comparing the speeds corresponding to peaks in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9,
266 Z. Xu et al.

Fig. 8. Time-frequency analysis of the captured dynamic strains.

the recognition results of the two methods are basically the same for the TWR, which
shows that the PSCOR method is accurate.

Fig. 9. Identification of the TWR by PSCOR where strains are used as response to construct time
series.

6 Conclusion
In this paper, the methodology of phase space characterization of resonance (PSCOR)
is proposed and verified by high-speed gearing experiments. The results show that the
traveling wave resonance (TWR) of high-speed gears can be accurately identified by
the PSCOR method. For responses of TWR, the amplitudes, corresponding to excitation
frequencies f m ± kf s , are dominant in the spectrum. On the other hand, displacement and
stress fields rapidly rotate, and speeds of that depend on the resonant frequency. Partic-
ularly, the petaloid distribution of high stress fits the mode shape with nodal diameters,
and its fast movement leads to the alternating stress with high frequency.
 Identification of High-Speed Gear Traveling Wave Resonance 267

Acknowledgements. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China [grant numbers 52275048, 51775058]; the National Key R&D Program of China [grant
number 2019YFE0121300]; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
[grant number SKLMT-ZZKT- 2021Z02]. The authors would like to express their gratitude for
the support of the funding authority.

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 Rotordynamics of a Vibroflot

Florian Tezenas du Montcel1,3(B) , Sébastien Baguet1 , Marie-Ange Andrianoely1 ,

Régis Dufour1 , Stéphane Grange2 , Laurent Briançon2 , and Piotr Kanty3
1 Univ Lyon, INSA Lyon, CNRS, LaMCoS, UMR5259, 69621 Villeurbanne, France
[email protected]
2 Univ Lyon, INSA Lyon, GEOMAS, EA7495, 69621 Villeurbanne, France
3 Menard, 22 rue Jean Rostand, 91400 Orsay, France

Abstract. This paper presents a modelling of a vibroflot dynamic behaviour.

Vibroflots are used by ground improvement companies to perform vibro com-
paction. This technic consists in deeply densifying sandy soils by vibrations in
order to make stable future infrastructures. A classical vibroflot is a slender struc-
ture composed of several rotors which are not rotating or driven by an asynchronous
electrical motor that produces orbital vibration and therefore the soil compaction.
The final objective of the investigation is to establish a global multi-physics
model coupling electromagnetic motor, rotordynamics and soil models in order,
for example, to adjust the speed of rotation that generates the soil resonance,
making the soil compaction easier.
The present paper presents only the electro-magnetic and mechanical models,
in order to predict the vibroflot dynamic behaviour during the free hanging oper-
ation. Among the predicted results, the lateral displacement and motor amperage
are of particular interest because they can be compared with the experimental
measures collected on an in-situ full-scale instrumented vibroflot.

Keywords: Rotordynamics · Asynchronous electric motor · Multi-physics

models · Vibroflot · Vibro compaction

1 Introduction
Vibro compaction is a ground improvement technique which aims to deeply densify
sandy soil in order to make stable future infrastructure [1]. It is used to control and
reduce settlement, mitigate liquefaction [2], stabilize or treat hydraulic fill and limit
lateral earth pressure behind quay walls. Loose soil can be compacted through insertion
of vibrating probes, called vibroflots, together with a large volume of water. This enables
the sand particles to rearrange themselves in a denser formation and thus increases the
overall density of the soil. Vibro compaction is executed using a rig – excavator, drilling
rig or crane –, a vibroflot, and auxiliary equipment such as generator, compressor, and
water pumps. Under the effect of its own weight, the machine’s pull-down force (if any),
the effect of the jetted water and the sustained horizontal vibrations, the vibrating probe
rapidly reaches the desired depth. The probe is then gradually lifted in successive passes,
producing in this way a cylinder of compacted ground (see Fig. 1).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 268–275, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_18
 Rotordynamics of a Vibroflot 269

Fig. 1. Vibro compaction process.

Since the development of vibro compaction during the 1930s vibroflots were progres-
sively improved following operational experiences. The current design can be described
as a multirotor system coupled with a motor (see Fig. 2). A non-rotating tube casing,
in contact with the soil, is supporting an eccentric rotor by means of rolling bearings.
This internal rotor, driven in rotation by an electrical motor, produces orbital vibrations.
This paper focuses on a vibroflot set in motion by an asynchronous electrical motor
but vibroflots working with hydraulic motors also exist. To prevent the vibrations to be
transmitted to the extension tubes and therefore to the rig, two rubber coupling parts are
used to support the external tube and isolate the vibrations from the vibroflot.
It appears now necessary for soil improvement companies to accurately model this
system to better know and improve their vibro compaction equipment and processes
[3]. For instance, to be able to improve the lifetime of the equipment – bearings, rubber
couplings, motor – and to improve vibro compaction process efficiency by working at
resonance frequency [4]. This study was also motivated by the need to develop a new
approach regarding vibro-compaction numerical models. Indeed, many studies, such as
[5] or [6] are trying to simulate this particular soil improvement process but without any
strong coupling between the soil and the vibroflot models – that is to say the amplitude
and shape of vibrations are given to the soil model by the user. Others are seeing the
importance to also model the vibroflot to better control vibro compaction process [7],
but the model used is very simplified. The novelty presented here consists in model
the vibroflot more accurately, including its electrical motor, which has not already been
done.
This paper presents only the vibroflot model in free hanging, which means without
soil effects. At first the electrical model is described, then the multi-rotors model and
the strong coupling made to solve both physics simultaneously are also presented. In a
second part in-situ experimental investigations are described. Finally, numerical results
are compared with in-situ measurements.
270 F. Tezenas du Montcel et al.

Fig. 2. Vibroflot kinematic scheme.

2 Numerical Model
2.1 Electro-Magnetic Model
The asynchronous electrical motor modelled here is made of a three-phase wound stator
with p pairs of poles, and a squirrel cage rotor. The magnetic circuit is supposed to be
not saturated and has a constant permeability; ferromagnetic loss is negligible; and the
influences of skin effect and heating are not taken into account on motor parameters.
Applying Lenz and Faraday electromagnetic laws to each stator and rotor phase the
constitutive equations linking voltages and amperages are obtained. Then, after appli-
cation of Park transformation [8], which consists in rewriting the tree-phase system
−
→
into a two-phase model including only direct d and quadratic − →q axes, the set of four
constitutive equation becomes:
d ∅sd d θs
vsd = Rs isd + − ∅sq (1)
dt dt
d ∅sq d θs
vsq = Rs isq + + ∅sd (2)
dt dt
d ∅rd d θr
vrd = Rr ird + − ∅rq (3)
dt dt
d ∅rq d θr
vrq = Rr ird + + ∅rd (4)
dt dt
 Rotordynamics of a Vibroflot 271

with v, i, ∅, θ , R, stand respectively for the voltages, amperages, magnetic flux, angular
positions, electrical resistance and with s, r, d , q subscripts refer respectively to the
−
→ →
stator, rotor, direct axis, and quadratic axis. In this case, ( d , − q ) axes are oriented so
−
→ →
that they are joined to the rotating field. Thus, the angular speed ωs = ddtθs of ( d , − q)
d θr −
→ − →
axes in the stator coordinates, and the angular speed ω = r dt , of ( d , q ) axes in the
rotor coordinates are defined. Furthermore, because of the squirrel cage, the voltage is
applied only on the electrical stator and thus vrd = vrq = 0.
In these conditions the electromagnetic parameters are reduced to five: Ls the stator
inductance, Lr the rotor inductance, M the mutual inductance between the stator and the
2
rotor, Tr = RLrr the rotor time constant, and σ = 1 − LMr Ls the total leakage factor.
Finally, introducing the magnetic flux expression, Eqs. (1), (2), (3) and (4) are
rewritten in a matrix form, such as:
d
{v} = [B] {i} + [A]{i} (5)
dt
−
→ →
with [A] and [B] matrices depending on stator and rotor parameters, as well as ( d , − q)
axes angular speeds. To simplify equations, the following changes of variables are stated:
 = Lr i and i  = Lr i . Solving Eq. (5) provides the four electrical intensities and
ird M rd rq M rq
therefore the electrical torque:
 
 
Cm = p(1 − σ )Ls isq ird − isd irq (6)

that permits a strong coupling between electromagnetic and mechanical models.

In order to access motor parameters easily, on a first estimation, nameplate informa-
tion is used [9]. Indeed, these properties are not directly available for this kind of motor.
It should be noted that the parameters are supposed constant, at least close to the nominal
working state. More precise techniques could have been used but would have required
electro-mechanical measurements or more complex identification methods. Only the
stator resistance Rs is measured. Then, the other parameters are estimated as follows:

1 − cos(ϕn )
σ = (7)
1 + cos(ϕn )
2π
ωsln = 2π fsn − Nrn p (8)
60
1
Tr = √ (9)
σ ωsln
√  
σ Vsn 1−σ
Ls = 1+ (10)
Isn 2π fsn σ

with ϕn the nominal power factor, fsn the nominal stator electric frequency, Nrn the
nominal rotor speed, Vsn the nominal voltage, and Isn the nominal amperage.
272 F. Tezenas du Montcel et al.

2.2 Multi-rotor Model

Multi-rotor model permits simulating the transient dynamic behaviour of the three rotors
composing the vibroflot. The rotordynamics theory is inspired from [10, 11] and [12].
Each rotor shaft is modelled by 1D Timoshenko finite elements taking into account, on
each node, the six degrees of freedom devoted to bending, axial and torsion motions.
Two-node bearing, and two-node nonlinear rubber coupling FE are also available. Fur-
thermore, in this case-study, mass unbalance and gravity are considered. Finally, after
the assembly, the application of the Lagrange equations yields the multi-rotor equation
of motion:
  
[MS ]{q̈}+ (ϕ̇[GS ] + [Cb ]){q̇} + ϕ̈[DS ] + [KS ] + KgS + [Kb ] {q}
= ϕ̈{FkS } + {Fu } + FgS,t + {Fkb } + {Fkm } (11)

with [MS ] the shafts mass matrix, [GS ] the shaft gyroscopic matrix, [Cb ] the rolling
bearings damping
 matrix, [DS ] the shafts kinetic stiffness matrix, [KS ] the shafts stiffness
matrix, KgS the shafts gravity matrix, [Kb ] the rolling bearings stiffness matrix, {FkS }
the shaft torsion kinetic force vector, {Fu } the unbalance force vector, FgS,t the shafts
gravity traction force vector, {Fkb } the bearings resistive torque vector, {Fkm } the motor
torque vector, ϕ̇ the speed of rotation of the internal rotor, and {q} the vector containing
all rotors degrees of freedom.

2.3 Global Model Assembly

The global system consists of the electro-magnetic first order differential equations and
of the mechanical second order differential equations. Coupling strongly the models
requires to rewrite the system of equation as a Cauchy problem: ẏ(t) = f (t, y(t)) and to
solve all equations together at each time step. With the following change of variables:

Y T = {q} {q̇} {i} ϕ ϕ̇ (12)

the global system related to Eqs. (5), (6) and (11) becomes:
⎡ ⎤
{Y (2)}
⎢ [M ]−1 (−[C]{Y (2)} − [K]{Y (1)} + {F}) ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
Ẏ = ⎢ [B]−1 ({v} − [A]{Y (3)}) ⎥ (13)
⎢ ⎥
⎣ {Y (4)} ⎦
(Cm ({Y (3)}) − Cr ({Y (4)}))/IP

Then the time integration of the coupled models is carried out using Matlab ODE15s
solver [13], which is a variable-step, variable-order (VSVO) solver based on the numer-
ical differentiation formulas (NDFs) of orders 1 to 5. After defining all rotors and motor
parameters the only input variable is the voltage applied between the motor phases.
The predicted results presented in Sect. 4 are obtained with 6 degrees of freedom
for the electro-magnetic model and with 345 degrees of freedom for the finite element
model. Thus, the length of vector Y defined in Eq. (13) is 696.
 Rotordynamics of a Vibroflot 273

3 In-situ Experimental Investigation

To validate the numerical model, an in-situ measurement campaign was conducted on a

full-scale experiment V23 vibroflot. The whole process was instrumented but only the
measurements related to the models discussed previously are presented in what follows.
Sensors were fixed on the vibroflot, and on the electrical cabinet to monitor the dynamic
behaviour of the vibroflot hung above the ground. Five triaxial accelerometers were used
with a 2 kHz sampling frequency: three fixed on the external tube of the vibroflot and two
fixed at the bottom of the extension tube (see Fig. 3). To access vibroflot’s displacements
in 3D the accelerations recorded are integrated using a Newmark scheme with high-pass
filters.

Fig. 3. Position of sensors fixed on the instrumented vibroflot.

To measure the rotation speed of the internal rotor an eddy current displacement
sensor was fixed in front of a ten teeth wheel. Then the speed is calculated by detecting
rising edges. In order to have accurate data of changing speeds the sampling frequency
was 20 kHz.
Motor amperage – effective value – and frequency were directly measured by the
frequency inverter used to control the vibroflot and recorded by the same data acquisition
system as the other sensors respectively at 200 Hz and 100 Hz.
274 F. Tezenas du Montcel et al.

4 Results and Comparison with In-situ Experiments

The predicted results are compared with the measurements carried out on site. Motor
output state after start-up is summarized in Table 1. Simulated rotational speed and
amperage values in steady state are satisfactory, especially since the motor parameters
are roughly estimated.

Table 1. Comparison of motor parameters at 60 Hz in steady state.

Parameter Measured value Simulated value Relative gap

Rotational speed 1795 rpm 1789 rpm -0,3%
Amperage 76 A 75 A -1,3%

Regarding the multi-rotors model, results are also close to the real vibroflot’s
behaviour. Figure 4 clearly shows the double cone shape of vibration, with the high-
est amplitude at the tip of the vibroflot. Tip and top amplitudes are of the same order as
the measured ones.

Fig. 4. Orbits and vibration envelope of the external tube of the vibroflot set in motion by its
electrical motor operating at 60 Hz – numerical results.
 Rotordynamics of a Vibroflot 275

5 Conclusion and Perspectives

The prediction of the transient dynamic behaviour of a vibroflot hung above the ground
has been numerically simulated using a model coupling strongly the electro-magnetic
model based on the Park transformation and the mechanical model based on 1D-
elements. These models take the gravity force into account and are able to reproduce
the global shape of vibration of the vibroflot by applying only a voltage between the
electrical stator model phases.
This model can still be improved by implementing a more complex model for pre-
dicting bearing moment loss. Moreover, motor parameters were only estimated, on a first
approach, by simplified formulations. To increase the global model accuracy at different
frequencies motor parameters must be better defined.
The next step is devoted to the prediction of the vibroflot behaviour during vibro
compaction in a sandy soil, using the developed electro-mechanical finite element model.

Acknowledgements. The authors would like to thank Menard company for its financial and
technical support, Pr. Xuefang Lin-Shi for her advice.

References
1. Kirsch, K., Kirsch, F.: Ground Improvement by Deep Vibratory Methods, 2nd edn. CRC
Press, Boca Raton (2017)
2. Debats, J.M., Mollereau, C.: Ground improvement and reinforcement in seismic zones by
vibrocompaction and stone columns. Géo Montréal (2013)
3. Nagy P.: Deep vibrocompaction - dynamic compaction control based on the vibrator
movement. Ph.D. thesis, Vienna University of Technology (2018)
4. Massarch, K.R, Zackrisson, P., Fellenius, B.H: Underwater resonance compaction of sand
fill. In: 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
Proceedings, Seoul (2017)
5. Nagula, S.S., Grabe, J.: Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian based numerical modelling of
vibrocompaction with model vibrator. Comput. Geotech. 123, 103545 (2020)
6. Triantafyllidis, T., Kimmig, I.: A simplified model for vibro compaction of granular soils.
Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng. 122, 261–276 (2019)
7. Nagy, P., Adam, D.: Quality control of deep vibrocompaction based on the vibrator movement.
In: XVII ECSMGE-1019 Proceedings. Geotechnical Engineering Foundation of the Future
(2019)
8. Kostenko, M., Piotrovski, L.: Machines électriques: Tome 2: Machines à courant alternatif.
Edition Mir, Moscow (1969)
9. Boglietti, A., Ferraris, P., Pastorelli, M., Profumo, F., Zimagliac, C.: Induction motors field
oriented controllers using data sheets motor parameters. In: International Conference on
Electrical Machine (ICEM), Paris, vol. 2, pp. 656–660 (1994)
10. Nelson, H.D.: A finite rotating shaft element using timoshenko beam theory. ASME J. Mech.
Des. (102), 793–803 (1980)
11. Lalanne, M., Ferraris, G.: Rotordynamics Prediction in Engineering, 2nd edn. Wiley, England
(2011)
12. Nguyen, K.L., et al.: Nonlinear rotordynamics of a drillstringin curved wells: models and
numerical techniques. Int. J. Mech. Sci. 166, 105225 (2020)
13. Shampine, L.F., Reichelt, M.W.: The MATLAB ODE suite. SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 18, 1–22
(1997)
 Complex Stable and Unstable Subharmonic
Vibrations of a Nonlinear Brush-Seal Rotor
System

Wenbo Ma1 , Yeyin Xu2(B) , Yinghou Jiao3 , and Zhaobo Chen3

1 School of Aerospace Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, People’s
Republic of China
2 State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, Xi’an Jiaotong
University, Xi’an 710049, People’s Republic of China
[email protected]
3 School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s

Republic of China

Abstract. This research investigates the complex subharmonic vibrations of the

nonlinear brush-seal rotor system. The stable and unstable nonlinear vibrations
are calculated and presented as discrete Poincare node results. For such study,
we first derive an analytical seal force model from elasticity and bristle-rotor cou-
pling effects. The analytical predictions in terms of the discrete eigenvalues for the
stability and bifurcations of the independent and global nonlinear vibrations are
presented. Independent vibrations are characterized with solitary rotating speed
range and limited within two Saddle node bifurcations. Independent subharmonic-
1/3 and -1/7 vibrations are discovered in the research. A route from synchronous
vibration to subharmonic-1/2 vibration is predicted also. The discrete eigenvalue
analysis successfully predicts such route and the corresponding stability evolu-
tions. The stable and unstable subharmonic-1/2 vibrations are obtained. Saddle
node, Neimark and period-doubling bifurcations are obtained accurately. The
jumping during synchronous vibration and subharmonic-1/2 vibration is obvious
while unstable switching which starts from unstable subharmonic-1/2 to unsta-
ble subharmonic-1/2 is also successfully predicted. Complex subharmonic-1/2
vibration is presented with the discrete Poincare diagram. Subharmonic vibration
illustration is provided with displacement orbits and velocity planes. Unstable
synchronous vibration and stable subharmonic-1/2 vibration are illustrated. The
provided method and corresponding results serve as guidelines for the theoretical
research and practical applications.

Keywords: Brush-seal · Subharmonic vibration · Stability · Bifurcations

1 Introduction
Sealing machinery with a brush seal structure is an effective and efficient element in
rotor system. Brush seals have significant effects on reducing the leakage compared to
other types of seals. The brush seal does not appear to be centered between the rotor

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 276–288, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_19
 Complex Stable and Unstable Subharmonic Vibrations 277

and the stator despite the fact that the sealing capacity has not altered during operation.
This not only increases the rotor’s thermal efficiency but also the machinery’s level of
steadiness which is a significant benefit. As a result, it is one of the most sophisticated
seals in rotating equipment and has seen application in a variety of turbines, including
industrial turbines, gas turbines used in aviation, etc. [1–4].
The sealing force is primarily determined by a combination of experimental testing
and theoretical analysis. For instance, Sun [5–7] et al. constructed a brush-seal rotor
experimental bench in order to examine the features of brush filament deformation and
vibration. They discovered that the brush filament vibration primarily occured in the
area of the brush filament density relaxation. It increased when the pressure ratio was
increased and the free end of the brush filament was oscillating in response to this
movement. A 3D solid brush seal heat transfer dynamic model was developed in order
to conduct an investigation of the thermodynamic properties of the flow and stability
fields associated with the brush seal. It is difficult to produce an exact model of the sealing
force that is used in the test since the brush filaments have a varying degree of elasticity
[8]. A number of researchers suggested approximate theoretical models to determine
the approximation of the sealing force by theoretical derivation [9–12]. Because the
brush seal force has complicated nonlinear characteristics, its influence on the dynamic
characteristics of the rotor system has to be completely studied. Fluent module was
utilized by Chai [13] in order to perform a study on the brush seal leakage rate as well as
to establish a theoretical model of brush seal rotor system to investigate the dynamics.
Wei and Chen [14–16] et al. evaluated nonlinear sealing forces and short bearing oil layer.
They employed the Runge-Kutta integration scheme to calculate the nonlinear response
of the rotor. The adjustment of the parameters produced a rotor system that was more
stable and had a less eccentric phase deviation as a consequence. Zhang et al. [17] used
numerical simulation to study the effect of the installation position of the porous media
brush filament model on the brush seal-rotor dynamics characteristics. They discovered
that the direct stiffness, cross-coupling stiffness, and direct damping of the brush seal
installed upstream of the surface were lower than those installed downstream. The direct
damping of the brush seal installed upstream of the surface was lower than the direct
damping of the brush seal installed downstream. Zhang [18] created a nonlinear rotor-
seal system that was based on a nonlinear Darcian porous media seal model. The rotor
dynamics for various pressure ratios and inlet spin rates were evaluated.

Seal part

K,C

mg
Seal part

Fig. 1. The schematic of the brush-seal rotor system.

278 W. Ma et al.

2 Governing Equations

2.1 Nonlinear Brush-Seal Rotor Models

For analysis of the subharmonic vibrations of the brush-seal rotor system, we consider
a Jeffcott rotor system subjected to brush-seal forces. The schematic of the brush-seal
rotor system is presented Fig. 1. The governing equations can be given as

MẌ + CẊ + KX = F∗ + f (ω) − G (1)

where M is the mass matrix; C is the damping coefficient matrix; K is the stiffness
matrix; F∗ is the brush seal force with F∗ = [Fx∗ , Fy∗ ]T ; f (ω) is the centrifugal force and
G is the gravity force on the disk. The Fx∗ and Fy∗ have the expression as

Fx∗ = A∗ σ2 [(μ1 + 2μ2 σ3 + 3μ3 σ32 + 4μ4 σ33 )e + (0.75μ3 σ22 + μ4 σ22 σ3 )e3 ]
× (sin ϕ + cos ϕ)(sin γ + μ cos γ ),
Fy∗ = A∗ σ2 [(μ1 + 2μ2 σ3 + 3μ3 σ32 + 4μ4 σ33 )e + (0.75μ3 σ22 + μ4 σ22 σ3 )e3 ]
× (sin ϕ + cos ϕ)(cos γ − μ sin γ ) (2)

where μ0 = −2.11271 × 103 , μ1 = 9.08387 × 103 , μ2 = −1.46323 × 104 , μ3 =

1.04705 ×104 ,μ4 =2.80927×103 . A∗ and σi (i = 1 and 2) are the variables related to
the brush-seal forces and can be referred to (19).
The governing Eq. (1) is processed to be non-dimensional by
  √
x = X/Ys , τ = t m k,  = ω M /k, G = (0, mg)T ,
M = diag(m,m), C = diag(c,c), K = diag(k,k), (3)
F∗ = (Fx , Fx )T , f (ω) = (meω2 cos ωt, meω2 sin ωt)T ,
X = [X , Y ]T , x = [x, y]T , [x, ẋ, y, ẏ]T = [x1 , x2 , y1 , y2 ]T .

where x = x1 , ẋ = x2 and y = y1 , ẏ = y2 are the nondimensional displacement

and velocity in in x- and y-directions. Ys is the static deflection of the rotor system in
y-direction.

3 Results
3.1 Subharmonic Vibration Prediction

In this section, the subharmonic vibrations are predicted by the discrete eigenvalue
analysis. The prediction is illustrated by the eigenvalues varying with rotating frequency
in Fig. 2. The abbreviation “SN”, “NB” and “PD” stand for Saddle node, Neimark and
period-doubling bifurcations. “U” stand for unstable subharmonic vibrations. “P-m” (m
= 1, 2, 3, · · · ) means subharmonic-1/m vibration.
 Complex Stable and Unstable Subharmonic Vibrations 279

Fig. 2. Subharmonic vibration prediction of independent motions based on eigenvalues varying

with rotating frequency.

The subharmonic vibration prediction of independent motions is presented in Fig. 2

via eigenvalues varying with rotating frequency. The nonlinear brush-seal rotor system
contains four eigenvalues after discretization so that all these four eigenvalue curves
are considered in the prediction. During scanning the rotating frequency, two ranges of
solitary frequencies are discovered. The solitary frequencies go to two ends where one
real eigenvalue crosses positive lines and the rests remain with magnitudes less than one.
The subharmonic-1/3 vibration is predicted at  ∈ (4.452, 5.301) and subharmonic-1/7
vibration is predicted at  ∈ (5.503, 5.791). While one point we need to pay close
attention is  = 5.791 which characterizes with one real eigenvalue equal to one,
one pair of the complex eigenvalues with magnitudes greater than one and the rest
with magnitude smaller than one. So an unstable Saddle node bifurcation happens at
 = 5.791.
280 W. Ma et al.

Fig. 3. Subharmonic vibration prediction of global motions based on eigenvalues varying with
rotating frequency.
 Complex Stable and Unstable Subharmonic Vibrations 281

Fig. 3. (continued)

The subharmonic vibration prediction of global motions is presented in Fig. 3. The

global subharmonic vibration becomes complex and the illustrations are presented in two
282 W. Ma et al.

rotating frequency ranges. The global subharmonic vibrations during  ∈ (5.0, 10.0)
are presented in Figs. 3(a) and (b). The eigenvalues of the subharmonic vibrations from
 ∈ (0.0, 5.0) are with magnitudes less than one so that the nonlinear vibration is
stable. At  = 9.23, an unstable period-doubling bifurcation occurs and an unstable
subharmonic-1/2 vibration is predicted. The unstable subharmonic-1/2 vibration is gen-
erated from unstable synchronous vibration. During such process, the nonlinear brush
rotor system may behavior large displacement. At  = 7.85, a stable period-doubling
bifurcation occurs which generates subharmonic-1/4 vibrations. The global subharmonic
vibrations during  ∈ (10.1, 12.6) are presented in Figs. 3(c) and (d). During this pro-
cess, two period-doubling bifurcations occur at  = 11.47 and  = 12.32 for generating
subharmonic-1/2 and 1/4 vibrations, respectively. The real parts and magnitudes of the
eigenvalues are presented together for better understanding the stability evolution and
subharmonic vibration prediction.

Fig. 4. Stable and unstable subharmonic-1/3 and 1/7 vibrations in the brush-seal rotor system.
 Complex Stable and Unstable Subharmonic Vibrations 283

3.2 Subharmonic-1/3 and 1/7 Vibration

In Fig. 4, the stable and unstable independent subharmonic-1/3 and 1/7 vibrations are pre-
sented with discrete bifurcation diagram. The independent subharmonic-1/3 vibration is
simple with two boundaries at  = 4.452 and 5.302 where two Saddle node bifurcations
occur. The nonlinear brush-seal rotor system would experiences jumping between inde-
pendent subharmonic-1/3 vibration and global vibrations. The subharmonic-1/7 vibra-
tion occurs between  ∈ (5.503, 5.791) where a stable Saddle node bifurcation occurs
on the left and an unstable Saddle node bifurcation happens on the right. A Neimark
bifurcation occurs at  = 5.76 where quasi subharmonic-1/7 vibration is generated.
The brush-seal rotor system behaviors quasi periodic vibration and becomes unstable
when increasing speed.
In Fig. 5, the stable and unstable subharmonic-1/2 vibrations and the route from
synchronous vibration into subharmonic-1/2 vibration are presented. The synchronous
vibration is stable from rotating frequency  = 0.0. At  = 5.917 and  = 6.53,
a Saddle node bifurcation and a Neimark bifurcation occur. The nonlinear brush-seal
rotor system tends to experience chatting and quasi periodic vibrations. The nonlinear
rotor system should increase speed faster to go through this part of range in practical.
A subharmonic-1/2 vibration occurs at  = 9.23 where unstable nonlinear vibrations
contain half frequency components. At  = 7.85, another period-doubling bifurcation
occurs and subharmonic-1/4 vibration happens. The nonlinear brush-seal rotor system
oscillates with quarter frequency component.
The subharmonic-1/2 vibration is more complex with various bifurcations and com-
plicate stability shift. Neimark bifurcations happen at  = 10.37 and  = 11.08
produce quasi periodic subharmonic-1/2 vibrations. Saddle node bifurcations happen at
 = 10.197 and  = 14.307 generate jumping vibrations. Period-doubling bifurcation
at  = 11.47 and  = 12.32 trigger subharmonic-1/4 and subharmonic-1/2 vibrations
in the nonlinear brush-seal rotor system. Operation during these frequency ranges should
be more care to avoid dangerous subharmonic vibrations.
284 W. Ma et al.

Fig. 5. Stable and unstable subharmonic-1/2 vibrations in the brush-seal rotor system.
Complex Stable and Unstable Subharmonic Vibrations 285

Fig. 5. (continued)
286 W. Ma et al.

Fig. 6. The synchronous vibration illustration of the brush-seal rotor system.

3.3 Subharmonic Vibration Illustration

The subharmonic vibration illustrations are presented in this section. The unstable syn-
chronous vibration is presented first and then is the subharmonic-1/2 vibration illus-
tration. In the synchronous vibration, the red circular symbols represent the unstable
vibration solutions. Since it is an unstable vibration, the transient orbit starts from the
unstable vibration solution and moves off after tens of periods approaching another sta-
ble vibration. The transient process can be observed in displacement orbit in Fig. 6(a)
and velocity plane in Fig. 7(b).
 Complex Stable and Unstable Subharmonic Vibrations 287

Fig. 7. The Subharmonic vibration illustration of the brush-seal rotor system.

The subharmonic-1/2 vibration is presented in Fig. 7. The circular symbols represent

the initial conditions (“I.C”) and starting point of the second period (“1T”). It is a stable
subharmonic-1/2 oscillation and the displacement orbit and velocity plane are clear
presented. Half frequency components are contained in the vibrations.

4 Conclusion
Subharmonic vibrations of a nonlinear brush-seal rotor system were investigated in this
research. The stable and unstable subharmonic-1/3, 1/7 and 1/2 vibrations were obtained.
The first two above subharmonic vibrations were independent and only occurred in soli-
tary rotating frequency range. The route from synchronous vibration to subharmonic-1/2
vibration was also obtained. Such route contains Saddle node bifurcations, Neimark
bifurcations and period-doubling bifurcations. Jumping phenomenon of the subhar-
monic vibrations was observed. The obtained data and applied methods provide a good
understanding of the brush-seal rotor system.
288 W. Ma et al.

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2. Menendez, R.P., Xia, J.: Recent developments in brush seals for large industrial gas tur-
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 Multi-objective Optimization of Active Dry
Friction Damper-Rotor Systems Based
on Predictive Control

Minghong Jiang, Wengheng Li, Xianghong Gao, and Changsheng Zhu(B)

College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

[email protected]

Abstract. Optimization on rotor-dynamics has increasingly attracted attention

from numerous researchers, although concentrations on the optimization of time-
invariant system parameters result in relatively low versatilities. In this paper,
a multi-objective optimization framework based on a novel predictive control
method is proposed for rotor systems with active dry friction dampers. Instead of
optimizing normal forces of friction dampers as most current researches do, we
optimize the controller parameters instead to improve optimization efficiency. The
predictive controller, incorporated with the augmented Kalman filter, is inserted
into the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II to accomplish the multi-
objective optimization. To validate the efficacy of the optimization procedure,
numerical investigations are performed for a rotor system with two active fric-
tion dampers. Results demonstrate that the proposed control method can reduce
the rotor vibration significantly after optimization with constraints on equivalent
stiffnesses of the friction dampers, and it is superior to traditional direct optimiza-
tion methods when the optimization on a specific system with different unbalance
levels is considered.

Keywords: Active Dry Friction Damper · Multi-objective Optimization · Rotor ·

Predictive Control · Augmented Kalman Filter

Rotating machinery play important roles in modern engineering industries. The safe
operation of turbomachinery highly depends on the vibration level of rotor systems. This
is especially true within the context of pursuit for higher power density in turbomachinery
such as aero-engines [1, 2], where the high operating speeds and slender rotor structures
result in several critical speeds to be passed before the operational speed range is reached.
To ensure that critical speeds can be traversed safely, some early researches concentrated
on the optimization of geometrical shapes [3, 4] or support parameters [5, 6] during the
rotor design process. However, the performances of those optimization-based methods
can not be further improved once the rotor is manufactured, which limits its applications
to variant operating conditions.
In the past few decades, the developments of the active dry friction dampers (ADFDs)
provide the basis for active vibration control of rotors. The vibration attenuation capacity
The present work is fully supported by National Science and Technology Major Project (J2019-
IV-0005-0073).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 289–303, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_20
290 M. Jiang et al.

of the ADFD can be easily improved by applying appropriate clamping forces acted on
the friction interfaces. Meanwhile, they are also robust to temperature change and more
convenient to maintain compared with other types of dynamically-similar active devices
[7], e.g., magneto-rheological dampers [8]. Thus, their applications in active vibration
control have attracted attention from numerous researchers. Earlier investigations on
ADFD include parametric analysis and optimization on parameters. Sorge [9] investi-
gated the unbalanced responses of a shaft with ADFDs attached to both ends, where the
optimal clamping forces for the ADFDs are derived by searching for the local minimum
of the analytical expression. In Refs [10] and [11], the equivalent damping techniques are
used to analyze the vibration attenuation effect numerically such that optimum clamping
force can be achieved. Similar to the research performed by Sorge, they presented the
lumped parameter model as the numerical example. To extend the optimization proce-
dure to more complex rotors, Cavalini et al. [12] further applied the genetic algorithm
to improve the vibration control efficiency. The aforementioned researches, however,
restrict themselves to optimizing constant normal forces for ADFDs, which has been
proved as inefficient since the vibration attenuation capacity of the ADFD is related to
the vibration level as well.
Several control schemes have been proposed for online optimization of clamping
forces according to the real-time rotor vibration levels. In 2019, Liao [13] and Wang
et al. [14] proposed the proportional control to optimize the clamping force of the ADFD
such that the rotor vibration amplitude can be sustained within a prescribed level. The
efficacy of the proposed method is validated experimentally in their researches. Li et al.
[15] proposed an open-loop polynomial interpolation method to generate the optimum
normal force under every single rotational speed. Liu et al. [16] optimized the time-
variant normal force based on the results of nonlinear complex mode analysis, and the
modal damping ratio is maximized over a wide speed range. However, those methods
could either suffer from the defects of time-consuming, or ambiguous knowledge to
damping capacities. On the other hand, nearly all these existing optimizations performed
for ADFDs-rotor systems were based on direct optimization (DO) of normal forces,
which could change for different loads. In consequence, the efficiency of those methods
should be further improved.
To address those problems, a predictive-control-based optimization (PCO) frame-
work is proposed in this paper for the multi-objective optimization of the ADFDs-rotor
systems. Instead of directly tuning normal forces of friction dampers as most current
researches do, inspired by [17], PCO optimizes the parameters embedded in the control
algorithm instead, which shows the robustness to different unbalanced loads. To get the
unmeasurable displacements required for controller implementation, we further integrate
the augmented Kalman filter (AKF) with the PCO to reconstruct the rotor vibrations.
The remaining of this work is organized in the following sequence. In Sect. 1.1, the
configuration of the ADFD and corresponding dynamic modeling method is presented.
The design of the PCO and the AKF are elaborated in Sects. 1.2 and 1.3. In Sect. 2.1
we discussed the accuracy of the AKF and the surrogate models and the optimization
results are presented in Sect. 2.2. In Sect. 2.3, the optimization results of the PCO are
further compared with the traditional DO methods. Finally, conclusions are drawn in
Sect. 3.
 Multi-objective Optimization of Active Dry Friction Damper-Rotor Systems 291

1 Problem Formulation

1.1 Dynamic Modeling of the ADFDs-rotor System

The overall configuration of the investigated ADFDs-rotor system, which is a simulation
test setup for a high pressure aeroengine rotor equipped with a novel electromagnetic
ADFD, is displayed in Fig. 1(a) and the detailed structure of the ADFD is presented
in Fig. 1(b). As shown in Fig. 1(b), The movable friction pad is attached to the elastic
ring while the stationary pad is fixed on the iron core. The rotor shaft is supported by
the rolling bearing placed on the elastic ring, thus the whirling motion of the rotor will
result in the planar motion of moving friction pad. Then the relative motion between the
moving friction pad and the stationary pad is induced and vibration energy is dissipated.
By controlling the coil current during operation, the normal force acted on the contact
interface is regulated online thus the damping capacity of the ADFD is adjusted.

Fig. 1. Schematics of the ADFDs-rotor system: (a) configuration of the rotor system equipped
with the novel ADFD; (b) cross-section of the ADFD; (c) schematic diagram of the Coulomb-
spring element
292 M. Jiang et al.

In this paper, we particularly focus on the control of transient vibration when critical
speeds are traversed. For the ADFDs-rotor system shown in Fig. 1(a), the transient
dynamic equation can be obtained based on the finite element method as

MẌ + (D + ωG)Ẋ + (K + αKs )X = fub + fdf (1)

where M, D, G and K are, respectively, the mass, damping, gyroscopic and stiffness
matrices; Ks is the skew symmetric matrix induced by speed variation [12, 18]; ω and
α are the rotational speed and its change rate; fub and fdf are the unbalanced force and
dry friction force vector. The Craig-Bampton method is utilized to perform coordinate
transformation, where friction nodes are taken as interface degrees of freedom (DOFs)
and other DOFs are treated as interior DOFs. The corresponding transformation matrix
is given as
 
m  c
= (2)
0 I

where  is the modal transformation matrix; m is the normal modes obtained by solving
the undamped and non-gyroscopic eigenvalue problem with only interior DOFs taken
into consideration;  c is the constrained mode set by executing unit displacement on
each master DOF. The details of the order reduction procedure can be found in Ref [19].
Further pre-multiplying Eq. (1) with the transpose of matrix  yields
 
M̃q̈ + (D̃ + ωG̃)q̇ + K̃ + α K̃s q = f̃ub + f̃df (3)

where M̃ = T M is the reduced mass matrix and the superscript T stands for the
transpose of matrix; f̃ub = T fub is the reduced unbalanced force vector; other matrices
and vectors take similar transformations and q is the modal displacement vector with
constraint modes included. For relatively uniform surface-to-surface contact, as pre-
sented in Fig. 1 (c), the Coulomb-spring element is applied to model the friction force
[7, 20]. Although this model ignores the influences of the Stribeck effect and frictional
lag, it’s much simpler than other dynamic friction models. Thus, it has been widely used
for the controller design of ADFDs and experimental investigations [7] also suggest the
effectiveness of this model as far as the design of normal force controller is concerned.
Generally, the friction force in the Coulomb-spring element can be expressed as
 
Fi,k = −ki Zi,k
a
− Zi,k
b
(4)

where the subscript i stands for the ith ADFD; Fi,k = fxi,k + jfyi,k is the friction force at
a = x a + jy a is the displacement of the
time instant k; ki is the tangential stiffness; Zi,k i,k i,k
ith node a, which is displacement of the movable friction pad; Zi,k b = x b + jy b is the
i,k i,k
displacement of the ith Coulomb element b.
 Multi-objective Optimization of Active Dry Friction Damper-Rotor Systems 293

Generally, two contact states, including stiction and slippery, are considered in this
friction model. The trajectory tracking method is utilized herein to distinguish them from
each other [21]. It uses the following criteria to check whether stiction occurs for the ith
ADFD
 
 a 
ki Zi,k − Zi,k−1
b
 ≤ μi Ni,k (5)

where μi and Ni,k are the dynamic friction coefficient and normal force of the ith ADFD.

1.2 Development of the Controller and Observer

In 2004, Lu [17] proposed a predictive control method for ADFDs. However, his research
is mainly restricted to one-dimensional cases and the excitations are known a pri-
ori, which are not satisfied for most ADFDs-rotor systems. In this section, we further
extended the formalization of the predictive control method into two-dimensional case
and an AKF is integrated with it to reconstruct the displacements with unknown system
inputs.
The basic principle of the predictive control method is that the ADFD should stay
in slippery state such that vibratory energy can be dissipated. To achieve this goal, an
extra controller parameter, βi , is introduced and the normal force is expressed as
 
 a 
βi ki Zi,k − Zi,k−1
b

Ni,k = (6)
μi
where βi ∈ [0, 1] is the parameter controlling the extent of slippery.
Comparing Eq. (4) and Eq. (5), the contact interface of the ADFD is separated if βi
equals to 0 and will stay sticked when βi is taken as 1. In other words, the predictive
control method guarantees that the friction interface keeps sliding if only βi < 1. By
tuning the value of βi , the extent of sliding is also adjusted. Then, the optimization can be
performed to search for the optimal parameter βi . However, the displacements of node
a are hard to measure. Thus, the reconstruction of rotor vibration is necessary.
To accomplish this task, expressing Eq. (2) in its state-space form, i.e.
   
 O   I  O
Q̇ = Q + (fub + fdf )
−M̃−1 K̃ + α K̃s −M̃ D̃ + ωG̃ −M̃−1 T (7)
= AQ + B(fub + fdf )

It can be seen from Eq. (7) that the unbalanced disturbance emerges in the input
vector, which will induce significant displacement reconstruction errors if they are not
considered. To solve this problem, the AKF [22] is applied to estimate the displacements
and forces simultaneously. For the accelerating rotor, the unbalanced forces can be
expressed as [23]
  
cos(ϕ) − sin(ϕ) mi ei cos ϕeq,i
fub,i = ω + α
4 2 = A(ω, ϕ)faub,i (8)
sin(ϕ) cos(ϕ) mi ei sin ϕeq,i
294 M. Jiang et al.

where fub,i is the unbalanced force of the ith disc; mi ei and ϕeq,i are, respectively, the
equivalent unbalance magnitude and azimuth of the ith disc; ϕ is the rotation angle of
the rotor.
For the ADFDs-rotor system with fixed speed variation rate, these two terms, namely
mi ei and ϕeq,i , are slowly time-varying parameters. They are considered as the additional
constant state variable faub,i . Thus, the unbalanced disturbance is expressed as
⎡ ⎤
faub,1
⎢ .. ⎥
⎢ . ⎥
⎢ ⎥
fub = I ⊗ A(ω, ϕ)⎢ ⎥
⎢ faub,i ⎥ == f aub (9)
⎢ . ⎥
⎣ .. ⎦
faub,n
where the operator ⊗ stands for the Kronecker product; faub is the additional state variable
vector.
Under the assumption that the system is time-invariant during the sampling time
interval, discretizing Eq. (7) and substituting Eq. (9) into Eq. (7) yields
   
Gk−1 Hk−1  a Hk−1
Qak = Qk−1 + fdf, k−1
O I O (10)
= Gk−1 Qk−1 + Hk−1 uk−1
a a a

 T
where Qai = qiT q̇iT faub,i
T is the augmented state variables at time instant iT ; Gk−1 =
eAk−1 T is the discretized state matrix; Hk−1 = A−1 k−1 (Gk−1 − I)Bk−1 is the discretized
a
input matrix; Gk−1 a
and Hk−1 are, respectively, the augmented state and input matrices;
uk−1 is the generalized input vector.
In the AKF, the covariance matrix P k|k is used to describe the estimation error e k|k ,
i.e.
  T   
P k|k = E Qak − Q̂ak|k Qak − Q̂ak|k = E e k|k eTk|k (11)

where the operator E(·) stands for the expectation of contents; P k|k is the covariance
matrix of the optimal estimates Q̂ak|k at time instant kT and e k|k is the estimation error.
A prediction can be performed based on last optimal estimations, i.e.

