Nonlinear Analysis of Rub Impact in a Three-Disk Rotor and Correction Via Bearing and Lubricant Adjustment

Rubbing between rotating and stationary surfaces in turbomachinery can result in catastrophic failures if not caught quickly. Removing the rub impact can then often require time consuming and expensive solutions including field balancing or magnetic bearing systems. However, simple changes in bearing dynamics via bearing and lubricant adjustment could provide for a faster and cheaper alternative. In this work, a three-disk rotor was examined analytically for nonlinear rotordynamic behavior due to an unbalance-driven rub. The rotordynamic solution was obtained using nonlinear and steady state finite element models to demonstrate the effect of the rub impact on the dynamic response of the machine. A thermoelastohydrodynamic (TEHD) model of tilting pad journal bearing performance was also used to study the possible removal of the rub impact by making minor adjustments to bearing parameters including preload, clearance, pad orientation, and lubricant properties. Gas-expanded lubricants (GELs), tunable mixtures of synthetic oil and carbon dioxide that have been proposed as a means to provide control in bearing-rotor systems, were also considered for their possible role in controlling the rub. The TEHD model provided a range of bearing inputs to the rotor models in the form of stiffness and damping coefficients. Results from the rotordynamic analyses included an assessment of critical speeds, peak rotor displacements, and vibration characteristics. Individual bearing parameter adjustments were found to have smaller, though still significant effects on the response of the machine. Overall, it was found that by adjusting a combination of these bearing parameters, the peak displacement of the rotor could be reduced by large enough amounts to remove the rub impact in the machine, hence providing a simple approach to solving rub impact problems in rotating machinery caused by excessive vibration.