Front. Mech. Eng.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-018-0478-x
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Ruiduo YE, Liping WANG, Xiaojie HOU, Zhong LUO, Qingkai HAN
Balancing method without trial weights for rotor systems
based on similitude scale model
© Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2018
Abstract A balancing method without trial weights
based on the dynamic similitude scale model was proposed
as a solution to the balancing problem of a large-scale rotor
system. This method could be used to directly obtain the
required coefficients for the balancing problem of the
prototype system through a similarity model test without a
prototype test. Thus, the weight test process of the
prototype system was effectively eliminated in the
proposed balancing method. First, with the rotor system
as the research object, the analytical expression of the
influence coefficient was derived on the basis of rotor
dynamics theory. Then, through calculation and dimen-
sional analysis methods, the similitude relationships of the
rotor system and the influence coefficient were deduced on
the basis of dynamic similitude theory. The correctness of
the proposed similitude relationships was verified through
numerical simulation and experiment. The balancing
method without trial weights was proposed based on the
similitude relationship of the influence coefficient. The
effect of the balancing method without trial weights was
compared with that of the traditional influence coefficient
method through numerical simulation, and the results
verified the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed
balancing method. The results of this study provide
theoretical supplements for the balancing method and the
similitude design of the rotor system.
Received May 4, 2017; accepted July 10, 2017
Ruiduo YE, Liping WANG, Xiaojie HOU, Zhong LUO ( ) ✉ online balancing head technology is still immature, and the
School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Northeastern
University, Shenyang 110819, China
E-mail: zhluo@mail.neu.edu.cn
Ruiduo YE, Liping WANG, Xiaojie HOU, Zhong LUO
Key Laboratory of Vibration and Control of Aero-Propulsion System
Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819,
China
Qingkai HAN
School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology,
Dalian 116000, China
Keywords rotor system, dynamic similitude, balancing,
without trial weights, influence coefficient
1 Introduction
The rotor is the core component of large-scale rotating
machinery, such as aero engines and turbines. The
vibration fault caused by the mass unbalance of the rotor
accounts for more than 75% of the vibration fault of
rotating machinery. Therefore, the unbalanced vibration
mechanism of the rotor system should be investigated, and
an efficient balancing method should be developed.
Various balancing methods, such as the influence coeffi-
cient method, modal balancing method, and online
balancing head technology, have been proposed [1,2].
The influence coefficient is a vector that determines the
rotor vibration increment of the vector of the trial weight,
which induces this increment. In the influence coefficient
method, the influence coefficient of the rotor system is
obtained through repeated tests. Thus, the process of
obtaining the influence coefficient will cause the repetitive
starting and stopping of rotating machinery and consume a
large amount of manpower and material resources. In the
modal balancing method, the vibration mode of the rotor
system has to be known accurately and in detail. However,
obtaining the vibration mode of large rotor systems is
difficult because of the complex structure of the rotor. The
installation of the balancing head will drastically change
the inherent characteristic of the rotor system. These
changes will preclude the use of the rotor system in large-
scale rotating machinery, such as aero engines and
turbines, because of increased installation costs and
space limitations [3]. Given the above disadvantages of
the available balancing methods, scholars have proposed a
balancing method without trial weights. This method can
be used to balance the rotor system effectively without the
trial weight process of the prototype system.
2 Front. Mech. Eng.
Scholars have conducted considerable research on the
theory of balancing methods without trial weights. Li et al.
[4] utilized finite element technology to develop a modal
balancing method without trial weights for a flexible rotor
system. Wang et al. [5] utilized an infinite model of the
rotor system to propose a balancing method without trial
weights based on the exerted vertical trial weights. Bin
et al. [6] solved the influence coefficient with a finite
element model of the rotor system. Overall, most of the
proposed balancing methods are based on finite element
simulation. However, simulating the dynamic characteris-
tics of a large-scale rotor system working in the fluid-solid
coupling environment is difficult because of the non-
linearity of the motion equation and the complexity of the
boundary conditions. Therefore, the assessment of balan-
cing methods without trial weights for large-scale rotating
machinery cannot solely rely on numerical simulation; it
must be combined with physical experiments, which
remain the most direct and effective assessment method
for balancing methods without trial weights [7]. Never-
theless, prototype experiments on balancing methods have
been hindered by the geometric size of the rotor system, as
well as the cost and difficulty of experiments in
engineering practice [8]. Therefore, the similitude scale
model is usually used as the experimental medium in the
assessment of balancing methods without trial weights for
rotor systems [9–11]. The similitude scale model can
accurately reflect the dynamic characteristics of the
prototype rotor system, provide the influence coefficient
of the balancing method without trial weights for the
prototype rotor system, and guide the selection of the
balancing plane, balancing speed, and sensor position.
Therefore, the use of the similitude scale model has
considerable significance in the investigation of balancing
methods without trial weights.
Many researchers have extensively investigated the
similitude theory of rotor systems. Wu [12] utilized
dimensional and equation analytical methods to examine
the influence of mass, stiffness, damping, and external load
on the similitude calculation of the vibrational characteris-
tics of a rotor system; however, the effects of speed and
gyroscopic moment were ignored. Baxi et al. [13]
established the dynamic similitude model for the shaft
system of a modular ammonia-cooling turbine by using the
equation analysis method, reproduced the dynamic
characteristics of the prototype rotor system, and assessed
the online performance of the electromagnetic bearing with
the dynamic similitude model. Hu [14] theoretically
investigated the similarity law of bending and torsional
vibration of the rotor system with two supports at both
ends; they also analyzed the effects of the geometric
similitude relationship on the similitude relationship of the
inherent characteristics of rigid and flexible rotors. Aiming
to predict the modal vibration characteristics of the rotor
system, Luo et al. [15] established a dynamic similitude
design method for a rotor system on the basis of dynamic
similitude theory and equation analysis method; they then
validated the method by numerical simulation. In sum-
mary, studies on the dynamic similitude theory of the rotor
system have mainly focused on the reconstruction of the
inherent characteristics and vibrational response of the
rotor system. However, only a few studies have focused on
the similitude theory of the balancing method of rotor
systems.
This study aimed to establish a balancing method
without trial weights for large-scale rotating machinery. In
this study, the dynamic similitude relationship of the
influence coefficient between the prototype and model
rotor systems was first established through combined
equation and dimensional analyses based on dynamic
similitude theory and the influence coefficient balancing
method. The dynamic similitude relationship was then
verified by comparing the influence coefficient of the
prototype and model rotor systems through numerical
simulation and experiments on the designed examples. A
new balancing method without trial weights based on the
dynamic similitude model was proposed and validated.
The correctness of the dynamic similitude relationship and
the validity of the balancing method without trial weights
were verified.
2 Dynamic equation of the rotor system
The unbalanced rotor system is simplified for convenience.
The simplified system is shown in Fig. 1. The rotor system
consists of a shaft, a disk, and an elastic support. O
represents the mass center of the rotor, whose mass center
is not on the centerline of gyration. The coordinate system
is set with o as the coordinate origin and the z-axis as the
centerline of gyration. The x-axis is horizontally perpendi-
cular to the z-axis, and the y-axis is vertically perpendicular
to the z-axis. The terms d, l, L, and D are the diameter,
length of the shaft, width, and outer diameter of the disk,
respectively.
Fig. 1 Schematic of the rotor system
The differential equations of the rotor system under the
action of the unbalanced force can be expressed as [16]:
(
m€x þ c_x þ kx ¼ meω2 cosωt
, (1)
m€y þ c_y þ ky ¼ meω2 sinωt
where the terms m, c, and k are the rotor mass, system
 Ruiduo YE et al. Balancing method for rotor systems based on the similitude scale model 3