Q̂ak|k−1 = Gk−1
a Q̂a
k−1|k−1 + Hk−1 uk−1
a
(12)
P k|k−1 = Gk−1
a P
k−1|k−1 Gk−1 + S
aT

where S stands for the covariance matrix of state noises; Q̂ak|k−1 is the prediction derived
from last optimal estimate Q̂ak−1|k−1 ; P k|k−1 is the a priori covariance matrix.
Then the Kalman gain matrix Kk , the optimal estimation of the augmented state
Qak|k and the covariance matrix for the optimal estimates P k|k can be updated as

P k|k−1 CT
Kk = (13)
CP k|k−1 CT + R
 Multi-objective Optimization of Active Dry Friction Damper-Rotor Systems 295

 a

Q̂ak|k = Q̂ak−1|k−1 + Kk Yk − CQ̂ k|k−1 (14)

P k|k = (I − Kk C)P k|k−1 (15)

where R stands for the covariance matrix for measurement noises; C is the output matrix;
Yk is the displacements measured by the displacement sensors.
Combining Eq. (2) and Eq. (14), the displacements of node a for the ith ADFD can
be directly obtained as
a
Zi,k = Q̂m
a
ix ,k
+ j Q̂m
a
ix ,k
(16)

where Q̂m a a
and Q̂m are, respectively, the observed displacements of the ith ADFD
ix ,k iy ,k
at time instant kT, which are retained in the modal transformation procedure as interface
DOFs, as indicated by Eq. (2).
Similarly, the complex displacements of node b at time instant (k-1)T can be obtained
based on Eq. (2), i.e.

b
Zi,k−1 = Zi,k−1
a
+ Fi,k−1 k i (17)

where Fi,k−1 can be directly measured by the force sensor.

Substituting Eqs. (16) and (17) back into Eq. (6), the required normal force at instant
k is obtained.

1.3 Optimization Method

It has been mentioned above that controller parameter βi influence the contact states
of the ADFDs, thus they should be carefully optimized. In our research, we take the
unbalanced responses and the equivalent stiffness of the ADFD as the fitness functions
to be minimized. This is motivated by the fact that excessive normal force will induce
significant increase in equivalent stiffness of the ADFD, which is not expected in the
system. A general formalization of the optimization problem is presented as
 
Min f 1 (β), f2 (β)
subject to: fc (β) ≤ 0 (18)
0 ≤ βi ≤ 1, i= 1, · · · ,nd

where f 1 (β) is the unbalanced response fitness function normalized with no-DFD cases;
f2 (β) is the equivalent stiffness fitness function; f c (β) is the normalized constraint func-
tion; ndf is the number of ADFDs, in this paper, ndf equals to 2. More specifically, the
fitness functions given in Eq. (18) are expressed as the weighted sums of corresponding
components, i.e.

f 1 (β) = A1 + A2 /2
(19)
f2 (β) = Keq,1 + Keq,2 /2
296 M. Jiang et al.

where A1 and A2 are, respectively, the maximum amplitudes of disk 1 and 2, which are
normalized with their ADFD-free counterparts; Keq,i is the equivalent stiffness [21] for
the ith ADFD. To limit the vibration amplitude of disk 4, f c (β) is expressed as

f c (β) = Ap A4 − 1 (20)

where A4 is the resonant amplitude of disk 4; Ap is a prescribed amplitude.

Due to the nonlinearity introduced by the ADFD, the functions in Eqs. (19) and (20)
can not be solved analytically. To overcome the low efficiency of numerical integration,
the RBFNNs are introduced to generate the surrogate models. The structure of the
RBFNNs is shown in Fig. 2. Three RBFNNs are constructed for f 1 (β), f2 (β) and f c (β),
where Gaussian kernels are applied as basis functions. And the NSGA-II algorithm will
be applied to search for the Pareto front once the surrogate model is available.

NN : f1 ( β )

ϕ1,1

M S1 fˆ1
ϕ1,m

β jˈ1 NN : f 2 ( β )

ϕ2,1

M M S2 fˆ2
ϕ2,m

β j ,nd
NN : f c ( β )

ϕ3,1

M S3 fˆc
ϕ3,m

Fig. 2. Radial basis neural networks with the Gaussian kernels

In NSGA-II, the boundary constraints for β are guaranteed in the individual initial-
ization process and the generated population is fed into the RBFNNs to calculate fitness
functions. For individuals satisfying f c (β) ≤ 0, the nondominated sorting procedure is
directly utilized to get their nondominated ranks. For those unsatisfying the constraints,
they are sorted by their violation level of the constraint and then added to the rank
set subsequently. In each nondominated rank, the crowding distances are computed to
spread the solution evenly on the Pareto front.
The parents are picked by the classical binary tour selection procedure and SBX
crossover and polynomial mutation are applied in the genetic operators. The optimization
procedure presented above is finally summarized in Fig. 3.
 Multi-objective Optimization of Active Dry Friction Damper-Rotor Systems 297

9ZGXZ

5VZOSGR2GZOTN_VKXI[HK 8GTJUSVUV[RGZOUT
YGSVROTM OTOZOGRO`GZOUT

)UTYZX[IZOUTUL )GRI[RGZKLOZTKYY
ZNKY[XXUMGZKSUJKR L[TIZOUTY

4UTJUSOTGZKJYUXZOTM

:U[XYKRKIZOUTS[ZGZOUT
GTJIXUYYU\KX

VGXKTZ INORJ
4U

4K]VUV[RGZOUT

3G^OS[SX[T%

_KY

KTJ

Fig. 3. Flow chart of the optimization procedure

2 Results and Discussions

2.1 The Accuracy of the AKF and Surrogate Models
Numerical investigations are performed in this section to validate the efficacy of the
optimization procedure. The finite element model of the high-pressure aeroengine rotor
equipped with the novel ADFD is given in Fig. 4 and the geometrical parameters are
summarized in Table 1. The shaft and the disks are made of steel and the Young’s modu-
lus, Poisson’s ratio and density are, respectively, 2 × 105 MPa, 0.3 and 7800 kg/m3 . The
mass and diametric moment of inertia of disks are lumped at the nodes of corresponding
shaft elements. The first critical speed for the rotor is 3147 r/min and the corresponding
vibration shape is translational mode.

Fig. 4. Finite element model of the ADFDs-rotor system

298 M. Jiang et al.

Table 1. Geometrical parameters of the ADFDs-rotor system.

Items Unit Value

Length of shaft mm 113.0/64.9/27.8/92.0/78.4/77.5/154.7/24.6/79.6/80.4/70.0
segments (S1–S11)
Outer diameters of mm 36.0/40.0/64.0/105.0/97.0/70.6/76.0/53.3/45.0/39.0/60.0
shaft S1–S11
Inner diameters of mm 27.0/27.0/56.0/100.0/92.0/64.0/64.0/42.8/19.0/19.0/19.0
shaft S1–S11
Diameters of disk 1–4 mm 209/220/232/370
Length of disk 1–4 mm 20.8/15.2/28/40

The total weight of the investigated rotor is 62.7 kg and the laboratory operating speed
is set as 6000 r/min. According to the standard ISO1940-1 with grade G2.5, the allowable
residual unbalance is 24.95 g·cm. Thus, in order to activate the translational mode, the
unbalance of 10 g·cm is added at node 6 and 13 with the same phase respectively. The
ADFDs are mounted at node 2 and 17. And the contact material of the friction pair is
steel/powdered metal, whose dynamic friction coefficient is 0.15 and tangential stiffness
is 2 × 107 N/m.
The accuracy of the reconstructed displacements determines whether the PCO can
work reasonably, as indicated by Eq. (6). Thus, to verify that the AKF can reconstruct
the vibration accurately, the estimated displacements for ADFD 1 and 2 are compared
with the accurate displacements, as shown in Fig. 5. It can be concluded that, the AKF
can reconstruct the unmeasurable displacements accurately, even at the high-frequency
region where traditional Luenberger observer fails.

Fig. 5. Comparisons on the estimated and accurate displacements of ADFDs 1 and 2: (a) response
curve of the ADFD 1; (b) response curve of the ADFD 2.

Meanwhile, the accuracy of the three RBFNNs also matters. A total of 200 samples
and 150 neurons are applied to achieve sufficient accuracy. The final R2 correlation
 Multi-objective Optimization of Active Dry Friction Damper-Rotor Systems 299

coefficients of the three RBFNNs are 0.998, 0.998 and 1.000 respectively, which indicates
excellent regression performances of those networks on the data set.

2.2 Results of Optimization

In this section, the optimization results are presented based on the aforementioned opti-
mization procedure. Figure 6 shows the Pareto front obtained from the multi-objective
optimization procedure for the ADFDs-rotor system. The Pareto front can be obtained
evenly based on the NSGA-II algorithm. It can be seen from Fig. 6 that the objective of
minimizing equivalent stiffness and minimizing unbalanced responses are generally in
conflict with each other. Generally, the final choice of optimal control parameters can
be performed based on practical requirements.
To explain the influences of different choices from the Pareto set, five solutions,
marked by a - e in Fig. 6, are selected for comparison. The controller parameters for
each solution and the corresponding computed equivalent stiffnesses are tabulated in
Table 2. The larger the controller parameter is, the larger equivalent stiffness of the
ADFD will become. This indicates that, for the ADFDs-rotor system, the excessive
controller parameter β will cause stiffening effect of the elastic suspension. To further
illustrate the influences of this stiffening effect, the response curves of disk 1 for cases
a - e are compared in Fig. 7. The larger equivalent stiffness is the larger critical speed
will become. In this case, excessive equivalent stiffness will make the critical speeds of
the ADFDs-rotor system to significantly deviate from the original design, which should
be avoided for the sake of secure operation.

Fig. 6. The Pareto front obtained the by proposed multi-objective optimization framework for the
ADFDs-rotor system

2.3 Comparison with Classical Direct Optimization Methods

To show the superiority of the proposed PCO method for the ADFDs, the results are
further compared with the DO method. A total of 500 populations are included in each
300 M. Jiang et al.

Table 2. The controller parameters and the equivalent stiffnesses for selected solutions.

Case β1 β2 Keq,1 /N·m−1 Keq,2 /N·m−1

a 0.959 0.982 → 1.59 × 106 2.13 × 106
b 0.917 0.918 9.40 × 105 9.40 × 105
c 0.652 0.689 7.39 × 104 1.17 × 105
d 0.000 0.406 0.65 2.67 × 104
e 0.000 0.222 0.04 9.65 × 103

Fig. 7. The response curves of disk 1 with different solutions applied

generation and the maximum number iteration is set as 50. The pareto fronts for the two
methods when the unbalanced mass is 5 g·cm are compared in Fig. 8. It can be seen that
the number of Pareto-optimal solutions obtained based on the PCO is much larger than
that of DO. Although some solutions for passive system dominate those of the active
system, the discrepancies are much smaller when f 1 (β) < 0.03 and f2 (β) is around 1
× 106 N/m.
Figure 9 further compares the pareto fronts obtained by both two methods for the
same system with different load levels (case 1: unbalanced mass is 5 g·cm; case 2:
unbalanced mass is 10 g·cm). The fact that the pareto fronts are nearly the same for
both two methods indicates that the dynamical similarity can be utilized to enhance the
efficiency of the optimization procedure.
For traditional DO method, however, this process is not easy to implement. As pre-
sented in Table 3, when the same objective is set as the selection criteria, the normal
forces obtained by the DO method is quite different. This makes multiple runs of opti-
mization, incorporated with appropriate initial guess for the range of normal forces, must
be conducted for different load cases unless a posterior interpolation being performed
to improve the optimization efficiency. For the proposed PCO, the results are generally
much closer to each other and the solutions can be directly applied to the same system
with different load levels, which would be much more efficient.
 Multi-objective Optimization of Active Dry Friction Damper-Rotor Systems 301

Fig. 8. Comparison on the pareto fronts obtained by PCO and DO

Fig. 9. Pareto front obtained by the two methods for the system with different load levels

Table 3. The optimization results of the two methods with the same criteria considered (f2 (β) ≤
5.5 × 105 N · m−1 , f 1 (β) < 0.03).

Item Unit PCO, case 1 PCO, case 2 DO, case 1 DO, case 2
β1 / 0.685 0.742 / /
β2 / 0.694 0.730 / /
N1 N / / 117.29 251.05
N2 N / / 111.27 207.93
f 1 (β) / 0.0261 0.0259 0.0165 0.0164
f2 (β) N·m−1 5.30 × 105 5.33 × 105 5.541 × 105 5.547 × 105
302 M. Jiang et al.

3 Conclusions

In this paper, we present an optimization framework based on predictive control (PCO)

to perform multi-objective optimization for active dry friction dampers-rotor systems.
The feasible range for design variables is fixed in the PCO framework, thus no initial
guess is required to get the appropriate range of normal forces as traditional direct
optimization method does. Numerical investigations are performed to show the efficacy
and efficiency of the proposed method. Results reveal that by optimizing the controller
parameter instead of normal forces, the PCO manifest itself as robust to the changes of
unbalance levels, thus the optimization results for one particular unbalance level can be
easily applied to the same systems with different load levels.

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 Applying Central Manifold Theory
in the Definition of Active Gas Foil Bearing
Configurations for High-Speed Stability
of Rotors

Ioannis Gavalas , Emmanouil Dimou , and Athanasios Chasalevris(B)

National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece

[email protected]

Abstract. This work explores the extension of threshold speed of instability in

higher speeds, in rotors mounted in Active Gas Foil Bearings (AGFBs). An alter-
native configuration of an AGFB is presented including actuator elements which
act independently under an optimization scheme, in order to establish such a shape
of the top foil, that the effective damping property is achieved at a specific value.
In this way, the bump foil structure existing in the conventional Gas Foil Bear-
ings is not included. Operating speed higher than 100 kRPM is achieved in stable
regimes for a D100 shaft.
A simple rigid rotor mounted on two identical AGFBs is examined in the
quality of instability, this described by the type of Hopf bifurcation (supercriti-
cal or subcritical) through the central manifold theory. The active foil shapes are
elastic, and they are produced by eight piezoelectric actuators located at the bear-
ing’s circumference, establishing lobe-type configuration. The elastoaerodynamic
lubrication problem is modeled by the coupled state equations of the rotating jour-
nal displacement, the gas pressure distribution, and the elastic foil deformation,
evaluated by finite difference method and finite element method respectively.
The optimization pattern targets to set the damping ratio of the system in spe-
cific values. Several design scenarios for the AGFB are studied through dimen-
sionless design parameters. The threshold speed of instability is located at ultra-
high speeds and the type of Hopf bifurcation can be controlled with respective
configurations.

Keywords: bifurcation theory · center manifold theory · nonlinear rotor

dynamics · active gas foil bearings · high speed rotors · oil free

1 Introduction
In the past years, Gas Foil bearings (GFBs) have contributed to the transition to oil-
free rotating machines. Due to the use of ambient air as lubrication medium, GFBs can
operate in high temperatures and produce no contaminants, with little to no maintenance
required. However, GFBs tend to suffer from high amplitude sub-synchronous vibrations
at high speeds, in a phenomenon called gas whirl (similarly to the oil bearings producing
oil whirl/whip), and from severely reduced load carrying capacity compared to equivalent
size oil or roller bearings.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 304–323, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_21
 Applying Central Manifold Theory 305

There is significant research that aims to modify the bearing shape and in partic-
ular the top foil, which acts as the lubricating surface, to increase the threshold speed
of instability. In the work of Kim and San Andres [1], three metallic shims were added
between the bump foil and the bearing outer shell, in order to study the effect of mechan-
ical preloading to the stability properties of GFBs. The authors concluded that using the
metallic shims led to a reduction between the cross-coupling coefficients and an increase
of the onset speed of instability. Sim et al. [2] studied the optimum combination between
bearing clearance and preload for stability and power loss. Schiffman and Spakovszky
[3] found that the optimum preload pattern should depend on the design characteristics
of the GFB, and Walter and Sinapius [4] showed that a preload value can be calculated
that optimizes the trade-off between stability, load capacity and lift-off speed.
More recently, there has been extensive work to address the inherent trade-off
between load capacity and stability by utilizing controllable Gas Foil Bearings (c-GFBs).
Sadri et al. [5] and Feng et al. [6] used patch-type PZT actuators to deform the outer bear-
ing shell that varied depending on the operating speed and performance requirements.
Park and Sim [7] included 9 PZT actuators in order to deform the bearing housing
and control the amplitude of vibrations when passing through critical speeds. It was
shown that bearing clearance control has a significant influence on the direct stiffness
and damping coefficients while control of the mechanical preload has a larger effect on
the cross-coupling coefficients. Park et al. [8] performed a theoretical and experimental
study using parameter identification on a c-GFB with three PZT actuators and showed an
increase of the onset speed of instability. Guan et al. [9] used the same bearing concept
of Feng et al. [6] and studied the performance and bifurcations of the open loop model
and performed an experimental study of a closed loop system using a PID controller.
Furthermore, alternative concepts of c-GFBs include the work of Nielsen and Santos
[10] where a theoretical and experimental of a piezoelectric air foil bearing (PAFB) which
included a composite layer with piezoelectric fibers in the top foil, and von Osmanski
and Santos [11] who studied the feasibility of a hybrid Air Foil Bearing with pressurized
air injection. Both works showed that an increase of the onset speed of instability and a
reduction of sub-synchronous vibrations is indeed possible. Further characteristics and
utilities of active gas foil bearings have been extensively investigated in [12–16].
The nonlinear dynamics of rotor-bearing systems using rigorous methods from bifur-
cation theory is a relatively new subject. In [17–23] the Hopf bifurcation has been studied
using analytical methods for self-excited vibrations in fluid film bearings, allowing the
prediction of the quality and amplitude of the self-excited limit cycles beyond the onset
speed of instability. Recently, Papafragkos et al. [24, 25] identified the correlation of
dissipating energy in the gas film with the respective instabilities in conventional gas
foil bearings, and Gavalas et al. [26] investigated active configurations in gas foil bear-
ings to achieve Hopf bifurcations at very high speeds. Motivated by the latest works, the
authors proceed in this paper adding the following novelty in literature:
1) The possibility to place Hopf bifurcation at selected speed and at selected type, super-
critical or subcritical, utilizing the central manifold theory. In this way, the central
manifold close to the Hopf bifurcation is controlled, and thus the journal motion at
a Hopf bifurcation point follows stable limit cycles of small extend (supercritical
306 I. Gavalas et al.

bifurcation) or large extend (close to radial clearance, when the Hopf bifurcation is
subcritical).
2) The conventional layout of a gas foil bearing including a passively deformed top foil
mounted in a bump foil structure is not the case in this paper. Alternatively, the bump
foil is replaced by a series of piezoelectric actuators and the top foil configuration is
actively applied through an optimization procedure which renders specific damping
factor in the system.
3) Ultra-high speeds of operation are achieved in the theoretical basis, where the cir-
cumferential speed of a D100 journal exceeds the speed of sound, while the system
damping factor is retained at a desired value.

2 Analytical Model of the Rotor-AGFB System

The analytical model of a rigid rotor mounted on two AGFBs is described in this section.
The AGFBs consists of a compliant foil structure which is pin-supported along the inner
circumference of the outer rigid shell, see Fig. 1, and fixed (clamped) along the axial
direction of its one edge, see Fig. 2. In the bearing symmetry plane, a row of PZT actuators
also act on the compliant foil with a normal force, see Fig. 2. Similar configurations can
be found in [24, 25].

Fig. 1. Illustration of the analytical model including (a) the AGFB front view with all relevant
design properties, and (b) gas pressure and resultant journal forces acting on the journal and the
top foil

In the AGFB proposed, the PZT actuators replace the bump foil of a conventional
GFB deforming the structure through open loop control, see Fig. 1. The equations of
lateral motion for a rigid rotor where no angular misalignment (tilting of the rotor)
is considered are defined in Eq. (1) where xj and yj are the journal displacement in
 Applying Central Manifold Theory 307

the horizontal and vertical direction (identical to disc center displacement), md is the
disc mass, mj = md /2 is the journal mass, Fb,x and Fb,y are the resulting bearing
forces (gas film forces) in horizontal and vertical direction, Fu,x = u2 cos(t) and
Fu,y = u2 sin(t) are the unbalance forces components at the two directions evaluated
for constant rotating speed .

Fig. 2. Rigid rotor mounted on two AGFBs. The actuators contact the foil and rigid shell in a
larger area along the axial (z) direction, than depicted in the figure.

Unbalance is defined as u = 10−3 G/(r md )[kg · m] with r [rad/s], being the

maximum operating speed, and G is the ISO balance G-grade. Fg = mj g is the gravity
force acting on each journal, where g = 9.81 m/s2 .
The equations of motion are defined in Eq. (2) in dimensionless form where two
dimensionless design parameters  and g are included, these defined in Eq. (3), where
ψ = R/cr . In Eq. (2) the dimensionless parameters are defined as xj = xj /cr , and
yj = yj /cr . Further definitions for the time derivatives are included as ẍ = ∂ 2 x/∂t 2 , x =
∂ 2 x/∂τ 2 where τ = t/ is the dimensionless time where  = 6μψ 2 /p0 . Bearing forces
Fb,x and Fb,y are defined in Eqs. (6) and (7) in Sect. 2.1 where the elastoaerodynamic
lubrication is discussed.
1 1
ẍj = (Fb,x + Fu,x ), ÿj = (Fb,y + Fu,y − Fg ) (1)
mj mj

xj = F b,x + F u,x , yj = F b,y + F u,y − g (2)

308 I. Gavalas et al.

36μ2 Dψ 5 36μ2 ψ 5
= , g= g (3)
p0 mj p02 R

The number of actuators is chosen to be 8, mainly for the following reasons. In

[26] the authors have investigated AGFB layouts with 4 and 8 actuators, concluding
that 8 actuators allow for more possibilities to enhance the stability threshold. This is
explained by the fact that 8 actuators can establish lobes which increase the effective
eccentricity of the journal with respect to the gas film; this is positive for the increment
of stability threshold speed. More actuators were also applied, but the benefit in stability
threshold was not that important. In this paper, the operating principle of the actuators is
implemented through closed loop control. The actuators perform the respective elonga-
tion after the control current is applied. The optimization problem renders the respective
actuator displacement required for a specific foil shape. The actuators have the possi-
bility to measure their displacements and therefore feedback is provided regarding the
actual displacement. The control system sets the error between the desired and the actual
displacement of the actuator close to zero. The detailed implementation of the control
method is a future work by the authors.

2.1 Solution of the Elasto-Aerodynamic Model for the AGFB Lubrication

The computational model of the top foil follows the formulation from previous work of
the authors in [26, 27]. The top foil is assumed to behave as a flat thin plate, formulated
using the MZC (Melosh-Zienkiewicz-Cheung) finite element [28] using analytical inte-
gration. This formulation for the top foil using thin plate theory by Kirchoff-Love [29]
has been shown to have a reasonably good agreement with experimental data and the
more complicated curved shell model. A small amount of stiffness proportional damping
is considered in the formulation as numerical damping. The mass, damping and stiffness
matrices are then reduced using the mode acceleration method, considering the first four
modes of the undamped system [30]. The matrix V in Eqs. (5) and (6) contains the
eigenvectors corresponding to the selected modes and the vector v is the modal response
vector. The mass, damping and stiffness matrices and the force vector are reduced using
the modal matrix as shown in Eq. (5). Then the reduced equations of motion are defined
in Eq. (4) where fp,i = (pi − p0 )xz and fa,j = ca,j (q̇j − q̇a,j ) + ka,j (qj − qa,j ) are the
normal forces from the gas film pressure to the foil, and from the actuators to the foil,
respectively. Finally, the complete physical response of the system is given by Eq. (5).
It is noted that the method is only appropriate in systems without rigid body motion
(due to the inversion of the stiffness matrix), but has the benefit of accurately predicting
the physical response when few modes are retained while exactly preserving the static
displacement for constant forcing (Fig. 3).

Mf ,r v̈f + Cf ,r v̇f + Kf ,r vf = ff ,r (4)

Mf ,r = VT Mf V, Cf ,r = VT Cf V, Kf ,r = VT Kf V, ff ,r = VT ff (5)

qf = Kf−1 ff − Kf−1 Mf V¨vf − Kf−1 Cf V˙vf (6)

 Applying Central Manifold Theory 309

Fig. 3. Representative Finite Element mesh and support conditions of the foil structure

The reduced foil ODEs can be recast in state-space form in Eq. (7).
      
v̇f O I vf O
= + (7)
v̈f −Mf−1 −1
,r Kf ,r −Mf ,r Cf ,r v̇f Mf−1
,r ff ,r

The gas lubrication is governed by the compressible and isothermal Reynolds equa-
tion which is transformed into Eq. (8) in non-dimensional form by setting χ = χ /R, χ ∈
[0, 2π R], z = 2z/Lb , z ∈ [−Lb /2, Lb /2], p = p/p0 , h = h/cr ,  =  . Boundary
conditions for the gas pressure are defined as p(χ = 0, z) = p(χ = 2π R, z) = p(χ , z =
−Lb /2) = p0 , and ∂p/∂z|z=0 = 0 due to symmetry. The Reynolds equation is coupled
to the foil and rotor ODEs through the film thickness function defined in Eq. (9a, b) in
dimensioned and dimensionless form where q = q/cr .
 
∂p 1 2 ∂p 2 R 2 ∂p 2 3 ∂p ∂h R 2 ∂p ∂h
= h + + ph +
∂τ 2 ∂χ Lb ∂z 2 ∂χ ∂χ Lb ∂z ∂z
 
1 2 ∂ 2p R 2 ∂ 2p  ∂p p ∂h p ∂h
+ ph + − + − (8)
2 ∂χ 2 Lb ∂z 2 2 ∂χ h ∂χ h ∂τ
h(θ, z) = cr − xj cos(θ ) − yj sin(θ ) + qf (θ, z) (9a)

h(θ, z) = 1 − xj cos(θ ) − yj sin(θ ) + qf (θ, z) (9b)

The resulting forces from the gas to the journal are evaluated in Eq. (10a, b) in
dimensioned and dimensionless form, respectively.
1 2π Nz Nθ
4π
F b,x = − ∫ p(θ, z) cos(θ )d xd z ≈ − pi,j cos(θi ) (10a)
−1 0 Nz Nθ
j=1 i=1
310 I. Gavalas et al.

1 2π Nz Nθ
4π
F b,y = − ∫ p(θ, z) sin(θ )d xd z ≈ − pi,j sin(θi ) (10b)
−1 0 Nz Nθ
j=1 i=1

   T
The unknown state vector sn×1 = xj yj xj yj pT vfT vTf and the coupled
ODE system define a non-autonomous dynamic system in Eq. (11a) when unbalance
forces are included, or an autonomous dynamic system in Eq. (11b) for the balanced
rotor.

s = f(s, , τ ), s = f(s, ) (11a,b)

The dynamic systems defined in Eq. (11) can produce asymptotically sta-
ble solutions around a fixed point or limit cycle, among other solutions. Limit
cycles can be periodic or quasi periodic. Chaotic motions can be also gener-
ated. The respective fixed points, limit cycles, and trajectories can be calculated
through time integration of Eq. (11) applying specific algorithms for numerically
stiff systems like the current one. Time integration is used only to establish an
initial prediction for the respective stable fixed point or limit cycle. A colloca-
tion type method is used for the computation of periodic limit cycles produced by
the ODE system in Eq. (11), at a constant rotating speed. Numerical continuation
of periodic limit cycles (pseudo arc length continuation [31–35]) has been programmed
by the authors, in correspondence to [31], to evaluate the limit cycles or the fixed point
as the rotating speed changes. The reader may also find the methodology in the recent
works of the authors in [22, 24]. Only periodic limit cycles are evaluated in this work.
The evaluation of quasi periodic limit cycles and the respective continuation method is
under preparation by the authors for future work. Further to the limit cycle response, the
iterative solution of the collocation method renders as a product the monodromy matrix
whose eigenvalues are directly related to the Floquet multipliers of the periodic motion.
The convergence of the large ill conditioned algebraic systems is achieved by numerical
techniques including tools like analytical derivatives, damped Newton method.

3 Center Manifold Theory at the Hopf Bifurcation of Fixed-Point

Equilibria
The center manifold theory is a method that allows the computation of the normal form
of several types of bifurcations [36–38]. The normal form is a simplified low dimensional
dynamical system that exhibits the same qualitative characteristics as the original system
around the bifurcation point utilizing nonlinear transformations. The normal form of the
Hopf bifurcation is defined in Eq. (12). A number can be defined through δ as a = Re(δ)
and is called First Lyapunov Coefficient (FLC).
dξ
= (λ + i)ξ + δ|ξ |2 ξ, ξ ∈ C, δ ∈ C, λ ∈ R. (12)
dt
If a < 0 there exists a stable limit cycle for λ > 0, and the bifurcation is called
supercritical, while for a > 0 there exists an unstable limit cycle for λ < 0, and then the
 Applying Central Manifold Theory 311

bifurcation is called subcritical. The Hopf bifurcation can be subcritical or supercritical,

depending on the value and sign of the FLC which can be computed at λ = −th → 0.
The center manifold can be computed using the projection method which does not require
the transformation of the system into its eigen-basis. The eigenvectors corresponding
to the critical eigenvalues of the linearized system (around the fixed-point equilibrium)
are used to calculate the projection of the system to the critical eigenspace. For more
information on the derivation, the reader is referred to [38]. The application of the method
results in a convenient method to calculate an invariant expression for the first Lyapunov
coefficient. In general, the Taylor expansion of f(u, 0) at u = 0 is written in Eq. (13)
where b(u1 , u2 ) and c(u1 , u2 , u3 ) are the multilinear functions (directional derivatives)
with the components defined in Eq. (14).
1 1
f(u, 0) = Au + b(u, u) + c(u, u, u) + O(||u||4 ) (13)
2 6


∂ 2 fj (w, 0) 
n
bj (u1 , u2 ) = u1k u2l ,
∂wk ∂wl 
k,l=1 w=0


∂ fj (w, 0) 
n 3
cj (u1 , u2 , u3 ) = u1k u2l u3m (14)
∂wk ∂wl ∂wm 
k,l,m=1 w=0

The multilinear functions b(u1 , u2 ) and c(u1 , u2 , u3 ) are approximated by matrix-

vector products. If we let q̃ ∈ Cn the complex eigenvector of A corresponding to the
eigenvalue iω0 , and p̃ ∈ Cn the adjoint eigenvector corresponding to −iω0 , then the first
Lyapunov coefficient is calculated in Eq. (15) where q̃ is the complex conjugate of q̃.
1
a= Re[p̃, c(q̃, q̃, q̃) − 2p̃, b(q̃, A−1 b(q̃, Q
q))
2ω0
+ p̃, b(q̃, (2iω0 I − A)−1 b(q̃, q̃))] (15)

The eigenvectors are normalized as q̃T q̃ = 1, and the sign of a is independent of the
normalization used. The procedure is presented in the flow chart in Fig. 4.

4 AGFB Configurations to Locate Hopf Bifurcations and Determine

the Type of Instability
A reference system is defined with two dimensionless design parameters, these being
 and g, see Eq. (3). The quality of stability of the reference system is investigated for
four pairs of the bearing design parameters, in Fig. 5, corresponding to a small and a
large AGFB; note that the parameter g defines directly the diameter of the bearing, for a
given ratio ψ = R/cr = 500. For instance, g = 0.1 and g = 0.01 correspond to bearing
diameter D = 10 mm and D = 100 mm respectively. Further physical parameters needed
to be defined are included in Table 1. In the reference system, all actuators are set in the
zero position (no displacement), and therefore no active configuration takes place in the
foil.
312 I. Gavalas et al.

Fig. 4. Flow chart for the calculation of the first Lyapunov coefficient

Table 1. Physical properties for ambient air and foil material

Ambient air Foil material (Inconel type)

Dynamic viscosity μ = 1.83 · 10−5 Pa s Poisson’s ratio νf = 0.28
Ambient pressure p0 = 101.3 kPa Young’s modulus Ef = 205 GPa
Density ρf = 8200 kg/m3

The design parameter  is an indicator of the effective loading of the bearing. A

bearing of  = 0.1 is more loaded than a bearing of  = 1. The first Lyapunov
coefficient (FLC)α is evaluated at the Hopf bifurcation which takes place when rotating
speed  equals the threshold speed of instability th for the various values of the actuator
compliance α α and its effective loss factor ηα . Both parameters are significant for the
dynamic behavior of the foil structure. The dimensionless foil thickness t f is defined at
a fixed value of t f = tf /R = 0.08. The specific load of the bearing designs included in
Fig. 5 does not exceed the value W = mj g/(Lb D) = 5 kPa. Perfectly balanced rotors
are considered.
In Fig. 5 one notices that in the wide design range of the AGFB design, and for the
conventional design where no displacement of actuators applies, supercritical and sub-
critical Hopf bifurcations take place, and that the threshold speed of instability exhibits
wide range of variation. An AGFB able to receive higher loads (as  increases) is keener
to generate subcritical instability (positive FLC), than an AGFB of smaller diameter
is (as  decreases). The potential for supercritical instability is increased for smaller
AGFBs and especially for lower loads (lower g). Small AGFBs receiving high load
will generate subcritical instability. There are combinations of design configuration and
load which render subcritical or supercritical instability. The quality of Hopf bifurcation
is similar in the two designs presented in Fig. 5, where the compliance of actuators is
 Applying Central Manifold Theory 313

Fig. 5. First Lyapunov coefficient – FLC α and threshold speed of instability th (speed at Hopf
bifurcation) as a function of  and g for actuator compliance a) α α = 0.01, and b) α α = 0.1.
Positive and negative surface values are depicted in different shading.

increased by one order of magnitude in Fig. 5b. A more flexible support in the foil results
in higher threshold speed of instability th . Typical solution branches for subcritical and
supercritical instability are presented in Fig. 6. These have been evaluated by numerical
continuation of fixed points and of limit cycles of a perfectly balanced rotor. At both cases
the transient response of the system will always attracted by stable limit cycles after a
Hopf bifurcation occurs. However, at the case of a subcritical Hopf bifurcation, the limit
cycles are bounded by the physical constraint of radial clearance. At this case, and from
the engineering point of view, the system will produce violent vibrations immediately
after the Hopf bifurcation takes place, as the system increases its speed. At the case of
a supercritical Hopf bifurcation, the self-excited vibration will be attracted from stable
limit cycles which progressively extent to a larger area inside the radial clearance. From
the engineering point of view, supercritical instability is preferred in rotating systems.

4.1 Configuration Patterns with One Control Input

A specific foil configuration is investigated in continue where all actuators simultane-
ously exhibit equal absolute displacement qα at the range qα,i ∈ [−0.3, 0.3] in the
pattern qα,1 = −qα,2 = qα,3 = −qα,4 = . . . = −qα,8 = qα . One control signal is
sufficient to control the actuator displacements, as these are equal to the absolute value
qα . The resulting foil configurations and the respective actuator positions are depicted
in Fig. 7. The corresponding fixed-point equilibria of the journal (see Fig. 7a and b)
and the respective stability threshold and sign of the first Lyapunov coefficient α (see
Fig. 7c and d) are included at all seven scenarios qα = −0.3, ..., 0.3 including the
conventional design where qα = 0. The stability threshold is approximately doubled
comparing the conventional configuration of qα = 0 and the case of qα = 0.3, at the
case of a large lightly loaded bearing (see Fig. 7a and c). For the case of a smaller
and higher loaded bearing, the threshold speed of instability does not severely increase
, see Fig. 7b and d. Stiffer actuators provide the potential for higher instability threshold
314 I. Gavalas et al.

Fig. 6. Solution branches of the system in a) supercritical, and b) subcritical Hopf bifurcation,
for selected AGFB configurations.

at the first case, while more compliant actuators work towards stability at the second
case.
The dimensionless pressure, the foil configuration, and the film thickness are pre-
sented in Fig. 8 for the respective configurations of Fig. 7. In Fig. 7 it is shown that the
foil structure follows the alternation in shape through the circumferential direction. The
actuators’ displacement of a maximum absolute value qα = 0.3 produces a minimum
gas film thickness lower than 20% of radial clearance. Such a case should be avoided in
the potential applications. However, the design considers much higher rotating speeds in
which the journal will operate in lower eccentricity and therefore the minimum gas film
thickness will increase. The operability of AGFB is discussed further in Sect. 4.2. The
maximum gas pressure generated in the lubrication area exceeds 3.5 times the ambient
pressure of the gas. The respective foil deflection does not exceed the value set by the
actuators in any case. The passive deformation of the foil is minimized by selecting a
foil thickness as tf = 0.08R.
The foil shape is presented in Fig. 9a in a 3D view where the respective actuator
forces required to produce the shape are depicted too. A representative configuration is
depicted in polar coordinates in Fig. 9b.

4.2 Configuration Patterns with Multiple Control Inputs

In this Section the displacement of each actuator is independent from any other. There-
fore, random configurations are established in the AGFB. An optimization procedure is
engaged with eight inputs to correspond to the eight independent actuator displacements,
and an objective function such that Hopf bifurcation to be located at selected speed, by
setting the value of damping ratio ζ to be equal to the target ζ0 = 0. Damping ratio ζ is
evaluated through the eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix of the linearized system around
the respective fixed-point equilibrium. By setting the speed of operation at the desired
value H , the optimization algorithm searches for the configuration qα,1 , qα,2 , ..., qα,8
 Applying Central Manifold Theory 315

Fig. 7. Active configurations, fixed point equilibria, and bifurcation type, for a)  = 1, g = 0.1
and b)  = 0.1, g = 0.01; FLC and threshold speed of instability for the respective cases in c)
and d). ◯ subcritical instability, ● supercritical instability at all figures

which renders a fixed-point equilibrium where ζ ≈ ζ0 . During the iterations of the opti-

mization algorithm, several fixed points are evaluated, for the respective sets of qα,i .
The objective function for locating the Hopf bifurcation at a selected speed is defined in
Eq. (16).
 
OBF qα,1 , qα,2 , ..., qα,8 ,  = H = (ζ − ζ0 )2 (16)
A second scenario with practical interest considers a target ζ0 for damping ratio at
a selected positive value, e.g. ζ0 = 0.02 is selected. At this case, the balanced system
executes a virtual run up from a low speed. At each speed, the fixed-point equilibrium
and the respective damping ratio ζ is evaluated. While ζ > ζ0 theAGFB acts at each
conventional version, meaning that no actuation takes place, qα,i = {0}. Increasing
the rotating speed , damping ratio reduces and as soon as ζ < ζ0 the optimization
scheme is engaged in the algorithm to render ζ ≈ ζ0 . The respective configuration of
the foil acts as initial shape for the next optimization occurring at the next higher speed
316 I. Gavalas et al.

Fig. 8. Pressure distribution p(θ, 0), film thickness h(θ, 0), and foil displacement qf (θ, 0) for
selected configurations of a) Case 1, and b) Case 2.

where ζ < ζ0 . In this way, the potential of the AGFB to establish stability at ultra-high
speeds is depicted in Fig. 10 where the optimization procedure is repeated a total of
9 times (at 9 corresponding rotating speeds). It is found that the threshold speed of
instability achieves higher values compared to those for one control input, see Sect. 4.1,
corresponding to ultra-high speeds. The optimization goal is to determine the critical
eigenvalue pair in the case of fixed-point equilibria. The optimization problem is solved
using the MATLAB function patternsearch from the Global Optimization Toolbox [34]
which is recommended for non-expensive objective functions. Because of the magnitude
of the design space, it can become difficult for the fixed point to converge, when the
initial guess is far from the solution. To overcome this obstacle, the optimization problem
is allowed to run with the actuators constrained between 10% of the radial clearance in
the inward and outward direction with respect to the last optimum configuration found.
Once a solution has been achieved, the initial guess for the next equilibria is the solution
found.
The operational parameter DN will be used in this Section to express the peripheral
speed of the journal. DN [mm/min] =D [mm] ·  [RPM] is used in literature to express
the circumferential speed of a rotor inside a bearing (normally ball bearing). Aiming to
AGFB configurations for ultra-high speeds, in this paper the dimensionless parameter
DNM = DN/DNS is also defined, where DNS ≈ 6.5e6 is the value of DN for a journal
with peripheral speed R = 343.2 m/s(= Mach 1); therefore, 0 <DNM < 1 in the
applications considered. Note that DN >2.5e6 (DNM > 0.38) is hardly observed in
existing applications.
In Fig. 10a, the respective foil configurations are presented at the respective speed
for the design defined at the top of the figure, for a shaft diameter of D = 10 mm.
The respective configurations render damping ratio ζ = ζ0 = 0.02. However, each
configuration refers to different rotating speed as shown in the color bar. The quality of
all configurations appears similar; the actuators establish three asymmetric lobes in the
bearing.
 Applying Central Manifold Theory 317

Fig. 9. Representative 3D view of a) foil displacement qf (θ, z) and actuator forces b) foil
configuration in polar coordinates, and c) pressure distribution p(θ, z).

The conventional design becomes unstable at  ≈ 2.5 and the optimized AGFB
reaches  ≈ 10.6. This is an extend of the threshold speed of instability by approximately
4 times. In Fig. 10b one may notice the respective stability threshold of the system for
each of the 9 configurations, if each of them was fixed. A fixed-point continuation renders
the fixed-point equilibrium and the respective damping ratio, the latter depicted by a solid
line while ζ > 0 (stable fixed point), and a dashed line for ζ < 0 (unstable fixed point).
The optimization algorithm fails to achieve the targeted damping ratio at the cases 8 and
9 depicted in Fig. 10b. This is attributed to the fact that the actuators are not allowed to
establish configurations which would render the minimum gas film thickness lower than
the prescribed threshold; this would compromise the integrity of the system.
Transient response is evaluated for an unbalanced rotor during a run up where the
foil configurations follow interpolated patterns of those configured above. The result
is depicted in Fig. 10c where one may notice the stable response up to the speed of
 ≈ 10.6; this is translated to DNM = 0.52 or  = 341 kRPM for the D10 shaft.
318 I. Gavalas et al.

Fig. 10. a) optimum configurations at various speeds to establish stable operation of ζ = ζ0 =

0.02 for the D10 bearing, b) progress of damping ratio during the virtual run up, and c) verified
stable operation during a virtual run up of an unbalanced rotor.

The respective foil deformation is depicted in the same chart together with minimum
film thickness. The main advantage is that relatively high gas film thickness is achieved
for stable operation at ultra-high speeds. Further to that, it is interesting to notice the
displacement of the top foil qf where the oscillating motion evolves. The oscillation
frequency consists of more than one component, with the one of major amplitude to
be synchronous to the excitation frequency (rotating speed ). This is attributed to the
fact that the natural frequencies of the foil structure, under the specific mounting of 8
actuators, are all higher than the ending speed of the systems investigated. Therefore,
the oscillating deformation of the top foil will be following the quality and frequency
of the oscillating motion of the journal. The foil structure does include a low portion of
damping (as numerical damping), but the actuator model does include viscous damping
factor and influence the effective damping of the system. The foil structure itself cannot
become unstable as there is not any mechanism of self-exciting vibration in its equations
of motion, Eq. (4). The gas film thickness depicts oscillations too, as shown in Fig. 10c
 Applying Central Manifold Theory 319

but these oscillations do not introduce any self-excited motion; the system operates at
stable regime as the effective damping is retained positive.

Fig. 11. a) optimum configurations at various speeds to establish stable operation of ζ = ζ0 =

0.02 for the D100 bearing, b) progress of damping ratio during the virtual run up, and c) verified
stable operation during a virtual run up of an unbalanced rotor.

In Fig. 11a the respective foil configurations are presented at the respective speed
for the design defined at the top of the figure, for a shaft diameter of D = 100 mm. The
respective configurations give a damping ratio ζ = ζ0 = 0.02. Each configuration of
the AGFB refers to different rotating speed as shown in the color bar. The quality of all
configurations appears similar, and the actuators establish three asymmetric lobes in the
bearing as happened also for the D10 shaft.
The conventional design becomes unstable at  ≈ 0.9 and the optimized AGFB
reaches  ≈ 5.0. In Fig. 11b the respective damping ratio for the 21 configurations
is depicted closely around the target value ζ0 = 0.02. Transient response is evaluated
for the unbalanced rotor during a virtual run up where the foil configurations follow
interpolated patterns of the 21 configured above. The result is depicted in Fig. 11c where
320 I. Gavalas et al.

one may notice the stable response up to the speed of  ≈ 5.0; this is translated to
DNM ≈ 2.4 or  = 157 kRPM for the D100 shaft. The respective foil deformation is
depicted in the same chart together with minimum film thickness. It is worth noticing
that the minimum gas film thickness reduces at the ending speed; the integrity of the
AGFB is questioned at this case.
In continue, the possibility to reverse the type of Hopf bifurcation is investigated.
The idea is that the Hopf bifurcation of the system is set at a specific rotating speed as
described at the beginning of this Section. Then, at this specific speed, an optimization
algorithm searches for one configuration which gives positive or negative First Lyapunov
Coefficient FLC α. The objective function is defined at this case in Eq. (17).
 
OBF qα,1 , qα,2 , ..., qα,8 ,  = H = (ζ − ζ0 )2 + (α − α0 )2 (17)

In Eq. (17), ζ0 is set at a low positive value, e.g. ζ0 = 1e − 5 so as a Hopf bifurcation

to occur, and the target for FLC α0 is set at a positive or negative value at each case,
at a realistic order considering the results of Fig. 5, e.g. α0 = ±0.01. At the first case,
for α0 = +0.01, a supercritical Hopf bifurcation should occur when the optimization
achieves both targets and OBF → 0. At the second case, for α0 = −0.01, a subcritical
Hopf bifurcation should occur. The design applied in the results of Fig. 10 is selected
and the Hopf bifurcation speed is set at H = 0.38. The corresponding configurations
are depicted in Fig. 12. To this end, the advantage of AGFB to establish the preferred
supercritical instability is clarified, at least for a selected design case.

