Pergamon PII: SO0457949(96)00214-3

Compurers & Srru~mrrs Vol. 62, No. 4. pp. 715-719, 1997 Copyright 0 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Lfd Printed m Great Britain. All rights reserved 0045.7949/97 $17.00 + 0.00

DISC FLEXIBILITY

EFFECTS IN ROTOR SYSTEMS

BEARING

D. Satish Kumar, C. Sujatha and N. Ganesan Machine Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras 600 036, India (Received 10 May 1995)
Abstract-The importance of the inclusion of disk flexibility on the natural frequencies in a rotor dynamic analysis has attracted the attention of many researchers in the recent past. Such an analysis helps to predict the dynamic response of rotors more accurately from the natural frequencies and mode shapes calculated hence. In the present analysis a semi-analytical conical shell finite element is used for the modelling of the rotor with the inclusion of the support bearing flexibility. Such an element could include the flexibility

of the disks, shaft and the bearings. A parametric study was also performed for looking into the frequency characteristics of the system. The study brings out the additional disk modes a well as the behaviour of
the system at higher circumferential modes. Copyright 0 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.

NOTATlON

coordinate directions displacements in the coordinate directions middle surface displacements in the coordinate directions angles of rotation in the meridional and circumferential directions of the normal to the middle surface of the element radius of the middle surface of the conical shell at the small end meridional number shape functions s/l, isoparametric coordinate length of the shaft inner radius of the disc outer rad,us of the disc thickness of the disc inner radius of the shaft outer radius of the shaft strain energy contribution from the shaft and the disc strain energy contribution from the bearings

1. INTRODUCTION

The advent of digital computers has accelerated research in many a frontier over the last three decades. The finite element method is no exception. With a growing demand for accuracy, a wide spectrum of finite elements have been developed for use in the fields of structural dynamics, rotor dynamics, etc. Typically in a rotor dynamic analysis, the shaft is modelled by a series of beam finite elements, the other components of the system being modelled as lumped masses. However, there is a recent body of literature which visualizes the importance of the inclusion of the disk flexibility in rotor dynamic
715

analysis. Beam elements are constrained by the fact that they may not be able to take into account accurately the large changes in diameter that occur with the inclusion of the disc as a flexible member. Also they may not be able to provide an insight into the higher circumferential modes of the disc. These modes play a significant role whenever there is an axial excitation, such as the one that occurs in helical gears. Solid finite elements stand at a disadvantage because of the astronomical computational cost involved in their use. A semi-analytical finite element procedure is envisaged. An important aspect of the procedure to be described here is the line shell element which saves a lot of computational effort compared to its two-dimensional counterpart. To the authors knowledge there is no published literature on the inclusion of bearing flexibility in a semi-analytical treatment. The aim of the present work is to study the effect of the inclusion of disk flexibility on the natural frequencies of the system with the inclusion of the support bearing flexibility.

2. BACKGROUND

The amount of literature available on rotor dynamic analysis is immense. The purpose of this work is not to review, but to provide a brief description of the literature available. Eshelman and Eubanks [l] modelled the shaft as having a continuously distributed mass and elasticity and the disk as a lumped mass. Dopkin and Shoup [2] did some pioneering work in the inclusion of disc flexibility. A transfer matrix analysis was used by them to obtain

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D. Satish Kumar et al.