damping, and system stiffness, respectively, x and y are the lA – 1 lr =lu ¼ 1: (10)
horizontal and vertical vibration displacements of the rotor,
respectively, and e is the rotor eccentricity. Thus, lA – 1 can be expressed as:
The whirl response and centrifugal force can be
lA – 1 ¼ lu =lr ¼ lm le =lr , (11)
expressed as q ¼ x þ iy and F ¼ meω2 ðcosωt þ isinωtÞ,
respectively. Then, Eq. (1) can be expressed as because
m€q þ cq_ þ kq ¼ F: (
(2) Am Am – 1 ¼ 1
: (12)
The special solution of whirl response and centrifugal Ap Ap – 1 ¼ 1
force can be expressed as
( Therefore, Eq. (13) is established and expressed as
q ¼ reiωt eif
, (3) lA lA – 1 $Ap Ap – 1 ¼ 1: (13)
F ¼ uω2 eiωt
Thus, the similitude relationship of the influence
where r, u = me, ω, and f are the whirl response,
coefficient becomes
unbalanced quantity of the rotor, angular velocity of
rotation, and unbalanced response phase lag angle caused lA ¼ 1=lA – 1 ¼ lr =lm le : (14)
by damping, respectively. Substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (3)
yields the following expression: In the prototype rotor system and its dynamic similitude
scale model, A – 1 can be expressed as
ðk – mω2 þ cωiÞreif ¼ uω2 : (4)
Ap– 1 ¼ ðk p ωp– 2 – mp þ cp ωp– 1 iÞepif , (15)
Equation (4) can be simplified as