Fig. 12. AGFB configurations for supercritical and subcritical Hopf bifurcation at speed H =
1.5.

5 Conclusions
The paper introduces an Active Gas Foil Bearing with optimized configuration in real
time operation. The optimization targets to set the damping ratio of the system in spe-
cific values by altering the foil configuration at each speed, during a virtual run-up of
 Applying Central Manifold Theory 321

the system. Positive damping ratio guarantees stable fixed-point solution, while a zero
damping ratio renders a Hopf bifurcation point. Specific AGFB configurations are found
to render supercritical or subcritical instability at a selected Hopf bifurcation speed. The
most important conclusions of the work are summarized as follows.
1) The AGFB configuration follows a progressively changed shape of the same quality,
as the optimization algorithm targets to retain the damping ratio of the fixed-point
solution at a specific value; this is valid at all speeds and designs checked. Stable
operation is achieved up to ultra-high speeds. The peripheral speed of the journal is
found at speeds higher than Mach 1 at selected design cases where stable operation
is achieved.
2) It is possible to place Hopf bifurcation at selected speed and at selected type,
supercritical or subcritical, utilizing the central manifold theory.
3) The bump foil of a conventional gas foil bearing can be replaced by a series of
actuators and the top foil configuration to be actively applied, establishing stable
operation at high speeds.
4) Ultra-high speeds of operation are achieved in the theoretical basis, where the cir-
cumferential speed of a D100 journal exceeds the speed of sound, while the system
damping factor is retained at a desired value. There are limitations regarding the
ending speed as the foil structure can perform displacements up to a certain extent.

Acknowledgements. The research work was supported by two separate funding sources: a) the
Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) Fellowship Number: 9575, and b) the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, with a Research Group Linkage Program between
National Technical University of Athens and Karlsruhe Institute for Technology.

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 Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker
Bifurcations in Parametrically Excited Rotors
on Active Gas Foil Bearings

Emmanouil Dimou1 , Ioannis Gavalas1 , Fadi Dohnal2 ,

and Athanasios Chasalevris1(B)
1 National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece
[email protected]
2 Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences, 6850 Dornbirn, Austria

Abstract. In this work, parametric excitation is introduced in a fully balanced

flexible rotor mounted on two identical active gas foil bearings. The active gas
foil bearings change the top foil shape harmonically with a specific amplitude and
frequency. The deformable foil shape is approximated by an analytical function,
while the gas pressure distribution is evaluated by the numerical solution of the
Reynolds equation for compressible flow. The harmonic variation of the foil shape
generates a respective variation in the bearings’ stiffness and damping properties
and the system experiences parametric resonances and antiresonances in specific
excitation frequencies. The nonlinear gas bearing forces generate bifurcations in
the solutions of the system at certain rotating speeds and excitation frequencies;
period doubling and Neimark-Sacker bifurcations are noticed in the examined
system, and their progress is evaluated as the two bifurcation parameters (rotating
speed and parametric excitation frequency) are changed, though a codimension-2
numerical continuation of limit cycles. It is found that at specific range of excitation
frequency there are parametric anti-resonances and the bifurcations collide and
vanish. Therefore, a bifurcation-free operating range is established and the system
can operate stable at a wide speed range.

Keywords: parametric excitation · nonlinear rotor dynamics · gas foil bearings ·

bifurcations · numerical continuation

1 Introduction
Systems with multiple degrees of freedom (MDoF) and periodically changing physical
properties (parametrically excited systems) have gathered both the mathematical and
engineering interest of the last few decades [1–3]. If the parameters of the excitation
strategy are carefully chosen, the existing damping properties of the system will be more
efficiently used [4, 5]. Therefore, the stability of an initially unstable system will poten-
tially be retained. The aforementioned phenomenon is called parametric antiresonance
and can be interpreted as beneficial modal interaction. In current work, parametric exci-
tation is introduced in a realistic model of a high speed, turbopump rotor, mounted on
two identical gas foil bearings.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 324–341, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_22
 Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker Bifurcations 325

One of the first attempts to implement parametric excitation in realistic rotor models
has been done in [6], where the potential to stabilize an equilibrium position was inves-
tigated. The stabilization of limit cycles was investigated in [7], where a turbine rotor,
modeled with finite element method (FEM), was mounted on adjustable oil film bear-
ings. The works hereby referred, do not consider complex rotor models coupled to active
gas foil bearings (AGFBs) and do not examine the type of the occurring bifurcations.
Additionally, numerical continuation methods for limit cycles and their bifurcations have
been recently applied in simplistic nonlinear rotor bearing systems. In [8–10], simplified
models of high-speed rotors were coupled to floating ring bearings, while in [11–14] Jef-
fcott rotor models on simple oil film bearings were investigated. Recent studies, focusing
mainly on the bearing models, studied the bifurcation sets of simplistic rotor models on
adjustable oil bearings [15] and on gas foil bearings [16] without implementing para-
metric excitation. In current work, a lot of emphasis was given on the programming of
a robust and time efficient continuation method, applicable to parametrically excited,
complex rotor bearing systems with multiple degrees of freedom.
A nonlinear approach of the elastoaerodynamic problem is straightly adopted. Com-
mon assumptions about the gas lubrication problem are introduced and the Reynolds
equation for the compressible gas flow is solved using a Finite Difference Method [FDM].
The Simple Elastic Foundation Model (SEFM) is adopted for the representation of the
bump foil behavior. The structure consists of linear elements of stiffness and damping
in the radial direction while the top foil is considered massless. Parametric excitation
is introduced by a sinusoidal displacement of the outer, deformableringwith predefined
amplitude and frequency, and a harmonic variation in bearing’s stiffness and damping
properties is generated. This can practically be achieved using piezo-actuators [17]. In
general, there are various experimental and theoretical investigations which show that
increased damping and stabilization is possible using closed loop control techniques
such as hydraulic servo systems [18]. In current work, an open loop, periodic excitation
strategy is proposed, the frequency of which should be close to the lower critical speeds.
The periodic solutions of the parametrically excited and perfectly balanced rotor-
bearing systems are considered as solutions of nonlinear Boundary Value Problems
(BVPs) and are evaluated using the explicit Runge-Kutta scheme [19], as it is found
to be more robust method than the widely known collocation method. The correspond-
ing solution branches are evaluated using the most reputable continuation method, the
pseudo-arc length continuation method [20–23]. This method has the primary advance
to study MDoF systems where the nonlinear equations of motion can be many [24] and
the occurring bifurcations of various types. Similar continuation methods are applied
in order to accurately predict period doubling (PD) and Neimark-Sacker (NS) bifurca-
tions as two bifurcation parameters, the rotating speed and the excitation frequency are
changed. Finally, the type of the occurring Neimark-Sacker bifurcations is investigated
[25]. All the aforementioned methods are programmed by the authors directly from
the notes [20, 23, 26]. The motion of unbalanced rotors under the effect of paramet-
ric excitation has quasi periodic characteristics resulted by the simultaneous excitation
and synchronous frequency and should be studied using the theory of nonlinear normal
326 E. Dimou et al.

modes. Nevertheless, using time integration algorithms, the authors verified that bal-
ance quality grades for turbopump rotors do not dramatically affect the phenomenon of
parametric antiresonance.

2 Analytical Model of the Parametrically Excited Rotor

with AGFBs
2.1 Elastoaerodynamic Lubrication and Resulting Gas Forces
A gas foil bearing with active configuration is presented in Fig. 1 in a schematic rep-
resentation of the working principles. Under the assumptions of a) isothermal gas film,
b) laminar flow, c) no slip boundary conditions, d) continuum flow, e) negligible fluid
inertia, f) ideal isothermal gas law (p/ρ = ct), g) negligible entrance and exit effects
and negligible curvature of the gas film, the compressible gas flow is described by the
Reynolds equation, given in Eq. (1). This equation is written in dimensionless form and
it is an implicit function of dimensionless time and journal and foil kinematics.
   
∂ 3 ∂p 2 ∂ 3 ∂p ∂   ∂  
ph +κ ph = ph + 2 ph (1)
∂x ∂x ∂z ∂z ∂x ∂τ
Since analytical solution for Eq. (1) cannot be defined, the Finite Difference Method
(FDM) is used to approximate the gas pressure distribution. At first, the Reynolds
equation is rewritten, defining the first time derivative of the pressure distribution, in
Eq. (2).
   
1 ∂ 3 ∂p κ ∂ 3 ∂p  ∂   ph˙
ṗ = ph + ph − ph − (2)
2h ∂x ∂x 2h ∂z ∂z 2h ∂x h
The pressure domain is converted into a grid of i = 1, . . . , Nx +1 and j = 1, . . . , Nz +
1 mesh points (i and j are the indices in the circumferential and axial direction, see Fig. 1),
upon which, the first order partial derivatives of Eq. (2) are expressed with backward
differences and the second order partial derivatives are expressed by central differences.
It should be noted that the elastoaerodynamic lubrication problem of Eq. (2) includes
the dimensionless parameters of gas pressure p, gas film thickness h, spatial coordinates
in the circumferential and axial direction x = θ, z respectively, dimensionless time τ ,
dimensionless rotating speed , the ratio κ = R/Lb .
The gas film thickness is defined in Eq. (3) for both the continuous and discrete
spatial coordinates, where q = q(θ ) or qi = q(θi ) is the dimensionless foil deformation
in radial direction, see Fig. 1.

h = 1 − xj cos θ − yj sin θ + q, hi = 1 − xj cos θi − yj sin θi + qi (3)

The symmetry of the gas lubrication problem in the axial direction is taken into
account with the boundary conditions described in Eq. (4). These conditions are also
expressed in the continuous and the discrete domain.

p(τ, θ0 , z) = p(τ, θ0 + 2π, z) = 1, p1,j = pNx+1,j = 1

∂p pi,Nz/2 −pi,Nz/2−1 (4)
∂z |z=1/2 = 0, z =0
 Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker Bifurcations 327

Fig. 1. (a) Representation and key design properties of the gas foil bearing under the effect of
parametric excitation force acting on the outer ring, (b) modeling of the bump foil and the respective
forces acting on the components of the gas foil bearing.

It is of high importance to note that, when integrating the pressure distribution over
the bearing’s surface in order to compute the impedance gas forces, sub ambient pres-
sure values are neglected. The Gümbel boundary condition is imposed and in terms of
numerical calculations, if the dimensionless fluid pressure is lower than 1, then it is
replaced by 1; in this way the pressure in the cavitated areas is neglected.
The schematic representation of the widely known Simple Elastic Foundation (SEF)
model for the bump foil structure is also depicted at Fig. 1. According to the aforemen-
tioned model, the structure consists of equally valued linear elements of dimensionless
stiffness k f (with the corresponding compliance af = 1/k f ) and damping cf in the
radial direction, while the top foil is considered massless, see Fig. 1. Its stripes along the
axial direction are assumed to remain parallel to the bearing surface during their motion.
Therefore, no axial direction is needed for the description of the top foil motion. Instead,
only the mean axial gas pressure pm is necessary. This pressure, is given in Eq. (5), in
the continuous and the discrete domain, in the dimensional and the dimensionless form.
 NZ  
1  1 
NZ
1 Lb 
pm (θ ) = p(θ )dz, pm,i = pi,j z , pm,i = pi,j (5)
Lb 0 Lb NZ
j=2 j=2

Given the fact that the top foil’s motion is synchronous to the pressure excitation,
the structural damping coefficient can be expressed as cf = η · k f , where η denotes
the loss factor. Generally, the dimensionless foil stiffness coefficient k f is related to
some specific physical properties of the bump. According to [27], the dimensional foil
compliance af can be analytically approximated by the following formula:
 
2p0 Sbf lbf  
af = 1 − vbf
2
(6)
cr Ebf tbf
328 E. Dimou et al.

where Sbf is the pitch of bump foil, lbf is half bump foil’s length, tbf is bump
foil’s thickness and Ebf , vbf are Young’s modulus and Poison’s ratio of the bump foil
respectively.
Therefore, the dimensionless foil stiffness coefficient can be defined as:
cr
kf = kb = (7)
af p0

As it is clearly stated in the Introduction, the parametric excitation is implemented

by a predefined harmonic variation of the bearing’s outer ring qr = qr,i . Therefore,
the radial displacement qi of the ith top foil’s stripe under the effect of the mean axial
gas pressure and the parametric excitation is defined in Eq. (8), see also Appendix.

[pm,i − k f (qi − qr,i )]

q̇i = q̇r,i + , i = 2, 3, ..., Nx (8)
cf

Finally, it is denoted x = 2π/Nx , z = 1/Nz and the nonlinear gas forces can be
evaluated according to Eq. (9).

2π 1 
Nx 
Nz
B
Fx = − (p − 1) cos θ d θ d z = − (pi,j − 1) cos θi x z
0 0 i=2 j=2
(9)
2π 1 
Nx 
Nz
B
Fy = − (p − 1) sin θ d θ d z = − (pi,j − 1) sin θi x z
0 0 i=2 j=2

2.2 Condensed Rotor Model

A representative turbopump rotor, mounted on two identical AGFBs and designed to

operate above 20 kRPM is implemented in the current work,see Fig. 2. The rotor has
complex geometry with different material properties, directly related to the temperature
distribution among its length, and additional masses in various locations. Thus the rotor
is discretized with cylindrical finite elements, each one having two nodes and a total
of eight degrees of freedom xi , two transverse displacements and two tilting angles
per node. The individual beam element matrices of inertia, stiffness and gyroscopy
are properly summated and finally construct the corresponding global matrices. The
global damping matrix follows the classical Rayleigh formula and the equations of
motion for the whole rotor system in dimensionless form are derived in Eq. (10). On the
B
right-hand side, gas bearing forces F i are evaluated according to the aforementioned
elastoaerodynamic approach and they are the only source of nonlinearity in the rotor-
G
bearing system. Additionally, gravity forces F i are composed supposing that the
mass of each element is equally divided to the two nodes of the element.
        B G
M ẍi + C + G ẋi + K {xi } = F i + F i (10)
 Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker Bifurcations 329

Fig. 2. Schematic representation of a slender high-speed rotor supported on two identical GFBs.
Finite element discretization, bearing span Ls , and master and slave nodes are also depicted.

The rotor model described in Eq. (10) is then reduced using the Guyan (static)
reduction method. The selection of master (retained) nodes has been performed in order
to match the dynamic response of the full system to this of the reduced one in terms
of unbalance response and modal properties. It should be noted herethat the harmonic
variation of qi seems to be efficient if its frequency is around specific damped natural
frequencies of the linearized rotor-bearing model. Therefore, it is of great importance
the reduction method to be held carefully. In current work, the number of total master
nodes is 7, including both the overhang nodes and 5 almost equally distributed rotor
nodes. By definition, only transverse displacements at each node are retained and the
equations of motion for the reduced rotor system in dimensionless form are derived in
Eq. (11).
        B G
Mr ẍm,i + Cr + Gr ẋm,i + Kr xm,i = F r,i + F r,i (11)

The reduced rotor model equations of motion can now be converted to the following
ẋm,i
set of first order ordinary differential equations (ODEs), where ym = ym,i =
xm,i
B G
and F r,i = F r,i + F r,i .
   
014×14 I14×14 014×1
ẏm,i =  −1 −1  ym,i + (12)
28×1 −Mr Kr −Mr Gr + Cr 28×1 −1
14×14 14×14 Mr F r,i 14×1

2.3 Composition of the Parametrically Excited Rotor-Bearing System

The aerodynamic lubrication problemin Eq. (2) renders Nx − 1 first order ODEs, with
respect to the time derivative of the dimensionless nodal pressures, in Eq. (13).

ṗ = fB p, q, qr , ym (13)
In turn, the structural problem renders another Nx − 1 first order ODEs. Equation (8)
can alternatively be written in the following form.

q̇ = q̇i = fF p, q, qr (14)
330 E. Dimou et al.

The reduced rotor model equations of motion, see Eq. (12), can be written in the
form:

ẏm = fR p, ym (15)

The nonlinear rotor-gas bearing system is defined by the following first order ODEs,
T
where s = p q ym . It should be noted that due to the periodic variation of the
bearing’s outer ring dimensionless time still appears explicitly in Eq. (16).

ṡ = f s, , ex , τ (16)

In order for the limit cycle solutions to be efficiently evaluated by the explicit Runge-
Kutta method, the aforementioned system should be converted to autonomous and this
can be achieved by augmenting an oscillator with two degrees of freedom whose unique
solution is a harmonic function of frequency ex , see Eq. (17).
 
ṡN +1 = fN +1 = sN +1 + ex sN +2 − sN +1 s2N +1 + s2N +2
  (17)
ṡN +2 = fN +2 = −ex sN +1 + sN +2 − sN +2 s2N +1 + s2N +2

Finally, the autonomous system of first order ODEs is defined in Eq. (16), where
T T
s̃ = sT sN +1 sN +2 and f̃ = f T fN +1 fN +2 .
 
s̃˙ = f̃ s̃,  (18)

3 Quality of Bifurcations of the Dynamic System

3.1 Location and Continuation of Limit Cycles

Away to find isolated periodic solutions (limit cycles) of the Dynamic System defined
in Eq. (18) should be established. If the system poses a stable limit cycle, then it is
reasonable to approximate it by numerical integration with an initial condition which
belongs to the basin of attraction of the cycle. Given an initial guess for the limit cycle
s̃0 and an initial guess for the cycle period T0 = 2π/ex it is possible to formulate a
periodic Boundary Value Problem (BVP), see Eq. (19) on a fixed time interval [0, 1]
[0, 1].
⎧
⎪ d s̃  
⎪
⎪ −  =0
⎪
⎪ T f̃ s̃,
⎪
⎪ d τ1
⎪
⎨
s̃(1) − s̃(0) = 0
(19)
⎪
⎪  1
⎪
⎪  
⎪
⎪ s̃, s̃0 d τ1 = 0
⎪
⎪
⎩
0
 Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker Bifurcations 331

The first two conditions define a periodic solution to the partially defined BVP but
not uniquely, since any time shift of such a solution, is another solution. Therefore, an
extra condition has to be appended, known as phase condition, in order to select one and
only periodic solution among all those corresponding to the cycle. The phase condition
appended in current work is called integral phase condition and it is a necessary condition
for a local minimum of the distance between s̃, s̃0 with respect to any time shifts. The
aforementioned problem can be reduced to finite dimensional problem using the explicit
∗
Runge-Kutta discretization scheme and solved for the unknown periodic solution s̃ and
the unknown period T . ∗

By definition, the periodic solution of the problem defined in Eq. (19) depends
∗
on the dimensionless rotating speed . The problem of computing the curve s̃ 
belongs to the general case of finite dimensional continuation problems. The numeri-
∗ ∗ ∗
cal solution of the continuation problem means computing a sequence of s̃1 , s̃2 , s̃3 , ...
∗
Approximating the curve s̃ (). This sequence is generated by an initial point s̃0 which
is sufficiently close to the curve. In current work, the continuation algorithm implements
a predictor-corrector method called pseudo-arc length continuation method. For more
detailed information, the reader may refer to [22].

3.2 Location and Continuation of Codim1 Bifurcations of Limit Cycles

The problem of locating Codim 1 bifurcations of limit cycles is a more delicate problem
and, in this case, should be approached again as BVP, since there are periodic solutions
whose multipliers have magnitude much smaller than 1. In the case ofFlip (period-
doubling) bifurcation, a vector-valued function v(τ1 ) is introduced and a non-periodic
BVP is considered on the fixed time interval in Eq. (18). The first three conditions
specify the periodic BVP defined in Eq. (19), the fourth condition is the linearization
of Eq. (18) around the periodic solution s̃, the fifth condition corresponds to the flip
bifurcation condition and the last one provides a normalization to v(τ1 ). This problem can
be reduced to its finite dimensional form using the explicit Runge-Kutta discretization
∗
scheme and solved for the unknowns s̃ , T ∗ , v, . .In the case of Secondary Hopf
(Neimark Sacker) bifurcation, a complex eigen-function w(τ1 ) and the scalar variable
θm (which parameterizes the critical multipliers) are introduced and the non-periodic
332 E. Dimou et al.

BVP is considered on the fixed time interval in Eq. (20).

⎧  
⎪
⎪ d s̃
⎪
⎪ − Tf̃ s̃,  = 0
⎪
⎪ d τ1
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ s̃(1) − s̃(0) = 0
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ 1  
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ s̃, s̃0 d τ1 = 0
⎪
⎪
⎨
0
(20)
⎪
⎪
⎪ dv ∂ f̃  
⎪
⎪ −T s̃,  v = 0
⎪
⎪ d τ1 ∂ s̃
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ v(1) + v(0) = 0
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ 1
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ v, v d τ1 = 0
⎪
⎩
0
⎧
⎪  
⎪
⎪ d s̃
⎪
⎪ − T f̃ s̃,  =0
⎪
⎪ d τ1
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ s̃(1) − s̃(0) = 0
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ 1  
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ s̃, s̃ d τ1 = 0
⎪
⎪ 0
⎨
0
(21)
⎪
⎪
⎪ dw ∂ f̃  
⎪
⎪ −T s̃,  w = 0
⎪ d τ1
⎪ ∂ s̃
⎪
⎪
⎪ w(1) − eiθm w(0) = 0
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ 1
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ w, w d τ1 = 0
⎪
⎪
⎩
0

The meaning of the augmented conditions in Eq. (21) is similar with the meaning
of the augmented conditions in Eq. (20). It is suggested this problem to be written in
its real form.Then it should be discretized using the Runge-Kutta scheme and finally
∗
solved for the unknowns s̃ , T ∗ , w, θm , . The presented BV problems can also be
used to continue generic Flip (PD) and Secondary Hopf bifurcations (NS) of limit cycles.
They are called fully extended augmented BVPs since the augmented conditions for the
location of Codim 1 bifurcation can be replaced by one and only equation using bordering
techniques analytically presented in [22].
It is important to note that Eq. (20) and Eq. (21) do not consider the degeneracy
conditions of the corresponding bifurcations. Generally, the finite dimensional problem,
arising after proper discretization of Eq. (19) is solved using the damped Newton method,
analytically presented in [19]. Based on the Jacobian matrix of the aforementioned sys-
tem of nonlinear equations, one can approximate the monodromy matrix of the isolated
 Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker Bifurcations 333

periodic solution, using a method similar to this presented in [26]. All the criteria to deter-
mine local flip (period doubling) and secondary Hopf (Neimark – Sacker) bifurcations
arise from the eigenvalues of the monodromy matrix, called Floquet multipliers.
More specifically, supposing that all the non-degeneracy conditions hold, if there is
one pair of complex eigenvalues on the unlit circle, λ1,2 () = r()eiθ() , r = 1, 0 <
θ < π, then Neimark-Sacker bifurcation occurs. The non-degeneracy conditions indicate
that eikθ = 1, k = 1, 2, 3, ... (absence of strong resonances), ddr = 0 and d = 0, where
d stands for a coefficient involved in the normal form of Neimark – Sacker bifurcation,
see [25].
The case of Flip bifurcation is simpler. Supposing again that all the non-degeneracy
conditions hold, if there is one real eigenvalue on the unit circle λ3  = −1, then
period doubling bifurcation occurs. The non-degeneracy conditions now indicate that
d λ3
d
= 0 and c = 0, where c stands for a coefficient in the normal form of period
doubling bifurcation, see [25].

4 Results
In Fig. 3 full bifurcation sets for four different values of the dimensionless foil stiff-
ness coefficient k b and for three different values of the maximum dimensionless vertical
displacement of the outer ring δ are depicted. According to the literature, in theoretical
investigations k b varies from 0.1 to 100. In our specific case, k b belongs to the afore-
mentioned range and enhances the phenomenon of parametric antiresonance as much
as possible. The evaluation of generic Neimark – Sacker bifurcations for bigger than
presented values of k b was numerically difficult, thus omitted.
The minimum value of δ is selected so as not to affect the threshold speed of instability
of the reference rotor – bearing system. The maximum value of δ generally depends on
the outer ring’s physical properties, the power supply availability and the excitation
frequency. In our case, the maximum value is selected in order to avoid numerical
difficulties in the continuation of Neimark Sacker bifurcations. Currently, alternative
methods of continuation of Neimark-Sacker bifurcations are studied in order to overcome
the aforementioned numerical difficulties.
The occurring Neimark-Sacker bifurcations as the two bifurcation parameters
, ex change are depicted for eachvalue of the dimensionless stiffness coefficient.
The progress of period doubling bifurcations is evaluated by solving Eq. (20) in the
context of a sequential continuation method and the progress of Neimark-Sacker bifur-
cations is evaluated by solving Eq. (19) in the context of the same continuation method,
for simplicity reasons.
It can be safely concluded that excitation frequencies around which parametric res-
onances and antiresonances occur can be approximately predicted by Eq. (22), where
j,k denote the dimensionless critical speeds of the rotor-bearing system.
 
1 2j 2
j ± k 
ex,int  , ex,int  , j, k, n = 1, 2, 3, ... (22)
n n
The denominator n denotes the order of the parametric resonance or antiresonance.
In these results, only first and second order resonances and antiresonances are found.
334 E. Dimou et al.

Fig. 3. Full bifurcation set for a) k b = 3, , b) k b = 10, c) k b = 20 and k b = 50.

 Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker Bifurcations 335

Fig. 3. (continued)

As it is expected, the strength of such phenomena is enhanced as the dimensionless

parameter δ is increased. It is additionally observed that this strength is enhanced as
the dimensionless stiffness coefficient is increased. Both the dimensionless parameters
mentioned above are related to the variation of the bearing clearance. Therefore, it can
be concluded that the greater the variation in clearance, the greater the difference in the
threshold speed of instability is.
Around some of the excitation frequencies of interest given by Eq. (22) and under spe-
cific circumstances, period doubling bifurcations occur too. For instance, it is observed
that for the lowest value of the dimensionless parameter δ no period doubling bifurca-
tion occurs. As this parameter increases, further bifurcations appear. In contrast, as the
dimensionless stiffness coefficient increases, only Neimark-Sacker bifurcations appear.
Finally, it is of high importance to note that in all examined cases there are zones of
excitation frequencies at which the stability threshold of the rotor-bearing system is
enhanced, and no other type of bifurcation occurs.
The transient response of the rotor system is depicted in Fig. 4 for some operating
conditions of interest. For each of the different foil stiffness values k b = 3, 10, 20, 50,
the excitation frequencies where antiresonance occurs are selected from the stability
maps in Fig. 3. These are found to be ex = 0.63, 0.70, 0.72, 0.74 respectively. The
transient response of the system is evaluated under the parametric excitation of ex as
before, and for the amplitude of excitation force to render δ = 0.2. The transient response
is evaluated with time integration of the system in Eq. (16) and the envelop of response
is depicted in each of Figs. 4a, 4b,4c,4d in the lower chart, together with the response
envelop evaluated by sequential continuation of the limit cycles. The Floquet multipliers
of each limit cycle motion depict the quality of bifurcations when these occur. At all
cases depicted in the aforementioned charts, the system experiences a Neimark-Sacker
bifurcation at the ending speed of c.a.  = 1.2 and this is considered as the threshold
speed of instability. However, at the case of Fig. 4a, the system experiences period
doubling bifurcation in much lower rotating speed, c.a.  = 0.4 and stable limit cycles
336 E. Dimou et al.

Fig. 4. Response envelope for a) k b = 3, b) k b = 10, c) k b = 20, and d) k b = 50.

are generated; in Fig. 4a, and at the lower chart one may notice the unstable limit cycles
and the stable limit cycles where the system oscillates after the PD bifurcation. In the
 Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker Bifurcations 337

Fig. 4. (continued)

upper charts of Figs. 4b,4c,4d one may notice the lower threshold speed of instability
at c.a.  = 0.95 when parametric excitation is of low frequency, e.g. ex = 0.2. In
Fig. 4a, and in the upper chart, the threshold speed of instability appears at  = 1.1
and this is due to the fact that the foil is compliant enough (k b = 3) and dissipation of
energy takes place due to the higher motion of the foil. Considering the above, parametric
excitation provides increase of the threshold speed of instability up to 30% at the specific
application. More design sets are currently investigated by the authors.
For clear observation of bifurcation trees of period doubling bifurcations occurring,
bifurcation diagrams are depicted in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Bifurcation diagrams during and after a flip (period doubling) bifurcation

As one may notice in Fig. 5 (top), around the excitation frequency of interest the
unstable limit cycles where the system oscillates after PD are distributed in a wide range
of rotating speeds.
338 E. Dimou et al.

The transient response of the unbalanced rotor system under the effect of parametric
excitation is compared with the response of the balanced one in Fig. 6, for some operating
conditions of interest. Generally, for turbopump rotors G = 6.3, 2.5 balance quality
grades are considered. For each of the dimensionless foil stiffness values k b = 3, k b =
50, the excitation frequencies at which parametric antiresonance occurs are selected,
and two balance quality grades are applied (G = 6.3, G = 1). As one may notice in
Figs. 6a and 6b the phenomenon of parametric antiresonance is not affected by any level
of unbalance.

Fig. 6. Evaluation of periodic response applying numerical continuation of limit cycles, and quasi-
periodic response applying time integration for the respective design and operating parameters as
depicted.

Time integration is the only tool in this paper to evaluate the quasi-periodic response
under the simultaneous parametric and unbalance excitation; the time response proves
that the stability threshold (NS bifurcation) is very similar in both periodic and quasi-
periodic solutions, in the status of parametric antiresonance. In the case of compliant
bump foil depicted in Figs. 6c and 6d where higher unbalance is applied, still the above
 Locating Period Doubling and Neimark-Sacker Bifurcations 339

comment holds. However, as the unbalance becomes higher, the quality of response
includes further characteristics, which should be studied with the appropriate tools for
quasi periodic solution evaluation, in future work.

5 Conclusions
This work proves that parametric antiresonance is feasible in slender, high-speed rotors
mounted on active gas foil bearings. Slender rotors retrieve stability in high rotating
speeds under the effect of periodic load acting on the deformable ring of the gas foil
bearings. A nonlinear approach for the elastoaerodynamic problem is adopted, according
to which, the compressible gas flow is described by the Reynolds Equation and the
bump foil’s behavior is represented by the simple elastic foundation model. Based on
the following conclusions, this paper aims to raise further concerns on parametrically
excited rotating systems.
The investigation of full bifurcation sets at a wide range of rotating speed and excita-
tion frequency and amplitude indicates that the zone of excitation frequencies at which
para-metric resonances or antiresonances occur can be approximated using Eq. (20),
existing in literature since long. The strength of both parametric resonance and antires-
onance depends on the variation of the bearing clearance (amplitude of exciting force).
The greater the variation of the clearance, the greater the difference in the threshold
speed of instability is. Based on the literature, see [28] and on personal experience,
authors firmly believe that all the aforementioned conclusions regarding the correlation
between the threshold speed of instability and the variation in foil stiffness coefficient
and clearance are valid for a wide range of slender rotors mounted on AGFBs.
Parametric antiresonance and modal interaction are two simultaneous phenomena,
and it is of quite interest to study the energy flow between the interacting modes. This can
be achieved by comparing the unbalance response of a parametrically excited rotor with
the unbalance response of the same rotor mounted on conventional gas foil bearings
(without parametric excitation). It should be noted that in the former case, the rotor-
bearing system has quasi periodic characteristics due to the simultaneous synchronous
and parametric excitation. Harmonic balance is currently under investigation in order
to be embedded in the corresponding continuation scheme. It is furthermore of quite
interest to evaluate the type of the occurring Neimark-Sacker bifurcations (subcriti-
cal/supercritical). This can be straight forward achieved by approximating the normal
form of Neimark Sacker bifurcations. The validity of the coefficients involved in this
normal form is currently under investigation.

Appendix: Implementation of Parametric Excitation

The deformation of a ring with the physical and geometrical properties like Poisson’s
ratio vr , Young’s modulus of elasticity, inner/outer radius Ri,r , Ro,r and polar moment
of inertia I , is evaluated with approximate analytical formulas
 obtained by the strength
of materials. The effect of a periodic vertical load F0 1 + sin ex τ is the deformation
340 E. Dimou et al.

in the horizontal (dh) and vertical (dv) direction of the ring, see also Fig. 1, as defined
in Eq. (21). The constants κ1 and κ2 included are defined in Eq. (22).
 
F0 R3o,r 2 2 κ1 
dh = qr (θ = 0, π, τ ) = κ − κ 2 + 1 + sin(ex τ )
2 4.2 · 1011 Ir π 2 2
 
−F0 R3o,r π 2κ22 
dv = qr (θ = π/2, 3π/2, τ ) = κ1 − 1 + sin(ex τ )
2 4.2 · 1011 Ir 4 π
(23)

Given the corresponding derivatives with respect to the dimensionless time d ḣ, d v̇,
the deformation of the outer ring and its rate of change in the circumferential direction
are evaluated in Eq. (23), where qr = qr /cr and q̇r = q̇r /cr .
   
R4o,r − R4i,r 1.33(1 + 2vr )Ro,r R4o,r − R4i,r
κ1 = 1 −  +   , κ2 = 1 −  
2R2i,r R2o,r − R2i,r π R2o,r − R2i,r 2R2i,r R2o,r − R2i,r
(24)

 2  2
qr = qr (θ, τ ) = Ri,r + dh cos θ + Ri,r + dv sin θ − Ri,r
     (25)
Ri,r + dh cos θ d ḣ cos θ + Ri,r + dv sin θ [d v̇ sin θ ]
q̇r = q̇r (θ, τ ) =
qr + Ri,r

References
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2. Seyramian, A.P., Mailybaev, A.A.: Multiparameter Stability Theory with Mechanical
Applications, vol. 13. World Scientific Pub. Co., Singapore (2003)
3. Schmidt, G.: Parametererregte Schwingungen (In German, Translated Title ‘Parametrically
Excited Oscillations’). Deutcher Verlag der Wissenschafte (1975)
4. Tondl, A.: On the interaction between self excited and parametric vibrations. Monogr.
Memoranda, Natl Res. Inst. Mach. Des. 25 (1978)
5. Tondl, A.: To the problem of quenching self-excited vibrations. ACTA Technol. 43, 109–116
(1998)
6. Breunung, Thomas, Dohnal, Fadi, Pfau, Bastian: An approach to account for interfering para-
metric resonances and anti-resonances applied to examples from rotor dynamics. Nonlinear
Dyn. 97(3), 1837–1851 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-019-04761-9
7. Dohnal, F., Chasalevris, A.: Improving stability and operation of turbine rotors using
adjustable journal bearings. Tribol. Int. 104, 369–382 (2016)
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of a rotor supported by floating ring bearings. Nonlinear Dyn. 57, 497–507 (2009)
9. Boyaci, A., Lu, D., Schweitzer, B.: Stability and bifurcation phenomena of Laval/Jeffcott
rotors in semi-floating ring bearings. Nonlinear Dyn. 79, 1535–1561 (2015)
10. Van Breemen, F.C.: Stability analysis of a Laval rotor on hydrodynamic bearings by numerical
continuation: Investigating the influence of rotor flexibility, rotor damping and external oil
pressure on the rotor dynamicbehavior, M.Sc. thesis, Delft University of Technology (2016)
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11. Rubel, J.: Vibrations in nonlinear Rotordynamics Dissertation, PhD thesis, Ruprecht-Karls-
Universität Heidelberg (2009)
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Linear Mech. 46, 1258–1264 (2011)
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numerical continuation. J. Vibr. Control 22(13), 3079–3089 (2016)
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tigung veranderlicher Lagergeometrienm Ph.D. Thesis, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,
Germany (2019)
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany (2021)
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Symposium on Active Control of Vibration, Bath, England, pp. 79–87
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Problems for Ordinary Differential Equations, 1st edn. Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics, Philadelphia (1995)
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Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia (2003)
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Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science, pp. 6329–6352. Springer, New York
(2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30440-3_373
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Habilitationsschrift (2012)
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System
Considering the Distribution of Strain Energy

Cong Liu1 , Yongfeng Wang1(B) , Ruiqi Jia2 , and Jie Hong1

1 School of Energy and Power Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, People’s
Republic of China
[email protected]
2 AVIC Shenyang Engine Research Institute, Shenyang 110066, People’s Republic of China

Abstract. In order to optimize the dynamic properties of typical high-speed rotor

system, a mechanical model of the high-speed rotor system considering the key
structural features was established. Intrinsic relationship between the first bending
critical speed, the reaction force at the bearing and the strain energy distribution of
the rotor was investigated based on Rayleigh method and Euler beam theory. The
results show that the first bending modal strain energy distribution corresponds
to the first bending critical speed of rotor and the reaction force at the bearing.
The bending critical speed and the proportion of strain energy of drum shaft
are positively correlated with local angular stiffness in front of the turbine, the
reaction force at the rear bearing and the proportion of strain energy of rear neck are
positively correlated with local angular stiffness behind the turbine. The feasibility
of the correlations on practical rotor was proved through a typical high-speed rotor.

Keywords: Design of dynamic properties · High-speed rotor · Strain energy

distribution · Critical speeds · Reaction force at bearing

1 Introduction
Generally, high-pressure rotors of modern aero-engine operate over the first two critical
speeds, and under the third critical speed, which are the typical high-speed rotors. High-
speed rotors are tended to bear greater loads and cause less weight, which leads to
higher operating speed and lower bending critical speed. This will cause insufficient
safety margin between the operating speed and bending critical speed, resulting in huge
bending deformation of the rotor [1]. The skew of principal axis of inertia of the large
mass component caused by the bending deformation will produce huge rotatry inertia
load at high rotational speed, and finally be balanced by the bearings and cause huge
reaction force [2, 3]. To reduce the damage caused by the excessive reaction force, it
is necessary to increase the bending critical speed and supress the reaction force at the
bearing at the same time. This is a multi-objective optimization design, in which multiple
structural parameters need to be adjusted and the dynamic properties of the rotor are
solved cyclically to ensure the effectiveness of parameter adjustment. If the traditional
methods such as cyclic modal analysis (Campbell diagram) and harmonic response

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 342–363, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_23
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 343

analysis are used [4–6], it will take a lot of time and computing power when the number
of iterations is large. Therefore, in order to improve the efficiency of iterative design, it
is necessary to find an equivalent evaluation parameter that is simple to calculate and
can accurately measure the dynamic properties of the rotor.
According to the definition of strain energy, the strain energy distribution of the rotor
corresponds to its deformation, which can indirectly characterize the gyroscopic moment
and structural internal force of the rotor, and then reflect multiple dynamic properties
such as critical speed and reaction force at the bearing. If the response of the rotor in the
working state is dominated by a certain mode shape, the dynamic properties of the rotor
can be measured by the strain energy distribution of this mode shape. In fact, the strain
energy analysis has already been applied in rotordynamics design by some scholars.
Conry [7] studied the optimal design of rotor unbalance distribution, and proposed a
rotor balancing method based on strain energy of rotor and bearing. Chen [8] explored
the correlation between the strain energy distribution and dynamic properties of the rotor,
and pointed out that the critical speed distribution of the rotor can be effectively adjusted
by changing the stiffness of the high strain energy density shaft and bearing. Srinivas
[9] evaluated the quality of different design schemes quantitatively by the strain energy
proportion of shaft in the structural layout design of a medium thrust turbofan engine.
Hong, Song, et al. [10] proposed a robust design method based on rotor strain energy
distribution considering the bending stiffness loss at the connection structure. Wang [11]
used the strain energy proportion of the rotor and the bearing structure to quantitatively
evaluate the amount of bending deformation of the rotor and analyze the mode shape
of the rotor system. Zheng [12] carried out strain energy analysis on a certain type of
counter-rotating aero-engine and proposed a strain energy evaluation criterion. Sun [13]
established a rough relationship between the natural frequency of the rotor system and
the strain energy of the rotor based on the Rayleigh method. Hong, Xu, Yang et al. [14,
15] proposed to reduce the interface damage by controlling the strain energy level of
the connection structure, improving the robustness of the rotor dynamic properties of
high-speed rotor systems.
The above studies have initially established the evaluation and design method of
rotor dynamic properties based on strain energy. However, in the current design of
rotor dynamic properties, strain energy is mainly used to evaluate the natural properties
of the rotor and the robustness of the connection structure, and there is little relevant
research on its application to the evaluation of rotor dynamic response. Moreover, the
understanding of the correlation between strain energy and dynamic properties is mostly
based on qualitative analysis and lacks theoretical support. And current research objects
are mainly rotors that operates far below the bending critical speed. Therefore, this
paper takes the high-speed rotor system that operates near the bending critical speed
as the research object, extracts its key structural features and establishes an equivalent
mechanical model. Based on the model, the dynamic design method based on rotor strain
energy distribution is explored.
344 C. Liu et al.

2 Modeling of High-Speed Rotor

2.1 Strain Energy Distribution of High-Speed Rotor

To analyse the deformation and strain energy distribution characteristics of high-speed
rotors, the dynamic response of a typical high-speed rotor under working condition is
calculated as an example. The engine is a long-span and thin-walled rotor supported
by two bearings, whose maximum operating speed is up to 16000 r/min. According to
reference [2] and [3], the skew of the principal axis of inertia will cause significant impact
on the dynamic response of high-speed rotors. Therefore, in order to accurately describe
the influence of the mass distribution characteristics, the skew angle of the principal axis
of inertia should be considered in addition to the mass eccentricity. An unbalance of
1000 g·mm and a skew angle of the principal axis of inertia of 3 × 10–4 rad are applied
to the turbine of the typical high-speed rotor, and then the vibration response of the rotor
at 16000 r/min is calculated, as shown in Fig. 1, and the corresponding strain energy
distribution is shown in Fig. 2.
It can be seen from Fig. 1 that large relative angular deformation occurrs between
the compressor and turbine, indicating that the rotor experiences significant bending
deformation. Figure 2 indicates that most of the strain energy concentrates on the rear
neck of the compressor, the drum shaft and the rear neck of the turbine, which means these
structures experience huge flexible deformation. Moreover, the flexible deformation of
the compressor and turbine is extremely small, they almost remain rigid in rotation.
Therefore, in the modeling of high-speed rotor, the compressor and turbine can be treated
as rigid disks that mainly consider the mass distribution, while the necks and drum shaft
can be treated as flexible shafts that mainly consider the flexible deformation.

Fig. 1. Deformation of the typical high-speed rotor under working condition

2.2 Dynamical Model

Based on the results above, a theoretical rotor model is established considering the key
structural characteristics of aero-engine high-pressure rotors, as shown in Fig. 3. The
compressor and turbine are treated as rigid disks, and the drum, the front and rear necks
are treated as flexible shafts. The joints around the turbine disk are studied, which is
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 345

50
The front neck 45.8%
The compressor 40.4%
40
The drum shaft
Strain energy proportion /% 30
The turbine
The rear neck

20

10
5.4% 7.4%
1.0%
0

-10

-20
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Axial location /mm
Fig. 2. Strain energy distribution of the typical high-speed rotor under working condition

modeled by two local springs. Disk 1 is fixed on the shaft, and disk 2 is connected to the
shaft through two local springs. The axial thicknesses of the disks are not considered,
but changes in shaft material and section size are considered. The shaft is divided into
two parts at the thin disk (the left part is the front shaft and the right part is the rear
shaft).

