Investigation of Vibration Mitigation of Flexibly Support Rigid Rotors Equipped with Controlled Elements

Abstract

Abstract The subject of investigations presented in this article is achieving the optimum attenuation of lateral vibration of rotors by means of two design variants of constraint elements: semiactive magnetorheological squeeze film dampers and actively controlled hydrodynamic bearings. The damping effect of magnetorheological dampers is controlled by the change of magnetic flux generated in electric coils and of the hydrodynamic bearings by the change of magnitude of the proportional gain of a feedback controller exciting movement of the bearing housings. In the developed mathematical models the rotor is considered as absolutely rigid and the controllable constraint elements are represented by force couplings. The rotor turns at constant angular speed, is loaded by its weight and in addition it is excited by a centrifugal force caused by the disc unbalance. In both design cases its lateral vibration is governed by a nonlinear equation of motion. The pressure distribution in the lubricating film in the magnetorheological squeeze film damper is described by a Reynolds equation modified for Bingham fluid whose yield shear stress depends on magnetic induction. The hydraulic forces acting in the hydrodynamic bearings are determined for the case of π-film cavitation and position of the bearing housings is adjusted by actuators activated by a proportional feedback controller. The aim of the analysis is to deal with approaches leading to minimizing amplitude of the rotor steady state vibration and magnitude of the force transmitted into the rotor casing and to compare efficiency of both design variants. The performed computer simulations show that the arrangement with the magnetorheological squeeze film damper gives better results in reducing magnitude of the transmitted force than those when the rotor is supported by hydrodynamic bearings with actively controlled position of the bearing housings.