A – 1 r ¼ u, (5) Am– 1 ¼ ðk m ωm– 2 – mm þ cm ωm– 1 iÞeif

m: (16)

where A – 1 ¼ ðk – mω2 þ cωiÞeif ω – 2 . A represents the Substituting the similarity factor of each parameter into
influence coefficient of the rotor system [17] expressed as Eq. (16), Eq. (16) can be rewritten as

A ¼ ω2 ðk – mω2 þ cωiÞ – 1 e – if : (6) Ap– 1 ¼

According to Eq. (6), the influence coefficient of the  

lk –2 lm lc –1
rotor system is determined by the mass, stiffness, and k p ωp – mp þ cp ωp i leiφ eif
p :
damping of the system. Thus, when the rotor system is lω lA – 1
2 l A – 1 l l
ω A – 1

confirmed, its influence coefficient remains constant. (17)

According to dynamic similitude theory, if Eq. (17) is
established, the following expression can be obtained:
3 Establishment of the dynamic similitude
relationship lk leif l l if l l if
¼ m e ¼ c e ¼ 1: (18)
lωlA – 1
2 lA – 1 lω lA – 1
Equation (5) is generally applicable to rotor systems. Thus,
the equations of the prototype rotor system and its dynamic Substituting Eq. (11) into Eq. (18) yields
similitude scale model are expressed as 8
>
> lm le lω2
>
> l ¼
Ap– 1 rp ¼ up , (7) >
>
<
k
leif lr
leif lr
¼1 : (19)
Am– 1 rm ¼ um , >
> le
(8) >
>
>
> l ll
: lc ¼ m e ω
where subscripts “p” and “m” represent the prototype and leif lr
model, respectively. Supposing that the similarity factor of
each parameter in Eqs. (5) and (6) can be expressed as The gravity, centrifugal force, and restoring force
lε ¼ εm =εp ðε ¼ l,d,D,L,A,m,k,c,F,r,e,u,ω,eif Þ, Eq.(8) generated by deformation of the rotor have the same
dimension. The mass dimension [M], length dimension
can be rewritten as
[L], and time dimension [T] are taken as the basic
lA – 1 A – 1 lrp rp ¼ lu up : (9) dimensions. The dimension of each parameter is shown
in Table 1.
According to dynamic similitude theory [18], to From the dimensional relationship of the parameters
establish Eq. (9), there must be shown in Table 1, the following expression can be
4 Front. Mech. Eng.