X Disk1 Flexible Disk2

shaft
Z
O
Y

Bearing Local springs

Fig. 3. Theoretical model of typical high-speed rotor systems

As shown in Fig. 3, an absolute coordinate system O-XYZ is established at the center

point of the front bearing, where the Z axis is along the rotation center line. The dynamic
response of the rotor is described by the following displacement vectors:
⎧
⎪ r1 (z, t) = x1 (z, t) + iy1 (z, t)
⎪
⎪
⎨ r (z, t) = x (z, t) + iy (z, t)
2 2 2
(1)
⎪
⎪ r (t) = x (t) + iy (t)
⎪
⎩
d2 d2 d2
θ2 (t) = −θ2x (t) + iθ2y (t)
346 C. Liu et al.

where r1 (z, t) is the lateral displacement of the front shaft, r2 (z, t) is the the lateral
displacement of the rear shaft, rd 2 (t) and θd 2 (t) is the lateral and angular displacement
of disk 2.
The stiffness matrix of the local spring in front of disk 2 is:
⎡ ⎤
kr1 0 0 kθr1
⎢ 0 kr1 −kθr1 0 ⎥
K1 = ⎢
⎣ 0 −kθr1 kθ1
⎥ (2)
0 ⎦
kθr1 0 0 kθ1

where kr1 is the local lateral stiffness between disk 2 and front shaft, kθ1 is the local
angular stiffness, and kθr1 is the coupling stiffness of the lateral and angular degrees of
freedom.
Similarly, the stiffness matrix of the local spring behind disk 2 is:
⎡ ⎤
kr2 0 0 kθr2
⎢ 0 kr2 −kθr2 0 ⎥
K2 = ⎢
⎣ 0 −kθr2 kθ2
⎥ (3)
0 ⎦
kθr2 0 0 kθ2

The energy of the rotor shown in Fig. 3 includes the kinetic energy of each disk, the
kinetic energy and bending potential energy of the shaft, and the local spring potential
energy [16].
The potential energy energy of the front and rear shafts of the rotor system are:
⎧ z2
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ 1
E1 (z)I1 (z) r1 dz
2
⎪
⎪ VShaft,1 =
⎪
⎨ 2
0
(4)
⎪
⎪
z3
⎪
⎪ 1
E2 I2 (z) r2 dz
2
⎪
⎪ VShaft,2 =
⎪
⎩ 2
z2

where E1 (z)I1 (z) and E2 I2 (z) are the flexural stiffness of the front shaft and rear shaft,
z2 , z3 are the axial coordinate of disk 2 and rear bearing, |•| denotes norm of vector, (•)
denotes the second derivative with respect to the axial coordinate.
The potential energy of local angular springs around disk 2 are:
⎧ 1
⎪
⎨ VSpring,1 = r1 · K1 · r1T
2 (5)
⎪
⎩V 1
Spring,2 = r 2 · K2 · r T
2
2
where r1 is the relative deformation matrix between disk 2 and the front shaft, r2 is
the relative deformation matrix between disk 2 and the rear shaft, which contains four
degrees of freedom in lateral and angular directions.
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 347

The kinetic energy of the shafts are:

⎧ z2
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ TShaft,1 = ρ1 (z)A1 (z)|ṙ1 |2 dz
⎪
⎨
0
(6)
⎪
⎪
z3
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ TShaft,2 = ρ2 A2 (z)|ṙ2 |2 dz
⎪
⎩
z2

where ρ1 (z), ρ2 are the densities of the front shaft and rear shaft, A1 (z), A2 (z) are the
cross-section areas of the front shaft and rear shaft.
The kinetic energy of disk 1 and disk 2 are:
⎧ 1 1 1
⎪ 2 2
⎨ TDisk,1 = md 1 ṙde 1 + Jp1 ω2 (1 − |θd 1 |2 ) + Jd 1 ( θ̇d 1 + ω2 |θd 1 |2 )
2 2 2 (7)
⎪
⎩T 1 e 2 1 1 2
Disk,2 = m ṙ
d2 d2 + Jp2 ω 2
(1 − |θd2 | 2
) + Jd2 ( θ̇d2 + ω 2
|θd2 | 2
)
2 2 2
where md 1 , Jp1 , Jd 1 are the mass, polar moment of inertia and diameter moment of
inertia of disk 1, md 2 , Jp2 , Jd 2 are the mass, polar moment of inertia and diameter
moment of inertia of disk 2, ω is the rotational speed of the rotor, (•) denotes the
derivative with respect to the axial coordinate, (˙•) is the derivative with respect to time.
The expression of each displacement vector in Eq. (7) is:
⎧
⎨ r e = r (z ) + e · eiωt+βe , θ = ∂r1 (z1 ) + τ ei(ωt+β1 )
1 1 1 d1 1
d1
∂z (8)
⎩ e
rd 2 = rd 2 + e2 · eiωt , θd 2 = θ2 + τ2 ei(ωt+β2 )

where e1 is the mass eccentricity of disk 1, τ1 is the skew angle of the principal axis of
inertia of disk 1, e2 is the mass eccentricity of disk 2, is the skew angle of the principal
axis of inertia of disk 2, βe is the phase difference between the unbalance of disk 1 and
the unbalance of disk 2 in the XOY plane, β1 , β2 are the initial phases of the principal
axis of inertia of disk 1 and disk 2 in the XOY plane, z1 is the axial coordinate of disk 1.
So, the Lagrangian of the rotor is:


2
 
L= TDisk,i + TShaft,i − VShaft,i − VSpring,i (9)
i=1

Apply the Hamilton principle:

t2

δ Ldt = 0 (10)
t1
348 C. Liu et al.

Substitute Eq. (9) into the variation, then the differential equation of rotor motion
can be obtained as follows:
⎧   
⎪ ∂ 2 r1 ∂2 ∂ 2 r1 ∂ 2 r1
⎪
⎪ ρ (z)A (z) + E (z)I (z) + md 1 2 − md 1 e1 ω2 ei(ωt+βe )
⎪
⎪
1 1
∂t 2 ∂z 2 1 1
∂z 2 ∂t
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪  
⎪
⎪ ∂ ∂ 3r ∂ 2r   2 i(ωt+β1 )
⎪
⎪ − J
1
− iJ ω
1
− J − J τ ω e δ(z − z1 )
⎪
⎪ ∂z
d 1
∂z∂t 2
p1
∂z∂t
p1 d 1 1
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪  
⎪
⎪ ∂ 2 r1
⎪
⎪ − kr1 (rd 2 − r1 ) + kθ1 2 + kθr1 θ2 δ(z − z2 ) = 0
⎪
⎪ ∂z
⎪
⎨    
∂ 2 r2 ∂2 ∂ 2 r2 ∂ 2 r2
⎪ ρ2 A2 (z) 2 + 2 E2 I2 (z) 2 − kr2 (rd 2 − r2 ) + kθ2 2 + kθr2 θ2 · δ(z − z2 ) = 0
⎪
⎪
⎪ ∂t ∂z ∂z ∂z
⎪
⎪    
⎪
⎪ ∂ 2r ∂r1 ∂r2
⎪
⎪ d2
⎪ md 2
⎪ + k r1 [rd 2 − r 1 (z 2 )] + k r2 [rd 2 − r2 (z 2 )] + kθr1 θ 2 − + kθr2 θ 2 − = md 2 e2 ω2 eiωt
⎪
⎪ ∂t 2 ∂z ∂z
⎪
⎪    
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ∂ 2 θ2 ∂θ2 ∂r1 (z2 ) ∂r2 (z2 )
⎪
⎪ Jd 2 2 − iJp2 ω + kθ1 θ2 − + kθ2 θ2 − + kθr1 (rd 2 − r1 )
⎪
⎪ ∂t ∂t ∂z ∂z
⎪
⎪  
⎩
+kθr2 (r − r2 ) = Jp2 − J τ2 ω2 ei(ωt+β2 )

d2 d2
(11)
where β1 equals to β1 − π2 and β2 equals to β2 − π2 . It can be seen from the above
equation that the latter two equations describe the lateral and angular motion of disk
2, and the first two equations describe the lateral motion of the continuous shaft under
the influence of the two disks. The rotary inertial loads of the disk change the dynamic
characteristics of the rotor system by affecting the lateral and angular displacements of
the connection points between the disk and shaft.
Both ends of the rotor are elastically supported, and the supporting stiffnesses are
kb1 and kb2 , so the boundary conditions of the rotor are:
⎧
⎪
⎪ ∂ 2 r(0, t) ∂ 3 r(0, t)
⎨ EI = 0, EI = −kb1 · r(0, t)
∂z 2 ∂z 3 (12)
⎪
⎩ EI ∂ r(l, t) = 0, EI ∂ r(l, t) = kb2 · r(l, t)
2 3
⎪
∂z 2 ∂z 3
With the obtained equations, the dynamic response of the rotor could be solved numer-
ically, the method used in this paper is the Laplace transformation, after which the
equations are transformed into several algebraic equations.

3 Design on the Critical Speed

In this section, the correlation between drum strain energy and bending critical speed
is explored based on the theoretical model as shown in Fig. 3. The parameters of the
theoretical model used in the following calculation are shown in Table 1, which are all
based on a practical aero-engine high-pressure rotor.
The first bending critical speed of a rotor is determined by the bending modal fre-
quency and the gyroscopic effect. The bending modal frequency descripes the modal
frequency at 0 r/min, which determines the starting point of the frequency curve in the
Campbell diagram. While the gyroscopic effect descripes the effect of the gyroscopic
moment on the rise of modal frequency, which determines the way how the frequency
curve changes.
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 349

Table 1. The parameters of the rotor system

Parameters Value
Total length of the rotor[mm] 870
Density of shaft ρ [kg/m3 ] 8240
Elastic modulus of shaft E [GPa] 197
Poisson’s ratio of shaft 0.32
Mass of disk 1 md 1 [kg] 53
Polar moment of inertia of disk 1 Jp1 975.2
[t·mm2 ]
Diameter moment of inertia of disk 1 Jd 1 927.7
[t·mm2 ]
Mass of disk 2 md 2 [kg] 43
Polar moment of inertia of disk 2 Jp2 736.8
[t·mm2 ]
Diameter moment of inertia of disk 2 Jd 2 389.8
[t·mm2 ]
Local lateral stiffness kr1 [N/m] 3 × 109
Local angular stiffness kθ1 [N·m/rad] 1 × 107
Local coupling stiffness kθr1 [N/rad] 1 × 106
Local lateral stiffness kr2 [N/m] 3 × 108
Local angular stiffness kθ2 [N·m/rad] 1 × 106
Local coupling stiffness kθr2 [N/rad] 1 × 105
Front and Rear bearing stiffness kb1 , kb2 1 × 107
[N/m]

3.1 Correlation Between Drum Strain Energy and Bending Modal Frequency

For the rotor shown in Fig. 3, according to the Rayleigh method, the main vibration
corresponding to the first bending mode can be assumed as:

r(z, t) = R(z)eiωn t (13)

where z represents the axial coordination, ωn represents the hypothetical frequency of

the first bending mode, and R(z) represents the mode shape of the first bending mode.
Under this assumption, the amplitude of the kinetic energy and potential energy of
the rotor-bearing system are:
1
Tmax = M ωn2 , Vmax = V (14)
2
350 C. Liu et al.

According to the energy balance of the system, Tmax equals to Vmax , so the
hypothetical frequency of the first bending mode of the rotor is:

2V
ωn = (15)
M

where M is the mass of the rotor in the modal coordinate system, which can be expressed
as:
   
  ∂R(z1 ) 2   ∂R(z2 ) 2
M = R (z)dm + Jp1 − Jd 1
2
+ Jp2 − Jd 2 (16)
∂z ∂z

Typical mode shape of the first bending mode of high-speed rotors is shown in Fig. 4,
which is similar to the sine curve. Therefore, R(z) can be assumed as:

R(z) = sin(λz + φ) (17)

The centroid of the compressor and turbine

Fig. 4. Sketch of mode shape of the first bending mode of high-speed rotors

As shown in Fig. 4, the centroid of the compressor and turbine are approximately
the vibration nodes. Therefore, the following assumptions can be made:

R(z1 ) = 0
(18)
R(z2 ) = 0

Substitute Eqs. (17) and (18) into Eq. (16), and ignore the mass of the shaft, then
it can be calculated that M ≈ Jp1 − Jd 1 + Jp2 − Jd 2 . Considering that most of the
bending deformation of the high-speed rotor-bearing system under the first bending
mode is concentrated on the drum shaft, the potential energy of the system is mainly
the strain energy of the drum. Therefore, according to the Rayleigh method, the first
bending modal frequency of the rotor is:
 
2V 2V Drum
ωn = ≈ = f (V Drum ) (19)
M Jp1 − Jd 1 + Jp2 − Jd 2

It can be seen from Eq. (19) that the first bending modal frequency of a high-speed
rotor is approximately the function of the strain energy of the drum shaft. As the mode
shape can be scaled, the strain energy under a particular mode has no practical signifi-
cance. However, the relative magnitude of the strain energy of each elastic component
( the front and rear neck and drum shaft) can reveal the deformation characteristics of
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 351

the rotor. In this paper, the relative magnitude of the strain energy is measured by the
proportion of the strain energy of each elastic component to the total strain energy of
the rotor, which is called the strain energy distribution of the rotor in the followings.
Equation (11) indicates that the turbine disk influences the bending deformation
of the drum shaft through the local spring in front of the disk. Therefore, the angular
stiffness of the front local spring may be a key influencing factor on the strain energy
distribution of the rotor. Based on the rotor model shown in Table 1, the first bending
mode frequencies of the rotor under different angular stiffness of the front local spring
are calculated, as shown in Table 2. And the relationship curve between the first bending
modal frequency and the strain energy proportion of the drum shaft is shown in Fig. 5.

Table 2. Strain energy distribution and first bending modal frequency of the rotor under different
angular stiffness of the front local spring

kθ1 /(N·m/rad) kθ2 /(N·m/rad) V Front /% V Drum /% V Spring /% V Rear /% ωn /Hz

1 × 107 1 × 106 5.80 79.33 14.38 0.49 230.54
2 × 107 1 × 106 5.74 85.84 8.03 0.39 235.45
5 × 107 1 × 106 5.67 89.38 4.61 0.34 238.31
1 × 108 1 × 106 5.64 90.49 3.54 0.33 239.25
2 × 108 1 × 106 5.63 91.04 3.02 0.31 239.71
5 × 108 1 × 106 5.62 91.36 2.71 0.31 239.99
where V Front , V Drum , V Spring , and V Rear represent the strain energy proportion of the front neck,
the drum shaft, the local springs and the rear neck.

240 n-VDrum curve

Frequency of the first bending mode /Hz

238

R = 0.9998
236

234

232

230

80 82 84 86 88 90 92
Strain energy proportion of the drum shaft /%
Fig. 5. Relationship curve between the first bending modal frequency and the strain energy
proportion of the drum shaft
352 C. Liu et al.

It can be concluded from Table 2 that the angular stiffness of the front local spring
has a significant influence on the strain energy proportion of the drum shaft, as well as
the frequency of the first bending mode. As the angular stiffness of the front local spring
increases, the strain energy moves from the local springs to the drum shaft and the strain
energy proportions of the front and rear neck almost remain unchanged. According to
Fig. 5, the correlation coefficient between the frequency of the first bending mode and
the strain energy proportion of the drum shaft is up to 0.9998, which is almost linear.
Therefore, the frequency of the first bending mode can be equivalently evaluated by the
strain energy proportion of the drum shaft under the first bending mode, and the strain
energy proportion of the drum shaft can be effectively changed by adjusting the angular
stiffness of the local spring in front of the turbine disk.
In practical design, the angular stiffness of the local spring in front of the turbine
disk can be changed by adjusting the diameter, thickness or material of the drum shaft,
as shown in Fig. 6.

D D' : Diameter of the drum

High angular
stiffness

Low angular D D'

stiffness

Fig. 6. Practical design of the drum shaft with different front local angular stiffness

3.2 The Influence of Strain Energy Distribution on Gyroscopic Effect

The first bending modal frequency curves of the rotor under different angular stiffness
of the front local spring are shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen from the figure that the first
bending modal frequency increases more rapidly with higher front angular stiffness,
which means stronger gyroscopic effect and results in higher critical speed.
The gyroscopic moment of disk 2 can be expressed as:
 
Mg = − Jp2 − Jd 2 θ ω2 (20)

where θ is the angular displacement of the principal axis of inertia of disk 2, which
is related to the bending deformation of the shaft. As mentioned above, the bending
deformation of the rotor under the first bending mode can be evaluated by the strain
energy proportion of the drum shaft.
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 353

1×107 2×107
500
5×107 1×108
2×108 5×108
Excitation frequency curve

Modal frequency/Hz
400

300

200

100

0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
Rotational speed/(r/min)
Fig. 7. First bending modal frequency curves of the rotor under different front local angular
stiffness

In order to quantitatively evaluate the effect of gyroscopic moment on the rise of the
modal frquency, the rising ratio of the modal frequency ωn between 0 r/min and 18000
r/min as well as the bending critical speed ωcr are clalculated, as shown in Table 3. The
relationship curve between the rising ratio of the modal frequency and the strain energy
proportion of the drum shaft under the first bending mode is shown in Fig. 8.

Table 3. The bending deformation and gyroscopic effect of the rotor under different front angular
stiffness

kθ1 /( N·m/rad) kθ2 /( N·m/rad) V Drum /% ωn /(Hz/1000 rpm) ωcr /(r/min)
1 × 107 1 × 106 79.33 6.48 21752.27
2 × 107 1 × 106 85.84 7.17 23584.13
5 × 107 1 × 106 89.38 7.55 24865.96
1 × 108 1 × 106 90.49 7.66 25317.05
2 × 108 1 × 106 91.04 7.71 25547.36
5 × 108 1 × 106 91.36 7.74 25688.05

Accoring to Table 3, higher front angular stiffness results in greater bending defor-
mation of the drum shaft, causes stronger gyroscopic effect and higher bending critical
speed. Accoring to Fig. 8, the correlation coefficient between the rising ratio of bend-
ing modal frquency and the strain energy proportion of the drum shaft is up to 0.9999,
which is almost linear. As the bending modal frequency and gyroscopic effect both have
a strong linear relationship with the strain energy proportion of the drum shaft, the bend-
ing critical speed may also be linear to the strain energy proportion of the drum shaft.
354 C. Liu et al.

Rising ratio of modal frequency /(Hz/1000rpm)

7.8

7.5

R2 = 0.9999
7.2

6.9

6.6

80 82 84 86 88 90 92
Strain energy proportion of the drum shaft /%
Fig. 8. The relationship curve between the gyroscopic effect and the strain energy proportion of
the drum shaft

As shown in Fig. 9, the correlation coefficient between the bending critical speed and
the strain energy proportion of the drum shaft is up to 0.9971, which also shows strong
linear relationship. It can be concluded from above results that the bending critical speed
of high-speed rotors can be equivalently evaluated by the strain energy proportion of the
drum shaft under the first bending mode.

26000
The relationship curve
First bendind critical speed /(r/min)

The fitting curve

25000

R = 0.9971
24000

23000

22000

80 82 84 86 88 90 92
Strain energy proportion of the drum shaft /%
Fig. 9. The relationship curve between the bending critical speed and the strain energy proportion
of the drum shaft
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 355

4 Optimization of the Reaction Force at Bearing

4.1 Generating Mechanism of Reaction Force at Bearing
According to the generation reason of rotary inertial loads, they can be divided into rotary
inertial force and rotary inertial moment, the former is due to the mass eccentricity of
the rotor, which is known as unbalance force, and the latter is due to the skew angle of
the principal axis of inertia [2]. Generally, the magnitude of the rotary inertial load is
equal to the change rate of its momentum and angular momentum, and the direction is
opposite to the variation, as shown in Eq. (21).
dP dL
Fint = − , M int = − (21)
dt dt
where Fint is the rotary inertial force, P is the momentum of the rotor, M int is the
rotary inertial moment and L is the angular momentum. The momentum of the rotor is
determined by the mass and the velocity of the center of mass. The angular momentum
is determined by the angular velocity of the principal axis of inertia and the moment of
inertia.
In order to explore the generating mechanism of reaction force at the bearings, the
influences of the rotary inertial force and the rotary inertial moment on the dynamic
response are analyzed. Firstly, the influence of rotary inertial force on the dynamic
response of the rotor is analyzed. Only the mass asymmetry of disk 2 is considered, and
there is only mass eccentricity and no skew of the principal axis of inertia. Set the mass
eccentricity of disk 2 to e2 = 0.0025mm and the initial skew angle of the principal axis
of inertia to τ2 = 0 in Eq. (11). Then solve the differential equation of rotor motion.
The dynamic response of the rotor system, specifically the displacement amplitude of
the rear bearing is shown in Fig. 10.
It can be seen from Fig. 10 that the dynamic response of the high-speed rotor is the
same as that of the Jeffcott rotor under the mass eccentricity excitation. In the postcritical
range ω > ωn1 , the turning of the center of mass occurs, and the center of mass gradually
approaches the rotational centerline, namely self-centering [15]. At the same time, the
vibration amplitude decreases and approaches a constant value. The above results reveal
that the mass eccentricity will not cause a continuous increase in the dynamic response
in the postcritical range.
Set the mass eccentricity of disk 2 to e2 = 0 and the initial skew angle of the principal
axis of inertia to τ2 = 3×10−4 rad in Eq. (11). The dynamic response of the rotor system
under skew excitation is shown in Fig. 11.
It can be seen from Fig. 11 that different from the mass eccentricity excitation, under
the skew excitation of the principal axis of inertia, the vibration of the rotor does not
decrease after passing the first two critical speeds. On the contrary, in the postcritical
range, the dynamic response of the rotor increases with rotational speed. The internal
mechanism of the above phenomenon is the same as the turning of the center of mass.
When disk 2 rotates at a high speed, the skewed principal axis of inertia has a tendency
to coincide with the rotational centerline, namely the self-centering of the principal
axis, which is determined by its own rotary inertia [15]. The principal axis of inertia of
the disk approximately coincides with the rotational centerline at high rotational speed,
356 C. Liu et al.

2.4
n1

Dynamic response/(×10-3mm)
1.8

1.2

n2

0.6 n3

0.0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
Rotational speed/(r/min)
Fig. 10. Dynamic response of the high-speed rotor system under the rotary inertial force

12

n2
10
Dynamic response/(×10-3mm)

n3

n1

0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
Rotational speed/(r/min)
Fig. 11. Dynamic response of the high-speed rotor system under the rotary inertial moment

which will lead to a gradual increase in the bending deformation of the shaft, causing
the continuous increase in the reaction force at the bearings.
It can be concluded from the above results that the reaction forces at the bearings of
the high-speed rotor in the postcritical range are mainly affected by the rotary inertial
moment caused by the skew of the principal axis of inertia. What’s more, self-centering
of the principal axis of inertia at high speed will lead to the continuous increase of the
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 357

rotor response. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the influence of rotary
inertial moment during the dynamic design of high-speed rotors.

4.2 Correlation Between Strain Energy and Reaction Force at Bearing

For the mechanical model of high-speed rotor system shown in Fig. 3, the local defor-
mation and force of the rear neck in the rotating coordinate system are shown in Fig. 12,
in which C represents the shape center of disk 2, G represents the mass center of disk
2, FI and MI are the rotary inertial force and rotary inertial moment of disk 2, Fb is the
reaction force at the rear bearing.

Principal axis Rear neck

of inertia FI
G MI Fb

Drum shaft Rear bearing

Rear local spring

Front local spring

Disk 2
Fig. 12. Local deformation and force of the rear neck

The internal forces of the drum shaft and the rear neck at the end face near the disk 2
are balanced with the rotary inertial force and moment of the disk, as shown in Fig. 13.

Fb Rear neck
Fs Fb

Drum shaft Rear bearing

M2
M1
Fig. 13. The internal forces near disk 2

When neglecting the axial thickness of the turbine, the relationships between the
internal force near the turbine the rotary inertial loads are:

FI = Fs + Fb
(22)
MI = M1 + M2
The axial length of the rear neck is assumed as L. When neglecting the mass of the
rear neck, its shearing force is constant to Fb , and the bending moment can be expressed
as:
M (z  ) = Fb z  − M2 (23)
358 C. Liu et al.

where z  is the distance between the cross section and disk 2.

The strain energy of the rear neck is:
L
M 2 (z  )  F 2 L3
Vε = dz = b (24)
2EA 6EA
0

Then the reaction force of the rear bearing can be expressed as:

Fb (ω) = k Vε (ω) (25)

where k = 6EA/L3 is a constant value determined by the shape and material of the
rear neck.
It can be seen from Eq. (25) that the reaction force at the rear bearing is proportional
to the quadratic root of the strain energy of the rear neck at each speed. Considering the
similarity of structure and force, the reaction force at the front bearing is also proportional
to the quadratic root of the strain energy of the front neck. This is because the amount
of the strain energy indicates the bending deformation of the neck. And greater bending
deformation means greater constraint force on the neck.
High-speed rotor operates near the bending critical speed, the dynamic response of
the rotor is dominated by the first bending mode. Therefore, the bending deformation of
the rear neck can be evaluated by the strain energy of the rear neck under the first bending
mode. As the strain energy under a particular mode has no practical significance, the
strain energy distribution of the rotor is used alternatively.
In the postcritical range, the reaction forces at the bearings are mainly affected by the
rotary inertial moment of the turbine, and the rotary inertial moment affects the bending
deformation of the shaft through the local spring. Therefore, when considering load of
the rear bearing, the angular stiffness of the rear local spring may have a significant
influence on the reaction force of the rear bearing. The strain energy distribution under
the first bending mode and the reaction force at operating speed (20000 r/min) under
different angular stiffness of the rear local spring are shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Strain energy distribution and reaction force at operating speed under different rear
angular stiffness

kθ1 /(N·m/rad) kθ2 /(N·m/rad) V Front /% V Drum /% V Spring /% V Rear /% Fb /N

1 × 107 1 × 106 5.80 79.33 14.38 0.49 85.31
1 × 107 2 × 106 5.74 80.66 12.78 0.82 112.55
1 × 107 5 × 106 5.66 82.25 10.93 1.16 140.03
1 × 107 1 × 107 5.60 82.99 10.10 1.31 151.93
1 × 107 2 × 107 5.57 83.40 9.64 1.39 159.22
1 × 107 5 × 107 5.55 83.65 9.36 1.44 163.94
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 359

It can be concluded from Table 4 that the angular stiffness of the rear local spring
is a key influencing factor on the strain energy proportion of the rear neck. As the rear
local angular stiffness increases in the range between 1 × 106 and 1 × 107 N·m/rad,
the strain energy proportion of the rear neck increases rapidly, while the strain energy
proportions of the drum shaft and the front neck change slightly.
As the strain energy proportion of the rear neck increases, the reaction force at the
rear bearing increases as well. The relationship curve between them is shown in Fig. 14.
It can be seen that the correlation coefficient between the reaction force at the rear bearing
and the strain energy proportion of the rear neck under the first bending mode is up to
0.9999, which is almost linear. Therefore, the reaction force at the rear bearing can be
equivalently evaluated by the strain energy proportion of the rear neck.

160
Reaction force at rear bearing /N

140
R = 0.9999

120

100

80
0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Strain energy proportion of rear neck /%
Fig. 14. Relationship curve between the reaction force at rear bearing and strain energy proportion
of the rear neck

The relationship between the reaction force at the rear bearing and the strain energy
proportion of the rear neck is different from Eq. (25). This is beacause the total strain
energy of the rotor increases more rapidly than the strain energy of the rear neck, the
slope of the curve increases when using the proportion of strain energy as abscissa.
In practical design, the angular stiffness of the local spring behind the turbine disk
can be changed by adjusting the diameter, thickness or material of the conical shell of
the rear neck, as shown in Fig. 15.

4.3 Design on Practical Rotor Based on Strain Energy Distribution

To prove the feasibility of the correlations above on practical high-speed rotors, the
bending critical speed and reaction force at the rear bearing under operating speed of a
typical high-speed rotor ( as shown in Fig. 16) under different strain energy distribution
are calculated. The bearing stiffnesses at the front and rear bearing are all 2.5 × 107 N/m,
360 C. Liu et al.

D D' : Diameter of the shaft

High angular
stiffness

Low angular
stiffness
D
D'

Fig. 15. Practical design of the rear neck with different rear local angular stiffness

the unbalance and skew angle of the principal axis of inertia at the turbine disk are
1000 g·mm and 3 × 10–4 rad. And the local angular stiffness of the connection structure
is adjusted by changing the diameter, as shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 15. The results are
shown in Table 5.

4 6 7
2
3

1 5
1-The front neck 2-The compressor 3-The drum shaft
4 6-The connection structures between the turbine and shaft
5-The turbine 7-The rear neck
Fig. 16. Component division of the typical high-speed rotor

Table 5. Strain energy distribution and dynamic properties of the practical rotor at operating
speed under different rear angular stiffness

kθ 1 /(N·m/rad) kθ 2 /(N·m/rad) V Front /% V Comp /% V Drum /% V Spring /% V Turbo /% V Rear /% ωcr /(r/min) Fb /N
3.6 × 107 1.2 × 109 0.44 9.80 78.83 0.72 10.16 0.03 88157.2 524.4
3.6 × 107 1.2 × 108 0.11 4.52 63.95 24.58 6.81 0.03 76829.2 519.8
7.2 × 107 1.2 × 108 0.19 6.04 66.21 18.90 8.63 0.02 78001.2 454.9
1.8 × 108 1.2 × 108 0.31 7.86 71.61 10.24 9.97 0.02 81203.4 423.2
3.6 × 108 1.2 × 108 0.37 8.77 74.78 5.83 10.25 0.01 83708.3 420.7

where V Comp and V Turbo are the strain energy proportions of the compressor and turbine.
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 361

90
The relationship curve

Bending critical speed /(×103 r/min)

88 The fitting curve

86

R = 0.9883
84

82

80

78

76
62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80
Strain energy proportion of the drum shaft /%
Fig. 17. The relationship curve between the bending critical speed and the strain energy proportion
of the drum shaft of the typical high-speed rotor

540
The relationship curve
520 The fitting curve
Reaction force at rear bearing /N

500

R = 0.9977
480

460

440

420

400
0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025 0.030 0.035
Strain energy proportion of rear neck /%
Fig. 18. The relationship curve between the reaction force at rear bearing and the strain energy
proportion of the rear neck of the typical high-speed rotor

It can be seen from Table 5 that the strain energy distribution of the rotor is effectively
changed when adjusting the angular stiffness of the connection structures between the
turbine and the shaft, the bending critical speed and the reaction force at the rear bearing
are greatly changed at the same time. And according to Fig. 17 and Fig. 18, the strain
energy distribution and the rotor dynamic characteristics are still highly correlated for
362 C. Liu et al.

practical high-speed rotors, there are one-to-one correspondences between them. For the
first and last case in Table 5, the dynamic response at the rear bearing is reduced by up to
19.77%, which proves the feasibility of the load suppression method through reduction
of the strain energy of the rear neck.
Therefore, the dynamic design of practical high-speed rotors can be carried out
based on the strain energy proportions of the elastic component (namely the strain
energy distribution) under the first bending mode. The relationship curves between the
strain energy distribution and the dynamic characteristics can be determined by several
trials before the design, during which the local angular stiffnesses of the connection
structures between the turbine disk and the shaft are adjusted to the maximum extent.
Then in the following design, the dynamic characteristics can be determined by the
strain energy distribution and the relationship curves. As the modal anlysis of a rotor
and corresponding statistics of strain energy distribution are much more easier than the
plot of Campbell diagram and harmanic anlysis, dynamic design based on strain energy
distribution will consume much less computing power and time.

5 Conclusion

Aiming at the dynamic design of high-speed rotors, this paper establishes a dynamic
model based on the key structural features of aero-engine high-pressure rotors, the cor-
relations between the strain energy and the dynamic properties of the rotor are studied
through numerical studies, and the following conclusions are stated:
(1) There are strong linear relationship between the bending critical speed and the strain
energy proportion of the drum shaft under the first bending mode. For the equivalent
mechanical model established in this paper, the correlation coefficient between the
bending critical speed and the strain energy proportion of the drum shaft is up
to 0.9971. For the typical high-speed rotor, the same correlation coefficient is up to
0.9883. Therefore, the bending critical speed of high-speed rotors can be equivalently
evaluated by the strain energy proportion of the drum shaft under the first bending
mode.
(2) There are strong linear relationship between the reaction force at the rear bearing
and the strain energy proportion of the rear neck under the first bending mode. For
the equivalent mechanical model established in this paper, the correlation coefficient
between the reaction force at the rear bearing and the strain energy proportion of the
rear neck under the first bending mode is up to 0.9999. For the typical high-speed
rotor, the same correlation coefficient is up to 0.9977. Therefore, the reaction force
at the rear bearing of high-speed rotors can be equivalently evaluated by the strain
energy proportion of the rear neck under the first bending mode.
(3) The strain energy distribution of high-speed rotors under the first bending mode can
be effectively changed through the adjustment of the local angular stiffnesses of
the connection structures between the turbine disk and the shaft. The strain energy
proportion of the drum shaft is positively correlated with local angular stiffness in
front of the turbine, and the strain energy proportion of the rear neck is positively
correlated with local angular stiffness behind the turbine.
 Dynamic Design of the High-Speed Rotor System 363

Acknowledgments. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52205082), and the Science Center
for Gas Turbine Project(P2021-A-I-002–002).

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 Optimization of Journal Bearings Considering
Their Adjustable Design and Rotor Dynamics

Denis Shutin(B) , Alexander Fetisov, and Leonid Savin

Orel State University, Orel 302026, Russian Federation

[email protected]

Abstract. The procedures of optimal design of journal bearings usually come

down to finding the extremums of one or more key bearing characteristics. The
load capacity, the minimum film thickness and the friction torque are most often
considered as the optimization criteria. The parameters of dynamic rotor behavior
require a significant amount of calculations to be estimated and are much rarely
considered as such. Variable design of fluid film bearings brings additional chal-
lenges to their optimal design. In particular, they should provide the maximum
efficiency of the control system impact on the rotor. This work presents an app-
roach to the optimal designing of journal fluid film bearings, which takes into
account the factors of the dynamic rotor behavior and the variability of the con-
trolled parameters of adjustable bearings. The approach is implemented in solving
the problem of parametric synthesis of an actively lubricated journal bearing. The
abovementioned factors are taken into account in the objective functions. The
optimization problem was solved using a genetic algorithm. The resulting set of
Pareto optimal solutions can be used for choosing a balance between friction,
stability and controllability of the bearing. However, the issue of developing the
optimal control is offered to be considered as a separate stage in the active bearing
synthesis procedure and is taken out of the scope of this study. Finally, the con-
clusions are drawn about the directions for further improvement of methods and
tools for the optimal design of conventional and adjustable fluid film bearings.

Keywords: Bearings Design Optimization · Fluid Film Bearings · Adjustable

Bearings · Design Criteria · Rotor Dynamics · Stability

Nomenclature

x, y, z Cartesian coordinates
h0 , h initial and local radial gap;
O, O1 center of bearing and shaft
V radial velocity;
U circumferential velocity;
T fr friction torque in bearing;
μ dynamic viscosity of lubricant;
L p , Wp oil pocket length and width
Dp oil pocket depth;

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 364–376, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_24
 Optimization of Journal Bearings Considering 365

dh restrictor diameter;
lh restrictor length;
α angular coordinate;
S bearing surface area;
r shaft radius;
R, D bearing radius and diameter
L bearing length;
B rotor length;
Fb bearing force;
mg rotor weight;
Q lubricant mass flow;
d rotor imbalance;
p pressure;
n, ω rotation speed and angle speed
G design variables vector;
Rmax maximum control force;
T tr transient time.

1 Introduction
In many cases, fluid film bearings are designed according to simplified methods [1]. They
usually do not require large amounts of calculations, but give only averaged solutions.
The use of optimal synthesis procedures makes it possible to obtain more accurate solu-
tions that are more in line with the requirements put forward [2–4]. These procedures
utilize mathematical models of rotor-bearing systems, while also simplified analytical
models and fairly simple objective functions are often used. The simplification of math-
ematical models is achieved through adoption of a number of assumptions, such as
the assumption of small bearing length, absence of misalignments, omission of cavita-
tion and turbulence effects, etc. [5, 6]. This approach is able to provide more accurate
solutions compared to the basic methods. However, a number of aspects of operation
of rotor-bearing systems, such as dynamic and nonlinear phenomena, are mainly also
omitted.
The aspects of the dynamic behavior of the rotor are almost not considered in sci-
entific works as objective functions. Although they often become the limiting factors in
achieving high performance of rotary machines. These problems are of special impor-
tance for rotor-bearing systems with flexible rotors [7, 8]. In most cases nonlinear rotor
dynamics factors require huge amounts of calculations, and this is a significant reason
for not considering it while solving optimization problems for fluid film bearings. In
this regard, the work [9] can be noted, where the decrement of damping of the rotor
oscillations is considered as an optimization criterion. However, a simplified analytical
model of the fluid film bearing was also used by the authors.
Adjustable design of fluid film bearings further complicates the design process.
Despite the variety of approaches to implementation of active control in them [10–12],
the design principles of conventional bearings are usually used when choosing their
parameters. However, it is advisable to choose the parameters that would provide the
366 D. Shutin et al.

most efficient conversion of the control signals into the control actions to maximize
the efficiency of the control system. Synthesis of optimal controllers for active bearings
should also be an essential element of their design [13], however, this work focuses only
on the mechanical design issues.
It should be noted that the progress in computing facilities and new approaches to the
simplification of rotor systems [14, 15] actualizes the problem of development of meth-
ods for the optimal design of modern fluid film bearings again. This work demonstrates
an approach that allows taking into account the complex of these factors in the procedure
of parametric synthesis of a fluid film bearing design. The presented solution of the mul-
ticriteria optimization problem allows finding a balanced combination of tribological,
dynamic and integral bearing characteristics for implementation of the active lubrication
principle [16, 17]. The results obtained demonstrate both achievements and challenges
related to the considered problems of optimal design of rotor-bearing systems.

2 Models and Methods

2.1 Mathematical Model of the Rotor-Bearing System

The paper considers the problem of optimal design of a rotor-bearing system on fluid
film bearings with active lubrication. Their behavior is studied in more detail in [16], the
schematic is shown in Fig. 1. The bearing’s sleeve includes 4 lubrication channels in the
center line with rectangular hydrostatic pockets. The lubricant pressure is controlled by
separate servo valves in each channel. The adjustable supply pressure results in a control
force impact on the rotor. Thus, the load capacity in this hybrid bearing is created by a
combination of hydrodynamic and hydrostatic effects. The control force is created only
by the hydrostatic effect.

Fig. 1. Actively lubricated journal hybrid bearing

 Optimization of Journal Bearings Considering 367

The mathematical model of the hybrid bearing is based on the main provisions of
the hydrodynamic lubrication theory [18, 19]. The pressure distribution is calculated in
accordance with the modified Reynolds equation:
   
∂ h3 ∂p ∂ h3 ∂p ∂
+ · = 6 (Uh) + 12V . (1)
∂x μ ∂x ∂z μ ∂z ∂x
Equation (1) was numerically solved using the finite differences method [20, 21].
It was solved together with the flow balance equation considering the lubricant flow
through the supply jets [22]:

Q = QX + QZ + QY . (2)

The fluid film forces are determined by integration of the obtained pressure
distribution, also taking into account the pressure in the hydrostatic supply pockets:
2π RL
fx = p sin(α)dxdz,
0 0
(3)
2π RL
fy = p cos(α)dxdz.
0 0

The friction torque in the fluid film occurs due to the viscous forces is:
¨  
D h ∂p U μ
Tfr = + dS. (4)
2 2 ∂x h
S

The motion of the rotor in bearings considering the action of a combination of forces
is determined by solving the Lagrange equations, as in [16]. The diagram of the rotor-
bearing system is shown in Fig. 2. Since the rotor is considered symmetrical, and the
rotor system operates at a subcritical frequency without significant misalignments, only
one bearing is considered in the calculations in this work.
The control system of the considered actively lubricated bearing is based on a
P-controller with feedback on the rotor position. A more detailed description of the
controller is presented in [19].

2.2 Description of the Optimization Problem

The problem of parametric synthesis of bearings is traditionally reduced to minimizing
an objective function of a set of functions. In this case, three different parameters are
considered as the objective parameters at once.
1. The viscous friction torque created in the fluid film is one of the key energy parameters
describing the efficiency of the rotor system. It also characterizes the intensity of heat
generation in the friction zone, as well as the changes in the lubricant rheological
properties. The averaged value of the friction torque Tfr during the steady operation
of the rotor-bearing system was estimated according to Eq. (4).
368 D. Shutin et al.

Fig. 2. Schematic of the symmetric rigid rotor on bearings

2. The transient time of a response to an external force disturbance is considered as

the basic criterion for assessing the rotor stability in the bearing. This parameter is
calculated during simulation tests carried out for each bearing configuration. At the
beginning of a simulation the rotor freely travels to the equilibrium position from the
bearing center. The corresponding time interval is called Transient time 1 in Fig. 3.
After that a force pulse is applied to the rotor with a value of 3 times its weight and
a duration of 0.2 ms. Then, the transient period 2 along the x and y coordinates is
estimated using the sliding window method. A steady oscillation range of less than
3% of the bearing radial clearance was considered as the criterion for the end of the
transient process.
3. The maximum control action defines the ultimate ability of controlling the rotor posi-
tion in an actively lubricated bearing. It largely depends on the configuration of
the lubricant supply channels, including the parameters of hydrostatic pockets. The
throttling effect can significantly influence the resulting hydrostatic forces in a hybrid
bearing. Therefore, the maximum control action was calculated for the centered rotor
position in the bearing providing the equal hydraulic resistance in all lubricant supply
channels.
The maximum control force Rmax was calculated using Eq. (3) at the maximum control
signal value umax set for both control channels, i.e., axes x and y. According to the control
scheme used, the pressure in two adjacent supply channels is set maximal, while in the
other two opposite channels it is set minimal [20].
It should be noted that among the considered objective parameters, at least the friction
torque contradicts the other two, since they require higher value of the stabilizing and/or
control forces. According to Eq. (4), reduction in the pressure variance in the bearing
is the criterion for reducing the friction torque. Thus, the solution of the optimization
problem in this case can be represented as a three-dimensional Pareto front.
The optimization problem can be presented as follows:
 
minf (G) = Ttr ,Tfr ,1/Rmax
 
0, 5 < L/D < 1, 5
subject to (5)
see Table 1
where G = [L, h0 , dh , lh , Wp , Lp , Dp ].
 Optimization of Journal Bearings Considering 369

Fig. 3. Estimation of the transient time in the rotor system

A number of constraints were applied to the design variables to ensure the manu-
facturability of the resulting solution and provide the hybrid mode of creating the load
capacity. The list of variables and the corresponding constraints is given in Table 1.

Table 1. Design variables and constraints

№ Variable Lower limit Upper limit

1 Bearing length L, mm 40 80
2 Radial clearance h0 , µm 40 80
3 Lubrication channel diameter d h , mm 0.5 4
4 Lubrication channel length l h , mm 5 12
5 Hydrostatic pocket width W p , % of bearing length 5 60
6 Hydrostatic pocket length L p , degrees 5 40
7 Hydrostatic pocket depth Dp , % of radial clearance 200 1000

The list of other system parameters remained unchanged during solving the opti-
mization problem is given in Table 2. These parameters characterize the conditions and
the operation mode of the bearing.
370 D. Shutin et al.

Table 2. Constant parameters of the rotor-bearing system

№ Variable Value
1 Lubricant Water
2 Dynamic viscosity μ, mPa·s 1.14
3 Lubricant density ρ, kg/m3 1000
4 Bearing temperature T, °C 30
5 Rotation speed n, rpm 3000
6 Lubricant supply operating pressure Pop , MPa 0.2
7 Maximum lubricant supply pressure Ps , MPa 1.0
8 Rotor mass m, kg 4.5
9 Servo valve time constant T SV , sec 0.002

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Solution of the Optimization Problem

The presented optimization problem (5) was solved using a genetic algorithm imple-
mented in MATLAB software package. The population size was 200 elements. The
number of generations was 20. The relative tolerance was 10–5 . The calculation was
completed at the 14th generation, and Pareto curves for two pairs of objective parameters
Tfr –Ttr and Tfr –Rmax were obtained, see Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Pareto curves for objective parameters “Friction torque - Transient time” and “Friction
torque - Maximum control action”

A decrease in the friction torque entails a decrease in the maximum control force
(Fig. 4, a). The minimal friction torque is possible only with a significant decrease in
the stability of the rotor system (Fig. 4, b). This confirms the previously noted conflict
between the indicated pairs of objective functions. Thus, the choice of an appropriate
 Optimization of Journal Bearings Considering 371

solution should be based on a balance between the objective parameters. Also, a three-
dimensional Pareto front was calculated for the joint analysis of all three objective
functions, as shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Three-dimensional Pareto front

The resulting Pareto front includes 200 points. Most of them are located closer
to higher values of the control force Rmax . However, there are solutions that are
characterized by a significantly lower value of Rmax .
The coordinate axes in Fig. 5 are supplemented with additional designations for easy
prioritizing when looking for the required solution according to the operating conditions
of the rotary machine. Thus, the parameter T tr is related to the stability of the basic
rotor system with passive bearings. The Rmax parameter reflects the controllability of an
actively lubricated bearing, based on an initial passive bearing.
Performance of the rotor-bearing system for several ultimate solutions (green dots
in Fig. 5) were then tested using a simulation model of the rotary system in order to
validate them. The results of the numerical tests are shown in the next subsection.

3.2 Solution Analysis

Three solutions with the values of the objective parameters close to the extreme cases
were selected from the resulting set of Pareto-optimal solutions. The corresponding
values of the design variables for the solutions are shown in Table 3.
The simulation tests for analysis of the performance of the chosen solutions were
performed numerically for the rotary system operating at a rotation speed of 3000 rpm.
During the tests the rotor was subjected to various loads with and without the position
372 D. Shutin et al.