the resonant frequencies. They had neglected the shear deformation and rotary inertia effects in the analysis of the disc. Also, the higher circumferential modes of the disc were not calculated. This fact precludes any attempt on the study of discs, having significantly high radial flexibility. Chivens and Nelson [3] investigated the influence of disc flexibility on the transverse bending natural frequencies and concluded that the natural frequencies are significantly affected by the inclusion of the flexibility of the disc. The shaft in their model was a Euler-Bernoulli beam and the disc a thin flexible plate. Nevzat Ozguven and Levent Ozkan [4] calculated the whirl speeds and unbalance response using finite elements, with shear deformation, rotary inertia, gyroscopic moment, internal viscous and hysteretic damping effects included. Hayashi and Iwatsuki [5] solved for the disc modes to establish a method for accurately estimating the noise power radiated from gears and gear mechanisms. Recently Flowers and Fang Sheng Wu [6] modelled the disc as a collection of four equally spaced mass elements connected to a central hub by linear springs. Flowers and Ryan [7] in one of their latest works developed a set of equations in terms of the generalized coordinates based on the mode shapes of the system for incorporating the disc flexibility effects and concluded that at rotor speeds significantly higher than the nominal operating speeds, the critical speeds are significantly affected by the flexibility of the disks. They also concluded that for super harmonic vibration which could be excited by non-linear effects such as rubbing or non-linear bearing compliance, the disc flexibility plays a significant role. Shahab and Thomas [S] studied the coupling effects of disc flexibility on the dynamic behaviour of multi-disc shaft systems with simply-supported boundary conditions. Their three-dimensional finite element increases the computational cost when large problems are solved even with modern computing facilities. Stephenson ef al. [9] used quadrilateral axisymmetric elements in the modelling of the shaft disc system. However, the line type of harmonic elements based on a shell theory proposed here may still be more computationally efficient than the quadrilateral elements. A finite element model which could incorporate the flexibility of the disc, the shaft and the bearings would simplify the analysis procedure. Accordingly a three-noded conical shell finite element suggested by Ramesh and Ganesan [IO] is being proposed for use. This finite element could easily include the flexibility of the shaft and the disk with a semi-vertex angle of 0 and 90, respectively. This procedure, being two-dimensional, saves a lot of computational time, providing an insight into the circumferential modes of the disc.

a@
WJ
v,e
KS
R

-----

Fig. I. Coordinate system for a conical shell.

3. FORMULATION

With the coordinate system shown in Fig. 1 for a conical shell finite element, the displacement assumptions [lo] are given by

u =

x,i, -s
ti
m = 0

N,u, cos m6

v=

8 =0

c
I

,T, NJ, sin me,

m = 0

w=

nl=0

I)$=

I!,

c ,$, c
x
3

1 N,w, cos me, ,=I

2
=

NJ++,,, sin me,

where N, are the shape functions given by

N, =

(5

N2 = 1 - <

and

N3 =v.

Fig. 2. Modelling of isotropic bearings.

Disc flexibility effects Table 1. Comparison of theoretical and experimental [8] frequencies (Hz) for a hollow shaft corresponding circumferential modes
m
=z

717 to various

m=l
-_____

m=2

Theoretical 650 907 4852 5572

Experimental 645 4815 5580

Present 772 928 4129 561I

Theoretical 288 670 1598 2621

Experimental 280 660 1590 2610

Present 294 576 1650 2693

Theoretical 903 5880 12123 13675

Experimental 900 5830 12100

Present 837 5396 13164 13767

5 = s\l is the isoparametric axial coordinate, I is the slant length of the conical shell and m is the circumferential mode number.

the other mode in the v-direction, the antisymmetric assumptions in the Fourier series transformation are to be made.
4. VALIDATION

The displacement vector is given by u,=(u

v

w Efi.5 XP} 12.3.

With the strain displacement as given by Ref. [IO] and the stressstrain relationships based on threedimensional elasticity, the strain energy contribution from the element is given by

which upon substitution in the well-known Lagrange equation results in the element stiffness matrix

[Kel = st

[BIVWI

du.

The energy contributions from the bearings in the v- and w-direction I& are given by f[K,,I[wfl and
f[f&][uf],

where K,,.,,.and K,.,.iire the stiffness coefficients in the w- and v-directions as shown in Fig. 2 and i is the nodal location corresponding to the bearings. The substitution of these energy terms in the Lagrange equation gives the forces transmitted to the bearing for a shaft in lateral bending in the w- and v-directions. These forces are given by K,c,,.w cos B and Krru sin 8. Now at 0 = 0, the force transmitted in the v-direction is zero, *asa result the bearing stiffness in the w-direction alone is lumped for the bending modes. This results in a situation wherein the bending mode in the z-direction alone is obtained. To obtain Table 2. Comparison of theoretical [4] bending frequencies (rad s-) for a solid shaft Beam 521.79 1095.34 2206.00 4411.00 Present 519.50 1091.80 2232.00 4952.30

