In-Plane Parametric Instability of a Rigid Body With a Dual-Rotor System

Abstract

Rotating machines can be modeled at a basic level using lumped masses that are rotating about and attached using springs to an axis. Even such seemingly simple system can exhibit rich dynamics in the presence of time-varying terms in the governing differential equations. This paper investigates the dynamics of a rigid body with two attached rotors that rotate in the same plane. The system is parametrically-excited and the equations of motion are periodic in both rotor frequencies. The frequency spectra of the time responses show distinct side-band structures centered about the unforced natural frequencies. In addition to classical resonances, the stability diagrams generated using Floquet theory reveal instabilities at unexpected combinations of the forcing and natural frequencies. The harmonic balance method is employed to verify the stability boundaries obtained using Floquet theory. The study reveals safe regimes of parameter combinations that can help prevent the onset of instability in such systems.