Table 1 Basic dimensions of the rotor system

Dimension k r m e ω g
[T] –2 0 0 0 –1 –2
[L] 1 0 1 0 1
[M] 1 0 1 0 0 0

obtained: lA ¼ l– 1 ld– 2 l–l 1 , lm ¼ l ld2 ll ,

8 1
lk ¼ lE ld4 l3l , lc ¼ l2 lE2 ld3 ll– 1 ,
1
>
> ½k½r ¼ ½m½e½ω2
<
> ½g ¼ ½e½ω2 , (20) leif ¼ lf ¼ 1, lu ¼ lg l2 l5l lE– 1 ,
>
:
½e ¼ ½r le ¼ lr ¼ lg l ll4 lE– 1 ld– 2 : (25)
where ½δ ðδ ¼ k,r,m,e,ω,g,rÞ represents the dimensional In the rotor system, only the influence of the disk mass
relationship of parameters. According to Eq. (20) and and moment of inertia on the rotor is considered regardless
similitude theory, the following similarity criteria are of the axial stiffness of the disk [19,20]. According to
obtained: formulas of the mass and moment of inertia of the disk, the
8 similitude relationships of the mass and moment of inertia
>
>
k p rp k r can be expressed as
>
> π1 ¼ ¼ m m2
>
> mp ep ωp 2 mm em ωm 8
< gp gm > mdm lD2 – ld2 k 2
π2 ¼ ¼ : >
> l ¼ ¼ l l
>
(21) < md d L
> ep ω2p em ωm2 mdp 1 – k2
>
> ep , (26)
>
> ¼ m
e >
> J dm lD – ld4 k 4
4
: π3 ¼ > l
: Jd ¼ ¼ ld Ll
rp rm J dp 1 – k2
where π i ði ¼ 1,2,3Þ is a dimensionless constant. Thus, where k ¼ d=D is the ratio of the inner diameter to the
Eq. (21) can be rewritten as outer diameter of the prototype disk.
8 According to the formulas of the mass and moment of
>
> l ¼ lm le lω2 =lr
< k inertia of the shaft, the similitude relationship can be
lg ¼ le lω2 : (22) expressed as
>
> (
:
le ¼ lr lm ¼ l ld2 ll
: (27)
Combining Eqs. (19) and (22), the following similitude lJ ¼ l ld2 l3l
relationship can be derived: The disk and the shaft form a unified whole, and the
8 similitude relationship of the mass and moment of inertia
> lk ¼ lm lω2
>
> should be consistent. The similitude scaling laws of the
>
>
< lc ¼ lm lω outer diameter and the width of the disk can be derived by
: (23) substituting Eq. (26) into Eq. (27).
>
> lg 8
>
> le ¼ lr ¼ 2 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
>
: lω >
> l ¼ ll2 ð1 þ k 2 Þ – ld2 k 2
leif ¼ 1 < D

l ld2 ll ð1 – k 2 Þ : (28)
>
> l ¼
The similitude relationship of the angular velocity of : L l ½l2 ð1 þ k 2 Þ – 2l2 k 2 
rotation can be derived based on Ref. [15] as d l d

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi The dynamic similitude relationships of the rotor system

lω ¼ ðld =ll Þ lE =l :
2
(24) and influence coefficient are constituted by Eqs. (25) and
(28).
The terms ld , ll , lE , and l represent the similarity
factors of rotor diameter, rotor length, rotor material elastic
modulus, and rotor material density, respectively. 4 Verification of the similitude relationship
Substituting Eq. (24) into Eqs. (14) and (23), the by simulation
similitude scaling laws of the rotor system can be
simplified as The prototype and model rotor systems were designed in
 Ruiduo YE et al. Balancing method for rotor systems based on the similitude scale model 5

accordance with Eqs. (25) and (28) to verify the similitude Table 4 Model shaft parameters
relationships of the rotor system and influence coefficient. Shaft segment (from the left) Length L/mm Diameter R/mm
The rotor system structure is shown in Fig. 2. The model 1 105.4 9
was manufactured from the same material as that of the 2 56.6 15
prototype. Thus, lg ¼ l ¼ lE ¼ 1. The design objective
3 28.3 25
isptoffiffiffi make the influence coefficient similarity factor lA ¼
4 596.1 35
4 2 and the rotating speed similaritypfactor ffiffiffi lω ¼ 1.
5 41.0 25
Combining Eqs. (24) and (25) yields ll ¼ 2=2, ld ¼ 0:5.
Other parameters of the similarity factor are expressed as 6 84.5 15
l ¼ lE ¼ lg ¼ 1,
pffiffiffi Table 5 Model disk parameters
ll ¼ 2=2, ld ¼ 0:5, Disk (from the left) Diameter R/mm Width B/mm Axial position/mm
pffiffiffi
lA ¼ 4 2, lω ¼ 1, 1 145.6 6.5 250.3
pffiffiffi pffiffiffi 2 145.6 5.9 380.4
lm ¼ 2=8, lk ¼ 2=8, 3 145.6 9.3 555.8
pffiffiffi
lc ¼ 2=8, le ¼ lr ¼ 1: (29) 4 173.3 11.3 750.2

