Dynamical analysis of an elastic ring squeeze film damper-rotor system

Abstract

In this paper, a calculation procedure is proposed to investigate the dynamic characteristics and response of an elastic ring squeeze film damper supported rotor system (ERSFD-rotor). First, the oil film pressure and force of ERSFD are analyzed by solving the Reynolds equations. Next, deformation of elastic ring is calculated by using the finite element method (FEM) based on Kirchhoff assumption. Then the dynamical equations of rotor system are numerically simulated with cooperation of the former two steps. Using the procedure, both the response of rotor and the oil film coefficients of the ERSFD can be determined simultaneously. Calculations show that the nonlinearity of oil coefficients of ERSFD are smaller than that of classic squeeze film damper (SFD). Thus, the ERSFD behaves better than the SFD in preventing bi-stable vibration of rotor by suppressing nonlinear effects of the oil film. Influences of the ERSFD parameters, namely the oil film thickness, ring thickness and number of elastic ring bosses, on the dynamical characteristics and response of the rotor are also discussed. The study reveals that the elastic ring enable better dynamical performance of the ERSFD than the SFD in three aspects.