Table 3. Selected configurations

Parameter Case #1 Case #2 Case #3

Friction Low High Low
Stability Low High Low
Controllability Medum High Low
Friction torque Tfr , N·m 0.0109 0.0271 0.0102
Transient time T tr , sec 7.75 1.1 7.2
Maximum control force Rmax , N 303 571.7 132.5
Bearing length L, mm 40 76 40
Radial clearance h0 , µm 78 53 80
Lubrication channel diameter d h , mm 1.86 1.01 0.57
Lubrication channel length l h , mm 8.59 13.35 11.95
Hydrostatic pocket width W p , % of L 33.35 54.14 55.39
Hydrostatic pocket length L p , degrees 18.67 25.5 18.82
Hydrostatic pocket depth Dp , % of h0 690 690 595

control. The last case assumes a constant and equal lubricant supply pressure to all
supply chambers, i.e., passive hybrid bearing.
The simulation tests scenario included the following steps:
1) control is off; a perfectly balanced rotor moves freely from the bearing center to the
equilibrium position; the transient time is estimated;
2) after the system stabilization a force impulse of 2 rotor weights with a duration of
3 ms is applied to the rotor; the displacement amplitude and the transient time are
estimated;
3) an unbalanced mass is added to the rotor resulting in imbalance value of d = 1·10–4 m;
the steady-state oscillation amplitude is estimated;
4) P-control is switched on with the setpoint at the equilibrium position of a perfectly
balanced rotor (approximately the center of the rotor orbit); the amplitude reduction
ratio relative to the amplitude at step 3 is estimated;
5) the rotor imbalance is removed; the controller remains on;
6) the force test from step 2 is repeated for the controlled system; the displacement
amplitude and the transient time are estimated in comparison to the results of step 2;
7) the rotor setpoint is changed to another at a certain distance from the previous one;
the transient time is estimated.
Figure 6 shows the rotor motion along the coordinate axes x and y during the test
for the chosen cases of bearing parameters. Figure 7 demonstrates the corresponding
variation in viscous friction in the bearing.
In general, the obtained results confirm the presence of the tested configurations
of the features specified when choosing the appropriate solutions to the optimization
problem.
 Optimization of Journal Bearings Considering 373

Configuration #3 is characterized by the smallest rotor stability margin and minimal

friction torque in the system. The oscillation amplitudes of the unbalanced rotor are close
to the largest, and the rotor displacements under the action of applied force impulses are
also the highest among the tested cases. In this case, the smallest control force leads to
the least significant reduction of the rotor displacements in the controlled system.
Configuration #2 shows the fastest transient time and the highest friction torque as
well. The degree of the rotor displacement reduction in the controlled system is the
highest.
At the same time, the transient time for configuration #1 is only slightly longer, but
the friction torque is close to the minimum. In addition, the general system behavior
in case #1 is less oscillatory than in case #2, where the vibrations of the unbalanced
rotor in the passive system are the highest, and the transient process also includes more
oscillations. Thus, configuration #1 may be considered as the preferred combination of
characteristics among the tested cases.
It should be noted that the difference in the transient time between configurations #1
and #2, is not as pronounced as the difference in the transient behavior, although these
solutions are significantly far from each other in terms of the T tr value according to
Fig. 5. This indicates that the criteria describing the rotor stability needs to be improved
in order to describe the transient system behavior more fully. It should take into account
not only the time, but also the type of the transient processes, including the oscillatory
behavior, as well as the tendency of the system to the increased vibrations under the
action of unbalanced masses, which is observed for case #2 in Fig. 5.
At the same time, the parameter Rmax quite adequately reflects the ability of the
adjustable bearing to minimize the rotor displacements from the setpoint both under
impulse and harmonic force impacts. This parameter can be used to determine the bearing
configuration that most effectively implements the control actions in the rotor-bearing
system. In addition, we note that the use of the control system makes it possible to reduce
the vibrations compared to the passive bearings for all the presented configurations, even
for the least stable ones.
Thus, the presented approach to the optimal design of fluid film bearings can be
assessed as generally consistent, but requiring some improvements and additions. It
allows obtaining solutions ready for the effective implementation of control systems,
e.g., active lubrication. At the same time, the considered criteria for the dynamic behavior
of the rotor must be improved. In addition, it looks rational to introduce some additional
objective parameters, such as lubricant consumption, for better representation of the
rotor-bearing system’s operational properties.
Finally, it is also reasonable to further improve the calculation speed, especially
when considering models of flexible rotors operating in supercritical regions, which
may require more computations to evaluate the nonlinear vibrations.

4 Conclusions
The work proposes an approach to the procedures of optimal design of fluid film bear-
ings, taking into account both their conventional passive and adjustable design, as well
as the dynamic behavior of the rotor-bearing system. A multicriteria optimization prob-
lem was formulated and solved for an actively lubricated journal bearing using a genetic
374 D. Shutin et al.

Fig. 6. Rotor displacements during the simulation tests for the three bearing configurations

Fig. 7. Friction torque during the simulation tests for the three bearing configurations

algorithm. A set of Pareto-optimal solutions was found for three objective functions
describing the viscous friction in the bearing, the rotor motion stability, and the bearing
efficiency in implementing control actions. A three-dimensional representation of the
Pareto front allows choosing solutions with specific features that best meet the require-
ments of the system being designed. The results of comparative simulation tests mostly
confirmed the presence of such properties in the obtained bearing configurations. The
proposed criterions for the friction and the maximum control efficiency quite adequately
represent their behavior. However, the transient time does not reflect sufficiently the
 Optimization of Journal Bearings Considering 375

system stability and the rotor transient behavior. Improving this criterion by consid-
ering additionally the oscillatory rotor behavior is the way to make the results of the
optimization procedures more predictable.

Acknowledgements. The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No.
22–19-00789, https://rscf.ru/en/project/22-19-00789/.

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Applications, p. 326. John Willey & Sons, New York (2001)
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 Stability Margin Optimization
for Unsymmetrical Rotor/Stator Dynamic
System

Yaqun Jiang(B)

Analytical Dynamics Inc., Michigan, USA

[email protected]

Abstract. This paper introduces a computer simulation tool that optimizes the
damping forces acting on a stationary body to maximize the stability margin
of a rotating body. The proposed method is highly efficient and can be used to
investigate the dynamic stability of any general rotating system, even those that
are non-axisymmetric. To achieve this, the authors combine Floquet theory and
Hill’s method to create an analytical tool that operates in the frequency domain
and can compute the stability of unsymmetrical flexible rotor and stator systems in
a shorter computation time. Using the simulation tool, the authors explore various
damping design configurations for an I4 internal combustion engine to identify
the optimal damping values that can maximize dynamic stability. The simulation
results demonstrate how the damping of both the stator (engine block) and rotor can
be optimized to achieve maximum dynamic stability. Overall, this paper presents
a practical and effective approach to designing damping systems that can improve
the stability of rotating machinery.

Keywords: Rotor Stability · 3D Finite Element Method · Margin Optimization

1 Introduction

The stability margin is a critical parameter in system design, as it provides insight into
how robust the system is and how much margin there is for variations in the system’s
parameters or external disturbances. Stability is a widely researched topic in rotating
systems with asymmetry in shaft stiffness and inertia. However, the stability issue is
often not considered during the design of internal combustion engines. A crankshaft has
unsymmetrical inertia and stiffness about its rotation axis, as is common in a typical
I4 engine which has five main bearings and eight unsymmetrical count weights. Under
normal operating conditions, all the bearings are heavily loaded, and the crankshaft’s
vibration is confined by the engine block. Its instability threshold caused by the unsym-
metrical design is significantly higher than the operating speed. However, during no-load
or light-load conditions, such as when a vehicle coasts down a hill with the engine brake
engaged and the cylinders not firing, the crankshaft can run at extremely high RPMs
with relatively small restriction from the main bearings, causing the instability threshold

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 377–389, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_25
378 Y. Jiang

to drop within the operating range and potentially leading to catastrophic engine failure.
Thus, it is crucial to conduct a comprehensive investigation of instability during engine
design for identifying the optimal design parameters that minimize the risk of failure.
Over the last two decades, various FEA 3D modeling approaches have been devel-
oped to analyze general rotor and stator systems such as crankshafts and engine blocks.
Based on axisymmetric hypotheses, Geradin and Kill [1] utilized a fully 3D FEA app-
roach based on axisymmetric hypotheses for stability analysis, while Stephenson et al.
[2] employed a similar approach to study the coupling effects of rotor-bearing systems.
To model general unsymmetrical rotating machines, Lazarus et al. [3] developed a 3D
FE approach using the component mode synthesis (CMS) technique. The fully 3D finite
element model included the stator and rotor coupling, with the connection between them
modeled by preventing the rotor rigid body motions. A similar approach was adopted by
Meng et al. [4], who proposed two techniques to reduce the computational effort required
by 3D FE models for stability and frequency analyses. Specifically, they established the
equations in the rotating reference frame and utilized Floquet theory and Hill’s method
to solve the time-variant systems.
This study utilizes a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method to simulate both the
rotor and stator. The study investigates the influence of the crank damper ring inertia and
evaluates system instability with different ring damping levels. The study also employs
Floquet theory and Hill’s method to optimize the mount damping for achieving the most
possible system stability.

2 Mathematical Model

The mathematical model used for this investigation is based on Lagrange’s equations,
which describe the dynamics of a system in terms of its energy. The methodology and
simulation process have been presented and validated in reference [5]. In brief, the
equations of motion are derived using a co-rotating coordinate system that accounts for
the motion of the system and its components. To improve simulation performance, several
simplifying assumptions have been made while still capturing the essential features of the
system. These assumptions enable the equations to be formulated in a more manageable
form.
1. The rotor nodal mass has either two translational degrees of freedom (u, v) or four
degrees of freedom (u, v, ϕu , ϕv ), where ϕ represents the rotational degree of freedom.
2. The bearings in the model are assumed to have only linear stiffness and viscous
damping.
3. Furthermore, the analysis is focused on the stability in the x and y axis, the lateral
crankshaft vibration. The effects of axial and torsional vibrations on the stability
analysis are considered negligible.
 Stability Margin Optimization 379

Under the above assumptions, the equations of motion of the rotor system will have
four degree of freedom for each of the node (u, v, ϕu , ϕv ). The homogeneous equation
of the rotating system is established by the combined use of the conservation of energy
and the Lagrangian approach [6].
[M ]{q̈} − i[G]{q̇} + ([Cn ] + [Cr ]){q̇}
 
+ [K] + 2 ([G] − [M ]) + i[Cn ] {q} + [Ks ]{q}
= {0} (1)
where
• [K] is the rotor stiffness matrix
• [Ks ] is the stator stiffness matrix which is time dependent in co-rotating coordinate.
• {q} = (u, v, ϕu , ϕv ) is nodal displacement vector defined in co-rotating coordinate.
The rotating coordinate system (u, v) is defined with respect to the fixed reference
frame (x, y, z), as shown in Fig. 1, where z-axis of the rotating frame is the same as
the z-axis of the fixed reference.
• Subscripts r and n refer to the rotating and the non-rotating parts of the system.
• [M] is the mass matrix, describes the inertia effects of both the rotor (2–4 degree of
freedom) and stator (2 degree of freedom) nodal mass.
• [G], is the gyroscopic matrix, which describes the mass effect of rotating components.
• [Cn ] and [Cr ] are matrices that represent the damping forces applied to the stator and
rotor, respectively.
Utilizing the Floquet theory for the equation, the displacement vector and its
derivatives could be expressed as
{q} = {}eλt
  λt
˙ e + λ{}eλt
{q̇} = 
  λt   λt
¨ e + 2λ 
{q̈} =  ˙ e + λ2 {}eλt (2)
The unknown mode vector {} is time dependent periodic function, which can be
written in terms of a Fourier series as
+∞
   ji2t
{} = lj e
j=−∞
+∞

   
˙ =
 lj ji2eji2t
j=−∞
+∞

   
¨ =−
 lj (j2)2 eji2t (3)
j=−∞

The final matrix representing the homogeneous Eq. (1) of the rotating system is as
follows [4]:
+∞   
[M ] −j 2 (2)2 + 2λji(2) + λ2 lj eji2t
j=−∞
380 Y. Jiang
+∞  
+ [D] (ji(2) + λ) lj eji2t
j=−∞
+∞   ji2t
+ ([Kr ] + [Ko ] + [Ka ]e−i2t + [Kb ]ei2t ) lj e = {0} (4)
j=−∞

where
• [D] = −i[G] + ([Cn ]+[Cr ])
• Kr is the rotor stiffness matrix
• (Ko + Ka e−i2t + Kb ei2t ) is the stator stiffness matrix, which is time-dependent in
the co-rotating coordinate.

Fig. 1. (a) Diagram of the I4-engine crankshaft and block system. (b) Rotating coordinate (u, v)
setup with respect to fixed coordinate (x, y, z)

3 Numerical Implementation

Hill Method. An infinite set of algebraic equations is readily obtained by separately

equating to zero of the various terms of Eq. (4). When j tends to infinity, the frequency
spectrum width of {} is not independent. The infinite solution set is redundant and
one needs only n independent eigenvectors to characterize the periodically time-varying
system of Eq. (4) in the frequency domain. According to Hill determinant convergence,
the number of harmonics significantly contributing to the quasi modes {} is limited.
Thus, a finite harmonic truncation order jmax = 3 is chosen in this work to accurately
determine their frequency spectrum [6].
By setting each harmonics individually equal to zero in Eq. (4), we obtain the
truncated set of algebraic equations.
⎡ ⎤⎧ ⎫
A−2 B−1 0 0 0 ⎪ ⎪ l−2 ⎪⎪
⎢ C A B 0 0 ⎥⎪ ⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎢ −2 −1 0 ⎥⎪⎨ l−1 ⎪⎬
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 C−1 A0 B+1 0 ⎥ l0 = {0} (5)
⎢ ⎥⎪ ⎪
⎣ 0 0 C0 A+1 B+2 ⎦⎪ ⎪
⎪ l +1
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎪
0 0 0 C+1 A+2 ⎩ l+2 ⎭
 Stability Margin Optimization 381

The matrix [Aj ] holds the average properties of the system, while [Cj ] and [Bj ]
pertain to the asymmetrical attributes of the rotor and stator [6]. Equation (5) can also
be expressed as Hill’s eigenvalue problem.
    

(λ2 M̂ + λ Ĉ + [K]){} = 0 (6)

Finite Element Model Setup. Figure 1 illustrates the rotor/stator dynamic system for
an I4-engine with linear spring as the main bearing connection. The crankshaft represents
a typical I4 engine, with a uniform distributed counterweight of total length 500 mm
and a nominal main bearing diameter of 45 mm. The rigid flywheel inertia is assumed
to have equal values of 70 t.mm^2 in the x and y directions, and 140 t.mm^2 in the
polar direction. The rotating system is also assumed to be perfectly balanced, with no
shaft misalignment considered in the analysis. These assumptions simplify the model
and allow for easier analysis.
Using a co-rotating coordinate system (fixed to the crankshaft) for this analysis
means that all degrees of freedom of the engine block (stator) will be present in all
three stiffness matrices (Ko, Ka, and Kb in Eq. 4), which significantly increases the
computational complexity. Therefore, a reduced number of nodes were selected for the
simulations, following the model reduction approach outlined in [7]. Specifically, one
node was selected for each of the 5 main bearings and each mount, allowing for improved
computational efficiency.
Engine mounts are designed to isolate engine vibrations from the rest of the vehi-
cle, and they typically exhibit nonlinear behavior and frequency-dependent mechanical
properties. Their stiffness and damping characteristics can change with the frequency of
the engine’s vibration, making the behavior of the mount difficult to predict and model
accurately. To simply this simulation, we assume the engine mount only have small
displacement in its normal operations, and it oscillates around its balanced position
with linear spring characteristics. In this work, the stiffness is choose to be 1000 N/mm.
Figure 2. Illustrates the location of three mounts. All the mount stiffness will be assumed
as constant, and their damping ratio will be used as optimization variables.

Fig. 2. Diagram of the I4-engine mount configuration (Top view)

382 Y. Jiang

4 Simulation and Optimization

Zero Damping Response. The initial simulation of Eigen problem Eq. 6 did not account
for damping. The rotor/stator dynamics model used a simplified main bearing model
with a constant stiffness of 4e4 N/mm. In Fig. 3, the decay rate (i.e., the real part of the
eigenvalue) in the frequency range of 600–780 rad/s is plotted along with the Campbell
diagram. These plots illustrate the instability behavior of the system, which is caused
by the unsymmetrical crank rotating system. The dynamic coupling between the crank
and block gives rise to multiple unstable regions at rotating speeds above 600 rad/s. The
data presented in Fig. 3(a) and (b) indicate that there is no instability observed below
600 rad/s. The simulation employed co-rotating coordinates, so the zero frequency in the
Campbell diagram corresponds to synchronous oscillation with respect to crank rotation.

Fig. 3. Campbell diagram with harmonic truncation order jmax = 2. (a) Campbell diagram,
imaginary part of the eigenvalue (0–780 rad/s). (b) Decay rate, real part of the eigenvalue (0–
780 rad/s). (c) Campbell diagram, imaginary part of the eigenvalue (600–780 rad/s). (d) Decay
rate, real part of the eigenvalue (600–780 rad/s)

In the Campbell diagram of Fig. 3, only positive frequencies are represented against
the rotational speed. In fact, each parametric quasi-mode {} can beseen as the sum of
forward and backward waves associated with the frequency spectra ωk ± j2 , where
ωk is the fundamental frequencies of the k th quasi-mode [4].
To investigate the unstable region, simulation of the model was conducted using a
smaller frequency step in three frequency ranges: 610–630 rad/s, 702–712 rad/s, and
750–775 rad/s. The results are presented in Fig. 4, which shows refined plots of the
unstable regions. The interaction related to the crank and block dynamics is responsible
for the instability observed in these regions. Specifically, the first instability at around
frequency of 613 rad/s is the primary instability caused by the crank un-symmetricity.
All the other positive decay rate regions are due to the dynamic interaction with the
engine block.
 Stability Margin Optimization 383

105 640
20

630
100
15
620
95
10
610
90
600
5
85
590
0
80
580

-5 75
570

70 560
-10 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 750 755 760 765 770 775
610 612 614 616 618 620 622 624 626 628 630

0.5 1.5
0.25

0.4
0.2
1
0.3
0.15

0.2
0.1 0.5
0.1
0.05

0 0
0

-0.1
-0.05
-0.5
-0.2
-0.1

-0.3
-0.15 -1
-0.4
-0.2

-0.5 -1.5
610 612 614 616 618 620 622 624 626 628 630 -0.25 750 755 760 765 770 775
702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 4. Campbell diagram and decay rate in the frequency range of (a) 610–630 rad/s, (b) 702–
712 rad/s and (c) 750–775 rad/s.

Optimization Setup. As discussed in the previous section, most of the instability was
caused by harmonic coupling between crank and block interaction. These instability is
easily be eliminated by applying a light damping on the non-rotating part (engine block).

Fig. 5. Decay rate after 5% engine mount damping applied

Figure 5 displays the decay rate following the application of a 5% damping force
to the engine mount. The results indicate that the damping on the engine mount can
effectively mitigate the instability caused by the interaction between the crank and block.
However, the primary instability at approximately 613 rad/s remains, as evidenced by
the positive decay rate. This instability is difficult to eliminate, and in the next section,
we will utilize the decay rate of the primary instability as the optimization target to
identify the optimal damping parameter and achieve the most stable dynamic system.
Stability Margin Optimization. The system being analyzed consists of a 2 kg ring
mass, with zero internal damping in the crank, and a base frequency of 150 rad/s for the
384 Y. Jiang

engine mount. The only variable parameter in the design is the mount damping ratio,
which can range from 10% to 80%. Figure 6 illustrate the decay rate plot of the primary
instability for each damping ratio. In all cases, the system exhibits a negative decay
rate, which indicates that it is dynamically stable. As the damping ratio increases in 5%
increments, the decay rate decreases. However, when the damping ratio exceeds 45%,
the decay rate begins to increase. The system’s most stable configuration is achieved at a
damping ratio of 45%, which yields a maximum negative value of 2.7 for the decay rate.
This value is referred to as the maximum stability margin in this study, and it quantifies
the system’s robustness by measuring how much the damping ratio can be reduced before
the system becomes unstable.

Fig. 6. Decay rate for a 2 kg ring mass with mount damping ranging from 0.1 to 0.8.

Influence of Rotational Damper - Mass and Internal Damping. A torsional damper

is mounted on the front end of the crankshaft and consists of a ring mass that is free to
rotate around the crankshaft axis, and a rubber or elastomeric material that connects the
mass to the crankshaft (Fig. 7). The mass of the damper rotates out of phase with the
crankshaft, creating an opposing force that helps to cancel out the torsional vibrations.
The polar inertia of the ring and torsional stiffness of the rubber in the damper are
carefully tuned to a specific frequency in order to effectively isolate torsional vibrations
and reduce the amount of energy transferred to other engine components. However, the
lateral and vertical vibrations of the ring mass can interact with the bending vibration
of the crankshaft, which can have a detrimental effect on the stability of the system.
Additionally, since the torsion damper rotates with the crankshaft, the damping effect
is generated internally and can have a negative influence on the system stability when
the crankshaft rotates above its threshold speed. According to our initial assumption, the
displacement in the torsional direction is independent of other types of motion. Each node
on the crank has a maximum of four degrees of freedom, including two for translation
and two for bending. We have neglected any influence from axial and torsional motion
in this work. Therefore, the ring damping between the ring and crank is referred to the
damping in the lateral and vertical directions of the crankshaft (not torsional damping).
 Stability Margin Optimization 385

Fig. 7. Crankshaft and torsion damper

Figure 6 shows a decay rate plot that illustrates the effect of a 2 kg torsional damper
on the system’s decay rate. To further investigate this effect, we simulated the system
with two additional ring masses of 1 kg and 3 kg. Figure 8 presents the decay rate plots
for all three ring masses, enabling a clear comparison of their respective decay rates.

Fig. 8. Decay rate comparison for ring masses of 1, 2, and 3 kg with mount damping ranging
from 0.1 to 0.8

In order to provide a clear visualization, only the oval shapes around the maximum
decay rate values are plotted in Fig. 8. Each oval shape represents a decay rate for a
specific combination of engine mount damping ratio (ranging from 0.1 to 0.8) and ring
mass value (ranging from 1 to 3 kg), and corresponds to a potential instability field of
the system when damping is reduced.
In Fig. 8, the maximum point of each case is highlighted with a circle. These points
represent the maximum decay rate value for each combination of ring mass and engine
mount damping ratio. To facilitate comparison between the different cases, the decay
rate values of these points are plotted against the mount damping ratio in Fig. 9.
386 Y. Jiang

Figure 9 clearly shows that, for all three ring masses, the decay rates reach their
maximum negative values at an engine mount damping ratio of 0.45. This suggests that
a mount damping ratio of 0.45 provides the most effective damping for the system. Addi-
tionally, we observed that using a heavier damper ring results in a more stable dynamic
system. The 3 kg ring provides nearly three times the stability margin as compared to a
1 kg ring with the same 0.45 mount damping ratio.

Fig. 9. Decay rate plots with respect to mount damping ratio with 0% ring damping

The above analysis is based on the assumption of zero lateral/vertical damping for
the torsion damper (ring damping). As we mentioned at the beginning of this section,
the ring damping is the internal damping of the rotating system and may have a neg-
ative impact on the system’s dynamic stability. To demonstrate this effect, additional
optimization simulations are performed with 2% and 5% lateral ring damping. In the
following analyses, the lateral/vertical frequency of the ring is fixed at 625 rad/s, and
the corresponding results are displayed in Fig. 10.

Fig. 10. Decay rate plots with respect to mount damping ratio (a) 2% ring damping. (b) 5% ring
damping
 Stability Margin Optimization 387

Figure 10(a) shows the decay rate plots of three ring masses with 2% ring damping.
Compared to the results obtained with 0% ring damping in Fig. 9, the stability margin
almost doubled, indicating improved system stability. However, in Fig. 10(b), further
increasing ring damping to 5% resulted in a decrease in stability margin. Therefore, to
ensure optimal system stability, it is preferable to employ light ring damping.

Fig. 11. Decay rate plots for the ring damping 0%, 2%, and 5%

In practical application, ring damping is often greater than 2%. Ring damping exhibits
a negative speed-dependent behavior, whereby the decay rate increases with the rotating
speed. If the mount damping is insufficient, the system may become unstable in the
supercritical range. Figure 11 illustrates the decay rate plots of three ring damping
configurations with a 2 kg ring mass. Notably, the system becomes unstable once the
speed exceeds 750 rad/s for the configuration with 5% ring damping. The ring damping,
particularly when high, primarily influences the stability margin. Therefore, to guarantee
optimal system stability, the damper design must be modified by elevating the lateral
frequency and ring mass to shift the instability threshold further beyond the maximum
operating speed (700 rad/s). Figure 12 depicts the decay rate for a damper with 650 rad/s
lateral frequency, a 3 kg ring mass and 5% ring damping, where the instability threshold
occurs at approximately 820 rad/s. Consequently, the aforementioned approach can still
be employed for optimization, resulting in a highly dependable dynamic system.
388 Y. Jiang

Fig. 12. Decay rate plots for the 5% ring damping and 3 kg ring mass

5 Conclusion
This paper presents an efficient method for optimizing the stability of flexible rotor
and stator engine systems. The study investigates the dynamic behaviors and vibration
characteristics of an unsymmetrical rotor-stator system with internal and external damp-
ing. The negative effects of ring damping are incorporated into the dynamic model using
Lagrange’s equation, and the unstable dynamic behaviors of the system are demonstrated
graphically. Based on the findings, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. Selecting the appropriate mount damping ratio can significantly enhance stability.
For a typical I4 engine damper with a ring mass of around 2 kg and zero internal
damping, using an optimized damping ratio of 40% to 50% can lead to a doubling of
stability (decay rate) in comparison to levels of 10% to 20% damping ratio. However,
if the damping ratio surpasses 60%, stability will begin to deteriorate.
2. Engine mount damping can effectively mitigate the instability caused by the
interaction between the crank and block.
3. High ring damping (internal damping) negatively affects system stability. To ensure
optimal system stability, it is recommended to elevate the lateral frequency and ring
mass to shift the instability threshold further beyond the maximum operating speed
4. Increasing ring mass enhances the efficiency of mount damping in controlling system
stability.

References
1. Geradin, M., Kill, N.: A new approach to finite element modelling of flexible rotors. Eng.
Comput. 1(1), 52–64 (1984)
2. Stephenson, R.W., Rouch, K.E.: Modeling rotating shafts using axisymmetric solid finite
elements with matrix reduction. J. Vib. Accoust. 115(4), 484–489 (1993)
3. Lazarus, A., Prabel, B., Combescure, D.: A 3D finite element model for the vibration analysis
of asymmetric rotating machines. J. Sound Vib. 329(18), 3780–3797 (2010)
 Stability Margin Optimization 389

4. Meng, M.W.: Frequency and stability analysis method of asymmetric anisotropic rotor bearing
system based on three-dimensional solid finite element method. Trans. ASME 137, 102502
(2015)
5. Jiang, Y.: Harmonic balance method for unsymmetrical rotor dynamic analysis. In: SAE Noise
and Vibration conference and Exhibition, September 2021
6. Genta, G.: Whirling of unsymmetrical rotors: a finite element approach based on complex
co-ordinates. J. Vib. Accoust. 124, 27–53 (1988)
7. AVL EXCITE theory manual version 2010.1
 Remaining Useful Life Prediction
for Anti-friction Bearings Based on Envelope
Spectrum and Extended Kalman Filter

Haobin Wen1(B) , Long Zhang2 , and Jyoti K. Sinha1

1 Dynamics Laboratory, The Department of Mechanical Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The
University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
[email protected]
2 The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester,

Manchester M13 9PL, UK

Abstract. Anti-friction bearings (AFB) are essential parts of many rotating

machines. It is also well known that the fault in the bearings keeps developing
during machine operation. This bearing fault can propagate further and trigger
other faults within the machine, and eventually lead to the machine failures and
shutdown. Hence, the early prediction of remaining useful life (RUL) plays a
significant role to optimize maintenance schedule for overhauls and avoiding fail-
ures. Recent research studies in the literature have used data-driven models using
vibration-based indicators (HI) to estimate the RUL. In the current study, an enve-
lope analysis-based indicator is used that truly reflects bearing conditions only.
Then only a few initial vibration measurements are used once the bearing defect
is identified to estimate RUL using the extended Kalman filter (EKF). The RUL
prediction method is applied to the experimental vibration data on a rig.

Keywords: Remaining Useful Life · Bearings · Predictive Maintenance ·

Extended Kalman Filter · Nonlinear State Estimation · Bayesian Statistics

1 Introduction

Asset health management and smart maintenance are critical links in intelligent man-
ufacturing to ensure safe, stable, and efficient industrial production. As fundamental
components in rotating machineries, anti-friction bearings (AFB) are widely applied in
various electromechanical systems, such as electric motors, combustion engines, gas
turbines, industrial robots, etc. Given the integration of mechanical equipment, bearing
faults are a major concern as they could cause secondary structural failures and system-
atic shutdown. Therefore, the early prediction of bearing remaining useful life (RUL)
plays an important role in preventing unscheduled downtime and optimize maintenance
planning.
In recent research, various data-driven models for bearing RUL prediction have
been developed based on machine learning theories and probabilistic approaches [1].

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 390–397, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_26
 Remaining Useful Life Prediction for Anti-friction Bearings 391

The machine learning approaches can establish the nonlinear relationship between the
adaptively extracted features and the RUL, such as random forest, support vector regres-
sion [2], artificial neural networks [3], and deep neural networks. While the probabilistic
approaches rely on sophisticated statistical models and hand-crafted features to quan-
tify the uncertainty in bearing RUL estimation, such as stochastic processes [4] and
Bayesian filtering [5, 6]. These recent advancements have been demonstrated on real-
world datasets collected from bearing life tests [7]. Among them, the recursive Bayesian
filters, e.g., Kalman Filter [8] and Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) [6], have attracted lot
of attention for their efficiency in the integration with bearing degradation models based
on selected health indicators (HI), not only adapting to nonlinear state estimation but
also avoiding the need of massive training data.
However, the conventional bearing HIs based on signal statistics might be redundant
due to the impacts from the coupled structure, e.g., involving shaft defect components.
In the current study, the bearing life data from [7] is analyzed to develop RUL predic-
tion techniques. First, the envelope analysis-based bearing HI is computed using the
amplitudes of the bearing characteristic frequencies in the envelope spectrum. It is thus
purely related to the bearing conditions. The use of envelope spectrum also helps detect
bearing defects for determining first inspection time (FIT) and the end of life (EoL)
bounds. After the bearing fault is detected, the extended Kalman filter (EKF) is applied
to the HI history for predicting the bearing RUL since the FIT. Only few initial HI obser-
vations are used in the state-space model to extrapolate the bearing RUL. The method
is then applied to the real-world bearing degradation data, the result of which shows its
effectiveness in RUL prediction.

2 Experimental Settings [7]

The development of RUL prediction methods relies on full bearing degradation data that
are expected to cover all bearing failure modes and different operating conditions. In
this work, the bearing vibration signals are analyzed using the XJTU-SY bearing dataset
available online [7]. Figure 1 provides an overview of the experimental rig where the test
bearings are hydraulically loaded from the horizontal direction. Two-channel vibration
signals are available from the measurements of the horizontal and vertical accelerometers
placed on the bearing housing.
In this study, the vibration acceleration data from group ‘Bearing 1_3’ is analyzed.
The test bearing in this case is said to run under the shaft speed of 35 Hz with a hydraulic
loading force of 12 kN from the normal state until failure. The sampling frequency is
25.6 kHz and the sampling length is 1.28 s per minute.
The specification of the bearing is listed in Table 1. Further details of the bearing
test rig and the dataset are available in [7].
392 H. Wen et al.

Fig. 1. Experimental Rig [7]

Table 1. The specifications of the test bearing

Number of Balls 8 Fundamental Train Frequency 13.49 Hz

Inner Diameter 29.30 mm Ball Pass Frequency Outer (BPFO) 107.91 Hz
Outer Diameter 39.80 mm Ball Pass Frequency Inner (BPFI) 172.09 Hz
Contact Angle 0° Ball Spin Frequency (BSF) 72.33 Hz

3 Methodology
3.1 Fault Detection Based on Envelope Spectrum
In this study, ‘Bearing 1_3’ is run from the normal state until failure after a total of
158 min. The test bearing is found to have an outer-race fault by disassembling the rig
after the end of the life test. To reveal the underlying bearing conditions during the test,
envelope analysis is performed on the vibration signals of the horizontal accelerometer.
Based on the envelope spectrum inspection, the test bearing is detected with outer-
race defect at the 59th minute, which is verified the outer-race ball pass frequency (as
marked in green dash line) clearly observed in the envelope spectrum, as shown in Fig. 2.
Therefore, the first inspection time (FIT) for this bearing is set at the 59th minute.

3.2 Bearing Health Indicator

To remove the interferences of the defect sources other than bearing faults, e.g., the shaft
unbalance, the envelope spectral HI is crafted using the amplitudes of the bearing fault
characteristic frequencies from the first to the third harmonics, which can be given by
HI = {A(fBSFi× ) + A(fFTFi× ) + A(fBPFOi× ) + A(fBPFIi× )}/A, i = {1, 2, 3} (1)
 Remaining Useful Life Prediction for Anti-friction Bearings 393

Fig. 2. Envelope spectrum of the horizontal vibration signal at the 59th minutes.

where A( f ) is the amplitude of a frequency component in the envelope spectrum and the
four characteristic fault frequencies are respectively BSF, FTF, BPFO, and BPFI. The
envelope spectral HI for ‘Bearing 1_3’ is shown in Fig. 3 (marked by grey solid line)
with the smoothed indicator (marked in blue) attained via 6-point moving average.

Fig. 3. The health indicator based on envelope analysis for the analyzed case. Original indicator
vs. smoothed indicator.

In this work, the time when the HI reaches the maximum is considered the end-of-
life (EoL), as the maximum HI indicates that the bearing fault frequencies have also
gathered their highest energy. In practice, the EoL is not priorly known whereas the
envelope spectral HI offers a proxy for generating the baseline RUL.
394 H. Wen et al.

3.3 RUL Prediction at FIT

State-space models with recursive parameter identification is well suited for RUL esti-
mation with limited observations. For linear state estimation, the well-known Kalman
filtering (KF) [9] method provides optimal estimation under the squared error objective.

Kalman Filtering
The Kalman filter is a recursive state estimator that seeks for the optimal posterior
estimate of the state vector x, from noisy observations z. The state vector is assumed to
follow a linear discrete-time stochastic process, xk+1 = f (xk , vk ) where f is the linear
state process model with Gaussian noise, vk [9]. The distorted sensor measurements
are modelled by zk+1 = h(xk , wk ), where wk represents model inaccuracies and sensor
noise [9].

Extended Kalman Filtering Method

For nonlinear system dynamics, the EKF introduces the Taylor expansion to linearize
the non-linear process model f and measurement model h by dropping the higher order
term [10].

xk+1 ≈ x̃k+1 + Fk+1 (xk − x̃k ) + Gk+1 vk (2)

zk+1 ≈ z̃k+1 + Hk+1 (xk+1 − x̃k+1 ) + Wk+1 wk (3)

where xk+1 is the state vector at time step k + 1, x̃k+1 is the prior estimate of state, zk+1
denotes the measurement, and z̃k+1 its prior estimation. F, G, H, and W are the partial
derivative terms, ∇f x , ∇f v , ∇hx , and ∇hv .

EKF RUL Prediction

To apply EKF for predicting bearing RUL, it is assumed that the highly nonlinear HI
encompasses a latent state that correctly model the bearing degradation process. Thus,
given the incremental trend of the HI since FIT, an exponential process model can be
established for the actual state related to the bearing health. The prior prediction of state,
the HI itself, is given by
 b 
e k xk
x̃k+1 = , (4)
bk

with the prediction of observations of the spectral HI,

z̃k+1 = h(xk+1 ) = xk+1 (1). (5)

The linearization of model f and h can be given by

 b b 
e k e k xk
Fk+1 = , (6)
0 1

Hk+1 = ( 1 0 ), (7)
 Remaining Useful Life Prediction for Anti-friction Bearings 395

 
1
Gk+1 = , (8)
0

Wk+1 = 1. (9)

After a selection of initial conditions for the state vector x̃0 = x0 and the state
error covariance matrix P0 , the nonlinear state estimation of EKF involves the recursive
iteration of the following steps:
1) Prediction of the a priori state and a priori covariance.

x̃k+1 = f (x̃k , 0), (10)

P̃k+1 = Fk Pk Fk + Gk Qk GkT , (11)

x̃k+1 = f (x̃k , 0), (12)

2) Take in the smoothed spectral HI as the actual observations, zk .

3) Correction of the prediction to give posteriori estimations.

Kk+1 = P̃k+1 Hk+1

T
(Hk+1 P̃k+1 Hk+1
T
+ Rk+1 )−1 , (13)

x̃k+1 ← x̃k+1 + Kk+1 (zk − Hk+1 x̃k+1 ), (14)

Pk+1 ← (I − Kk+1 Hk+1 )P̃k+1 . (15)

where Qk and Rk are the covariance matrices of the process noise vk and the observation
noise wk .
Finally, the RUL at inspection time k is extrapolated out where the state variable
reaches the end-of-life (EoL) thresholds, γ lower and γ upper . Here, γ is computed empir-
ically as an interval summarizing from all available bearing data. For example, the lower
bound of RUL is given by

RULlower = inf{RUL : f (x̃k+RUL−1 ) ≥ γlower }. (16)

4 RUL Prediction Results

Table 2 summarizes the FIT and the baseline EoL of the test bearing determined by
envelope spectrum with the RUL estimation results. After the outer race fault is detected
at the 59th minutes, 20 data points of spectral HI are applied in EKF for bearing RUL
prediction.
From Table 2, it is seen that for ‘Bearing 1_3’, the EKF method offers correct
prediction of the RUL at the lower end-of-life bound, i.e., 53 min from the inspection
time at the 79th minute.
396 H. Wen et al.

Table 2. Prognostic Results for ‘Bearing 1_3’

Data Group Bearing 1_3 True RUL @Inspection/min 53

FIT/min 59th RUL 95% PI (Lower) [48, 58]
Fault Type Outer Race Estimated Mean RUL (Lower)/min 53
Inspection Time/min 79th RUL 95% PI (Upper) [105, 117]
EoL Time/min 132th Estimated Mean RUL (Upper)/min 111
* PI: Predictive Interval

Fig. 4. EKF-based RUL Prediction for ‘Bearing 1_3’.

Specifically, the estimated mean RUL is the period from the inspection time to the
point where the extrapolated HI surpasses the two empirical EoL bounds. Also, the
bearing RUL is predicted with uncertainty estimation and clamped by two predictive
intervals (PI) with 95% confidence, as shown in Fig. 4.
The EKF posterior state estimation of the bearing HI (blue solid line) is extrapolated
out to the future time and touches the lower EoL bound exactly when the original HI
(marked by grey solid line) reaches the maximum. At this time, the test bearing is
considered to have a fatal failure and should be replaced.
On the above basis, the bearing spectral HI has a clear indication of bearing fault
severity and is combined with the EKF for estimating the nonlinear trend of bearing
degradation. The application of the prognostic method to experimental bearing data has
demonstrated its effectiveness in bearing RUL prediction.
 Remaining Useful Life Prediction for Anti-friction Bearings 397

5 Conclusions

The work presents the envelope-spectrum-based indicator for bearing health assess-
ment and the EKF-based RUL prediction method with model simplicity. The bearing
HI is shown to have a few advantages including a clear indication of the bearing condi-
tion. Finally, the applications of the RUL prediction method to the actual vibration data
demonstrated its usefulness for bearing predictive maintenance. The prediction perfor-
mance will be further supported by more examples using bearing data under different
operating conditions.

References
1. Si, X.S., Wang, W., Hu, C.H., Zhou, D.H.: Remaining useful life estimation – a review on the
statistical data driven approaches. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 213(1), 1–14 (2011)
2. Loutas, T.H., Roulias, D., Georgoulas, G.: Remaining useful life estimation in rolling bearings
utilizing data-driven probabilistic E-support vectors regression. IEEE Trans. Reliab. 62(4),
821–832 (2013)
3. Heimes, F.O.: Recurrent neural networks for remaining useful life estimation. In: 2008 Int.
Conf. Progn. Heal. Manag. PHM 2008 (2008)
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30054
 New Comprehensive Approach for Torsional
Analyses of Industrial Powertrains

Timo P. Holopainen(B) and Tommi Ryyppö

ABB Large Motors and Generators, 00381 Helsinki, Finland

[email protected]

Abstract. Calculation procedures are well-established for torsional powertrain

analyses of industrial applications. The mechanical system is described by a one-
dimensional model. The solutions are obtained from a symmetric system of sec-
ond order linear differential equations. The electromechanical and process inter-
actions are usually neglected, and these effects are included to the solution as
external loads. Generally, the model is tuned to the operating point to justify the
linearized modeling approach. However, this approach neglects the interactions
and non-linear effects of torque and speed variation. In addition, the modeling
of powertrain components is usually conducted by the system integrator starting
from the drawings and other design documents. This is a manual and laborious
procedure and susceptible for mistakes.
The main aim of this paper is to introduce a novel approach for industrial pow-
ertrain analyses. A distinctive feature of this approach is to rely only on the time-
domain simulations and on the first-order differential equations. All powertrain
components are modeled by using power parameters in the interfaces. This enables
systematic inclusion of non-linear effects and electromechanical interaction.
The proposed approach is compared to the traditional one. The pros and cons
of these approaches are reviewed. A calculation example of a reciprocating motor-
compressor is used to demonstrate the differences. Finally, the paper outlines the
future research needs.

Keywords: Torsional Rotordynamics · Electrical Machines · Powertrain ·

Electromechanical Interaction · Reciprocating Compressors

1 Introduction
Transmission of torque with a specified speed is the main function of mechanical power-
trains. This transmission must be achieved without excessive torsional vibrations. Thus,
torsional analyses are routinely conducted for rotating machine systems. An overview of
torsional vibrations as part of industrial practice is described in [1–3]. Recent research
activities have focused on torsional issues of powertrain components like gears, cou-
plings, electric machines, and reciprocating compressors. However, the fundamentals of
powertrain analysis have remained mainly unchanged.
A typical torsional analysis includes following items: natural frequencies and mode
shapes, steady-state response, start-up transient, and electrical faults. The calculation

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 398–408, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_27
 New Comprehensive Approach for Torsional Analyses 399

model is commonly one-dimensional, and the analysis types are eigenvalue, harmonic
and transient. The problem is formulated as a system of second order linear differential
equations. Torque loads of electric machines and pistons/impellers are calculated sepa-
rately and are given as input to the torsional analysis. The parameters of the model, like
coupling stiffness, are typically adjusted for the rated operating condition.
The formulation of torsional vibrations as second order differential equations is
somehow exceptional compared to the surrounding systems like electric drives, electric
network, and fluid-flow piping systems. These systems are commonly formulated as first-
order differential equations. Further, the traditional linearization of model parameters to
the operating point is usually a laborious process if required.
The main aim of this paper is to outline a comprehensive approach for torsional
analyses of powertrains. The actual rotation speed and transmitted torque are included
to the model together with the non-linear characteristics of powertrain components.
The problem is formulated with a system of first-order differential equations. Finally,
all the analyses are conducted in time-domain and required results are obtained by
post-processing.
This paper starts by describing the proposed approach on a general level. Essen-
tially, this new approach is based on a novel combination of established methods and
techniques. Figure 1 shows an example of a motor-driven compressor system. In this
paper the focus is on the mechanical section of the powertrain system. A digital twin of
electric motors for torsional powertrain analyses has been presented in [4–6].

Fig. 1. Digital twin of a motor-driven variable-speed compressor system.

After description of the approach several calculation examples of a motor-driven

reciprocating-compressor system are presented. Finally, the traditional and this novel
approach are compared, and research needs outlined.

