Numerical Investigation of Rotor and Journal Bearing Parameters on Nonlinear Vibration of a Highly Flexible Rotor Considering Journal Angular Motion With Experimental Verification

In this study, the nonlinear vibration (bifurcation type) of a highly flexible rotor supported by a journal bearing (JB) and self-aligning rolling element bearing (REB) under various configurations of rotor large disk mass/position, bearing length-to-diameter (L/D) ratio, and preload was investigated using two different bearing models: the model that considers both lateral and angular motion (Model A) and the model that considers just lateral motion (Model B). The rotor was modelled by 1-D finite elements (FE), and its degrees-of-freedom (DOF) was reduced to the DOF of the JB’s node by real mode component mode synthesis (CMS). Then, the shooting method and arclength continuation were applied to the reduced rotor model to obtain nonlinear limit cycles. Also, parallel computing was applied to the shooting method to shorten the calculation time. The stability of the obtained limit cycles was then determined by Floquet multiplier analysis. The experiment on the test rig with the same rotor and bearing parameters utilized in the calculation was carried out to verify the bearing models in each configuration. The calculation and experimental results showed that the bifurcation type calculated by Model A agreed with experimental results in all configurations. In addition, if the L/D ratio was short or the large disk position was near the rotor midspan, the bifurcation type obtained from both Model A and B agreed with the experimental results. The discrepancy in bifurcation type obtained from both bearing models only occurred in the cases that the L/D ratio was long and the large disk position was near the JB. Lastly, decreasing the L/D ratio, increasing preload, and moving the large disk position closer to the JB tended to change the bifurcation type from subcritical to supercritical.