Stability of a Rotor Partially Filled With Fluid: Test Facility and Experimental Results

Marie Kasprzyk, John Sentmanat, Adolfo Delgado

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fluid trapped in a hollow, rotating component may lead to subsynchronous vibrations, resulting in high vibration amplitudes. This asynchronous response is observed around 0.55–0.92X after passing through the first critical frequency and affects large rotating equipment such as centrifuges, fluid-cooled gas turbines, and jet engines. A test rig is designed to evaluate this self-excited asynchronous vibration. The high-speed rig comprises of a flexibly-mounted rotor partially filled with fluid, with an overhung test chamber providing an unobstructed view of the liquid surface. A squeeze film damper provides external damping and allows operation through the asynchronous response when the test chamber contains a large amount of fluid. The results show the rotor response with different fluid depths and external damping values as the rotor-bearing system transverses the first critical speed (cylindrical mode). The experiments show that only a small amount of oil (~20 mL) is required to induce asynchronous excitations, and increasing the fluid depth increases the amplitude of vibration. External damping slightly decreases the response, but it also expands the range of frequencies where asynchronous vibrations occur. At a given speed ratio, the vibrations reach a limit cycle, and subsequently, begin to drop as the rotor speed increases past the first critical speed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number041019
JournalJournal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power
Volume145
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2023
Externally publishedYes

Funding

The authors would like to thank Bryant Myers for his assistance during the assembly and operation of the test rig.

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