Stability analysis of a whirling rigid rotor supported by FDBS considering five degrees of freedom of a general rotor-bearing system

Abstract

A rotor supported by fluid dynamic bearings (FDBs) has a whirling motion by centrifugal force due to the mass unbalance or by the flexibility of shaft. This whirling motion also generates periodic time-varying oil-film reaction and dynamic coefficients even in case of the stationary grooved FDBs. This paper proposes a method to determine the stability of a whirling rotor supported by stationary grooved FDBs considering five degrees of freedom of a general rotor-bearing system. Dynamic coefficients are calculated by using the finite element method and the perturbation method, and they are represented as periodic harmonic functions by considering whirling motion. Because of the periodic time-varying dynamic coefficients, the equations of motion of the rotor supported by FDBs can be represented as a parametrically excited system. The solution of the equations of motion can be assumed as the Fourier series so that the equations of motion can be rewritten as simultaneous algebraic equations with respect to the Fourier coefficients. Hill's infinite determinant is calculated by using these algebraic equations in order to determine the stability. The stability of the FDBs decreases with the increase of rotational speed. The stability of the FDBs increases with the increase of whirl radius, because the average and variation of C xx increase faster than those of K xx. The proposed method is verified by solving the equations of motion by using the forth Runge-Kutta method to determine the convergence and divergence of whirl radius.