2 New Comprehensive Approach

2.1 Main Distinction
Traditionally, industrial powertrain torsional analyses are conducted by using linear
models. The basic formulation is a system of second order differential equations.
The main tasks are the identification of the lowest natural frequencies (eigenvalue
analysis), steady-state response (harmonic analysis) and transient response analyses of
fault conditions and starting (time-stepping analysis). Usually, the linearization of the
system components, like couplings, is explicitly made for the rated operating condition.
The size of the problems is numerically small in industrial analyses.
400 T. P. Holopainen and T. Ryyppö

A driving force to search an alternative approach for torsional analyses has been the
electromechanical interaction in electric machine. This interaction cannot be modelled
easily as a part of mechanical model. At least, auxiliary degrees-of-freedom are needed,
if more than one oscillation frequency is under consideration. This is the case with
reciprocating compressors possessing substantial number of excitation orders. It is even
more difficult to model the transient loading of a premature breaker reclosure with a
simple and linear model [7].
The main idea of this novel approach is to calculate all required analyses in time-
domain. The problem is formulated with a system of first-order differential equations
with speed and torque as variables.

2.2 Modelling

Mechanical drivetrains are traditionally modelled by a system of second order differential

equations

Mθ̈ + Cθ̇ + Kθ = T (1)

where M, C and K are the inertia, damping and stiffness matrices, respectively, and θ and
T are the vectors of angular displacements and loading torques, respectively. The size
of the matrices is n × n and length of vectors n. Two-node linear elements are used with
torsional stiffness k ij for element i, and the damping of the same element proportional
to the stiffness, i.e., cij = αi k ij . The angle of twist and the torque can be written as

ϕij = θj − θi τij = kij ϕij (2)

Further, the symbol of angular velocity can be changed i = θ̇i , and the relation of
twist and angular velocity written in the form

ϕ̇ij = j − i (3)

These operations yield the system of first order differential equations for the
mechanical drive train
       
I 0 τ̇ 0 B τ 0
˙ = + (4)
0M  A −C  T

where I is the identity matrix of size n × n, and matrices A and B can be obtained from
the original matrix K using Eqs. (2) and (3). These matrices are
⎡ ⎤
−1 0 0 0 0
⎢ 1 −1 0 0 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 1 −1 0 0 ⎥
A(n×n−1) = ⎢ ⎢ ⎥ (5a)
. . ⎥
⎢ 0 0 .. .. 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ 0 0 0 1 −1 ⎦
0 0 0 0 1
 New Comprehensive Approach for Torsional Analyses 401

⎡ ⎤
−k12 k12 0 0 0 0
⎢ 0 −k23 k23 0 0 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. .. ⎥
B(n−1×n) =⎢
⎢ 0 0 . . 0 0 ⎥ ⎥ (5b)
⎢ .. ⎥
⎣ 0 0 0 . kn−2,n−1 0 ⎦
0 0 0 0 −kn−1,n kn−1,n

In general, the symmetric structure of original equations of motions has been lost,
but the system of first order differential equations achieved.
The difference between the proposed and traditional approaches can be described also
by their elements and degrees-of-freedom. Figure 2 shows two-node prismatic elements
for these approaches. The derivation of 1st and 2nd order differential equations is based
on the dynamic equilibrium of torque in nodal points.

Fig. 2. Traditional two-node prismatic elements used in 1st and 2nd order formulations together
with the new first order formulation with an internal torque variable τ .

It can be added that the rotating rotors do not have boundary conditions defined as
angular displacements. This enables the rejection of angular displacements as variables.
Thus, the torsional rotordynamics seems to be a clearly abnormal area of modelling of
mechanical vibrations but consistent with modelling of electrical and fluid systems.
Here, the derivation of a new linear prismatic element was presented and the assembly
of elements to a calculation model was shown. This derivation started from the tradi-
tional formulation and resulted in a new formulation. This was a heuristic approach.
Most probably, it is possible to derive higher order elements and prove the convergence
characteristics with mathematical rigor. Similarly, it is assumed to be possible to derive
elements for conical and other element geometries.

2.3 Damping

Damping of torsional mechanical systems is customarily modelled by damping ratio of

natural modes. This approach requires the use of natural modes and modal superposition.
In general, the damping of torsional mechanical systems is small and weakly known.
A non-linear approach allows more advanced damping models for critical compo-
nents like flexible coupling. The relative damping of a coupling is the ratio of damping
energy, converted into heat during a vibration cycle, to the flexible strain energy [8].
For oscillations at one frequency this can be modelled by a viscous damping coefficient
between velocities of element ends [7]. For general case, a mode advanced damping
model is required.
402 T. P. Holopainen and T. Ryyppö

It can be mentioned that the angular velocity cannot be directly used for the modelling
of damping, because the angular velocity is dominated by rotor speed.

2.4 Modularity

An essential part of the developed approach is to allow and support modular preparation
of calculation models of components. Thus, the aim is to define standardized interfaces
for all types of components (electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, …). This reminds the
approach under the name bond graphs, see e.g. [9]. The question arises how to define
the component interfaces and how far the preprocessing of the component models is
reasonable to process before combination of sub-models. This preprocessing and inter-
faces are also related to the general need to protect the intellectual property of separate
manufacturers.

2.5 Connection of Component Models

The mechanical components of powertrains are connected by couplings or shaft-end

flanges. There are standardized approaches for modelling of these components and their
connections [10] that can be automatically included to the assembly of sub-models.
In general, the mechanical powertrain components are connected to each other from
one degree-of-freedom, i.e., angular velocity of connection node. Similarly, equilibrium
between components is governed by the torque in connection node.

2.6 Boundary Conditions

The boundary conditions must be specified for the solution. The extension of calculation
model and the selection of adequate boundary conditions is not straightforward for a
power flow system. Usually, if an electric machine is included to the model, the upstream
boundary condition is defined by the supply voltage and frequency. In downstream,
the boundary condition is defined by the loading torque that is usually a function of
rotating speed and sometimes a function of angular displacement like with reciprocating
compressors. It might sound unusual, but the boundary conditions, at least in steady
state, must be defined so that there will be a balance between the supply and load power.

2.7 Initial Values

Time-domain simulation starts from the initial values. Thus, the computational efficiency
depends on the quality of initial values. In some cases, like in start-up analysis, the initial
values are readily available. However, often the aim of the simulation is related to an
operating point. In these cases, the guess of initial values is crucially important. One
tempting solution to find initial values is to conduct harmonic analysis in steady state
before the time-domain simulation. Usually, this combination of analysis reduces the
required length of simulation significantly.
 New Comprehensive Approach for Torsional Analyses 403

2.8 Solution

The problem is formulated as a system of first-order differential equations. The compo-

nent mass matrices are symmetric or diagonal, and combined stiffness/damping matrices
asymmetrical (4). The component models are connected to each other by one degree-
of-freedom, i.e., by angular velocity. The time-domain solution of this kind of a system
consisting separate blocks can be conducted by various algorithms. The authors are not
familiar with simulation algorithms for first order systems of component blocks.

2.9 Natural Frequencies and Damping

The most important analysis type for torsional powertrains is the analysis of natural
frequencies. Fundamentally, the eigenvalues can be determined only for a linear or
linearized system. This seems to set an obstacle for the proposed approach enabling
non-linearity and relying only on the time-domain simulation. However, a method based
on the impulse response analysis can be applied. This method reminds the experimental
modal testing.

3 Calculation Example

3.1 Example Powertrain

A direct-on-line motor-compressor powertrain was used in calculation examples. Table 1

shows the main parameters of this powertrain.

Table 1. Rated parameters of the example powertrain.

Parameter Value Unit

Power 460 kW
Frequency 60 Hz
Speed 713 rpm
Number of poles 10 –
Voltage 4160 V
Rated torque 6.16 kNm

The example motor drives a compressor. The drive train consists of the following
components with inertia in parenthesis: direct-on-line motor (52.2 kg m2 ), flexible cou-
pling (0.9 kg m2 ), flywheel (129.4 kg m2 ) and reciprocating two-cylinder compressor
(3.9 kg m2 ). The stiffness of the coupling is 46.9 kNm/rad and the relative damping
0.791.
404 T. P. Holopainen and T. Ryyppö

3.2 Calculation Model

Figure 3 shows the geometry of the modelled mechanical system. The calculation model
was generated between the airgap and load torques on another. The stiffness between
these two locations was included to the calculation model. The outboard inertia on the
left of airgap torque node was added to the node inertia. The same approach was applied
for the inertia on the right of the load torque node. This mechanical powertrain model
was fully coupled to the electromagnetic motor model in the airgap torque node [7].

Fig. 3. Powertrain model from the left: motor, coupling (yellow), flywheel and two-cylinder
compressor (Color figure online).

3.3 Steady-State Response

The initial values for steady-state simulation were calculated by harmonic analysis.
Figure 4 shows the steady-state response in the rated condition directly after harmonic
analysis.

Fig. 4. Steady state response: a) torque, and b) speed of the components.

Missing of initial transient on the left-hand side of Fig. 4 indicates that the harmonic
analysis gives adequate initial values to the start of the simulation.

3.4 Natural Frequencies and Damping

The natural frequencies and damping ratios were obtained by the time-stepping method
with impulse response approach. Two time-stepping simulations in steady state shown
in Fig. 4 were calculated. In the first one, the rotor was rotated by the rated voltage
 New Comprehensive Approach for Torsional Analyses 405

and frequency against the cyclic compressor load. In the second one, a torque pulse
(0…360°) in the load position was added to the load torque. The parameters of the
pulse, yielding continuous excitation up to 50 Hz, were: amplitude 0.1 MNm, length
0.0364 s. A constant and equal time-step length was applied for both simulations. The
results of these two simulations, particularly the load torque and the angular speed of
the rotor core, were subtracted from each other and used for the post-processing. In this
case, Frequency Response Function (FRF) between the angular speed of the rotor core
and the load torque was derived (Fig. 5). The damping ratio of natural modes was derived
using half-power point method [11] or an advanced generalization of that method when
the peak did not have the half-power points [12]. When the applied angle of half-power
points is 90°, the angle of 45° was used for the generalized identification. The lowest
natural frequency without electromagnetic effects is 5.48 Hz [7].

Fig. 5. Frequency response plot between motor angular speed and load torque oscillation. The
identified modal parameters: f1 = 2.55 Hz, ζ1 = 18.9%, f2 = 8.98 Hz, ζ2 = 20.0%.

3.5 Start-Up

Figure 6 shows a direct-on-line start-up of the example powertrain. The starting is made
without compressor load cycle using a constant load. A long starting time is due to
the large inertia flywheel. The initial air-gap torque transient consists mainly of 60 Hz
oscillations. The largest coupling torque is reached in the breakdown point. The cou-
pling torque oscillates during the initial transient with frequency ~5.5 Hz and after
overshooting the rated speed with frequency ~2.5 Hz.

3.6 Two-Phase Short-Circuit

Figure 7 shows the two-phase short-circuit loading of the example powertrain. The initial
values of the simulation are obtained by the harmonic analysis as with the steady-state
case. After short (0.021 s) steady-state simulation the short-circuit occurs. The coupling
torque starts to oscillate with frequency ~5.5 Hz. The speed of the rotor starts to slow
down.
406 T. P. Holopainen and T. Ryyppö

Fig. 6. Starting against constant load: a) torque, and b) speed of components.

Fig. 7. Two-phase short-circuit loading: a) torque, and b) speed of components.

3.7 Premature Breaker Reclosing

Figure 8 shows a transient loading due to a premature breaker reclosing. As in the

precious cases, the initial values of simulation are obtained by harmonic analysis. Then,
after short (0.017 s) steady-state simulation a power cut-off occurs. The air-gap torque
drops immediately to zero and the coupling torque starts to oscillate with frequency
~5.5 Hz. This means that the rotor is vibrating with its first undamped natural frequency
together with decreasing rotational speed. Simultaneously, the magnetic field of the
active parts starts to decay due to the resistive losses in the copper cage of the rotor
and the iron-losses of the stator and rotor. After power interruption of 0.2 s, the supply
voltage is reconnected with the resulting air-gap and coupling transient torques that die
away quickly. A more detailed analysis can be found in [7].

3.8 Comparison

The proposed method is fully coupled electro-magneto-mechanical approach. Tradi-

tional industrial approaches are based on separately calculated electromagnetic air-gap
torque loads and purely mechanical simulation models. Table 2 shows a comparison of
predicted maximum coupling torques of these two methods. Here, the traditional uncou-
pled method consists of following features for short-circuit and reconnection cases: the
initial speed and torque is zero, and the simulation starts from the instant of a short-
circuit or reconnection. As Table 2 shows the uncoupled analysis does not include the
steady-state torque (6.16 kNm) affecting, at least, on the maximum short-circuit torques.
 New Comprehensive Approach for Torsional Analyses 407

Fig. 8. Breaker reclosing after 0.2 s power interruption: a) torque, and b) speed of components.

Table 2. Comparison of predicted torque values of uncoupled and coupled analyses.

Load case Maximum coupling torque, kNm Difference, %

Coupled Uncoupled
Start-up, initial transient 8.57 7.20 −16.0
2-phase short-circuit 7.21 3.51 −51.4
3-phase short-circuit 8.02 3.12 −61.1
Reconnection 0.2 s 23.1 29.5 27.6

4 Discussion

The calculation examples show that all the industrial analyses can be conducted by the
new proposed approach. It is significant, that the natural frequencies and damping ratios
can be identified from simulation results for non-linear systems without any linearization
of system equations. This means that the same model with the same boundary conditions
can be used in all analysis types. The initial values of steady-state operating points can
be obtained effectively by harmonic analysis using, naturally, the same model.
The comparison of uncoupled and coupled analyses shows significant differences
of maximum coupling torques (Table 2). A large part of the differences in short-circuit
cases results from the initial condition of the uncoupled analyses. If the initial torque of
the rotor (6.16 kNm) is included to the analysis, the difference will be most probably
reduced.
The most challenging loading case is the breaker reclosing analysis. In this analysis
the electromagnetic system interacts strongly with the mechanical system. The supply
voltage drops from rated value to zero and back again. In the example of Fig. 8, the speed
of the motor drops from 713 rpm to 515 rpm and returns to rated speed. These phenomena
would be exceedingly difficult to model with an uncoupled analysis. Figure 8 shows an
example for 0.2 s power interruption. Actually, there is a need to find a representative or
worst interruption time [7].
408 T. P. Holopainen and T. Ryyppö

5 Conclusions

A novel comprehensive approach for powertrain torsional analyses was introduced. A

distinctive feature of this approach is to rely only on the time-domain simulations and on
the first-order differential equations. All powertrain components are modeled by using
power parameters, i.e., angular speed and torque in mechanical interfaces. This enables
systematic inclusion of non-linear effects and electromechanical interaction.
The calculation example of a motor-driven reciprocating-compressor indicates
strongly that this approach improves the accuracy particularly in premature breaker
reclosing analysis.

References
1. Walker, D.: Torsional Vibration of Turbomachinery. McGraw-Hill, New York, USA (2003)
2. Anon.: Rotordynamic Tutorial: Lateral Critical Speeds, Unbalance Response, Stability, Train
Torsionals, and Rotor Balancing. API Technical Report 684. American Petroleum Institute,
Washington DC, USA (2019)
3. Corbo, M., Malanoski, S.: Practical design against torsional vibration. In: Proceedings of the
25th Turbomachinery Symposium, pp. 189–222. Turbomachinery Laboratory, Texas A&M
University, College Station, Texas, USA (1996)
4. Holopainen, T., Roivainen, J., Ryyppö, T.: Digital twin of induction motors for torsional vibra-
tion analysis of electrical drive trains. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference
on Vibrations in Rotating Machinery, pp 564–574. CRC Press, Balkema, The Netherlands
(2020)
5. Holopainen, T.: Digital twin of induction motors for torsional analysis of powertrains. In: Pro-
ceedings of SIRM 2021 – 14th International Conference on Dynamics of Rotating Machines,
9 p., Gdansk, Poland (2021)
6. Holopainen, T., Ryyppö, T.: Digital twin of induction motors for response analysis of electric
drive trains. In: Proceedings of Torsional Vibration Symposium 2022, 10 p., Salzburg, Austria
(2022)
7. Holopainen, T., Ryyppö, T., Järvinen, J.: Maximum torques due to electrical reclosures for
drivetrain components of motor driven reciprocating compressors. In: Proceedings of SIRM
2023 – 15th International Conference on Dynamics of Rotating Machines, 9 p., Darmstadt,
Germany (2023) (Submitted for publication)
8. Anon.: Technical data: highly flexible couplings for industrial applications. Vulkan Drive
Tech. (2022) www.vulkan.com
9. Karnopp, D., Margolis, D., Rosenberg, R.: System Dynamics: A Unified Approach, 2nd edn.
John Wiley & Sons, New York, USA (1990)
10. Anon.: Flexible Couplings – Mass Elastic Properties and Other Characteristics. American
National Standard, ANSI/AGMA 9004-B08 (2008)
11. Friswell, M., Penny, J., Garvey, S., Lees, A.: Dynamics of Rotating Machines. Cambridge
University Press, New York, USA (2010)
12. Ewins, D.: Modal Testing: Theory, Practice and Application, 2nd edn. Research Studies Press,
Baldock, Hertfordshire, England (2000)
 Modeling of the Divergently Worn Annular Seal
for the Two-Way Coupled Fluid–Structure
Interaction Analysis of Shaft Vibration
and Clearance Flow

Shogo Kimura1(B) , Tsuyoshi Inoue1 , Hiroo Taura2 , and Akira Heya1

1 Nagoya University, Aichi, Japan
[email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]
2 Kindai University, Osaka, Japan

[email protected]

Abstract. One of the causes of shaft vibration in turbomachinery is the rotordy-

namic (RD) fluid force. RD fluid force has a significant impact on the stability
of the system, so it is necessary to carry out shaft vibration analysis consider-
ing the influence of RD fluid force at the design stage. The common methods
for considering the effect of RD fluid force in shaft vibration analysis are linear
RD coefficients and two-way coupled analysis. In the previous research, two-way
coupled analysis was validated by experiment. However, Onset Speed of Insta-
bility (OSI) changed as experiment was repeated due to wear of seal stator. In
order to explain this change, two-way coupled analysis of the clearance flow and
shaft vibration of the divergent tapered annular seal was performed. In particu-
lar, the modeling of the clearance flow of the divergent tapered annular seal was
investigated by detailed comparison with CFD analysis of the pre-swirl ratio and
loss coefficient at the inlet. Two-way coupled analysis of the clearance flow and
shaft vibration of the divergent tapered annular seal incorporating this model was
conducted to determine the OSI. The results were compared with experimental
results and discussed.

Keywords: FSI analysis · Divergent tapered seal · Shaft vibration · Clearance

flow

1 Introduction
Rotordynamic (RD) fluid force generated at the seals is one of the causes contributing
to shaft vibration in turbomachinery [1]. RD fluid force is generated by the interaction
between shaft vibration and fluid and has a significant influence on the stability of
the system, so shaft vibration analysis considering the influence of RD fluid force is
necessary at the design stage.
There are two types of shaft vibration analyses which consider the influence of RD
fluid force: the method using linear RD coefficients and Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI)

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 409–418, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_28
410 S. Kimura et al.

analysis. Bulk-Flow analysis [2] and CFD analysis [3] are two methods for obtaining
linear RD coefficients. In these methods, the RD coefficient is obtained by linearising the
RD fluid force around the centre of the seal or static eccentricity. However, the prediction
of linear RD coefficients is based on the assumption that the whirling amplitude is small
and cannot consider the non-linearity of the RD fluid force. On the other hand, FSI
analysis is a method of shaft vibration analysis that can be applied when the whirling
amplitude is large and the non-linearity of the RD fluid force is pronounced. Miyake et al.
[4] and Kunori et al. [5] used this method to determine the Onset Speed of Instability
(OSI) of a vertical shaft system supported by a plain annular seal and compared the OSI
with experimental results. The frequency responses obtained from the experiments are
shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Comparison of frequency responses obtained from experiments [4, 5]

Comparing the result of the experiment conducted by Miyake et al. [4] with one
conducted by Kunori et al. [5], the OSI dropped from 3357 rpm to 2828 rpm as shown in
Fig. 1, a difference of 529 rpm, even though the same experimental apparatus was used.
This is thought to be due to the stator being worn as the experiment was repeated, as the
rotor contacted the stator after the rotational speed exceeded the OSI in the experiment.
The radial clearance was 200 µm when the seal was made, but as the experiment was
repeated, the radial clearance increased due to wear, and it was found that the seal went
from a plain annular seal to a divergent tapered annular seal. The measurement positions
and the clearance are shown in Fig. 2.
Since it has been shown that the direct damping and direct stiffness coefficients
among the RD coefficients are reduced in divergent tapered annular seal [6], resulting
in reduced stability, the FSI analysis of a vertical shaft supported by a divergent tapered
annular seal is carried out by expanding the conventional FSI analysis for a plain annular
seal [4, 5]. The change in stator geometry due to the taper causes change in the flow
at the seal inlet and outlet compared to the plain annular seal case, and the boundary
conditions such as pre-swirl ratio and loss coefficients are considered to change. These
coefficients have a significant influence on the dynamic characteristics of the seal and
 Modeling of the Divergently Worn Annular Seal 411

Fig. 2. Measurement position and seal clearance

need to be estimated accurately. The pre-swirl ratio and loss coefficient at the seal inlet
are obtained by CFD analysis and applied as boundary conditions in the clearance flow
analysis of the FSI analysis to accurately model the divergent tapered annular seal. The
results are compared with experimental results.

2 CFD analysis for boundary condition parameter estimation

The analysis domain used in the CFD analysis is shown in Fig. 3. In addition to the seal
section, a preliminary region is set at both the seal inlet and outlet sides as the analysis
domain. The length of the preliminary region is 1/4 of the length of the seal section [7].

Fig. 3. Analysis domain of CFD analysis

412 S. Kimura et al.

2.1 Estimation of pre-swirl ratio

The average circumferential velocity inside the seal is calculated from the circumferential
velocity distribution by CFD analysis and the circumferential velocity vin at the seal inlet
is calculated by extrapolation to obtain the pre-swirl ratio α using Eq. (1).
vin
α= (1)
Rω
where R is the rotor radius and ω is the rotor rotational speed. The area-weighted average
is used to calculate the average value of the circumferential velocity. If the total area
of the meshes at the seal inlet is A, the area of each mesh is Ai and the circumferential
flow velocity at each mesh is vi , the circumferential flow velocity vin at the seal inlet is
expressed by Eq. (2) [8].
1
vin = vi Ai (2)
A
i

2.2 Estimation of loss coefficient

From the axial velocity distribution, the average axial velocity inside the seal is deter-
mined and extrapolated to calculate the axial velocity at the seal inlet and outlet. The
pressure at the seal inlet and outlet is calculated by extrapolation from the pressure
distribution inside the seal. These are substituted into Eq. (3) (Bernoulli’s equation) to
calculate the loss coefficients at the inlet and outlet. The area-weighted average is used
to calculate the average axial velocity.
1
Ps = pin + ρ(1 + ξs )win
2
2 (3)
1
Pe = pout + ρ(1 − ξe )wout
2
2

3 FSI analysis for divergent tapered annular seal

3.1 Rotor system model

As an analytical model, the two-disk vertical elastic shaft model used in the literature
[4, 5] is used: two disks are mounted on a shaft, with simple support at the upper end
and seal support at the lower end; the RD fluid force acts on the disk at the seal. The
equation of motion for this rotor system is expressed by Eq. (4).
˙ + Kq = Funb + FRD
M¨ q + Cq (4)

where M is mass matrix, C is damping matrix, K is stiffness matrix, q is displacement

vector, Funb is the unbalance force and FRD is the RD fluid force.
 Modeling of the Divergently Worn Annular Seal 413

3.2 Clearance flow analysis

While the previous research [4, 5] focused on plain annular seal, the present study extends
the scope to divergent tapered annular seal. The clearance h between the rotor and stator
in divergent tapered annular seal is expressed by Eq. (5).

h(θ, z) = Cr − qsx cos θ − qsy sin θ + ϕz (5)

where C r is the seal radial clearance, qsx and qsy are the rotor displacements, ϕ is the taper
angle, θ is the circumferential coordinate and z is the axial coordinate. The governing
equations for the clearance flow analysis are Eqs. (6), (7) and (8).
 
∂h ∂(hv) ∂(hw)
ρ + + =0 (6)
∂t ∂y ∂z
   
∂(hv) ∂ hv2 ∂(hwv) ∂p
ρ + + +h + τry + τsy = 0 (7)
∂t ∂y ∂z ∂y
  
∂(hw) ∂(hvw) ∂ hw2 ∂p
ρ + + +h + τrz + τsz = 0 (8)
∂t ∂y ∂z ∂z

where y (= Rθ ) is the circumferential coordinate, v is the circumferential flow velocity,

w is the axial flow velocity, p is pressure, ρ is density of fluid and τ is sheer stress.
The pressure distribution in the seal is obtained by solving Eq. (9) derived from these
governing equations.
 
∂ ∂(hv) ∂(hw) ∂h ∂ 2 h ∂ 2 (hv2 ) ∂ 2 (hvw)
−(∇h · ∇p + h∇ p) = ρ
2
+ + − 2 + + 2
∂t ∂y ∂z ∂t ∂t ∂y2 ∂y∂z
∂ 2 (hw2 ) ∂ ∂
+ + (τsy + τry ) + (τsz + τrz ) (9)
∂z 2 ∂y ∂z
Equation (3) is used as a boundary condition when solving the Eq. (9). The obtained
pressure is integrated over the rotor surface as shown in Eq. (10) to obtain the RD fluid
force FRD acting on the rotor.
⎧ ¨
⎪
⎪
⎨ FRDx = − p cos θ d θ dz
¨ (10)
⎪
⎪
⎩ FRDy = − p sin θ d θ dz

4 Results and discussion

4.1 Pre-swirl Ratio
Figure 4(a) shows the distribution of circumferential flow velocities in all meshes of the
plain annular seal. The average value of the circumferential velocity is shown as the red
circle in Fig. 4(b). The circumferential flow velocity vin at the seal inlet was obtained by
extrapolation from the average value of the circumferential flow velocity inside the seal.
414 S. Kimura et al.

Fig. 4. Circumferential velocity distribution in all meshes (a) and average circumferential velocity
(red circle) and approximating curve (blue line) (b) (Color figure online)

Fig. 5. Comparison of pre-swirl ratio in plain annular seal, divergent tapered annular seal and
previous studies [4, 5]

The pre-swirl ratio obtained for the plain annular seal and the divergent tapered
annular seal are shown in Fig. 5.
 Modeling of the Divergently Worn Annular Seal 415

In previous studies [4, 5], the pre-swirl ratio for plain annular seal was assumed to
be constant at 0.2 irrespective of the rotational speed, as shown by the black line. The
pre-swirl ratio increases with increasing rotational speed for both plain annular seal and
divergent tapered annular seal. The pre-swirl ratio for the plain annular seal is higher
than that for divergent tapered annular seal. This can be attributed to the fact that the
circumferential shear force is reduced due to the increased average clearance caused by
the taper, which also reduces the circumferential flow velocity.

4.2 Inlet Loss Coefficient

The pressure and axial velocity distributions were calculated for the plain annular seal
and the divergent tapered annular seal, respectively, and the axial velocity and pressure
at the seal inlet and outlet were determined as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

Fig. 6. Axial velocity distribution in all meshes (a) and average axial velocity (red circle) and
approximating line (blue line) (b) (Color figure online)

The inlet loss coefficients obtained for the plain annular seal and the divergent tapered
annular seal are shown in Fig. 8.
In previous studies [4, 5], the inlet loss coefficient for plain annular seal was assumed
to be constant at 0.5 irrespective of the rotational speed, as shown by the black line. For
plain annular seal, the inlet loss coefficient increases with increasing rotational speed.
On the other hand, the value is almost constant for the divergent tapered annular seal,
irrespective of the rotational speed. The inlet loss coefficient for the divergent tapered
annular seal is higher. This is due to the fact that, as shown in Fig. 9, the vortex is
generated over a wider area at the inlet of the divergent tapered annular seal due to the
longer distance between the flow separation and reattachment to the stator wall.
416 S. Kimura et al.

Fig. 7. Pressure distribution in all meshes (red circle) and approximation line of pressure inside
of the seal (blue line) (Color figure online)

Fig. 8. Comparison of inlet loss coefficient in plain annular seal, divergent tapered annular seal
and previous studies [4, 5]

4.3 Onset Speed of Instability

In the case of the divergent tapered annular seal, the pre-swirl ratio and inlet loss coef-
ficient obtained from the CFD analysis were used in the FSI analysis to obtain the OSI.
The RD coefficients were derived using the pre-swirl ratio and inlet loss coefficients
obtained from the CFD analysis and the OSI was obtained by eigenvalue analysis. The
OSI obtained from the FSI and eigenvalue analysis and the OSI obtained from the exper-
iments [4, 5] are shown in Fig. 10, for the same pre-swirl ratio and inlet loss coefficient
as in the previous study and for the pre-swirl ratio and inlet loss coefficient obtained
from the CFD analysis, respectively.
In the experiments, the OSI decreased with the development of the taper, while the
FSI and eigenvalue analyses showed the opposite trend, with the OSI increasing with the
taper. The following can be considered as possible causes: in the CFD analysis, the taper
angle was assumed to be constant from the seal inlet to the seal outlet, but in reality the
 Modeling of the Divergently Worn Annular Seal 417

(a) Plain annular seal (b) Divergent tapered seal

Fig. 9. Contour of axial velocity for comparison of distance to reattachment

Fig. 10. Comparison of OSI obtained from FSI analysis, Eigenvalue analysis and experiment

magnitude of the taper angle varied depending on the axial position, as shown in Fig. 2.
This may disturb the flow in the gap and cause a pressure loss. The pressure loss may
have resulted in a weakening of the fluid film reaction force, which may have affected
the OSI. In the FSI analysis, the pre-swirl ratio and loss coefficient were assumed to be
constant in the circumferential direction, but in reality, the gap between the rotor and
stator at the seal inlet is not constant due to rotor whirl, so these coefficients are not
constant in the circumferential direction.

5 Conclusion

In this paper, the estimation of the pre-swirl and loss coefficients by CFD analysis is first
presented. Furthermore, the FSI analysis for divergent tapered annular seal was extended
from the conventional FSI analysis for the plain annular seal. The OSI obtained from
the FSI analysis was compared with the OSI obtained from the experiments carried out
in previous research and the following conclusions were drawn.
418 S. Kimura et al.

(1) The pre-swirl ratio increases with increasing rotational speed. The pre-swirl ratio
for the plain annular seal is greater than that for the divergent tapered seal.
(2) The inlet loss coefficient of the plain annular seal increases with rotational speed,
whereas the inlet loss coefficient of the divergent tapered annular seal is almost
constant irrespective of the rotational speed.
(3) The FSI analysis of the divergent tapered annular taper seal with boundary condition
parameters estimated by CFD analysis did not give the same OSI trend for the taper
angle as in the experiment. It is necessary to conduct another experiment using a
divergent tapered annular taper seal in the future.

References
1. Black, H.F.: Effects of hydraulic forces in annular pressure seals on the vibrations of centrifugal
pump rotors. J. Mech. Eng. Sci. 11(2), 206–213 (1969)
2. Nelson, C.C.: Analysis for leakage and rotor dynamic coefficients of surface roughened tapered
annular gas seals. ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power 106(4), 927–934 (1984)
3. Ha, T.W., Choe, B.K.: Numerical simulation of rotordynamic coefficients for eccentric annular-
type-plain-pump seal using CFD analysis. KSME J. Mech. Sci. Technol. 26(8), 1043–1048
(2012)
4. Miyake, K., Inoue, T., Watanabe, Y.: Two-way coupling fluid–structure interaction analysis
and tests of shaft vibration and clearance flow across plain annular seal. ASME J. Appl. Mech.
86, 101002 (2019)
5. Kunori, Y., Inoue, T., Miyake, K.: Two-Way coupled shooting analysis of fluid force in the
annular plain seal and vibration of the rotor system. ASME J. Vibr. Acoust. 143, 051006 (2021)
6. Todd Lindsey, W., Childs, D.W.: The effects of converging and diverging axial taper on the
rotordynamic coefficients of liquid annular pressure seals: theory versus experiment. ASME
J. Vibr. Acoust. 122, 126–131 (2000)
7. Yang, J., Andres, L.S.: On the influence of the entrance section on the rotordynamic perfor-
mance of a pump seal with uniform clearance a sharp edge versus a round inlet. ASME J. Eng.
Gas Turbines Power 141, 031029 (2019)
8. ANSYS Fluent 2019 R3 User’s Guide
 Vibration Control of Rotor Bearing Systems
Using Electro and Magneto Rheological
Elastomers

Mnaouar Chouchane(B) and Faiza Sakly

Laboratory of Mechanical Engineering, National Engineering School of Monastir, University of

Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia
[email protected]

Abstract. Electro and magneto rheological elastomers exhibit dynamic stiffness

and damping characteristics varying with the applied fields, loading frequencies
and strain amplitudes. This paper proposes the use of a smart elastomer ring
between the outer shell of the rolling bearing and the bearing housing so that the
damping and the stiffness of the bearing can be modified by varying the electric
or magnetic field intensity. A semi active control strategy is thus used to set the
electric field intensity so that lower steady state vibration responses of the rotor
bearing system are obtained. To illustrate the feasibility of the proposed vibration
control strategy, a dynamic finite element model is derived for a rotor bearing
system by taking into account the gyroscopic effect of the rotor and the internal
damping of the shaft. The smart elastomer ring is dynamically modeled based
on shear stress strain testing data. The effect of the electric field intensity on the
steady state vibration responses due to unbalance excitations is investigated. It has
been shown that a reduction of vibration responses can be achieved by varying the
intensity of the applied electric field for different rotating speed ranges.

Keywords: Vibration control · Rotor bearing system · Electro-rheological

elastomers (ERE) · Magneto-rheological elastomers (MRE) · semi-active control

1 Introduction

Rotating machines subjected to large excitation forces, near resonance conditions or

instability may exhibit undesirable high vibration levels. Different techniques are applied
to reduce and control machine vibrations. One of these techniques consists of enhancing
damping at the bearings using squeeze film dampers or polymeric elastomer supports.
Elastomer supports can be in the form of rings or sectors inserted between the outer
shell of the bearing and the bearing housing or in the form of a pad inserted underneath
the bearing housing. Several studies showed the efficiency of elastomer supports for
vibration reduction when used as a passive mean of vibration control [1–4].

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 419–428, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_29
420 M. Chouchane and F. Sakly

Recent advances in active materials have extended the rheological effect observed in
rheological fluids (RF) to rheological elastomers (RE). Similarly to rheological fluids,
rheological elastomers are composed of polarized particles suspended in a polymeric
matrix. The application of an electric or a magnetic field enhances the alignment of the
particles in the direction of the field and thus increases the material modulus. The rhe-
ological effect varies with the field intensity and is reversible as the material returns to
its initial state when the field effect is removed. The field dependent material properties
provide a gradual and reversible means to modify the stiffness and damping of a rotor
bearing which can be used as a semi active means to control the vibration of rotating
machines. The field may be optimally selected for different operating conditions such
as different rotating speeds, run up and run down and near stability conditions. In the
absence or following the interruption of the field, the elastomer material becomes a pas-
sive means for vibration control and should provide adequate vibration control. Design
considerations and field varying range of the elastomer properties should guide for the
appropriate selection of a magnetic or an electric field and field intensity.
Several publications described the fabrication of rheological elastomer material using
different types of particles, matrix materials, different particle to matrix weight fractions,
and using different fabrication techniques [5, 6]. Samples of the rheological elastomers
are often tested under varying magnetic or electric field for different levels of harmonic
shear strains and different frequencies to determine its storage and loss modulus [5].
Depending on the shape and geometry of the polymeric support, its stiffness and damping
under dynamic load can be estimated and used in models developed for rotor-bearing
analysis [1]. Rotor vibration response for different operating conditions under variable
field intensities can thus be estimated [7–10]. It has been found that vibration reduction
in steady state conditions is possible for some rotating speed ranges.
Continuous progress in the fabrication and testing of the rheological elastomers
provides research opportunities in the design of elastomer supports, modeling of rotor
bearings using elastomer material and for the prediction of rotor-bearing system response
at different operating conditions and under different field intensities. Optimal design and
field settings can thus be determined for different operating conditions.
This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the dynamic modeling of a
rotor bearing including a smart elastomer ring and the finite element modeling of the
complete rotor-bearing systems. Section 3 presents typical steady state responses of a
rotor using electrorheological (ER) and magnetorheological (MR) elastomer rings in the
presence and in the absence of an electric or a magnetic field. The paper is concluded in
Sect. 4.

2 Dynamic Modeling of a Rotor Bearing System with a Smart

Elastomer Ring Insert
2.1 Static and Dynamic Modeling of a Passive Bearing Elastomer Ring Insert
The elastomer ring used for vibration damping is typically inserted between the outer
shell of the rolling element bearing and the bearing housing as shown in Fig. 1. The
elastomer ring has a width b, an inner diameter Di , an outer diameter Do and a thickness
h = D0 −D
2 .
i
 Vibration Control of Rotor Bearing Systems 421

Fig. 1. A rolling bearing with an elastomer damping ring

The model for the dynamic stiffness and damping of the elastomer ring will be
derived based on the following stiffness of a rubber ring subjected to a static radial
deformation [1, 11]:
πb
ks =   (Ec + G) (1)
Do
ln Di

where Ec is the compression modulus and G is the shear modulus. The compression
modulus can be expressed in terms of the elastomer Young’s modulus E and the geometric
properties of the ring as follows [11]:
  2 
4 b
Ec = E 1 + (2)
3 2h

Using an approximation for the logarithmic function in Eq. (1), the static stiffness
of the ring can be expressed as follows:

β
ks = π Dm E (5 + β 2 ) (3)
6

where Dm = Di +D 2
o
is the average diameter of the elastomer ring and β is the width
to thickness ratio β = bh . It should be noted that the term between braces in Eq. (3)
depends only on the nondimensional ratio of geometrical dimensions β.
For a passive elastomer under cyclic loading with angular frequency ω, the complex
modulus of the elastomer E ∗ can be expressed as follows:

E ∗ (ω) = E  (ω) + j E  (ω) = E  (ω)(1 + j η(ω)) (4)

where E  (ω) is the storage modulus which represents the elastic stiffness of the material,
E  (ω) is the loss modulus which represents the viscous damping of the material, and
 (ω)
η(ω) = EE  (ω) is the loss factor. For a viscoelastic material, the storage and loss modulus
depend also on the strain amplitude and temperature in addition to the loading frequency.
Under a dynamics loading of frequency ω, the elastomer ring can be modeled by a
spring of stiffness kd (ω) and a viscous damper with damping coefficient cd (ω) [1]. The
422 M. Chouchane and F. Sakly

dynamic stiffness kd (ω) is found by replacing the modulus E in Eq. (3) by the storage
modulus E  (ω). Thus,

 β
kd (ω) = π Dm E (ω) (5 + β 2 ) (5)
6

Similarly, the dynamic damping under cyclic loading cd (ω) is found by replacing E

in Eq. (3) by E ω(ω) . Thus,

E  (ω) β η(ω)
cd (ω) = π Dm (5 + β 2 ) = kd (ω) (6)
ω 6 ω

2.2 Dynamic Modeling of the Rheological Elastomer Ring

Equations (5) and (6) require the knowledge of the complex modulus
E ∗ (ω) = E  (ω) + j E  (ω). However, testing of the material under a cyclic load and
a controlled magnetic or electric field is often carried out in the shear mode. Thus, the
complex modulus E ∗ (ω) needs to be estimated from the shear modulus G ∗ (ω). For a
viscoelastic material, the complex shear stress τ ∗ is related to the complex shear strain
γ ∗ , for a given temperature and strain amplitude, as follows:

τ ∗ (ω) = (G  (ω) + j G  (ω)) γ ∗ (7)

where G  and G  are respectively the shear storage and the shear loss modulus which
depend on temperature T , the strain amplitude and loading frequency ω. Using a Poisson
ratio ν ≈ 0.5 for the elastomeric material and using the isotropic relationship between
the shear and elasticity modulus, the following approximation is used to estimate the
storage and loss modulus required to estimate the dynamic stiffness and damping in
Eq. (5) and (6):

E ∗ (ω) = E  (ω) + jE  (ω) = 3G ∗ (ω) = 3G  (ω) + j3G  (ω) (8)

Equations (5) and (6) can be used to form a complex stiffness for the elastomer ring
in terms of G ∗ (ω) as follows:

β
kd∗ (ω) = 3π Dm G ∗ (ω) (5 + β 2 ) (9)
6

2.3 Modeling of a Bearing with an ERE/MRE Ring Insert

When the method of finite elements is applied to model a rotor bearing system with a
bearing containing smart elastomer rings, an additional degree of freedom is required
for each bearing which may complicate the modeling. To avoid the addition of a degree
of freedom, Ribeiro et al. [4] suggested the use of a complex equivalent bearing stiffness
which accounts for the dynamic stiffness and damping of the rolling bearing and the
 Vibration Control of Rotor Bearing Systems 423

elastomer ring as well as the shell mass. This complex stiffness can be used for steady
state response to harmonic excitation forces.
For a bearing composed of a rolling bearing with an outer shell of mass mb and of
negligible damping and a radial stiffness k, the equivalent complex dynamic stiffness of
the rolling bearing including the ER/MR elastomer ring can be expressed as follows [4]:

∗ k2
keq =k− (10)
k + kd∗ − mb ω2
The dynamic characteristics of the ER/MR elastomer depend on the angular excita-
tion frequency ω which is assumed to be equal to the rotating speed of the rotor bearing
system [6, 7]. Furthermore, The ER and MR elastomers used for rotor vibration control
are characterized by a linear viscoelastic behavior, and are assumed to be approximately
constant ambient temperature [7].

2.4 Modeling of a Rotor Bearing System Using Electrorheological (ER)

and Mangetorheological (MR) Elastomer Ring Supports
Figure 2 shows a schematic view of a rotor system comprising a flexible shaft supported
by two rolling bearings including ER of MR elastomer rings. A set of unbalanced disks
are mounted on the shaft at selected locations.

Fig. 2. Schematic view of a rotor bearing system using ER/MR elastomer rings

Based on the finite element method, the rotor shaft is discretized into (n-1) finite beam
elements and n nodes with four degrees of freedom per node: two lateral displacements
yi and zi and two rotations θ i and ψi . Figure 3 shows a beam element located between
the node i and the node i + 1 and the degrees of freedom at each node.
The displacement vector (the vector of degrees of freedom) can thus be formed as
follows:
T
{u}= y1 z1 θ1 ψ1 ... yi zi θi ψi ... yn zn θn ψn (11)
The equations of motion of the rotor bearing system at a rotating speed ω can be
written in the following matrix form:
[M ]{ü} + ([C0 ] + [Cb ] + ω[G]){u̇} + ([K0 ] + [Kb ] + ηv ω[Kc ]){u} = {F(t)} (12)
424 M. Chouchane and F. Sakly

Fig. 3. Degrees of freedom for a beam element.

where [M ] is the mass matrix including contributions from the shaft elements and the
disk elements, [G] is the gyroscopic matrix of the shaft and the disks; [Cb ] and [Kb ] are
respectively the damping and the stiffness matrices of the bearings; [Kc ] is the global
circulation matrix; [K0 ] is the stiffness matrix of the shaft and [C0 ] is the damping matrix
of the shaft which is assumed to be proportional to [K0 ]. Thus,

[C0 ] = ηv [K0 ] (13)

where ηv is the viscous damping coefficient.

All the square matrices presented in Eq. (12) are of size 4n × 4n. The vector {F(t)}
of size 4n × 1, represents the unbalance forces vector of the rotor system with nd disks
which is expressed as follows:
nd
{F(t)} = {ek } mdk εk ω2 ej(ωt+αk ) (14)
k=1

where mdk , εk and αk are respectively the mass, the eccentricity and the phase angle of the
disk located at node k. Vector {ek } is a (4n × 1) vector indicating the degree of freedom
where the unbalance forces acting in the y and z directions. For an unbalance force
applied on a disk dk fixed at the node i, vectors {ek } has only two non-zero components
equal, respectively, to 1 and -j for the 4(i - 1) + 1) and (4(i - 1) + 2) components.
Due to the incorporation of the ER/MR elastomer ring in the bearing, the damping
matrix of the bearing [Cb ] is set to zero and the stiffness matrix of the bearing [Kb ] in
Eq. (12) is replaced by the complex stiffness matrix of the bearings using an ER/MR
elastomer ring. The four degrees of freedom associated with a bearing node are set to
the following matrix:
⎡ ⎤
∗ 0 00
keq
⎢ ∗ 0 0⎥
⎢ 0 keq ⎥
Kb∗ = ⎢ ⎥ (15)
⎣ 0 0 0 0⎦
0 0 00
∗ is defined in Eq. 9.
where keq
 Vibration Control of Rotor Bearing Systems 425

3 Effect of the ER/MR Field on the Rotor-Bearing System

Response
The effect of using ER elastomer ring inserted between the outer shell of the ball bearing
and the housing on the steady state response of the rotor under varying electrical field
has been investigated for a simple Jeffcott rotor in references [7, 8] and for a bi-disk rotor
in reference [9] using simulations based on a finite element model for the rotor-bearing
system. The Jeffcott rotor is a rotor with a flexible shaft and a single disk located at
the middle of the shaft whereas a bi-disc rotor contains two symmetrical disks fixed
at two different locations of the shaft. In the research reported in references [7–9], it
has been found that the use of an elastomer ring in passive mode reduces significantly
the vibration amplitude at resonance speeds due to the added damping and, in addition,
it reduces the resonance frequencies due to the added flexibility. The gradual increase
of the electric field gradually increases the resonance frequencies and the resonance
amplitudes because of the increase of the overall stiffness and decrease of damping of
the bearing. However, lower vibration amplitudes are observed away from resonances
under a supplied electric field compared to the case of absence of the field as shown in
Fig. 4 for a bi-disk rotor. This makes the application of an electric field beneficial for
steady operation at rotor speeds away from resonances.

