September 1988 ORBIT Bently’s Corner Bearing radial stiffness versus eccentricity BENTLY HOTOR DYNAMICS ieseanen c By Donald E. Bently Chief Executive Office: Benily Nevada Corporation President, Bently Rotor Dynamics Kesearch Corporation Pitfalls when exploring new territory Exploring new territory is always a fantastic adventure, and never without problems In exploring the basic nature of the stability (and instability) of rotating machinery, Dr. Agnes Museynska and 1 regularly hit unforseen clifis, swamps, oF other impediments. Looking back, having solved the problem, these pitfalls are interesting Crossing into new territory, it some- times was necessary to tread on old tradi- tions where these traditions were wrong, for were nearly correct but had been slightly, misinterpreted, Great resistance to progress was, therefore, encountered from other workers in the field, who had ‘an incorrect, but presumably stable base ‘of theory. In such situations, you fix your covn problems, or they do not get fixed. ‘This exact situation is shown in the ease of bearing radial stifiness versus eccentricity discussed below. Bearing radial stiffness ‘versus eccentricity ‘The bearing fluid film radial stiffness K,, is a function of eccentricity ratio e, shown in Figure 1, which is pretty well known to everyone. Itis also the most vital nonlinear term in stability considerations for establishing the limit cycles ofthe orbit ‘when a rotor system goes into ofl whirl, cil whip, or any other instability, (Fluid radial damping D and fluid average cir- ccumferential velocity ratio are the other nonlinear terms). ‘The curve in Figure I is traditionally published in existing literature. The bear Ing radial stiffness, as well as damping D, tare functions of the fuid viscosity and the bearing physical properties. At higher ec- centricities, bearing stiffness is also a function of rotative speed ©, and at lower frequencies isa function of supply oil flow (pressure); neither of these has any effect fon damping D (unless the negative pres sure region sucks in a gas “void” ina fluid bearing), ‘The enti dynamic st developed, is: e equation of bearing complex finess K, which we have K= Ky ~(o-AO)* Mp + j (@-A9) D where Mj is the fluidic inertia effect. Omitting the quadrature dynamic stiff- ‘ness terms of the shaft pushing on the fluid jeD, and the fluid pushing on the shaft {the famous oil wedge support term, of ‘cross stiffness”) and setting the preces- sion speed to zero to represent steady state condition, the direct bearing stiffness K piecr = Ke ~\*0* Mn This relationship contains the negative going fluidic mass term. Since \ de- treases asa function of eccentricity ratio, the Nuidie term has fess negative effect at high eccentricity. For all practical and theoretical purposes, you can forget about itat eccentricity ratio over about Va. For this reason, the bearing stiffness K pirecr ar w = 0 is typically shown Kw as; A ay ay whore “m” is typically 3 und the negative term from fluidic mass is dropped. “There is another problem with the rep. resentation Ky. Earlier it was mentioned that Ki, was a function of rotative speed at higher eccentricities, as shown typically in Figure 2 ‘This means that the bearing stiffness Ky, Eq. (1), should be modified to show the effect of at least rotative speed ©, and possibly also other parameters, such as: Kpircr ar where @ is 2 function of @ >ESS (Ib/in) ( é a ECCENTRICITY RATIO (e) Figure 1 Bearing stiffness ve eccentricity at « constant speed 9. The balance of forces in a bearing at steady state ‘When you push ona simple spring, you have the relationship Motion equals Force divided by Spring Stiffness. Tis not s0 simple, however, when you push on a rotating sha. In this case there isnot only A direct stfinss, there is also a stiffness acting perpendicularly to the input load called Cross stiffness. This is the uid ‘wedge support term, and it exists in all rotating machinery, which simplistcally represents rotating’ cylinders inside sta tionary cylinders, such asin simple bear ings and all seals. This fluid support is formed by the rotor moving sideways to the Toad (hus itis called “cross stff- ness") a sufficient amount to close the clearance to form a wedge which, in turn, Supports the load. (This is a very simple control system, and as a result, the rotor system behaves like a control system; it may go unstable under certain cond tions). The point of this is, for the mo- tment, thar you must write an equation ‘which has both the direct suppor term and a sideways support term, even fora simple steady state load. With the coordinate system and diretion of rotation shown in Figure 3, apply a +Fy force to the shaft rotating inside a fluid’ environment. The force in the horizontal (x) direction is “The steady state balance of foree equa ORBIT BEARING WALLA Bearing sities Fy = Kay + Ryn @ Fy = 0 =Kax-Kyy @ whore Kg is the fluid direct stiffness and Kis the quadrature stiffness. Solving these two equations yields: yFy xFy Ky= way xy’ Now iry a simple experiment. Apply in- creasing steps of a steady force upward (ihe +y direction) on a rotor, rotating at a constant speed 9 in a bearing of particular dimensions, with a fluid Inbricant at a presumed constant viscosity. The results are illustrated in Figure 4. Figure 5 shows the Direct Stiffness of this simple bearing as a function of the ‘eccentricity ratio © (bearing has 8 mils iametrical clearance, soe = 1 cortes- ponds to the 4 mils clearance radius) There are many interesting things about these two basic graphs. The first is that your first and obvious. assumption from looking at the vertical deflection y +y sry tl] a Kielortaen Oicecn a September 1988 L —i—t & Figure 2 sccontricity for various rotative speeds. versus the vertical load Fy, is that the direct stiffness is obviously very high. For example, for the first pound, the direct, deflection is 25 millionths of an inch. ‘Therefore, the vertical direct stiffness should be: Lb X10" in 40000 Ibs, ‘The equations though, yield a direct stiffness of 100 Thsfin!! A mistake? No. ‘That is the nature of these force balance equations ‘Since the rotor moved only sideways (at quadrature) in the bearing, it appears to hhave an infinitely stiff spring in the direc tion of the force; however, the force bal- ance equation, Eq. (3), shows the direct stiffness to be zero: Kx Ky thus for y= 0, Ky =O. Since x # 0, itlooks like Ky must be 2270. ‘The important point is that even at steady state conditions, there are two vir- tually independent load support terms. Lf ‘one docs not carry the load, the other is left to do it. Specifically, the stiffness K, which is the principal uid wedge support tern the famous “cross spring.” supports the Toad for low to medium eccentricities in a typical bearing, and the direct term Ky another fluid wedge term) takes over ‘when the first one can no longer handle it.September 1988 ORBIT SHAFT DISPLACEMENT TOWARD FORCE, y (ils) os 10 1S (20 VERTICAL FORCE, F (mils) Figure 4 ‘Typical steady-state dlaplacement ofthe shaft ve stoudy-state force Tn abearing Figure 6 ‘Shott displacement locus inside « cylindrical beating. The Half Circle Assumption of the Shatt Displacement Vector Inside a Cylindrical Bearing as, a Function of Steady Load Of all the amusing and unfortunate assumptions made in the early days of rotor dynamics, perhaps the maximum of both features occurred with the assump- tion of the half circle locus of shaft displacement inside a cylindrical bearing duc to steady load. This semicitele is very crudely (topologically) correct; however, its the use ofthe circle to relate the Nid film direct stiffness to quadrature stiffness that is the problem. Figure 6 shows the load versus displacement assumption “The equation of the assumed half circle zs 30 38 F INCREASING y Baytag © “The force equations for this simple sys- tem are: Fy = Ky =Kx (6) 0 = Kix -Kyy ” so that, ZocenTmictTy #470 SovwNO Wi Figure 5 Bearing direct slitiness versus eccentricity ratio. Figure 7 Direct stiffness versus eccentricity for hell circle assumption. Relating Eqs. (8) and (8) back to the as- sumed semicirele, Eq. (8) these amusing and unreal relationships are obtained 0) a Fy Very? Ey Ka = Fyle ‘The attitude angle ¥ is ¥ = arctan (x/y) ¥ = arctan (Ky/Ky) Obviously, the relationship between x and y isabsolute as a function of clearance cc. However, while the rigid relationship between direct stiffness Ky and quadrature sfiffness Ky are now forced >EOCENTRIGTY RATIO Figure 8 Shalt displacement locus inside « cylindrical bearing Ky yor _ [= Ku y oe Ky 2) ‘There is nothing to establish the absolute value of either. However, itis well known that the lubricant wedge support stiffness, i.e. the quadrature stiffness, is essentially constant at low through medium eocen- tricities, at constant rotative speed and viscosity of fluid, so that @ plot of Ky and Kg may be made as in Figure 7. ‘Asa typical caso, let fe = 01 fin} Ky = 10000 bint Ths (is) Ky = 10000 (2—) tion ory {01-99 (991 "* fin (G01) Ky [lb] Notations: Force in -+y axis Fluid Film Direct Stiffness Fluid Film Quadrature Sriginess (oil wedge support stiffness) © = Radial Clearance ‘The half circle does not assume that Ky is constant; this additional assumption ‘was made here to make the Ky term look something like its usual nonlinear shape. EXTERNALLY ORBIT ~ Lowa BRESOUMECD aeaRNc ior wpe é ner error 5 In fact, however, quadrature stiffness Ky is shown by both theory and experiment 10 be remarkably constant across wide ‘eccentricity ranges considering the natural nonlinearities and nonsymmetries of typical bearings. Whereas the half circle assumption can yield a reasonable set of Ky and Ky terms, the vital ervor of their relationship is that the direct dynamie stiffness Ka is rea sonably independent of rotative speed 2, while quadrature dynamic stiffness Ky is absolutely directly proportional to the rolative speed, ‘Two secondary errors of the half circle assumption are that (1) the assumed semi circle requites zero direct stiffness at the centerline, whereas an externally pressur= ized bearing has high direct stiffness at zero eccentricity, and (2) the Muidie iner- y ‘hott static displacement vss September 1988 Hic ECCENTRIGTY RATIO Figure 8 load for various rotative speeds ‘at constant velocity tial effect term may have the exact oppo: site effect, yielding a negative direct stiff ress at Jow to medium eccentricities. These effects are shown typically in Figure 8. “The actual steady displacement versus steady load for constant viscosity and var- ious rotative speeds is shown in Figure 9 As can be observed, the semicircle is approximately correct for just one set of conditions, in the same manner that a stopped watch is correct twice a day. It may be concluded thatthe half circle assumption may be used only for ex- tremely crude representation of bearing behavior. The use of the equation for the semicircular relationship in serious rotor dynamics, however, must lead to very poor results. ytiny | xin) | Kathitiny | Ky toitin) | Ry tbs) | Very fin om] 0 0 10000 00 "00000 001 | 0030 3333 10000 33.3 00316 (002 | 0040 5000 10000 50.0 00887 ‘ona | 0046 6550 10000, 65.5 00548 (004 | 0089 8163 10000 81.6 (00632 ‘00 | 0050 10000 10000) 100.0 077 (006 | 0049 12245 10000) 122.5 (00775 007 | 0086 15284 10000) 152.8 (00837 ‘008 | 0040 20000 10000) 200.0 008 009 [0030 30000 10000) 300.0, 00949