Table 6 Supporting stiffness and damping

System Bearing Stiffness Damping Axial position
type location /(N∙m–1) /(N$s$m – 1 ) /mm
Prototype 1 1:50  106 700 189.0
2 2:00  106 700 1359.0
Fig. 2 Simplified structure of the rotor system Model 1 2:65  105 124 133.6
2 3:54  105 124 961.0
The prototype and model rotor systems were fabricated
from the same material. The modulus of elasticity of the
The vibration critical speed and mode of the prototype
material is 209 GPa, the density is 7850 kg=m3 , and the and model rotor systems are shown in Table 7 and Fig. 3
Poisson’s ratio is 0.3. The structural parameters of the and verified that the model rotor system satisfies the
prototype and model rotor systems are calculated using Eq. similitude relationship. The first-order and second-order
(29). The results are shown in Tables 2 to 6. modes and critical speed of the rotor system were
considered in this study because the balancing speed of
Table 2 Prototype shaft parameters the rotor system would generally not exceed the third-order
Shaft segment (from the left) Length L/mm Diameter R/mm critical speed.
1 149 18 The data shown in Table 7 verified that the similarity
factor of rotor speed is 1 r/min. Thus, the same speed could
2 80 30
be selected for the prototype and model rotor systems to
3 40 50 calculate the influence coefficients. The influence coeffi-
4 843 70 cients of four balancing planes under the rotating speeds of
5 58 50 1800 and 3200 r/min are shown in Tables 8 and 9,
6 120 30 respectively. Disk positions were regarded as the balancing
planes, and two bearing positions were used as the sensor
locations. The influence coefficients of the prototype and
model rotor systems were calculated through finite element
simulation.
Table 3 Prototype disk parameters
Turntable Diameter Width Axial Table 7 Critical speed of the prototype and model
(from the left) R/mm B/mm position/mm Order Prototype/(r∙min–1) Model/(r∙min–1) Error/%
1 200 21 354 1BW 2263 2270 0.31
2 200 19 538 1FW 2264 2271 0.31
3 200 30 786 2BW 3956 3948 0.20
4 240 35 1061 2FW 4125 4112 0.32
6 Front. Mech. Eng.

the proposed balancing method without trial weights of the

rotor system.

5 Verification of the similitude relationship

Fig. 3 Vibration mode of the prototype and model. (a) The first-
order and (b) second-order modes of the prototype; (c) the first-
order and (d) second-order modes of the model
The predicted influence coefficients of the prototype are
calculated using the influence coefficients of the model
divided by the similarity factor. The comparison of the
influence coefficient of the prototype with the prediction
error of the influence coefficient is shown in Table 10.
The influence coefficients of the prototype and prototype
prediction are shown in Fig. 4.
Table 8 and Figure 4 show that the relative error of the
influence coefficients between prototype and prototype
prediction is less than 5% and that the angle deviation is
less than 2°. These results proved that the influence
coefficient of the prototype rotor system could be
accurately predicted by the dynamic similitude scale
model. The similitude scaling laws of the rotor system
and influence coefficient were proven correct. Therefore,
the dynamic similarity model can be feasibly used to assess
Table 8 Influence coefficients of the prototype rotor system
Rotating speed/(r∙min–1) Sensor location Plane 1/(mm:(° ))
1800 1 3:8  10 – 5 : – 8:8
–5
2 1:7  10 : – 5:5
3200 1 3:3  10 – 5 : – 10:2
2 8:9  10 – 5 : 174:8
by experiment
Experiments were conducted to verify the validity and
practicability of the proposed method for predicting the
influence coefficient. A model test system was designed by
adopting the similarity factors of the parameters in Eq.
(29). Figure 5(a) shows the prototype system, and Fig. 5(b)
shows the model system. Table 11 shows the parameters of
the prototype and model rotor systems. Bearings that
approximately meet the similitude relationship on stiffness
and damping as support were selected for the systems.
Using the disk plane as the balancing plane for added
trial weights, the plane on the right side of prototype disk
plane with a distance of 35 mm was designated as the
Sensor 1and the plane on the left side of model disk plane
with a distance of 25 mm was designated as the Sensor 1.
The influence coefficients measured at speeds of 1000,
1200, and 1400 r/min are shown in Table 12.
Table 12 shows that the maximum numerical relative
error of the influence coefficients predicted from the model
rotor system is 28.59% and the maximum deviation of the
angle is 10:31°. The prediction error is relatively large.
However, the influence coefficient predicted by the model
Plane 2/(mm:(° )) Plane 3/(mm:(° )) Plane 4/(mm:(° ))
3:4  10 – 5 : – 9:5 2:6  10 – 5 : – 9:1 1:6  10 – 5 : – 9:1
–5 –5
2:2  10 : – 4:3 2:8  10 : – 2:9 3:2  10 – 5 : – 1:7
3:0  10 – 6 : – 178:9 5:1  10 – 5 :171:6 9:6  10 – 5 :171:3
6:5  10 – 5 : – 179:6 2:9  10 – 5 : – 156:0 3:1  10 – 5 : – 46:6