The validation study was initially performed on a hollow shaft disk system of Ref. [8] with simplysupported boundary conditions. The mechanical properties are given by the youngs modulus 2.07 x IO N m-2, shear modulus 80 x lo9 N m-, density 7800 kg m-). The physical dimensions with the disc symmetrically located at the middle of the shaft are given by L = 457 mm, b/a = 0.2, h/ a = 0.05, Ri = 12.7 mm and R, = 17.7 mm. The results obtained are compared in Table I. The theoretical and experimental frequencies given in Table 1 are those from Ref. [8] and the third column indicates the results obtained through the present approach. Another validation study was performed for a solid shaft with clamped boundary conditions [S] whose physical dimensions are L = 180 mm, R, = 50 mm, plate thickness = 50 mm. Table 3 gives the comparison for this study. The results obtained are in good agreement with those in Ref. [S]. In order to validate the inclusion of the bearing compliance effects, a numerical example [4] was used. The system consists of a 10.16 cm diameter and 127 cm long steel shaft without any discs, supported by identical bearings of stiffness K,,,, = Krr = 1.7513 x 1ON m-, with the mechanical properties given by the Youngs modulus 2.07 x 10 N m-2, density 7833 kg mm3.The frequencies given in Ref. [4] are the lateral bending frequencies of the shaft calculated using a shear deformable beam element. However, with the present element the first circumferential mode or the m = 1
mode is the lateral bending mode of the shaft. The results obtained were compared and are shown in Table 2. From these tables it is obvious that the

agreement between the results is reasonably good. In

Table 3. The natural frequencies (Hz) of flexural vibration of a circular plate with a solid shaft+clamped ends Mode of vibration FEM Present 0,o 2825 2610 0,I 10471 10273 l,O 2106 2287 l,l 12475 12517 2,O 3461 3990

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D. Satish Kumar et al.

Table 6. Frequencies (rad s-l) corresponding to the various circumferential modes for various L/r ratios Frequencies corresponding to circumferential modes 3239 3210 3147 793 578 398 3731 3734 3737 7449 7449 7450 12733 12733 12733 4497 3724 3475 1675 1476 1127 22851 22860 22872 30225 30231 30237 39733 39775 39777 19702 11701 7876 6496 2893 1959 31442 31514 31639 45607 45644 45682 58990 58996 59001 26545 14913 10129 19469 4094 2630 53395 53379 53687 60822 60830 60852 71747 71759 71769

Table 4. Comparison of frequencies (rad s-l) by the two approaches (h/a = 0.1) Present 398.9 1127.1 1959.0 2630.2 Mode Shaft bending Coupled Shaft bending Couuled Coupled Beam 399.1 1052.0 1957.0 3839.0 7573.0

L/r 5 15 25 5 15 25 5 15 25 5 15 25 5 15 25

m 0 0 0

5260.0

1 1
1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4

general the shell used in the present study is supposed to give accurate results up to r/t = 5, where r is the radius and t is the thickness of the shell. Hence it is highly applicable for hollow thick shafts. Additionally, the two case studies show that the element truly represents the bending behaviour of solid shaft disc system even for a solid shafts (r/t = 1).

