Flexible Rotor Balancing by the Exact Point-Speed Influence Coefficient Method

Abstract

A test program was conducted to confirm experimentally the validity of the exact point-speed influence coefficient method for balancing rotating machinery, and to assess the practical aspects of applying the method to flexible rotors. Testing was performed with a machine having a 41-in. long, 126-lb rotor. The rotor was operated over a speed range encompassing three rotor-bearing system critical speeds: two “rigid-body” criticals and one flexural critical. Rotor damping at the flexural critical was very low due to the journal bearings being located at the nodal points of the shaft. The balancing method was evaluated for three different conditions of initial rotor unbalance. The method was found to be effective and practical. Safe passage through all the critical speeds was obtained after a reasonable number of balancing runs. Success of the balancing method was, in large part, due to the accuracy of the instrumentation system used to obtain phase-angle measurements during the balancing procedure.