Fig. 4. Vibration amplitude of a rotor system using an ER elastomer for different levels of the
electric field [9]

The use of a rheological elastomer ring bearing insert subjected to a magnetic field
has also been investigated by the authors [10] for the steady state response of a single
disk rotor for an elastomer fabricated with added silicon oil plasticizer as described in
reference [6]. The plasticizer is used to enhance particle alignment during the application
of the magnetic field and thus generate a more pronounced effect of the magnetic field on
the material properties. In the passive mode, the elastomer ring with the added silicone oil
plasticizer provides significant reduction of the resonance amplitude and a reduction of
the resonance frequency due to the higher damping and lower stiffness as shown in Fig. 5.
426 M. Chouchane and F. Sakly

Under a magnetic field the resonance amplitude and the resonance frequency increase
but lower vibration amplitudes are observed at frequencies away from the resonance
frequency. The addition of the oil plasticizer enhances the field effect on the dynamic
characteristics of the elastomer ring and thus on rotor response.
To benefit from lower vibration amplitude for different frequency ranges when the
magnetic field is applied, an On-Off control strategy can be applied as shown in Fig. 6. For
the simulated case in Fig. 5, the elastomer ring is subjected to a magnetic field of intensity
0.6 T to reduce the steady state vibration response for operating speeds lower than
approximately 2800 rpm. For higher rotor speeds, the magnetic field is removed making
the elastomer ring a passive control device. Significant reduction of rotor vibration can
thus be achieved for an extended rotor speed range.

Fig. 5. Steady-state response at the disk position for the uncontrolled and controlled rotor system
[10]

Fig. 6. Effect of the on–off control strategy on the disk vibration amplitude

In this paper, simulation results are presented only for the steady state rotor response
as illustrated in Figs. 4, 5, and 6. Further research should consider the transient response
during speed up and speed down and stability analysis. Experimental investigations are
 Vibration Control of Rotor Bearing Systems 427

also needed to confirm the theoretical findings and to account for the variety of rheo-
logical elastomer fabrication and the design of damping devices. This paper discussed
only the use of a single elastomer ring inserted in the bearing, elastomer pads can also
be used for vibration control at the bearings as well as the use of a combination of rings
and pads and the use of multiple concentric elastomer rings.
Furthermore, future researches should consider the design constraints for using an
elastomer ring subjected to an electrical or a magnetic field. Dividing the ring into
sectors may be a more feasible design in this case. In addition, the use of multi-sectors
can provide more control flexibility as the sectors to be subjected to the electric or a
magnetic field can be selected depending on the desired stiffness and damping to be
provided by the elastomer sectors. The sectors can also be structured into two or more
concentric rings separated by metal shells, thus providing more control of the bearing
dynamic properties.
The use of semi active control strategy relies on the supply of electric power for the
electric field. For the magnetic field, it can be generated by permanent magnets or electro-
magnets. When electric power is used, it is desirable to make the bearing independent
of the external electric supply by using batteries or possibly power harvested from the
rotor or bearing vibrations. The use of autonomous electric power supply to the bearing
can only be used for lower power devices.

4 Conclusion

Finite element modelling has been used to predict the steady state response of rotors
supported by bearings containing an electro or a magneto-rheological elastomer ring
inserted between the outer shell of the ball bearing and the bearing housing. The steady
state response of the rotor is analysed under gradual application of an electric or a
magnetic field. It has been shown that the presence of the elastomer ring in passive
mode reduces significantly the vibration amplitude at the resonance frequencies and
also reduces the resonance frequencies because of the added damping and flexibility to
the bearing. The gradual increase of the electric or magnetic field increases the vibration
amplitude at the resonance frequencies and increases the resonance frequencies but lower
vibration amplitudes occur away from resonance frequencies. In this case, the operation
in the presence of the field is beneficial at operating speeds far from resonances. An
On-Off control strategy has been shown to be worth to be considered as lower vibration
amplitudes can be obtained in the presence or absence of the electric or magnetic field
depending on the rotor operating speed range.

References
1. Liebich, R., Scholz, A, Wieschalla, A.: Rotors supported by elastomer-ring-dampers – exper-
imental and numerical investigations. In: 10th International Conference on Vibrations in
Rotating Machinery, pp. 443–453. Woodhead Publishing, London (2012)
2. Dutt, J.K., Toi, T.: Rotor vibration reduction with polymeric sectors. J. Sound Vib. 262(2003),
769–793 (2003)
428 M. Chouchane and F. Sakly

3. Bavastri, C.A., Ferreira, E.M.D.S., De Espíndola, J.J., Lopes, E.M.D.O.: Modeling of dynamic
rotors with flexible bearings due to the use of viscoelastic materials. J. Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci.
Eng. 30(1), 22–29 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-58782008000100004
4. Ribeiro, E.A., Pereira, J.T., Alberto Bavastri, C.: Passive vibration control in rotor dynamics:
Optimization of composed support using viscoelastic materials. J. Sound Vibr. 351, 43–56
(2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2015.04.007
5. Li, W.H., Zhou, Y., Tian, T.F.: Viscoelastic properties of MR elastomers under harmonic
loading. Rheol. Acta 49(7), 733–740 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-010-0446-9
6. Khairi, M.H.A., et al.: Enhancement of particle alignment using silicone oil plasticizer and
its effects on the field-dependent properties of magnetorheological elastomers. Int. J. Mol.
Sci. 20(17), 4085 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20174085
7. AL Rkabi, M., Moeenfard, H., Rezaeepazhand, J.: Vibration attenuation of rotor-bearing
systems using smart electro-rheological elastomer supports. J. Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng.
41(6), 1–17 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-019-1748-1
8. Sakly, F., Chouchane, M.: Vibration control of a rotor using smart bearings with magneto-
rheological elastomer supports. In: Bouraoui, T., et al. (eds.) CoTuMe 2021. LNME, pp. 376–
382. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86446-0_50
9. Sakly, F., Chouchane, M.: Vibration control of a bi-disk rotor using electro-rheological
elastomers. Smart Mater. Struct. 31(6), 065009 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-665X/
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magneto-rheological elastomer containing silicone oil plasticizer. In: Walha, L., et al. (eds.)
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 A New Type of Inerter Nonlinear Energy Sink
Using Chiral Metamaterials

Hui Li, Hongliang Yao(B) , and Yangjun Wu

Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, People’s Republic of China

[email protected]

Abstract. To reduce size and weight of the inertial mass required in traditional
nonlinear energy sink (NES), a chiral metamaterials inerter nonlinear energy sink
(CINES) for suppressing the torsional vibration of the rotor system is developed in
this paper. The INES is a combination of a NES with piecewise linear stiffness and
an inerter utilizing the compressive-torsional coupling effect of chiral metamate-
rials. The structure of the CINES is introduced, the inerter mechanism is analyzed
and the dynamic model of the CINES-rotor system is built. Vibration attenuation
performance of CINES on the rotor system is evaluated by the transient torsional
vibration and steady-state torsional vibration. By using the inerter, a significant
damping effect also appears.

Keywords: Chiral inerter nonlinear energy sink · piecewise linear stiffness ·

torsional vibration suppression · genetic algorithm

1 Introduction
A common method to dampen harmful vibrations in rotating machinery is to add dynamic
vibration absorbers (DVAs), which are also known as tuned mass dampers (TMDs) [1–
3]. A common feature of DVAs is that they rely on linear resonance, which narrows
their effective frequency band, so they need to be manipulated in real time through
complex structures [4]. In order to obtain better damping effect, widen effective band-
width, and improve robustness of DVA or TMD, the commonly used methods are to
conduct optimization design studies or to use multiple damping devices simultaneously
[5]. Likewise, nonlinear vibration reduction methods are often used to replace tradi-
tional vibration dampers, where nonlinear energy sinks (NESs) have attracted particular
interest from researchers [6].
NESs usually are the small mass attachments with nonlinear parameters [7]. The
small mass can lead a unidirectional energy flow from the primary system towards
the NES that is called targeted energy transfer (TET) or energy pumping [8], in this
process the vibration energy of the main system will be captured, modulated, absorbed or
dissipated. TET and strongly modulated response (SMR) behaviors are the mechanisms
by which NES suppresses transient and steady-state vibrations. When TET or SMR
occurs, the NES can adjust its characteristics according to the main system response.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 429–438, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_30
430 H. Li et al.

Bergeot et al. [9]performed a steady-state response study by using the numerical analysis
about the capacity of a NES to control a helicopter ground resonance.
The inerter can provide inertial parameters much larger than its own mass to reduce
the mass required for the system. The inerter is widely used in vibration absorption in
engineering fields, such as in transportation [10] construction and bridges, etc. Inspired
by the effectiveness of the inerter on TMDs, researchers combined inerter with NES to
provide the large inertial parameters required, reduce the mass needed and enhance the
vibration suppression. Zhang et al. [11]demonstrated the NES-inerter compared to the
traditional NES is more effective in vibration suppression. Ref. [12]designed an inerter
NES which uses an inerter to replace the NES mass and gave a series of effectiveness
and superiority analyses. Javidialesaadi et al. [13] that the use of inerter can be an
effective way to improve the control performance of NES passive structures. NES-
inerter reduces RMS response better than TMDI. Compared with the original spring and
damping parts, the inerter usually requires more complex transmission mechanisms and
cannot be applied to vibration reduction occasions with high size requirements such as
precision instruments and aerospace. Recently, the concept of chirality was introduced
into the design of mechanical metamaterial [14–16]. The combination of compression-
torsion coupling effect of chiral metamaterials and inerter structure has not been applied
[17].

2 Design of CINES

2.1 Chiral Metamaterial Inerter Mechanism

The structure of chiral metamaterial is depicted in Fig. 1(a). Figure 1(b) shows the
simplified theoretical model of the structure. The relation between torsional motion φ
and displacement x is expressed as
2π rnφ
x = (1)
tanθ

Fig. 1. Chiral metamaterial: (a) structure, (b) geometrical relationship.

 A New Type of Inerter Nonlinear Energy Sink 431

The relationships between the θ n and the x n , as well as the θ i and the x n , are expressed
as follows
2π r1 n1
xn = θn
tan θc1
(2)
2π r2 n2
xn = θi
tan θc2
In order to achieve the amplification mechanism, the input and output of the chiral
materials must be restricted to only one direction. As illustrated in Fig. 2, a compliant
mechanism is constructed that includes rotational and translatory restraints. By con-
straining the compliant mechanism, the kinematic condition for the inerter amplification
mechanism is obtained. The upper vibrator plate of CM1 is internally connected with
a moving restraint that prevents the transverse movement of the connected disk. The
spiral connecting rod allows it to rotate only around the z-axis. The lower vibrator plate
is internally connected with a moving restraint that generates translational motion along
the z-axis. The inner ring of the compliant mechanism is fixed.

Fig. 2. Compliant mechanism: (a) rotational restraints, (b) translatory restraints, (c) kinematic
condition.

2.2 Piecewise Linear NES

In Fig. 3(a), the piecewise linear element of the NES consists of one connection beam d 0
and three piecewise linear stiffness beams d i (i = 1, 2, 3) with increasing diameters. And
the piecewise stiffness beams have different angular clearances ei (i = 1, 2, 3) rad with the
NES mass. As the amplitude increases, the piecewise linear stiffness beam contacts the
NES mass successively, the stiffness increases piecewise linearly, and elastic recovery
force presents piecewise nonlinear characteristics. As shown in Fig. 3(b), the cubic
stiffness can be fitted after appropriate parameters are selected to effectively suppress
the vibration of the rotor system.

2.3 Structure of CINES

In Fig. 4, the CINES is designed which consists of a piecewise linear NES part and a
chiral metamaterial-inerter part. The NES part includes a NES mass, a bearing, elastic
beams, and a support. The NES mass is connected to the support through the connecting
432 H. Li et al.

Fig. 3. Schematic of piecewise linear stiffness: (a) angular clearances, (b) stiffness fitting.

beam. The inerter part consists of a NES mass, an inerter mass, two chiral metamaterials
and the compliant joints. As the present study mainly focuses on the central substructure
of the CINES, the compliant joints are neglected in the subsequent analysis.

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of CINES.

3 Dynamic Model of the Rotor-CINES System

3.1 Model Analysis

The rotor system is presented in Fig. 5. The torsional stiffnesses of the couplings are kc1
and kc2 , respectively. The motor at the left end provides rotational speed.
NES’s support is fixed near the disk so that θd can be replaced by the torsional motion
angle of the NES’s support. The piecewise linear torque of the NES is
⎧
⎪
⎪ kn1 |θ | (e0 < |θ | ≤ e1 )
⎨
kn1 e1 + kn2 (|θ | − e1 ) (e1 < |θ | ≤ e2 )
Tn (θ ) = (3)
⎪
⎪ k e + kn2 (e2 − e1 ) + kn3 (|θ | − e2 ) (e2 < |θ | ≤ e3 )
⎩ n1 1
kn1 e1 + kn2 (e2 − e1 ) + kn3 (e3 − e2 ) + kn4 (|θ | − e3 ) (|θ | > e3 )
 A New Type of Inerter Nonlinear Energy Sink 433

Fig. 5. Rotor system model.

where, θ =θd − θn , kni is the equivalent torsional stiffness of the ith piecewise linear
beam.
Now, the piecewise linear torsional stiffness of the NES can be obtained as
⎧
⎪
⎪ kn1 (e0 < |θ | ≤ e1 )
⎨
kn1 + kn2 (e1 < |θ | ≤ e2 )
kn = (4)
⎪
⎪ k + kn2 + kn3 (e2 < |θ | ≤ e3 )
⎩ n1
kn1 + kn2 + kn3 + kn4 (|θ | > e3 )

3.2 Dynamic Model Establishment

The designed CINES structure is applied to the rotor system for torsional vibration
suppression. As illustrated in Fig. 6, the dynamic model of the rotor-CINES system is
established. According to Newton’s second law, the governing equations of the rotor-
CINES system are
  
Jd θ̈d + cd θ̇d + kd θd +cn θ̇d −θ̇n + Tn (θ ) = T
(5)
(Jn + Ji b)θ̈n − cn θ̇d − θ̇n − Tn (θ ) = 0

Fig. 6. Dynamic models of the rotor-CINES system.

434 H. Li et al.

4 Simulations and Discussions

4.1 Parameters Definitions

The rotor system under consideration consists of a disk with a diameter and thickness
of 120 mm and 40 mm, respectively, and a shaft with a diameter of 10 mm. The shaft
is divided into three segments by couplings with lengths of 100 mm, 300 mm, and
250 mm, respectively. The stiffness parameters of the couplings are listed in Table 1,
and the material used in the rotor system is steel. The inertial mass rotational inertia is
consistent with the NES mass. The material of the elastic beams is steel. The material
of the NES mass and the inerter mass is polylactic acid (PLA). The parameters of the
CINES will be determined in Sects. 4.2 and 4.3.

Table 1. Couplings parameters.

Coupling i 1 2
k ci (N.m/rad) 350 400

4.2 Transient Torsional Vibration

Under the initial velocity, θd with the locked CINES displays damped vibration, with a
slight decrease in amplitude due to the presence of damping, as well as a slight decrease
in initial energy, as shown in Fig. 7(a). In Fig. 7(b), the addition of active CINES reduced
the time needed for the rotor system’s amplitude to decay to 10% of initial value from
3 s to 0.95 s, demonstrating the system’s capacity to quickly dissipate the initial input
energy. Figure 8 are the corresponding WT spectra of the rotor-CINES system.

Fig. 7. Time domain response: (a) with locked CINES, (b) with active CINES.
 A New Type of Inerter Nonlinear Energy Sink 435

Fig. 8. WT spectra: (a) with locked CINES, (b) with active CINES.

4.3 Steady-State Torsional Vibration

As shown in Fig. 9. The resonance frequency of 1st-order torsional vibration critical

speed of the rotor system with the locked INES is about 16.35 Hz, and the peak amplitudes
of θd are about 2.28°. After adding the active CINES, θd in the resonance area are greatly
suppressed where the maximum θd is about 0.27°. In the resonance range, the responses
of θd − θn (|θ |) and θn indicates that CINES only has the 1st linear torsional stiffness
kn1 and 2nd linear torsional stiffness (kn1 + kn2 ) participate in vibration reduction.

Fig. 9. Frequency domain responses of rotor-CINES system: (a) θd , (b) θn , (c) θd − θn .

5 Experimental Validation and Discussion

5.1 Experimental Setup

An experimental apparatus is constructed as illustrated in Fig. 10 in order to confirm

the capacity of the suggested CINES to suppress the torsional vibration of the rotor
system. This experiment involves a speed tracking measurement and a constant speed
measurement. For the first one, the motor speed is increased from 60 rpm to 1500 rpm.
For the latter one, the torsional vibration of 16.5 Hz (990 rpm) is recorded that is in the
first-order torsional critical speed resonance band.
In speed tracking, Fig. 11 are the instantaneous angular displacement curves of θd
with the locked CINES, when attaching the locked CINES, θd reaches the resonance
frequency of the 1st-order torsional vibration critical speed with the approximately 2.2°
436 H. Li et al.

Fig. 10. Test platform and structure of CINES.

Fig. 11. Instantaneous angular displacement curves of θ d at speed tracking.

resonance peak. CINES smoothly suppresses θd and produces obvious beating in which
the maximum amplitude is about 0.78°.
Figure 12 are the 3D spectrograms of θ d in the process of speed tracking. In Fig. 12(a),
there is a narrow bright band starts from about 16 Hz on the frequency axis which denotes
the resonance frequency of the 1st-order torsional vibration critical speed. After adding
CINES, there is no obvious vertical bright band at 16 Hz, which indicates the resonance
peak is suppressed and the resonance region is broadened. In Fig. 12(b), the responses
of Order 1 can be suppressed by the INES.
 A New Type of Inerter Nonlinear Energy Sink 437

Fig. 12. Color maps of θ d at speed tracking. (a) with locked CINES, (b) with active CINES (Color
figure online).

6 Conclusions
In this paper, a CINES is proposed for suppressing the torsional vibration of the rotor
system. The inerter uses CTC effect of the chiral metamaterial to amplify the rotary
inertia of the NES in an adjustable way. Through the analyses of this paper, the following
conclusions can be obtained.
(1) The CINES developed which implements the inerter mechanism using the principle
of CTC effect of the chiral metamaterial can well suppress torsional vibrations of
rotor systems, both transient and steady-state.
(2) When inhibiting the transient torsional vibration of the rotor system, CINES reduced
the time needed for the rotor system’s amplitude to decay to 10% of initial value
from 3 s to 0.95°. The steady-state vibration elimination of CINES is 88.5% in
simulation and is 61.3% in test. This also illustrates that suppression abilities of
torsional vibrations.
(3) By introducing the inerter into the NES, it can be found that only a small amount of
inertial mass can obtain a high level of vibration damping for the torsional vibration
of the rotor system. In other words, this feature of the NES with inerter may make
it an attractive potential alternative to the traditional NES.

Acknowledgments. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the Foundation of Equip-
ment Pre-research Area (Grant No. 50910050302) and the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (Grant No. 52075084) for the financial support for this study.

Conflict of Interests. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the
publication of this paper.

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2019.107700
 Vibration Characteristic Analysis
and Optimization of the Propulsion Shaft
in the Underwater Vehicle

Yuchen An1,2 , Jing Liu1,2(B) , Chiye Yang1,2 , and Guang Pan1,2

1 School of Marine Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University,
Xi’an 710072, People’s Republic of China
[email protected], [email protected]
2 Laboratory for Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, Northwestern Polytechnical University,

Xi’an 710072, People’s Republic of China

Abstract. The propulsion shaft is the main part of the underwater vehicle propul-
sion system, the vibration of the propulsion shaft has the great influence on the
noise, stealth and performance of the underwater vehicle. It is necessary to analyze
and optimize the vibration characteristic of the propulsion shaft in the underwater
vehicle. This issue establishes the finite element model of the propulsion shaft
system include the motor, shaft and the support. The vibration mode of the shaft
is analyzed. To reduce the vibration, an optimization method to the propulsion
shaft system is presented by using the rubber isolations. The parameters of the
rubber isolations are selected in this paper. The harmonic response analysis of the
propulsion shaft with the rubber isolations is conducted, and the characteristic fre-
quencies of the rolling bearings of the propulsion shaft system are also considered.
By using the rubber isolation on the shaft system, the vibration amplitudes reduced
in the range of 75.4% to 89.7% at the different parts. This work can provide some
guidance to the design of the propulsion shaft of the underwater vehicle.

Keywords: Vibration characteristic · propulsion shaft · rubber isolation ·

harmonic response analysis

1 Introduction
The propulsion shaft system is important to the power transmission of the underwater
vehicle (UV). It has significant effects on the noise, vibration and stealth performance
of the UV. It is necessary to conduct a study on the vibration characteristics and the
optimization method of the propulsion shaft system.
Many reports have been studied the vibrations and isolation methods for the propul-
sion shaft systems in the ships and underwater vehicles. Zou et al. [1, 2] conducted
series studies on the coupled longitudinal-transverse vibration of the marine propulsion
shaft system. Zhang et al. [3] studied the influence of the support structures on the ver-
tical and longitudinal forces of the propeller, as well as the bending vibration of the
propulsion shafting. Kim et al. [4] studied the whirling vibration and shaft alignment

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 439–451, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_31
440 Y. An et al.

of the propulsion shaft system with single and double stern bearings. The effects of the
hull deformation on the shaft system were analyzed. Hu et al. [5] changed the vibration
transmission path by installing a resonance charger in the thrust bearing of a marine
propulsion shafting, the isolation performance was improved by change the resonance
charger parameters. Xu et al. [6] established a vibration analysis model of a ship propul-
sion shaft system. The model considered the influence of the thrust force. The vibration
energy transmission behavior was studied by using the power flow analysis. Liu et al. [7]
presented an optimization algorithm for the rubber isolators of the propulsion system.
Jee et al. [8] presented a viscous-spring damper to control the torsional vibration of the
propulsion shaft system. The optimum stiffness and damping coefficients of the damper
was obtained. Zhang et al. [9] studied the effect of thrust bearing location on vibration
characteristics by using the transfer matrix method. Zhang et al. [10] conducted the
numerical and finite elements analysis on vibration characteristic of the propulsion shaft
system. The hull deformation excitations was considered. Zambon et al. [11] conducted
the numerical and experiment study for the marine shaftline vibrations. The numerical
model considered the diesel engine. Liu et al. [12] presented a semi-active dynamic
vibration absorber for the propulsion shafting vibration. Huang et al. [13] conducted the
critical speed analysis, harmonic analysis and transient analysis of the coupled transverse
and longitudinal vibration of the propulsion shaft system by using the numerical simu-
lations. The results were verified by using the finite element analysis and experiments.
Above works focused on the propulsion shaft systems in ships. However, the propulsion
shaft systems of the UVs are different from that of the marines. The propulsion shaft
systems of the UVs have the smaller sizes, higher speeds, lighter loads and different sup-
port structures. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study for the propulsion shafting
in the underwater vehicles.
This paper conducts a vibration analysis about the propulsion shaft system of the
UVs by using the finite element model. The model considers the installation lugs, motor,
propulsion shaft, bearings, bearing support and a simplified propeller. The vibration
modal analysis of the propulsion shaft is studied. To reduce the vibration, the rubber
isolators are used in the paper. The sizes and material hardness of the rubber isolators
are optimized through the harmonic analysis. Compared with the dynamic responses of
the propulsion shaft system without the isolations, the vibrations are effectively reduced
by using the presented method.

2 Model Description
2.1 Scientific Problem
The schematic of the power and propulsion section of the UV is given in Fig. 1. The main
vibration source is the propulsion shaft system. The radiated noise of the UV is mainly
generated by the vibrations transmitted from the propulsion shaft system to the shell
structure. The structures of the propulsion shaft, supports, and electric motor are fixed.
The vibrations transmitted to the shell can only be reduced through the transmission
path by using the rubber isolators. The vibration transmission path is given in Fig. 1.
The propeller vibrations transmitted to the shell through the thrust bearing, propulsion
shaft- support, and propulsion shaft- motor-isolators. The propulsion shaft vibrations
 Vibration Characteristic Analysis and Optimization of the Propulsion 441

Propeller
Shell
Motor Coupling
isolator Thrust bearing

Motor Propulsion shaft

Support

Shaft vibration transmission path

Motor vibration transmission path
Propeller vibration transmission path
Fig. 1. Schematic of the structure and vibration transmission path of the power and propulsion
section in an UV.

transmitted to the shell through the support, thrust bearing and motor-isolators. The
motor vibrations transmitted to the shell through the motor isolators, shaft-support and
shaft thrust bearing. Due to the limitation of the shafting alignment, the rubber isolators
are installed between the motor and shell.
However, the frequency responses of the propulsion shaft system will be changed
by the isolators. It is necessary to conduct the vibration characteristic analysis for the
propulsion shaft system.

2.2 Analyze Model of the Propulsion Shaft System

The geometry of the propulsion shaft system is shown in Fig. 2(a). The motor is mounted
at the shell through the installation lugs. The rubber isolators are installed between the
lugs and the motor. The motor shaft is connected with the propulsion shaft through
the coupling, which can be modelled as a rigid connection in the model. The propeller
is simplified as an equivalent disk. The propeller is fixed at the end of the propulsion
shaft. The propulsion shaft is supported by the ball bearings and support structure. The
schematic of the studied system is given in Fig. 2(b), the dynamic model of the propulsion
shaft system is

(Ms + Mm + Mp )q̈ + (Cs + Ciso + Cb )q̇ + (Ks + Kiso )q = Fb + F (1)

where, Ms , Mm and Mp are the mass matrix of the flexible shaft, motor and propeller,
Cs , Ciso and Cb are the damping matrix of the shaft, rubber isolator and bearings. Ks
and Kiso are the stiffness matrix of the shaft and isolators. q = [x, y, z, θ x , θ y , θ z ]’ is the
generalized displacement vector of the system, q̇ and q̈ are the velocity and acceleration
vector of the system, which can be expressed as the first and second derivatives of q.
Directions x, y and z indicates the axial, vertical and horizontal directions. The detail
442 Y. An et al.

formulations of Eq. (1) can be derived according to the Ref. [14, 15], F is the excitation
force vector, Fb is the bearing forces, which can be given by
⎧
⎪
⎪ N
⎪
⎪ F = K βi δin cos θi
⎪
⎨ bx T
i=1
(2)
⎪
⎪ N
⎪
⎪
⎩ Fby = KT
⎪ βi δin sin θi
i=1

where, KT is the contact stiffness of between the roller and raceway, which can be
calculated through the Hertizan contact theory. N is the roller number of the bearing.
δ i is the total contact deformation between the inner raceway and outer raceway, which
can be expressed by the displacement of the shaft at the corresponding location. Load-
deformation exponent n = 1.5 for the ball bearing. β i is the exponent that determines
whether the contact deformation occurs of the i-th ball:

0 δi < 0
βi = (3)
1 δi < 0

(a)
Motor
Installation lug
Shaft Propeller

Shell Support and bearing

(b) Deformed shaft Bearing

Motor Propeller

Isolator Undeformed shaft Support

Fig. 2. A (a) geometry model, (b) schematic of the propulsion shaft system.
 Vibration Characteristic Analysis and Optimization of the Propulsion 443

(a)

(b)
Fixed

Rotate

Fixed
Fig. 3. A (a) Finite element model and (b) boundry conditions of the propulsion shaft system.

To obtain the vibration characteristic of the propulsion shaft system numerically, the
Finite Element Model is established as shown in Fig. 3. The max element size is 2 mm,
the numbers of the elements and nodes are 6083514 and 9087782, respectively.

2.3 Rubber Isolator Design

To reduce the vibration from the propulsion shaft system, the rubber isolators are
designed, which mounted between the installation lungs and the motor. The installa-
tion and the structure of the vibration isolators is shown in Fig. 4. The thickness of the
isolator T = 7 mm, the length L = 27 mm; The thickness of the installation lug T i =
15 mm; The diameter of the screw D = 10 mm; The width and thickness of the isolator
end lug T r = 5 mm, W r = 5 mm; The Shore hardness of the isolator material HS = 80;
The density of the isolator material ρ = 1100 kg/m3 ; The Poisson’s ratio of the isolator
material υ = 0.49. The elastic modulus E of the isolator material can be calculated
through the hardness, which is given by

15.75 + 2.15HS
E= (4)
100 − HS
444 Y. An et al.

(a) (b) L
Installation lug
Ti
Motor lug

T
D
Bolt
Isolator Isolator Wr

Tr

Fig. 4. The design of the rubber vibration isolator. (a) the installation of the isolator. (b) the
structrue of the isolator.

3 Vibration Characteristic Analysis

To obtain the characteristic frequencies of the parts in the shaft system, the modal
analysis is conducted by using the FEA and theoretical method. The vibration responses
in frequency domain at different locations of the propulsion shaft system are obtained
by using the harmonic analysis. The responses of the system with the different sizes’
isolators are compared. Then, the optimized parameters of the isolator are obtained.

3.1 Characteristic Frequencies Analysis

The characteristic frequencies and vibration mode shapes of the shaft are calculated by
using the FEA. The first five natural frequencies of the shaft are given in Table 1. The
corresponding mode shaped are given in Fig. 5.

Table 1. The characteristic frequencies of the propulsion shaft

Order Frequency (Hz) Mode shape

1 183 1st bending
2 505 2nd bending
3 982 3rd bending
4 1606 4th bending
5 2367 5th bending

The characteristic frequencies of the bearing are theoretically calculated through the
rolling bearing kinematics, which are given by

1 d 1 d
fc = fi (1 − cos α) + fo (1 + cos α) (5)
2 D 2 D
1 d
fri = (fo − fi )(1 + cos α) (6)
2 D
 Vibration Characteristic Analysis and Optimization of the Propulsion 445

Fig. 5. Vibration modal of the propulsion shaft. (a) First order, (b) second order, (c) third order,
(d) fourth order and (e) fifth order.

Z d
fbpfi = (fo − fi )(1 + cos α) (7)
2 D
Z d
fbpoi = (fo − fi )(1 − cos α) (8)
2 D
D d
fbsf = (fo − fi )(1 − ( cos α)2 ) (9)
2d D
where f c is the cage characteristic frequency; f ri is the relative frequency between the
cage and inner race; f bpfi and f bpfo are the ball passing frequency about the inner and
outer ring; f bsf is the ball spin frequency; f i and f o are the rotating frequencies of the
bearing inner and outer ring; d is the ball diameter; D is the bearing pitch diameter; α is
contact angle; Z is the ball number.
The speed of the propulsion shaft system is 1553 rpm. The characteristic frequencies
of the propulsion shaft system are given in Table 2. The frequency range of the harmonic
analysis is 0–500 Hz. The range contains the characteristic frequencies and multiples of
the motor, shaft and bearings.
446 Y. An et al.

Table 2. The characteristic frequencies of the propulsion shaft system

Part Frequency (Hz)

Motor 25.88
Shaft 183
bearing fc 15.52
f ri 15.52
f bpfi 186.26
f bpfo 124.34
f bsf 57.17

3.2 Harmonic Responses of the Propulsion Shaft System

The vibration responses in frequency domain of the propulsion shaft system are obtained
by using the harmonic analysis. The harmonic response at the support structure, shaft,
installation lug and motor are given in Fig. 6. The isolators have a significant effective on
vibration reduction. When the excitation frequency in the region of 0–350 Hz, the vibra-
tion responses amplitudes are reduced by the isolators. The corresponding frequencies
are also decrease. However, when the excitation frequency in the region of 350–500 Hz,
the response amplitudes increases.

3.3 Vibration Isolation Analysis

To reach the best vibration reduction effective, harmonic response analysis are conducted
for the propulsion shaft system with different isolators. The parameters of the isolators
are thickness T, length L and hardness HS. The first two peak amplitudes with T, L
and HS at support structure, shaft, installation lug and motor are given in Figs. 7, 8 and
9. The vibrations of the system decreased with the thickness T. The best value of the
thickness T is 7 mm. The vibrations of the system vary with the length L. When L =
15 mm, the first peak values reach to the minimum at the support structure, installation
lug and motor, the second peak values reach to the minimum at the support structure
and shaft. Which will minimize the vibrations of the system. The vibrations decrease
with the hardness HS. The best value of HS is 80. Then, the optimized parameters of the
isolators are obtained.
 Vibration Characteristic Analysis and Optimization of the Propulsion 447

Fig. 6. The harmonic responses of the propulsion system. (a) support. (b) shaft. (c) installation
lug. (d) motor.
448 Y. An et al.

Fig. 7. The effects of the T on the first two peaks at (a) support. (b) shaft. (c) installation lug. (d)
motor.

Fig. 8. The effects of the L on the first two peaks at (a) support. (b) shaft. (c) installation lug. (d)
motor.
 Vibration Characteristic Analysis and Optimization of the Propulsion 449

Fig. 9. The effects of the HS on the first two peaks at (a) support. (b) shaft. (c) installation lug.
(d) motor.

The peak values and corresponding frequencies with the optimized isolators are given
in Table 3. The vibration reduction effect is in the region of 75.4% to 89.7% at different
parts of the propulsion shaft. The vibrations at the support structure is reduced by 89.7%.
The vibrations of the shaft and motor are reduced by 88.4% and 82.9%, respectively.
The vibrations of the installation lug is reduced by 75.4%.

Table 3. Harmonic responses peak values and frequencies

Position Without isolators With isolators Effect (%)

Peak (Hz) Frequency (m/s2 ) Peak (Hz) Frequency (m/s2 )
Support 1272 298 131.1 286 89.7
Shaft 20077 298 2329 286 88.4
Installation lug 357.7 298 87.86 286 75.4
Motor 1667.7 298 410.7 286 82.9
450 Y. An et al.

4 Conclusions
This study conducted a vibration characteristic analysis for a propulsion shaft system
in an UUV. The vibration modes and characteristic frequencies of the propulsion shaft
system was obtained by using the FEA and theoretical method. The rubber isolators
are used to reduce the vibrations. The vibration responses in frequency domain of the
system with the isolators are obtained by using the harmonic response analysis. Then,
the geometric parameters and hardness of the isolators are optimized. The vibration
peak values of the system are reduced by 75.4% to 89.7% with the optimized isolators.
The presented method is effective on the vibration reduction of the propulsion system.
However, the coupling effects of the isolators and the propulsion shaft system are not
considered in the paper, which will be researched in the future works.

Funding. Support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Contract
No. 52175120 and 51975068; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(No. 3102020HHZY030001).

Conflict of Interest. The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest.

References
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propulsion shafting under primary and internal resonances. J. Sound Vib. 372, 299–316 (2016)
2. Zou, D., Rao, Z., Ta, N.: Coupled longitudinal-transverse dynamics of a marine propulsion
shafting under superharmonic resonances. J. Sound Vib. 346, 248–264 (2015)
3. Zhang, Y., Xu, W., Li, Z., et al.: Dynamic characteristics analysis of marine propulsion shafting
using multi-DOF vibration coupling model. Shock and Vibration, 2019 (2019)
4. Kim, Y.-G., Kim, U.-K.: Design and analysis of the propulsion shafting system in a ship with
single stern tube bearing. J. Mar. Sci. Technol. 25(2), 536–548 (2019)
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propulsion shafting in longitudinal vibration. Chin. J. Ship Res. 14(1) (2019)
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(ICISCE). IEEE, pp. 1171–1176 (2017)
8. Jee, J., Kim, C., Kim, Y.: Design improvement of a viscous-spring damper for controlling
torsional vibration in a propulsion shafting system with an engine acceleration problem. J.
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case of a polar-class vessel. Ocean Eng. 245, 110330 (2022)
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coupled transverse and longitudinal vibration of a marine propulsion shaft. J. Mech. Sci.
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of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia, 66 (2014)
 Computation of Components System Stiffness
for Variable Stator Vane Mechanism

Jing Chang and Zhong Luo(B)

Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, Liaoning, China

[email protected]

Abstract. The linkage ring and rocker arm in the variable stator vane (VSV)
mechanism have been proven to deform during movement, seriously affecting the
motion accuracy of the mechanism. The most concerned and urgent issue is to
discover the influence of the stiffness and deformation of the components on the
output accuracy of the mechanism. For a given designed structure, the stiffness
varies with the configuration of the mechanism. In this paper, the kinematics model
of the system composed of components on the kinematic chain formed from the
linkage ring to the blades is discussed, and then the stiffness model of the system
is obtained. The stiffness obtained by theoretical calculation is compared with
that obtained by the Finite Element Analysis model, and the correctness of the
formulation is verified. Finally, a study is conducted on whether gravity is needed
to be considered, and the results demonstrate its necessity for analysis of stiffness
and motion accuracy.

Keywords: VSV mechanism · Kinematics analysis · Stiffness model · Deviation

1 Introduction

The VSV mechanism adjusts the angle of the stator blades to ensure that the aerodynamic
performance of the engine meets the design conditions. In general, the blades are dis-
tributed throughout the entire circumference. In order to make the entire circumference
of the blades adjustable at the same time, the designers adopted a structure of a linkage
ring and a complete circle of rocker arms, so that the angle of the blades connected to
each rocker arm can be adjusted. At this time, the focus of the adjusting mechanism
design shifted to designing a mechanism that can drive the linkage ring. As a result,
there were many types of adjusting mechanisms. They are all mechanically complex,
nonlinear, and time-varying dynamic systems.
Although existing differences in overall structure, they all have the same combination
structure of linkage ring and rocker arms. Figure 1 is a commonly used type of adjustment
mechanism [1], it is considered that the components will not deform, and the degrees
of freedom of all components is uniquely determined based on the motion relationship
at the time of design. But the fact often differs from the initial design thought. During
flight or testing, the linkage ring and rocker arm often deform, and the mechanism’s
motion accuracy cannot achieve the expected effect, and even the mechanism’s blocking

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 452–463, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_32
 Computation of Components System Stiffness for Variable Stator Vane Mechanism 453

force increases. Given the existence of this phenomenon, some scholars are attempting to
identify the cause. Zhang et al. [2] built a multi-level joint tuning rigid-flexible coupling
dynamic model that can consider these above factors and analyzed the attribution of
motion accuracy and retardation force from the perspectives of simulation and bench
tests. In addition, these studies [3, 4] took into account the flexibility and deformation
of components. Some of them used self-developed programs to study the rigid-flexible
coupling of multi-level adjusting mechanisms [3], while others conducted an analysis of
the impact of aerodynamic forces on the stiffness and strength of the IGV mechanism
[4].

Rocker Spherical
Pin hinge Linkage Rod Linkage
Blade arm bar
ring

Aero-engine case
Fig. 1. A type of design for variable stator vane system construction.

Most of the above studies have been conducted from the perspective of dynamic
simulation, and there is a lack of in-depth theoretical explanation for the phenomenon.
The following research [5, 6] is based on full rigid body dynamics modeling of the
single-stage adjustable mechanism. Although these studies do not consider component
flexibility, they have a certain significance for the theoretical analysis of rigid flexible
coupling modeling of mechanisms.
When conducting stiffness analysis on the mechanisms in the field of robotics [7–11],
researchers used various stiffness evaluation methods, such as the trace of the stiffness
matrix [12], eigenvalues of stiffness matrix [13], determinant of stiffness matrix [14], and
evaluating the position error of the mechanism under external forces [15]. The method
used in this article is to evaluate the stiffness by analyzing the rotational deviation of the
components system in contact under payload.
Due to the fact that component flexibility has become a factor that cannot be ignored
in regulating the motion accuracy of mechanisms, there is a lack of a deeper theoreti-
cal explanation of the impact of flexibility (stiffness) on accuracy in current research.
Therefore, this paper first extracts the components that need to be carefully considered
454 J. Chang and Z. Luo

for deformation based on the actual situation to form a components system and then
conducts stiffness research on the components system. The stiffness model of the com-
ponents system is validated by the finite element method. In addition, it is also analyzed
whether the influence of gravity was considered in the stiffness analysis.

2 Kinematic and Stiffness Models

2.1 Research Object Extraction
Figure 2 shows the extraction process from the original single-stage VSV mechanism
to the three-dimensional model of the linkage ring-blade components system, and then
to the kinematic model of the components system. This paper is exactly based on the
stiffness research of the components system kinematics model in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of research object extraction.

2.2 Kinematic Model

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the motion chain of the linkage ring-blade components
system, which is different from the configuration in Fig. 2 (the blades are in the initial
position). This diagram represents the other state within the range of motion of the
mechanism except for the initial position. The thick yellow line, thick purple line, and
thick black line represent the linkage ring, rocker arm, and aero-engine case, respectively.
The origin of the coordinate system O-XYZ of the components system is located at
the intersection point between the centroid of the linkage ring and the engine axis when
 Computation of Components System Stiffness for Variable Stator Vane Mechanism 455

the component is in its initial position. Assume that the assembly contains a total of i
blades. For any combination of rocker arms and blades, the point on the linkage ring
where the rocker arms are hinged is marked as point C i , the other end of the rocker arm
where the blades are hinged is marked as point Bi, and the intersection point with the
engine on the rotating axis of the blades is point A. The coordinate system {B} is the
body coordinate system of the rocker arm, with the origin located at the hinge point B.
The positive direction of the X-axis points towards the linkage ring along the symmetric
axis of the rocker arm, the positive direction of the Y-axis is the direction of the blade’s
rotation axis (pointing from point A to the origin of the body coordinate system), and
the positive direction of the Z-axis is determined according to the right-hand rule.

l Ci
Mi
YBi XB
Bi RR
ZB Y

A
X
O
Z

Fig. 3. Kinematic and static model of components system.

In this paper, since the rocker arm will not reach the singular position, the Euler angle
can be used to represent the orientation of the coordinate system {B}. By establishing
a closed-loop constraint equation, the motion model of the components system can be
established, and the constraint equation is as follows:
Equations for constraint the motions of spherical plain bearing and rocker arm:

ro + [0; RR × sin(θ );RR × cos(θ )] + A[h; 0;0] = bbb + A[0; 0;l] (1)

where, ro and A are the coordinates of the point A under the global coordinate system and
the rotation matrix of the body coordinate system {B} relative to the global coordinate
system, respectively. If the Z-X-Z rotation way is adopted, the rotation matrix is expressed
456 J. Chang and Z. Luo

as:
⎡ ⎤
cos ψ cos φ − sin ψ cos θ sin φ − cos ψ sin φ − sin ψ cos θ cos φ sin ψ sin θ
A = ⎣ sin ψ cos φ + cos ψ cos θ sin φ − sin ψ sin φ + cos ψ cos θ cos φ − cos ψ sin θ ⎦
sin θ sin φ sin θ cos φ cos θ
where, ψ, θ , φ represent the Z-axis, the X-axis after rotation and the Z-axis after
secondary rotation respectively.
For rotation matrix A, it can also be written as:
⎡ ⎤
cos α 0 − sin α
A = A(ψ1 , θ1 , φ1 ) · ⎣ 0 1 0 ⎦ (2)
sin α 0 cos α
where, ψ1 , θ1 , φ1 respectively represent the Euler angles of the coordinate system {B}
relative to the global coordinate system when the blade is in its initial position. α is the
rotation angle of the blade around its axis of rotation (Y-axis of coordinate system {B}).

