Dynamic Analysis of Engine-Mount Systems

Abstract

This paper examines the forced response of an airplane engine supported by an elastic foundation. It is assumed that the vibrations of the engine and the foundation are small enough such that the equations of motion are linear. The engine is modeled as a rigid body connected to the foundation by standard industrial rubber mounts which act as three-dimensional springs with a significant amount of hysteresis damping. Three fundamental models of the foundation are considered; rigid, statically flexible, and dynamically flexible. In the flexible cases, the foundation is modeled as a clamped circular plate, infinite plate, or any structure identified by a finite element stiffness matrix. In all cases, the mass, stiffness, and damping matrices of the engine-mount system are constructed and the frequency response to the rotating unbalance is determined. For the infinite and clamped circular plate cases, analytical methods are used to determine the real and imaginary parts of the flexibility matrix at different frequencies in response to the harmonic forces transmitted to the plate through the rubber mounts. It is shown here that the foundation elasticity may have a significant effect on the engine vibration and the mounting forces transmitted from the engine to the structure. It is also shown that only the dynamic model of the foundation is able to capture the correct response of the system at frequencies close to the foundation’s natural frequencies.