Dynamic characteristics of self-acting gas bearing–flexible rotor coupling system based on the forecasting orbit method

Abstract

This paper studies the nonlinear dynamic characteristics of a flexible rotor supported by self-acting gas bearings theoretically. The multiple degree freedom model of flexible rotor is established by the finite element method and analyzed coupled with the transient gas lubricated Reynolds equation by employing the forecasting orbit method. The Reynolds equation is solved by the alternating direction implicit method and the dynamic response of the rotor is calculated by the Newmark integral method. To settle the problem that the two kinds of transient solving processes (transient Reynolds equation for bearing and transient equation of motion for rotor) cannot be solved simultaneously, which arises from the fact that they need each other’s results as their initial values, the multi-field coupling algorithm based on the forecasting method is proposed and applied in this paper. By employing the numerical method, the rotor trajectory diagram, phase diagram, frequency spectrum, power spectrum, bifurcation diagram, and vibration mode diagram were obtained. It is to note that the dynamic characteristics of self-acting gas bearing–rotor system and whirling instability of the system could be depicted successfully. This would establish the foundation for contributing to a further understanding of the gas bearing–flexible rotor system.