2.3 Stiffness Model

Figure 4 presents the static sketch of the components system, where the coordinate
system {O} and body coordinate system {B} still follow the definition method shown in
Fig. 2. After applying inertia load to the blade end, equal force F1 and equivalent torque
M 1 will be generated in the coordinate system {O}, as well as a force will be generated
on the rocker arms to balance external forces.
Therefore, the statics equation of the system can be written as follows:
⎧ i=n
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ f i + F1 = 0
⎪
⎨
i=1
(7)
⎪
⎪ i=n
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩ ei × f i + M 1 = 0
i=1

where,
f i is the internal force on any rocker arm
F1 is the external force vector acting on the coordinate system {O}
M 1 is the external moment vector acting on the coordinate system {O}
ei is the position vector connecting the linkage ring and the hinge point Ci of the
rocker arm with the origin O of the coordinate system {O}
Convert Eq. (7) into a form containing a Jacobian matrix, i.e.
JTf = W (8)
T
where, W is the torque acting on point O, being W= −F1 −M 1 . f is the force acting
on the rocker arm. J is the Jacobian matrix of the components system, and it can be
expressed as:
T
n1 ... ni ... nm
J= (9)
(eT1 × nT1 )T ... (eTi × nTi )T ... (eTm × nTm )T
 Computation of Components System Stiffness for Variable Stator Vane Mechanism 457

Fig. 4. Schematic of the static configuration of combined components.

where, ni is the unit vector in the direction of the symmetry axis of any rocker arm, and
ei is the position vector connecting the origin O of the coordinate system {O} with the
point C i on the linkage ring.
Thus, the stiffness of the system can be obtained by taking the partial derivative of
the torque W relative to the motion vector,
∂W ∂f ∂ T
K= = JT + (J )f = K 1 + K 2 (10)
∂S ∂S ∂S
T
where, S is the motion vector of the system, including the motion vector d T θ1
of the linkage ring, the motion scalars h1 ,h2 ,…,hm of all pins, and the motion scalars
θ21 , θ22 , ..., θ2m of all rocker arms. d is the displacement vector of the linkage ring. The
stiffness matrix K 1 is caused by the deformation of the rocker arm, K 2 is caused by the
application of external forces to the system and is related to the structural stiffness of
the system.
For the stiffness matrix caused by rocker arm deformation, it can be written as:
∂f ∂f ∂L
K1 = JT = JT = J T diag(k1 , k2 , .., km )J (11)
∂S ∂L ∂S
where, L is the vector composed of all rocker arms in the direction of the symmetry axis.
k indicates the stiffness of the rocker arm in the direction of the symmetry axis.
For the structural stiffness K 2 of the system, it is related to the geometric
configuration. Simplifying it can obtain:

∂ T ∂ n1 ... ni ... nm
K2 = (J )f = f (12)
∂S ∂S (eT1 × nT1 )T ... (eTi × nTi )T ... (eTm × nTm )T
458 J. Chang and Z. Luo

In Eq. (12), the following expression can be extended to:


∂ n1 ... ni ... nm
∂S (eT1 × nT1 )T ... (eTi × nTi )T ... (eTm × nTm )T
  ∂ni
 (13)
∂ ni ∂S
= = ∂eT ∂nT (i = 1, 2, ..., m)
∂S (eTi × nTi )T ( ∂Si × nTi + eTi × ∂Si )T

If the system only has one set of rocker arms, Eq. (13) can be written as:
   ∂n
∂n1 ∂n1 1
∂S ∂d ∂θ1
∂eT ∂nT1 T
∂e T = ∂nT ∂eT ∂nT1 T
( ∂S1
× n1 + e1 ×
T T
∂S )
( ∂d × n1 + eT1 × ∂d1 )T
1 T ( ∂θ11 × nT1 + eT1 × ∂θ1 )
∂n1 ∂n1

∂h ∂θ2
∂eT ∂nT ∂eT ∂nT
( ∂h1 × nT1 + eT1 × ∂h1 )T ( ∂θ12 × nT1 + eT1 × ∂θ21 )T
(14)

Due to the limited freedom of translation and rotation of the linkage ring, d is a zero
matrix and its value of θ1 is also zero. In addition, since the displacement h of the pin
is a scalar, it can be concluded that if the partial derivative is taken, its value is zero,
Eq. (13) can be further simplified as:
  ∂ni ∂ni

∂ ni 03×4 ∂hi ∂θ2i
= ∂eT ∂nT ∂eT ∂nT
∂S (eTi × nTi )T 03×4 ( ∂hii × nTi + eTi × ∂hii )T ( ∂θ2ii × nTi + eTi × ∂θ2ii )T
 ∂ni

03×5 ∂θ2i
= ∂eT ∂nT (i = 1, 2, ..., m)
03×5 ( ∂θ2ii × nTi + eTi × ∂θ2ii )T
(15)

When the linkage rotates around the engine axis with increment θ1 , the displace-
ment of the linkage ring caused by this rotational motion can be represented as
∂ei = 2ei sin θ21 + ∂d = 2ei sin θ21 + l · [ cos θ2i cos θ1 sin θ2i sin θ1 sin θ2i ]T , then

θ
∂eTi 2eTi sin 21 +l·[ cos θ2i cos θ1 sin θ2i sin θ1 sin θ2i ]T
∂θ2i × nTi = ∂θ2i × nTi (16)
= l · [ − sin θ2i cos θ1 cos θ2i sin θ1 cos θ2i ]T × nTi

and,
   
∂nT ∂nT ∂d ∂nT   T
eT
i ×
i = eT
i ×
i · = l · eT
i ×
i ·
− sin θ2i cos θ1 cos θ2i sin θ1 cos θ2i =0
∂θ2i ∂d ∂θ2i ∂d
(17)
 Computation of Components System Stiffness for Variable Stator Vane Mechanism 459

∂ni
According to Eq. (17), it is concluded that ∂θ 2i
should be parallel to the vector ei , so
the structural stiffness of the system is ultimately expressed as,
 
03×5 03×1
K2 =  ∂eTi
03×5 i=mi=1 fi ( ∂θ2i × ni )
T T
 (18)
03×5 03×1
= 
03×5 i=m i=1 fi l([ − sin θ2i cos θ1 cos θ2i sin θ1 cos θ2i ] × ni )
T T T

Therefore, the stiffness of the components should be expressed as:

K = K1 + K2 (19)

where, K 1 and K 2 are the stiffness related to the rocker arm and the structural stiffness of
the components system. K 1 and K 2 are obtained by taking the derivative of the motion
vector for torque W. Based on Hooke’s law, the value of Eq. (19) can be obtained.
By deriving the above formula, it is not difficult to determine the combined stiffness
of the assembly in the workspace. In the following section, the finite element method
will be used to validate the proposed stiffness matrix model.

3 Simulation and Validation

3.1 Components System Stiffness Model Validation

In this section, the calculation derivation of the stiffness matrix of the components system
will be verified through the finite element model of the system. In order to verify, a finite
element model case that is consistent with the theoretical model is proposed, as shown
in the Fig. 5. The finite element model is designed to ensure the same force situation as
the real mechanism, and the boundary condition is set to fix and constrain the connection
surface between the linkage ring and the rod (Fig. 1). The assumed inertia torque applied
in the theoretical calculation section corresponds to the torque applied to the blade in
the FEA model, where the torque value is 500 Nmm.
In order to verify the stiffness model of the components, 11 positions within the
movement range of the blade and a complete quantity of components are selected to
calculate the deviation, and then the simulation results are compared with the theoretical
calculation results. The eleven selection points for the range of motion are -20°, -15°,
-10°, -5°, 0°, 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°, and 30°, respectively. When the blade angle is 0°, it
is considered the initial position of the mechanism’s motion, and the length direction of
the rocker arm is parallel to the engine axis (X-axis in the Fig. 5). Hereinafter, when we
describe the components located in the same motion branch chain as the loaded blades,
we use the word “first” to describe them uniformly, such as the first rocker arm or the
first pin. The position of the linkage ring connected to the first rocker arm is called the
position of the first hole of the linkage ring.
Figure 6 shows the angular displacement change of the system after applying a
torque of 500 Nmm to the first blade when it’s in its original position. Figure 6(a) shows
the angular displacement of the overall assembly, while Fig. 6(b) shows the rotational
460 J. Chang and Z. Luo

Fig. 5. FEA model case of components system.

angular displacement deviation of the maximum angular displacement (loaded blade)

around its own rotation axis in the assembly. It is obvious that the angular displacement
deviation of the first blade around its axis after applying moment is the largest, which
coincides with our common sense.
According to the simulation value of the first blade angle deviation in Fig. 6, it
can be seen that when all the blades are in action, the angle deviation value of the
first blade is relatively small. Therefore, in order to clearly distinguish the difference
between theoretical calculation and simulation values, special numerical processing
(taking negative logarithm) is performed on both results to amplify the deviation value.
Figure 7 shows the angular displacement deviation of the enlarged first blade at different
positions within the range of motion, which is used as a criterion for evaluating the
stiffness of the assembly. It can be seen that the angle deviation value of the first blade
is basically on the same order of magnitude as the simulation value, but the trend of the
simulation value is relatively gentle. Two reasons can explain the difference between
simulation and theoretical values: i When conducting simulation analysis, the contact
between all components is taken into account, but the theoretical model ignores the
stiffness between joints, which will lead to a calculation gap between the two; ii. When
the blade angle is 0 degrees, the reason for the biggest difference between simulation
and theoretical calculation values is that the theoretical model takes into account the
contact between all components when the angle is zero degrees, The stiffness value K 2
contained within Eq. (19) of the component system is zero, but when the angle of rotation
is not zero, the structural stiffness value is not zero, and the portion that accounts for a
large proportion of the stiffness value of the component system plays a role.

3.2 Influence of Gravity on Stiffness

The theoretical and simulation results mentioned above are based on the assumption that
the gravity of all components is not taken into account, but all components of the real
engine are in a gravity environment. Therefore, the following study begins to investigate
the variation law of the first blade’s angle deviation within the range of blade motion
under the action of all stage blades, as well as the influence law of the number of contact
 Computation of Components System Stiffness for Variable Stator Vane Mechanism 461

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. Statics simulation results of components system. (a) Angular displacement amplitude of
the system (b) Maximum angular displacement of the first blade

Fig. 7. Deviation of the rotational angle of the first blade within the range of motion.

blades on the first blade’s angle at the initial position. It should be noted that when
considering the number of contact blades, all blade positions are symmetrically set. All
the calculations take into account the influence of gravity.
Figure 8 shows the influence of whether to consider the gravity on the first blade
angle deviation which can further illustrate the influence of gravity on the stiffness of
the system. As before, all first blade angle deviations have been numerically processed.
From the figures (a) and (b) in Fig. 8, it can be seen that the trend of considering the
influence of gravity on the first blade angle deviation remains basically unchanged, only
the deviation value changes. Moreover, considering gravity, the angle deviation value
is smaller than not considering gravity, which can also be said to have a positive effect
on the improvement of the stiffness of the components system. The reason why the
consideration of gravity can cause changes in the motion deviation of the assembly is
still due to the changes in the equal force and equivalent torque generated at the center
462 J. Chang and Z. Luo

of the linkage ring when considering gravity, which leads to changes in the theoretical
solution results. From Fig. 8 (b), it can also be seen that when the number of contact
blades is 1, the motion deviation is relatively large between considering gravity and
not considering gravity. The reason is that during calculation, all blade positions are
symmetrically arranged, and when the number of blades is 1, there are no other blades
to balance the force with the first blade. Although the stiffness calculation conducted in
this section is only for individual cases, combined with the previous research, it is not
difficult to reach the same conclusion for the remaining cases that have not been studied.

Fig. 8. The effect of gravity on the angle deviation of the first blade. (a) Derivations of first blade
angle within the range of motion under the combined motion of full blades (b) The influence of
different blade numbers on the deviation of the first blade angle when the blade is in its original
position

4 Conclusion
This paper focuses on the stiffness evaluation method of a single stage VSV mechanism
under a certain configuration. The obtained stiffness model is validated using the finite
element method, and gravity impact analysis proved that considering the influence of
gravity on the stiffness of the composite component is indispensable. Under the influence
of gravity, the motion deviation of the component will increase.

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 An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole
Aero-Engine Based on the Casing Vibrations

Weimin Wang1,2(B) , Jiale Wang1 , and Qihang Li1,2

1 Beijing Key Laboratory of Health Monitoring and Self-Recovery for High-End Mechanical
Equipment, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
[email protected]
2 State Key Laboratory of High-End Compressor and System Technology, Beijing, China

Abstract. Squeeze film dampers (SFDs) have been frequently employed in aero-
engines due to their excellent vibration reduction performance. However, their
nonlinear characteristics make it difficult for traditional balancing methods to
achieve efficient vibration suppression. In addition, because of the harsh condition
and restricted space inside the casing, sensors are only able to be installed on the
surface of the casing to evaluate the operational state of an aero-engine. Therefore,
it is vital to propose an unbalance identification method of a whole aero-engine
with SFDs. In this paper, the equivalent unbalance calculation equation, which
takes the vibration transfer characteristics of the casing, nonlinear oil film forces,
the flexible support and gyroscopic moments into account, is derived by decoupling
the differential equation of rotor motion in modal coordinates. The equivalent
unbalance distribution of the rotor is generated by solving very ill-conditioned
linear equations produced by modal parameters. Finally, a nonlinear unbalance
identification method based on casing vibrations is developed. By establishing
a whole aero-engine dynamics model, simulation is used to verify the accuracy
of this unbalance identification method. The results show that, when the High
Pressure rotor has unbalance alone, the vibration reduction rates for the aero-
engine rotor system are no less than 93%. For the condition that HP and LP rotors
are unbalanced at the same time, using the excitation source separation method
proposed in this paper, the balancing effects are also very significant.

Keywords: whole aero-engine dynamics model · squeeze film damper · flexible

support · nonlinear unbalance identification

1 Introduction
Establishing an accurate dynamics model is the most important for balancing the whole
aero-engine.
Yang et al. [1] ignored the casing deformation and replaced the casing with a concen-
trated mass on the rotor, while Wang et al. [2] established the casing by beam elements.
Using finite element software, Hai and Bonello [3, 4] conducted a modal analysis for
a rotor-casing coupling system and decreased the degrees of freedom in modal coor-
dinates. Finally, using the impulsive receptance technique, the dynamic response of a

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 464–481, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7_33
 An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole Aero-Engine 465

whole aero-engine model with nonlinear bearings was calculated. Choi et al. [5] demon-
strated the effectiveness of this method by combining the frequency response function
(FRFs) of the flexible support with the rotor model. Similarly, Hu et al. [6] compared a
rotor-support finite element model and a rotor finite element model combined with FRFs.
Dewi et al. [7] also successfully identified the critical speed and damping coefficient of
a rotor-support system.
Traditional dynamic balancing techniques like the influence coefficient balancing
method [8] and the modal balancing method [9] can resolve most unbalance problems.
The advantages of these two approaches were combined by Darlow to present the Unified
Balancing Approach [10]. Although some academics have recently conducted extensive
studies on balancing methods and presented new approaches [11–13], the majority of
them only apply to linear systems. For nonlinear rotor systems, Krodkiewski et al.
[14] and Ding et al. [15] employed the finite difference method and Fourier coefficient
expansions to obtain the nonlinear oil film forces. The unbalance was identified through
the first-order vibrations of the rotor bearing. Sinha et al. [16] determined the equivalent
stiffness and damping of a rotor at a fixed speed and balanced the rotor by assuming that
the bearing forces are linear.
For the non-invasive inverse problem, Cedillo et al. has made outstanding contri-
butions. In Cedillo’s research [17], a finite element software is used to calculate the
eigenforms and eigenfrequencies of rotor-casing systems. Through the first-order differ-
ential equation of motion, Cedillo eliminated the nonlinear oil film forces of the SFDs by
employing the relationship between the vibrations of the casing and the equivalent unbal-
ance. The results indicate that this method is effective for the unbalance identification
of a rotor-casing system.
This paper establishes a dynamic model of a whole aero-engine and proposes a
method to calculate the equivalent unbalance of the nonlinear system, while taking
nonlinear oil film forces, flexible casing, and gyroscopic moments into account. The
balance effects under different conditions are researched.

2 Theoretical Methods
2.1 Rotor-Casing Modeling

Fig. 1. Structure of a rotor-casing system: (a) sketch of a rotor-casing system; (b) calculation
process of the equivalent support stiffness and displacement.
466 W. Wang et al.

The rotor and the casing are no longer independent of each other once the flexible support
of the casing is considered. The interaction between the rotor and the casing is depicted
in Fig. 1 (a), where f by1 , f bx1 , f by2 , f bx2 are the bearing forces and f uy , f ux are the
unbalanced forces of the rotor.
As illustrated in Fig. 1 (b), Fu , Fb are the unbalanced and bearing forces on a rotor. K b
is the bearing stiffness. Gr , Gc are the flexibility of the rotor and the casing, respectively.
X b , X are the vibrations of the rotor at the bearings and other positions, while X cb , X c
are the vibrations of the casing at the bearing housings and other positions. Gc consists
of the flexibility Gbb bc bb
c and Gc . Gc is the flexibility matrix from one bearing housing of
the casing to all bearing housings, while Gbc c is the flexibility matrix from one bearing
housing of the casing to the casing vibration monitoring points. The rotor and the casing
are coupled to each other through the Gc . The presence of casing displacements X cb
change the bearing forces Fb , which affect the rotor displacements X b , X and the casing
displacements X cb , X c in turn.
Taking the bearing force as an external force, the equation of motion of a rotor system
is

M · Ẍ + C · Ẋ + K · X = Su · Fu + Sb · Fb (1)
 T  T
where Fu = fux , fuy and Fb = fbx1 , fby1 , fbx2 , fby2 , · · · , fbxn , fbyn are the unbal-
anced and the bearing forces matrices. The function of the selection matrices Su and Sb
are to set the elements of Fu and Fb to the corresponding position of the finite element
model. M, C and K are the mass, damping, and stiffness matrices of the rotor finite
element model.
Since rolling bearings are commonly used in aero-engine rotor systems, the damping
of bearings can be ignored, and the bearing forces matrix is

Fb = −K b (X b − X cb ) (2)

where K b is the stiffness matrix of bearings.

The relationship between the bearing forces and the casing displacements satisfies

X cb = −Gbb
c · Fb (3)

The flexibility matrix of the casing Gbb

c represents the flexibility relationship among
the bearing housings of the casing, which can be obtained by experiment or simulation.
⎡ ⎤
g11 g21 · · · gn1
⎢ g12 g22 · · · gn2 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
Gbb =⎢ . .. . . .. ⎥ (4)
c
⎣ .. . . . ⎦
g1n g2n · · · gnn

According to Eq. (2) and Eq. (3), the vibrations of the casing at the bearing housings
X cb is eliminated. Thus Fb can be written as
−1
Fb = −[I + K b · Gbb
c ] Kb · Xb (5)
 An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole Aero-Engine 467

The relationship between the bearing forces and the displacements of a rotor at the
bearings is determined as
Fb = −K̂ · X b (6a)
−1
K̂ = I + K b · Gbb
c Kb (6b)

where K̂ is the equivalent support stiffness of a rotor with the influence of the flexible
casing.
Furthermore, the displacements of the monitoring points of the casing can be
estimated using the flexibility matrix Gbc
c .

X c = −Gbc
c · Fb (7)

2.2 Rotor-SFD-Casing Modeling

Fig. 2. Structure diagram of the support.

Figure 2 depicts the relative position of the rotor, support, SFD, and casing in an
aero-engine. The bearing is attached to the casing through a squirrel-cage, and the SFD is
formed by filling the gap between the outer diameter of the squirrel-cage and the casing
with an oil film. The distance between the oil film force of the SFD and the elastic force
of squirrel-cage acting on the casing is especially short compared to the length of the
casing. As a result, it is assumed that F 2 and F 1 act at the same place and are both in
the position of F 1 when calculating the dynamics of the whole aero-engine.
Under the influence of the oil film force and the elastic force of squirrel-cage, Eq. (1)
can be rewritten as:
M · Ẍ + C · Ẋ + K̃ · X = Su · Fu + Ss · Fs (8)
The equivalent stiffness of the rotor K̃ includes the rotor stiffness K and the equivalent
support stiffness K̂ induced by flexible casing. Fs and Ss are the nonlinear oil film forces
matrix and its selection matrix, respectively.
The vibrations at the monitoring points of the casing are
X c = −Gbc
c · (Fb +F s ) (9)
468 W. Wang et al.

2.3 Unbalance Identification Method of a Nonlinear System

In order to evaluate the operational state of an aero-engine, sensors are only able to be
installed on the surface of the casing due to the harsh condition and restricted space
inside the casing. As a result, it is essential to identify the rotor unbalance through the
casing vibrations.
Based on the vibrations of the casing, the forces of the casing at the bearing housings
Fc can be obtained using Eq. (10).
−1
Fc = Gbc
c Xc (10)

where the flexibility matrix Gbc

c can be acquired through simulation or experiment.
The forces applied to the rotor support positions are equal to Fc in magnitude with
opposing directions. These forces, named Fr , include elastic support forces and nonlinear
oil film forces.

Fr = −K̂ · X b + Fs (11)

For a π film approximation based on short bearing theory, the oil film force can be
expressed as
μRL3 2ε2 π ε̇(1 + 2ε2 )
Fr = [ + ]
C 2 (1 − ε2 )2 2 (1 − ε2 )5/2
(12)
μRL3 π ε 2ε̇ε
Ft = [ + ]
C 2 2(1 − ε2 )3/2 (1 − ε2 )2
where R, c are the radius and radial clearance of the SFD, μ is the dynamic viscosity of
lubricant, and ε = e/c is the eccentricity ratio.
Given that the frequency of vibration caused by unbalance is consistent with the
rotational frequency, an effective method for accurately identifying the unbalance of a
rotor is to obtain the first-order differential equation of motion through Fourier series
expansion to eliminate the influence of forces at other frequencies on the rotor vibration.
Thus, Fr can be written as


k
Fr = f 0 + f ic cos(iωt) + f is sin(iωt) (13)
i=1

The first-order Fourier coefficients f c and f s are


2 T
f c = f 1c = Fr cos(iωt)dt
T 0
 (14)
2 T
f s = f 1s = Fr sin(iωt)dt
T 0
Similarly, after evaluating the Fourier coefficients of X b and Fs , Eq. (11) can be
rewritten as

F = − K̂X b +Fs (15)

 An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole Aero-Engine 469
 T
where F = f c f s , X b = [xbc xbs ]T , Fs = [f sc f ss ]T .
Through the Newton-Raphson iterative algorithm, X b and Fs can be calculated after
substituting Eq. (6b) and Eq. (12) into Eq. (15). At this step, the data used to identify
the equivalent unbalance has been converted from the vibrations of the casing to the
vibrations of the rotor at bearings.
When determining the oil film forces Fs , it should be noted that the e in Eq. (12) are
the displacements of the rotor relative to the casing. The displacements of the casing at
the bearing housings are

X cb = Gbb
c · Fc (16)

The equation of motion of a rotor-damper-casing system can be written as

M · Ẍ + K · X = Su · Fu + Ss · Fs + Fc + Sb · Fb (17)

Fc includes the damping forces and gyroscopic moments of the rotor system. And

Fc = −C · Ẋ (18a)

Fb = −K̂ · X b (18b)

M and K in Eq. (17) are symmetric matrices. Thus this system can be completely
decoupled in modal coordinates. Equation (17) can be expressed in a modal coordinate
as [18]

q̈+q = ET · Su · Fu + ET · Ss · Fs + ET · Fc + ET · Sb · Fb (19)

where E is the mass-normalized eigenvectors. q is the displacement in the modal coordi-

nate and X = Eq.  is the diagonal matrix of ω12 、ω22 ,…,ωR2 , with ωi ( i = 1, 2, . . . , R)
are the eigenfrequencies of this system.
Set
T
Eq = ET(b1) ET(b2) · · · ET(bn) (20)

with E(bi) is the vector of E in row bi (i = 1,2,…,n), defining bi are the nodes number
of the rotor finite element model where the degrees of freedom of bearings are located.
Left multiplying Eq. (19) by Eq and simplifying this equation, gives

X b = H u Fu + H s Fs + H c Fc + H b Fb (21)
R Eq ·ET ·Su R Eq ·ET ·Ss R Eq ·ET
with H u = i=1 ω2 −2 , Hs = i=1 ω2 −2 , Hc = i=1 ω2 −2 , Hb =
i i i
R Eq ·ET ·Sb
i=1 ω2 −2 , where  is the rotor speed.
i
For fundamental frequency component, Eq. (21) can be described as
             
xbc Hu f uc Hs f sc Hc f cc Hb f bc
= + + +
xbs H u f us H s f ss H c f cs H b f bs
(22)
470 W. Wang et al.

where
    
f cc ·C xc
= (23)
f cs − · C xs

with f uc , f us , f sc , f ss , f cc , f cs , f bc , f bs , xc , xs are the Fourier coefficients of Fu , Fs , Fc ,

Fb , and X.
For all degrees of freedom of the rotor system, Eq. (22) can be expanded as
   a    a    a    a  
xc Hu f uc Hs f sc Hc f cc Hb f bc
= + + +
xs H au f us H as f ss H ac f cs H ab f bs
(24)
R E·ET ·Su R E·ET ·Ss R E·ET R E·ET ·Sb
with H au = a
i=1 ω2 −2 ,H s = a
i=1 ω2 −2 ,H c = a
i=1 ω2 −2 ,H b = i=1 ω2 −2 .
i i i i
Substituting xc , xs back into Eq. (23) and eliminating f cc , f cs , Eq. (22) can be
expressed as
       
xbc f f f
= A bc + B uc + C sc (25)
xbs f bs f us f ss

where
 
−H b − H c CDPH ab H c CDH ab
A= (26a)
−H c CDH b a −H b − H c CDPH ab
 
H u +H c CDPH au −H c CDH au
B= (26b)
H c CDH au H u +H c CDPH au
 
H s +H c CDPH as −H c CDH as
C= (26c)
H c CDH as H s +H c CDPH as

with

P = −H ac ·  · C (27a)

−1
D = I + P2 (27b)

Then rearranging Eq. (25) get

       
f x f f
B uc = bc − A bc − C sc (28)
f us xbs f bs f ss

Set

    
xbc f f
Z= − A bc − C sc (29a)
xbs f bs f ss
   
f Uc
B uc = B2 = B2 VU c = QU c (29b)
f us Us
 An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole Aero-Engine 471

Equation (28) can be rewritten as

QU c = Z (30)

According to the solution of Eq. (30), the equivalent unbalance matrix U c of the
rotor system can be acquired.
T
U c = Ux1 Uy1 Ux2 Uy2 · · · UxJ UyJ (31)

with J is the number of disks to applied balancing weights.

The value U j and phase φj of the equivalent unbalance can be calculated by

j 2 j 2
Uj = Ux + Uy (32a)
⎧
⎨ j j
arctan Uy /Ux , Ux > 0
j
φj = (32b)
⎩ arctan Uyj /Uxj + π, Uxj < 0

3 Simulation Verification
3.1 Rotors-SFDs-Casing System

In the rotors-SFDs-casing system calculated in this Section, the rotors are installed to
the casing through bearings, and there is an intershaft bearing between the High Pressure
(HP) and Low Pressure (LP) rotors. The finite element model of the dual-rotor system is
built using the Timoshenko beam element, as shown in Fig. 3. The LP rotor consists of
42 elements with a 1–2-1 support type equipped with three fans and one turbine. The HP
rotor consists of 48 elements with a 1–0-0 support type, equipped with six compressors
and one turbine. The speed ratio between the LP and HP rotors is 1:1.2.

Fig. 3. Finite element model of the dual-rotor system.

In the support positions, elastic components like squirrel-cages are frequently used
on aero-engine rotors. As the influence of the elastic support is taken into account, the
stiffness of the bearing is adjusted to 107 N/m. Thus, the elastic support structures should
be disregarded when building the casing model. As displayed in Fig. 4, a computation
472 W. Wang et al.

Fixed Support Z Displacement BH

FH MH

FV MV BV

B1 B2 B3 B4 B5

Fig. 4. Model of the casing.

software was used to create the finite element model of the casing, while the material is
titanium alloy.
Three restrictions are used in the casing model. The full degrees of freedom of the
Fixed Support regions shown in Fig. 4 are constrained, while the Z directional degree
of freedom of the Z Displacement region is constrained. B1B5 in Fig. 4 illustrate the
position of the rotor supports on the casing. In fact, the support structures are installed
on the inner surface of the casing, and these symbols are merely intended to indicate the
relative position of them.
The FRFs of each support position, named FRFs-SS (support position to support
positions), are calculated by applying a series of sweeping forces from 0 Hz to 260 Hz
in the horizontal (Y) and vertical (Z) directions at B1B5 (the direction is consistent with
that shown in Fig. 4). Taking the condition that the sweeping force is applied in B1 as an
example, the FRFs-SS are shown in Fig. 5. When the sweeping force is applied in the
Y direction, it can be seen that the FRFs-SS in the Y direction are significantly larger
than those in the Z direction. Similarly, if the sweeping forces are applied in the vertical
direction, the FRFs-SS in the vertical direction are more significant than those in the
horizontal direction.
In the casing’s front, middle, and back sections, the points at the horizontal and
vertical of each section are chosen as vibration monitoring points. These six points are
designated as FH, FV, MH, MV, BH, and BV. Their positions are illustrated in Fig. 8.
Same as FRFs-SS, the FRFs of vibration monitoring points are obtained by applying
a series of sweeping forces at B1B5, named FRFs-SM (support position to monitoring
points). Figure 6 shows the results that the sweeping force is applied in B1.
The flexibility matrix Gbb bc
c and Gc can be obtained according to FRFs-SS and FRFs-
SM, respectively. What’s more, the flexibility matrix Gbb bc
c and Gc can also be experimen-
tally acquired through a real engine casing. However, in the experiment, accelerations
rather than displacements of the casing are being evaluated for vibrations. In order to
acquire the flexibility matrix, it is necessary to integrate the accelerations in the frequency
domain. The procedure is not repeated here.

3.2 Unbalance Exists in the HP Rotor

Squeeze film dampers are installed in the dual-rotor system displayed in Fig. 3. The
locations and structures of SFDs are listed in Table 1.
 An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole Aero-Engine 473

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Fig. 5. FRFs-SS with sweeping force is applied in B1: (a) FRFs-SS of the Y direction with the Y
direction force is applied; (b) FRFs-SS of the Y direction with the Y direction force is applied; (c)
FRFs-SS of the Z direction with the Y direction force is applied; (d) FRFs-SS of the Z direction
with the Z direction force is applied.

Table 2 lists the unbalance distribution of the HP rotor. According to Eq. (17) and
Eq. (7), the vibrations of the monitoring points of the casing and the turbine on the HP
rotor with the influence of flexible support and SFDs are obtained through the FRFs-SS
and FRFs-SS.
Figure 7 exhibits the vibrations of the monitoring points of the casing. Affected by the
flexible casing and nonlinear oil film forces of SFDs, the vibrations are very complex
with multiple peaks and messy phases. There are two reasons for this phenomenon.
Initially, the resonances appear near not only at the natural frequencies of the casing but
the natural frequencies of the rotor-casing coupled system because of the flexible casing.
Furthermore, the HP and LP rotors are connected by the casing and intershaft bearing,
leading the forces of bearings will cause the LP rotor to vibrate, although the unbalance
only emerges in the HP rotor.
In Fig. 7, the maximum vibration of the casing monitoring points appears at 6000 rpm
when the unbalance is as shown in Table 2. In addition, it can be found from Fig. 5 (d)
and Fig. 6 (d) that the FRFs have peaks around 105–110 Hz, which indicates that a
natural frequency of the casing exists between 105 and 110 Hz. After coupling with
the rotor, the natural frequency changes, resulting the significant vibration at 6000 rpm.
Thus, 6000 rpm has been picked as the balancing speed, and the disks at the primary
compressor, 2nd stage compressor, 5th stage compressor, 6th stage compressor and
474 W. Wang et al.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Fig. 6. FRFs-SM with sweeping force is applied in B1: (a) FRFs-SM of the Y direction with the Y
direction force is applied; (b) FRFs-SM of the Y direction with the Z direction force is applied; (c)
FRFs-SM of the Z direction with the Y direction force is applied; (d) FRFs-SM of the Z direction
with the Z direction force is applied.

Table 1. Locations and structures of SFDs

Location Oil Width (mm) Diameter (mm) Clearance (mm)

Bearing 1 VG32 18 180 0.13
Bearing 4 VG32 20 200 0.14
Bearing 5 VG32 22 220 0.16

turbine of the HP rotor are chosen as the balancing disks to add balancing weights.
Using the method mentioned in Sect. 2.3, the equivalent unbalance of the HP rotor has
been determined according to the vibrations of the casing monitoring points. The results
are displayed in Table 3. It should be noticed that there is a 180° difference between the
phase of balancing weights and equivalent unbalance.
Comparing Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 reveals that the vibrations of the casing monitoring
points are reduced after adding balancing weights to the balancing disks, especially at
the balancing speed (6000 rpm). Table 4 lists the vibrations of the casing monitoring
 An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole Aero-Engine 475

Table 2. Initial unbalance distribution of the HP rotor

Location Unbalance (g.mm) Phase (°)

Primary compressor 300 -60
3rd stage compressor 120 60
4th stage compressor 180 50
5th stage compressor 130 70
Turbine 200 -80

(a) (b)

Fig. 7. Vibrations of the monitoring points of casing at initial unbalance (unbalance exists in the
HP rotor): (a) Y direction; (b) Z direction.

Table 3. Identification of equivalent unbalance of the HP rotor

Location Unbalance (g.mm) Phase (°)

Primary 100 43
compressor
2nd stage 111 37
compressor
5th stage 116 26
compressor
6th stage 103 19
compressor
Turbine 76 −100

points before and after balancing at 6000 rpm, with the vibration reduction rate Au is
 
 A2 − A1 
Au =   × 100% (33)
A1 
476 W. Wang et al.

(a) (b)
10-5
10-5
2 2.5
FH
FH 2 FV
1.5 FV

Amplitude m
MH
Amplitude m

MH MV
1.5
MV
1
BH
BH
1 BV
BV
0.5 0.5

0 0
0 6000 12000 18000 0 6000 12000 18000
Speed rpm Speed rpm

4 4

2 2

Phase rad
Phase rad

0 0

-2 -2

-4 -4
0 6000 12000 18000 0 6000 12000 18000
Speed rpm Speed rpm

Fig. 8. Vibrations of the monitoring points of casing after balancing (balancing at 6000 rpm): (a)
Y direction; (b) Z direction.

Table 4. Vibrations comparison of the casing monitoring points (balancing at 6000 rpm)

Location Vibrations in the Y direction Vibrations in the Z direction

Before (μm) After (μm) Au (%) Before (μm) After (μm) Au (%)
FH 36.74 0.14 99.62 58.89 0.24 99.59
FV 33.04 0.08 99.76 101.02 0.4 99.6
MH 25.49 0.07 99.73 11.42 0.04 99.65
MV 8.37 0.03 99.64 39.02 0.16 99.59
BH 2.83 0.04 98.59 16.5 0.07 99.58
BV 36.53 0.17 99.53 51.18 0.2 99.61

In conclusion, the Aus of all monitoring points of the casing are above 99.5% after
the rotor system being balanced at 6000 rpm. The results demonstrate that the equivalent
unbalance identification method can successfully identify the unbalance for the HP rotor
at a single balancing speed with an outstanding performance.

3.3 Unbalance Exists in the LP and HP Rotors

When the HP and LP rotors of the engine exist unbalance simultaneously, the vibrations
of the casing are the superposition of vibrations aroused by the HP rotor and the LP rotor.
In order to determine the unbalance of the whole aero-engine, it is necessary to separate
the vibrations caused by the LP rotor and the HP rotor, and identify the equivalent
unbalance of the LP and HP rotors, respectively.
The Fourier series expansion of the casing vibrations X c in the time domain is


k
Xc = X0 + X ic cos(ωi t) + X is sin(ωi t) (34)
i=1
 An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole Aero-Engine 477

with ωi are the frequencies of the casing vibrations, such as the rotational frequencies
of the HP and LP rotors, and the frequencies generated by other forces.
The amplitude and phase of the vibration for ωi are

 i 2  i 2
X ia = Xc + Xs (35a)
⎧ i
⎨ arctan − Xis , X ic > 0
X
X ip = c (35b)
⎩ π + arctan − X s , X i < 0
i

Xi c
c

with

2 T
X ic = X c cos(ωi t)dt
T 0
 (36)
2 T
Xs =
i
X c sin(ωi t)dt
T 0
Given that the speed ratio between the LP and HP rotors is 1:1.2, the vibrations
excited by the unbalanced forces of the LP rotor and the HP rotor can be obtained by
substituting ωL and ωH into Eq. (34) and Eq. (35), with ωL and ωH are the rotation
frequencies of the LP and HP rotors.
Same as 6000 rpm in Sect. 3.2, 10500 rpm is selected as the balancing speed, as the
casing vibrates significant at this speed. What’s more the FRFs in Fig. 5 (a) and Fig. 6
(a) have peeks near 175 Hz. The vibrations of the casing monitoring points in the time
domain between the Keyphasor marks of the LP or HP rotor are picked up to evaluate
the Fourier series. If the Keyphasor is installed on the LP rotor, the data within n ×
5T L should be selected for analysis, as the speed ratio between the LP and HP rotors is
1:1.2. Where T L is the rotation period of the LP rotor and n is an integer. This process
is depicted in Fig. 9.

Fig. 9. Process of calculating the Fourier series of the vibrations of casing monitoring points.

The amplitudes and phases of the vibrations of each casing monitoring point induced
by LP and HP rotors are estimated and displayed in Table 6, with the unbalance
distribution is the same as depicted in Table 5.
478 W. Wang et al.

It is feasible to determine the unbalance of the whole aero-engine based on the

vibrations created by the LP and HP rotors after separating the excitation sources of the
vibrations. Table 7 displays the equivalent unbalance of the LP and HP rotors when the
vibrations are as indicated in Table 6.

Table 5. Initial unbalance distribution of the LP and HP rotors

Location Unbalance (g.mm) Phase (°)

3th stage fan 70 60
LP turbine 150 0
2nd compressor 180 110
5th compressor 130 60
HP turbine 170 -80

Table 6. Vibrations separation of the casing monitoring points (10500 rpm)

Point Vibrations caused by the LP rotor Vibrations caused by the HP rotor

Y direction Z direction Y direction Z direction
Amplitude Phase Amplitude Phase Amplitude Phase Amplitude Phase
(μm) (rad) (μm) (rad) (μm) (rad) (μm) (rad)
FH 95.12 −1.52 24.52 −1.97 15.11 −2.21 13.72 0.05
FV 112.31 −1.58 15.24 −2.1 15.17 −2.33 14.48 0
MH 51.81 −1.67 39.9 1.35 8077 1.66 8.75 1.02
MV 31.44 −1.59 50.34 1.36 11.75 1.56 12.34 0.93
BH 20.04 1.64 3.59 1.15 4.06 −1.58 8.41 −2.08
BV 6.16 −3.02 20.08 −1.75 2.89 -0.53 4.58 −1.86

Figure 10 displays the vibration orbits of each casing monitoring point before and
after balancing. Due to the different frequencies of unbalanced forces excited by LP and
HP rotors and the effect of the nonlinear oil film forces, the vibration orbit is no longer
a circle or ellipse. Figure 10 shows that the vibrations of the casing are significantly
decreased after balancing through the method proposed in this Section.
 An Unbalance Identification Method of a Whole Aero-Engine 479

Table 7. Identification of equivalent unbalance (10500 rpm)

The equivalent unbalance of LP rotor The equivalent unbalance of HP rotor

Location Unbalance Phase (°) Location Unbalance Phase (°)
(g.mm) (g.mm)
Primary fan 4.15 18 Primary 48.8 128
compressor
2nd 64.7 104
3th stage fan 66.27 65 compressor

5th 71.9 76
compressor
6th 48.3 56
LP turbine 149 -1 compressor

HP turbine 203 83

FH FV MH

Before balanceing
After balancing

MV BH BV

Fig. 10. Comparison of casing vibration orbits before and after balancing (10500 rpm).

4 Conclusion

In this paper, a dynamic model of a whole aero-engine considering the flexible casing
is established to determine the unbalanced response of the rotor and casing under the
influence of the SFDs. According to the model, a nonlinear unbalance identification
method is proposed based on the vibrations of casing monitoring points. This method
accounts for the impacts of the flexible casing, the nonlinear oil film forces, and the
gyroscopic moments of rotor. It has been demonstrated that this technology is suitable
for non-invasive unbalance identification of an engine and other rotating equipment for
480 W. Wang et al.

its excellent ability to reduce the vibrations of the rotor. Through the simulation of a
dual-rotor system, the following conclusions are obtained.
(1) When the unbalance exists in the HP rotor, the vibration reduction rate Aus are higher
than 99.5% after balancing.
(2) In the case that the LP and HP rotor exists unbalance simultaneously, the method
described in this research can effectively separate the vibrations induced by LP and
HP rotors according to the vibrations of casing monitoring points. By balancing the
LP and HP rotors separately, the vibration of the casing and rotor can be greatly
decreased.

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 Author Index

A H
Ai, Yan-ting 76 Heya, Akira 409
An, Yuchen 439 Holopainen, Timo P. 398
Andrianoely, Marie-Ange 268 Hong, Jie 34, 202, 342
Hou, Li 11, 224
Hu, Xiuli 156
B Huo, Guanghe 188
Baguet, Sébastien 268
Briançon, Laurent 268
I
Inoue, Tsuyoshi 409
C Inozemtsev, Alexander A. 168
Chang, Jing 452
Chasalevris, Athanasios 304, 324 J
Che, Renwei 156 Jia, Ruiqi 342
Chen, Ren-zhen 76 Jiang, Minghong 289
Chen, Xueqi 202 Jiang, Yaqun 377
Chen, Zhaobo 1, 91, 276 Jiang, Zihan 224
Chen, Zhoudian 101 Jiao, Yinghou 1, 91, 156, 188, 276
Chouchane, Mnaouar 419 Jin, Long 243

D K
Dai, Huwei 56 Kanty, Piotr 268
Degtyarev, Sergey A. 168 Kimura, Shogo 409
Dimou, Emmanouil 304, 324 Kuang, Fanrong 147
Dohnal, Fadi 324
Dou, Jinxin 133 L
Dufour, Régis 268 Leontiev, Mikhail K. 168
Li, Chao 34
F Li, Haofan 147
Fernandez-del-Rincon, Alfonso 188 Li, Hui 133, 429
Fetisov, Alexander 364 Li, Jian 117
Fu, Jie 34 Li, Jianlei 133
Li, Lei 243
Li, Qihang 464
G Li, Wengheng 289
Gao, Xianghong 289 Li, Yingjie 117
Gavalas, Ioannis 304, 324 Li, Yuqi 243
Gladkiy, Ivan L. 168 Li, Zhitong 91
Grange, Stéphane 268 Lin, Dafang 101
Guo, Mei 147 Lin, Hao 257

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
F. Chu and Z. Qin (Eds.): IFToMM 2023, MMS 140, pp. 483–484, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40459-7
484 Author Index

Lin, Jiewei 56 Wang, Jiale 464

Liu, Cong 342 Wang, Siji 101
Liu, Fangming 202 Wang, Weimin 464
Liu, Jing 439 Wang, Yongfeng 342
Liu, Yuan 101 Wang, Yongquan 117
Liu, Zhirou 257 Wang, Zhi 76
Lu, Xin 56 Wei, Haibo 257
Luo, Zhong 243, 452 Wei, Jing 257
Wei, Yuan 1
M Wen, Chuanmei 243
Ma, Wenbo 276 Wen, Haobin 390
Ma, Yanhong 34, 202 Wu, Bin 56
Wu, Yangjun 429
P
Pan, Guang 439 X
Xu, Jian 56
R Xu, Yeyin 91, 276
Ran, Xuhe 1 Xu, Ziyang 257
Ryyppö, Tommi 398 Xue, Rui 133

S
Sakly, Faiza 419 Y
Sanchez-Espiga, Javier 188 Yang, Chiye 439
Santamaria, Miguel Iglesias 188 Yao, Hongliang 133, 429
Savin, Leonid 364 Yu, Pingchao 11, 224
Shaposhnikov, Konstantin V. 168 Yuan, Yunbo 117, 147
Shutin, Denis 364
Sinha, Jyoti K. 390 Z
Zhang, Feng-ling 76
T Zhang, Jinqi 101
Taura, Hiroo 409 Zhang, Junhong 56
Tezenas du Montcel, Florian 268 Zhang, Long 390
Tian, Jing 76 Zhang, Sai 156
Zhang, Xiang 188
V Zhang, Yujie 257
Viadero-Rueda, Fernando 188 Zhang, Zexin 117
Zhao, Guang 117, 147
W Zhao, Runchao 91
Wang, Cai 76 Zhao, Xiangyang 147
Wang, Chengyang 101 Zhu, Changsheng 289
Wang, Cun 11, 224 Zhu, Zhimin 243