5. PARAMETER

VARIATION

STUDIES

Initially for the sake of comparison with the semi-analytical approach (m = 1 mode) a set of results obtained by using a shear deformable beam element [4] with disks of various thickness considered as lumped masses were obtained with spring-supported boundary conditions. A typical case with h/a = 0.1; L/r = 25; K,,,, = 1.7513 x 1ON m- was taken, the first five natural frequencies (rad SC) obtained by the two approaches is shown in Table 4. Table 5 shows another case of a highly flexible disc with h/a = 0.005. The variation in the natural frequencies obtained by the proposed approach and the beam approach in Tables 4 and 5 gives us an insight into the effect of inclusion of flexibility of the disc on the system. From Tables 4 and 5 it is apparent that the system frequencies are affected by the inclusion of the flexibility of the disc. The frequencies other than those obtained by the beam approach are the disc modes or the coupled modes. These modes as seen from the tables are not predicted by the beam approach. As mentioned earlier the disc frequencies come into relevance whenever there is an axial excitation, as that in helical gears. A parameter variation study was performed for different L/r ratios viz. 5, 15,25 with
Table 5. Comparison of frequencies (rad s-l) by the two approaches (h/a = 0.005) Present 150.7 510.8 1092.6 1105.9 2211.0 Mode DISC Shaft bending Shaft bending Coupled Shaft bending Beam 511.9 1093.0 2211.0 4915.0 9025.0

and h/a = 0.1. As seen from Table 6, which shows the natural frequencies (rad s-) for different L/r ratios, only the lateral bending mode and the mode with no nodal diameters of the system becomes affected; an appreciable difference in the other circumferential modes is not seen. An obvious extension to the above irrelevance of the L/r ratio to higher modes of the system is that the bearings are passive at higher circumferential modes. This is due to the fact that an increase in the L/r ratio increases the flexibility of the system similar to the addition of bearing stiffness.
6. CONCLUSIONS

K ,,,, = 1.7513 x 10N m-

(1) The present proposal predicts that, in addition to the beam bending frequencies, the natural frequencies where the disk modes alone are prevalent are also obtained. (2) The inclusion of the flexibility of the disk helps predict the free-free modes of the system more accurately for accurate prediction of the response of the system. (3) The variation of the length of the shaft does not have any remarkable influence on the natural frequencies corresponding to the modes other than the lateral bending mode and those with no nodal diameters.
Acknowledgement-The authors wash to thank Prof. V. Ramamurti, Machine Dynamics Laboratory Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras for enlightening them on the subject.
REFERENCES I.

R. L. Eshelman and R. A. Eubanks. On the critical speeds of a continuous shaft disc system. Trans. ASME J. Engng Ind. 89, 645-652 (1967).

Disc flexibility 2. J. A. Dopkin and T. E. Shoup, Rotor resonant speed reduction caused by flexibility of disk. Trans. ASME J. Engng Ind. 96, 1328-1333 (1974). 3. D. R. Chivens and H. D. Nelson, The natural frequencies and critical speeds of a rotating flexible shaft disc system. Trans. ASME J. Engng Ind. 97, 881-886 (1975). 4. H. Nevzat Ozguven and Z. Levent Ozkan, Whirl speeds and unbalance response of multibearing rotors using finite elements. Trans. ASME J. Vibr. Acoust. Stress Reliab. Des. 106, 72-79 (1984). 5. I. Hayashi and N. Iwatsuki, The theoretical modal analysis of a circular plate with a solid shaft. J. Sound Vibr. 173, 633-655 (1994). 6. G. T. Flowers and Fang Sheng Wu, A study of the influence of bearing clearance on lateral coupled shaft

effects

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7.

8.

9.

IO.

disk rotor dynamics. Trans. ASME J. Engng Gas Turbines Power 115, 279-286 (1993). G. T. Flowers and S. G. Ryan, Development of a set of equations for incorporating the disc flexibility effects in rotor dynamic analyses. Trans. ASME J. Engng Gas Turbines Power 115, 227-233 (1993). A. A. S. Shahab and J. Thomas, Coupling effects of disc flexibility on the dynamic behaviour of multi-disc shaft system. J. Sound Vibr. 114, 435452 (1987). R. W. Stephenson, K. E. Rouch and R. Arora, Modelling of rotors with axisymmetric harmonic elements. J. Sound Vibr. 131, 431443 (1989). T. C. Ramesh and N. Ganesan, Finite element analysis of conical shells with a constrained vicoelastic layer. J. Sound Vibr. 171, 577-601 (1994).