Table 9 Influence coefficients of the model rotor system

Rotating speed/(r∙min–1) Sensor location Plane 1/(mm:(° )) Plane 2/(mm:(° )) Plane 3/(mm:(° )) Plane 4/(mm:(° ))
1800 1 –4
2:2  10 : – 9:5 –4
1:9  10 : – 9:4 –4
1:5  10 : – 9:5 9:2  10 – 5 : – 9:5
2 9:7  10 – 5 : – 6:5 1:2  10 – 4 : – 4:5 1:6  10 – 4 : – 2:9 1:8  10 – 4 : – 1:7
–4 –5 –4
3200 1 2:0  10 : – 10:2 1:7  10 : – 174:7 2:8  10 :171:6 5:3  10 – 4 :171:2
2 5:2  10 – 4 :174:9 3:7  10 – 4 : – 179:8 1:7  10 – 4 : – 157:6 1:7  10 – 4 : – 46:8

Table 10 Prediction error of the influence coefficient

Error/(%:(° ))
Rotating speed/(r∙min–1) Sensor location
Plane 1 Plane 2 Plane 3 Plane 4
1800 1 0:95:0:62 0:17:0:05 1:31:0:43 1:65:0:44
2 0:87:0:99 0:36:0:20 1:51:0:05 0:54:0:08
3200 1 4:99:0:00 0:17:4:20 4:33:0:07 2:77:0:10
2 2:29:0:10 0:63:0:22 2:41:1:52 2:49:0:12
 Ruiduo YE et al. Balancing method for rotor systems based on the similitude scale model 7

Fig. 4 Comparison of the influence coefficients of the prototype and prototype prediction. (a) Plane 1; (b) Plane 2; (c) Plane 3; (d) Plane 4

Fig. 5 Prototype and model rotor test systems. (a) Prototype rotor system; (b) model rotor system

is numerically less than that of the prototype numerically,
and the prediction error approaches 28%. Meanwhile, the
predicted angle is larger than that of the prototype, with the
angular deviation of approximately 9°. This finding
showed that the influence coefficients predicted by the
model and the influence coefficients of the prototype
satisfy the similarity relationship for the entire trend, but
the predicted influence coefficient may be inaccurate
because of other reasons.
The reasons that may lead to inaccurate predicted
8 Front. Mech. Eng.

