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Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 592-594 (2014) pp 1084-1088 Submitted: 2014-04-23
© (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Revised: 2014-05-16
doi:10.4028/ www.scientific.net/ AMM.592-594.1084 Accepted: 2014-05-19
Online: 2014-07-15

Influence of applied misalignment on the balanced high speed flexible

coupling of fighter aircraft
S.Nagesh1, a, AM Junaid Basha2,b and G Thakur Dinesh singh3,c
1,2
Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment, DRDO, Chennai.India
3
Dept.of Mechanical Engg, Defense Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune. India
a b c
nge0207@gmail.com, junaidbashaam@yahoo.com, dinnu74@yahoo.com

Keywords: Rotating machinery, Misalignment, Vibration, Campbell diagram, Critical speed, unbalance
response, Dynamic balancing,

Abstract. The fighter aircraft transmission system consists of a light weight, High Speed Flexible
Coupling (HSFC), used to transmit power from engine gear box to accessory gear box at speed
ranging from 10,000 to 18,000 rpm. The HSFC accommodates larger parallel and axial misalignment
resulting from differential thermal expansion of the aircraft engine and mounting arrangement. As the
HSFC operates at higher rotational speeds close to critical velocities, it is important to analyze, the
unbalance exciting forces considering the misalignment. In the present work, prediction of critical
speed by camp bell diagram and unbalance response of the HSFC has been carried out using FEA.
An experimental investigation also been carried out to study the influence of applied misalignment on
a bi-plane dynamically balanced HSFC. The study shows that lower reaction forces are transmitted to
HSFC end supports with the applied misalignments, as they are accommodated by the elastic material
flexure of flexible plates.

Introduction

The Fighter aircraft transmission system consists of a light weight, High Speed Flexible Coupling
(HSFC) known as power take-off shaft for connecting engine gearbox with accessory gear box. The
HSFC transmits the power at speed ranging from 10,000 to 18,000 rpm through series of specially
contoured metallic annular thin flexible plates whose planes are normal to the torque axis.
The HSFC is also catered for accommodating larger angular and axial misalignment. In the aircraft
transmission system, the engine and accessories drives are mounted on different bases. Under
dynamic conditions it results in parallel misalignment of HSFC and axial misalignment occurs due to
the thermal expansion of engine. The misalignments are accommodated by the thin cross sectional
contoured titanium alloy flexible plates by bending. The Fig.1 shows Configuration of HSFC and Fig.2
shows cross section of flexible plate.

Fig. 1 Configuration of HSFC Fig.2 Flexible Plate

cross section
The HSFC was bi-plane dynamically balanced. The unbalance of the rotor system will create
unbalanced couple which results in higher bearing thrust. This will reduce the life of the support end
bearings and fatigue failure may occur.

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Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 592-594 1085

Fischer, Jonas, and Jens Strackeljan [1]investigated steady state deflections, bearing loads and
dynamic run-ups by simulation using open code FERAN. Luneno, Jean-Claude, et.al. [2] have
presented the effects of shaft flexibility and gyroscopic coupling on instability threshold speeds of
rotor-bearing systems. Lee Sunung, Chris leontopoulos, and Colin Besant [3] have investigated
backward whirl in isotropic and anisotropic systems with gyroscopic effects. In the present study,
prediction of critical speed by camp bell diagram and unbalance response of the HSFC has been
carried out using FEA. An experimental investigation also been carried out to study the influence of
applied misalignment on a bi-plane dynamically balanced HSFC.
The equation of motion of axially symmetric rotor
The HSFC is an axially symmetric rotor. The equation of motion, in generalized matrix form,
for an axially symmetric rotor rotating at a constant spin speed ÿ is given by Eq.1 [4].

(one)

Where,
M = Symmetric mass matrix
C = Symmetric dumping matrix
G = Skew-symmetric gyroscopic matrix
K = Symmetric bearing stiffness matrix
N = Gyroscopic matrix of deflection for inclusion of eg, centrifugal elements.
q = Generalized coordinates of the rotor in inertial coordinates
f = Forcing function including the unbalance ÿ =
Angular velocity of the rotor

The gyroscopic matrix G is proportional to spin speed ÿ. The general solution to the above equation
involves complex eigenvectors which are spin speed dependent.
Critical speed analysis
The balancing of HSFC has to be done at the speed range away from the critical speed. The spin
speeds at which one of the forcing functions has a frequency coinciding with one of the natural
frequencies of the system are usually referred to as critical speeds and can be identified on the
Campbell diagram by the intersections of the curves related to the natural frequencies with those
related to the forcing frequencies [5]. The critical speed analysis of the HSFC was carried out using
the commercial Finite element code Ansys 14.5. The Fig.3 shows finite element model of HSFC.
The solid element rotor dynamic model was used
carried out considering the effects of gyroscopes
and spin softening. For the analysis, stationary
frame of reference is used in which HSFC is
modeled along with a stationary support structure.
This facilitates spinning at different rotational
speeds about different axes of rotation and
generation of Campbell plot for computing rotor
Fig. 3 Finite element model of HSFC critical speeds [6]. In dynamic condition,
the rotor tends to bend and follows an orbital or
elliptical motion due to centrifugal force acting upon the rotor during rotation known as whirl. Of
This analysis, a number of Eigen frequency analyzes are performed on HSFC for the speed range
from 0 rpm to 25000 rpm using multiple load steps. Since the model undergoes rotation on this
analysis, it is possible to extract Eigen frequencies at any speed between the specified speed ranges
with the defined increment. The critical speed of 15,632 rpm of HSFC predicted by Campbell diagram
is shown in Fig.4.
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1086 Dynamics of Machines and Mechanisms, Industrial Research

Fig. 4 Campbell plot of HSFC

From the Campbell analysis it can be seen that the gyroscopic moment stiffens the HSFC stiffness,
Shifts forward whirl frequencies and gyroscopic moment softening the HSFC stiffness, shifts down the
backward whirl frequencies.

