Transient Unbalance Response of Four Multilobe Journal Bearings

Abstract

This work carries out an analysis of the transient response of four multilobe journal bearings (elliptical, offset, three-lobe, and four-lobe) subject to unbalance both below and above the linearized stability thresholds for the bearings. It extends the work of a previous paper on a balanced rotor in the same four bearing types. Transient orbits, bearing forces, and a numerical fast Fourier transform analysis of the orbits are presented. A comparison of bearing forces above the stability threshold for each bearing indicates that the elliptical bearing has the most violent whirl vibration amplitudes, while the offset bearing exhibits the least amount of subsynchronous vibration.