Table 11 Structural parameters of the prototype and model rotor
systems
System type Shaft segment number l/mm d/mm
Prototype 1 42 24
2 40 34
3 535 38
4 (disk) 40 200
5 535 38
6 47 34
Model 1 30 12
2 28 17
3 378 19
4 (disk) 16 142
5 378 19
6 33 17
influence coefficients were summarized from a review of
the literature and are as follows:
1) In addition to imbalance, the prototype and model test
systems may have faults, such as misalignment and rub-
impact. These faults may result in inaccurate influence
coefficients for the prototype or model rotor system.
2) The design of the prototype and model rotor systems
cannot satisfy the similarity relationship because of
machining errors, subsequently resulting in errors of the
similitude relationship of the influence coefficients.
3) As the bearing is the standard part, the stiffness and
damping of selected bearings can only approximately meet
the similitude relationship in the test [21], leading to
inaccuracy of the model test bench and subsequently to the
inaccurate prediction of the influence coefficient.
In view of these reasons, this study analyzed the
vibration signal of the prototype and model rotor systems.
The frequency response of the prototype and model rotor
systems in the horizontal direction at 1000 r/min is shown
in Fig. 6.
Figure 6 shows that the prototype and model rotor
systems have multiple frequencies in addition to working
frequency. The amplitude of 2 frequency is higher than
that of other frequencies, indicating that the rotor system
has misalignment and rub-impact faults in addition to
unbalance, and the effect of misalignment is more
significant than that of rub-impact [22,23]. The unbalanced
vibration signal is inaccurate because of the existence of
misalignment and rub-impact, and the calculation preci-
sion of the influence coefficient is affected. Thus, Reason 1
was verified. The other possible reasons were unverified
because of the limited experimental conditions.
6 Application of the balancing method
without trial weights
The simulation and experimental results verified the
correctness of the similarity relationship of the rotor
system and the influence coefficient. The results indicated
that the dynamic similarity model can be feasibly used to
predict the influence coefficient of the rotor system, thus
laying the foundation for the balancing method without test

Table 12 Prediction error of the influence coefficients

Rotating speed/(r∙min–1) Prototype/(μm:(° )) Model/(μm:(° )) Prototype prediction/(μm:(° )) Prediction error/(%:(° ))
1000 0:0114: – 76:48 0:0482: – 67:18 0:0085: – 67:18 25:26:9:30
1200 0:0251: – 82:89 0:1014: – 73:88 0:0179: – 73:88 28:59:9:01
1400 0:0456: – 86:23 0:1855: – 75:92 0:0328: – 75:92 28:09:10:31

Fig. 6 Frequency response of the prototype and model. (a) Prototype system; (b) model system
 Ruiduo YE et al. Balancing method for rotor systems based on the similitude scale model
Fig. 7 Dynamic balancing effect of the rotor system. (a) Plane 2; (b) Plane 3
weights in the rotor system. Therefore, the dynamic
similarity model of any rotor system that needs dynamic
balance can be used to predict the influence coefficient
without the trial weight process. Numerical simulation was
then conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
method.
The rotor system of the numerical simulation was
established as shown in Fig. 2 and in accordance with the
parameters presented in Tables 2, 3, and 6. The initial
unbalance of the rotor system at different positions in the
axial direction of the rotor was set using the influence
coefficient of the prototype shown in Table 8 and the
predicted influence coefficient of the prototype shown in
Table 9. Then, the balancing test of the prototype rotor
system was conducted. In the tests, the balancing planes
were set as Planes 1, 2, and 4 and the balancing speeds
were set at 1800 and 3200 r/min. The vibration responses
(zero peak amplitude) of Planes 2 and 3 before and after
balancing are shown in Fig. 7.
As seen in Fig. 7, the balancing effect of the predicted
influence coefficient of the prototype is slightly worse than
that of the influence coefficient of the prototype. However,
the overall result is good, satisfying the dynamic balance
requirements and verifying the effectiveness of the
proposed method.
7 Conclusions
In this study, the balancing problem of a rotor system was
addressed without the need for trial weights. First, the
similitude relationships of the rotor system and the
influence coefficient were established through the com-
bined methods of equation analysis and dimensional
analysis based on the dynamic similitude theory. A
balancing method without test weights based on the
dynamic similarity model was then proposed. The
following conclusions are drawn:
9
1) The similitude scaling laws of the rotor system and
the influence coefficient are set up, verifying that the
dynamic similitude scale model can be feasibly used to
predict the influence coefficient of the prototype rotor
system.
2) The proposed balancing method without trial weights
relies on the similitude relationships of the rotor system
and influence coefficient and is proven to effectively
reduce the vibration of the rotor system.
Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11572082), the Excellent Talents
Support Program in Institutions of Higher Learning in Liaoning Province of
China (Grant No. LJQ2015038), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities of China (Grant Nos. N160312001, N150304004, and
N140301001).
Conflict of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest, including
specific financial interests and relationships relevant to the subject of this
paper.
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