Mechanical and vibration characteristics investigation of the elastic ring squeeze film damper-rotor considering oil film sealing and leakage

Abstract

Elastic ring squeeze film damper (ERSFD) is extensively used in industrial rotating systems due to its excellent noise control and vibration suppression characteristics. However, the oil film sealing and leakage has a profound effect on the mechanical and vibration characteristics of the ERSFD and the ERSFD-rotor during operation. The sealing and leakage reduce the axial flow of the oil film, leading to changes in the initial boundary conditions of the flow field, which in turn affects the oil film pressure and damping coefficient of ERSFD. Meanwhile, the sealing causes an increase in the oil film force of ERSFD, which in turn affects the response of the rotor system. But there is relatively little research on the impact of sealing and leakage on the dynamic performances of ERSFD-rotor. In this paper, a mathematical model of ERSFD under different sealing conditions (no end seal, complete end seal, piston ring seal, O-ring seal) is established by changing the initial boundary equations of the flow field of ERSFD and the coupled solution of the Reynolds equation of ERSFD with different sealing and leakage boundary equations is realized. Then, the characteristics of oil film pressure and force of ERSFD under different sealing conditions is studied. After that, an ERSFD-rotor model considering oil film sealing and leakage is established based on displacement compatibility conditions and force balance principles. Meanwhile, the impact of sealing and leakage on the amplitude-frequency relation and sudden imbalance of an ERSFD combined support rotor is researched. The research results reveal that good sealing can significantly increase the damping of the system, thereby reducing the vibration amplitude of the ERSFD-rotor system. In addition, good sealing conditions can also shorten the transient process of sudden unbalanced excitation. Finally, the effectiveness of some simulation results was verified through experiments on the ERSFD rotor test bench.