Assessment of accuracy of modal parameters of a rotor dynamic system using different types of finite elements

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to check the compatibility of Finite element method (FEM) to determine the modal parameters of the rotor system and to compare the results with analytical method. Current work is an attempt to implement different finite element (FE) models for the estimation of modal parameters. Two different order elements from Beam, Axisymmetric and Solid FE models are considered. The analysis is carried out on the rotor system and the accuracy of the results and the computation time of the FE models are estimated. The FE results are compared with the analytical method. It is observed that FE model can be used to simulate even at higher order frequencies, which is a limitation of analytical model. The analysis shows that the FE results closely match with analytical method and also the study summarizes that proper choosing of FE helps in developing rotor models in both a desirable accuracy and efficiency. Finally, a Campbell diagram is generated using the analytical method and FEM. The critical speeds are also calculated from the Campbell diagram. The closeness of the results between the two methods is checked.