Unbalance response analysis

The uneven mass distribution and elastic bending misalignment of the HSFC in dynamic condition
induce unbalance. The harmonic response analysis has been performed using FEA code Ansys 14.5
[5] to determine maximum force and displacement transmitted to the end supports by applied
unbalance loading. The unbalance loading conditions are defined as force input and frequency of
excitation synchronous with the rotational velocities. The maximum force and moment reaction of
HSFC transmitted at the critical speed is shown in Fig.5 and Fig.6.The frequency response at center
tube and at end flange at the critical speed are shown in Fig.7 and Fig.8. The results show that lower
end moments and reaction forces are offered by HSFC. This is due to the misalignment
accommodation by flexible plates by elastic material flexure which offers lower reaction forces being
transmitted to the support ends [7].

Experimental investigations on residual unbalance of HSFC

As the HSFC operates below its critical speed, it is dynamically balanced as rigid rotor. For HSFC,
the desired balance quality grade is G 2.5 as per ISO: 1940 standard [8]. The balancing was carried
out by material removal method on the balancing collars provided on HSFC at either ends of center
tube. For carrying out the dynamic balancing of the HSFC, bi-plane balancing method with simply
supported mounting as shown in Fig. 9 was used. The total unbalance in the HSFC can be visualized
as two unbalanced weights on the HSFC input side (plane-I) and output end (plane-II), respectively.
The experiments are conducted with three test units of HSFC with indexing of mounting bolts to
evaluate residual unbalance level of HSFC. The HSFC without misalignment has been examined for
magnitude of residual unbalance level and results are as given in Fig.10.
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Fig: 5 Force reaction of HSFC Fig: 6 Moment reaction of HSFC

Fig: 7 Frequency response at center tube Fig: 8 Frequency response at end flange

In the HSFC, the axial misalignment was applied by moving the one pedestal of the balancing
machine axially in steps of 1 mm extension. The residual unbalance levels of HSFC with axial
misalignment are shown in Fig.11. The HSFC the parallel misalignment was applied by raising the
one pedestal of the balancing machine by shims of known thickness in steps, while the other end
pedestal was fixed. The residual unbalance levels of HSFC with parallel misalignment are given in
Fig.12. The applied misalignment has resulted in increase in magnitude of residual unbalance
compared to HSFC without misalignment. But the residual unbalance level per plane of HSFC is
well within the specified balancing quality requirements.

HSFC

Plane-I Plane-II

Fig.9 Test Setup Fig.10 HSFC without misalignment

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1088 Dynamics of Machines and Mechanisms, Industrial Research

Fig.11 HSFC with Axial misalignment Fig.12 HSFC with parallel misalignment

Conclusion
The critical speed of HSFC has been predicted by Campbell diagram. The unbalance response
analysis shows that the lower end moments and reaction forces are offered by HSFC due to
accommodation of misalignment by flexible plates. The experimental investigation of influence of
applied misalignment on the magnitude of residual unbalance of HSFC shows that there is no
significant variation in residual unbalance level because of flexible nature of HSFC. It is concluded
that, it is always advantageous to design the HSFC with the lower bending stiffness to reduce the
corresponding bending stress induced on the flexible plates. This will enable greater bending
deflection can be accommodated by HSFC before flexible plate material fatigue and endurance
limits are reached.

references

[1] Fischer, Jonas, and Jens Strackeljan: FEM-Simulation and stability analyzes of high speed
th
rotor systems, 7 International Conference on Rotor Dynamics. Conference Proceedings,
Vienna University of Technology. (2006)
[2] Luneno, Jean-Claude, Jan-Olov Aidanpää, and Rolf Gustavsson, in Effects of Shaft Flexibility
and Gyroscopic Coupling on Instability Threshold Speeds of Rotor-Bearing Systems, Proc. of
thirteenth International symposium on Transport phenomena and Dynamics of rotating
machinery, Waikiki, Hawaii. (2010)
[3] Lee Sun Ung, Chris Leontopoulos, and Colin Besant in "Backward whirl investigations in
isotropic and anisotropic systems with gyroscopic effects" IMAC -Proc. of International
Modal Analysis Conference, Vol. 2, (1999) p.1692-1698.
[4] Muszyÿska Agnieszka: Rotor dynamics. (CRC Press. 2005)
[5] Giancarlo Genta: Dynamics of Rotating Systems,(Springer Science 2005).
[6] ANSYS Inc: ANSYS Mechanical User Guide Release 14.5 (2012)
[7] Nagesh.S and AM Junaid Basha : Effects of Misalignment of High Speed Flexible Coupling on
the Fighter Aircraft Transmission Characteristics, International Journal of Fluid
Machinery and Systems. Vol. 5, No. 2, (2012)
[8] ISO standard: Mechanical Vibration-Balancing Quality Requirements of Rigid Rotor-part –I,
Determination of permissible residual unbalance, ISO 1940/1 (1986)
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Dynamics of Machines and Mechanisms, Industrial

Research 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.592-594

Influence of Applied Misalignment on the Balanced High Speed Flexible Coupling of Fighter
Aircraft 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.592-594.1084