Influence of Coupled Asymmetric Bearings on the Motion of a Massive Flexible Rotor

Abstract

The rotors of a majority of rotating machines are supported upon bearings whose flexibility has a significant effect on the dynamics of the system. Supports incorporating hydrodynamically maintained oil films in particular, in addition to possessing different stiffness and damping in mutually perpendicular planes, exhibit non-reciprocal coupling between motions in these planes. The author develops the equations of motion for a rotor-bearing system of this type, and describes how both the response to an out-of-balance forcing and the unstable behaviour of such a system may be predicted by evaluating separately the dynamical characteristics of the rotor and the bearings. The method is applicable to systems in which the rotor is axisymmetric and has an arbitrary mass and stiffness distribution symmetrically disposed about its centre of span. Some new aspects of the resonant and unstable behaviour of rotating shafts are brought out due to the nature of the method of solution. Theoretical predictions are compared and agree very well with the results of tests on a 1380 lb model rotor supported on two 4 in diameter cylindrical journal bearings.