AN INTRODUCTION TO ROTATING UNBALANCE

By Tom Irvine
Email: tomirvine@aol.com

March 20, 2008

______________________________________________________________________________

Rotating unbalance in machinery is an example of an applied force. Model a machine with

rotating unbalance as a single-degree-of-freedom system.

m
ωt
e

x
M

c
k/2 k/2

Figure 1.

The variables are:

M is the total mass

m is the eccentric mass representing the unbalance
c is the viscous damping coefficient
k is the stiffness
x is the absolute displacement of the non-rotating mass
e is the eccentricity
ω is the rotational frequency in radians/sec

1
The free-body diagram is

f (t)

kx cx&

Figure 2.

The rotating unbalance force is

d2
f ( t ) = −m [ e sin ωt ] (1)
dt 2

f ( t ) = m ω 2 e sin ωt (2)

Sum the forces using Newton’s law. The upward direction is positive.

∑ F = m&x& (3)

M&x& = f ( t ) − kx − cx& (4)

M&x& + cx& + kx = f ( t ) (5)

M&x& + cx& + kx = m ω 2 e sin ωt (6)

&x& + (c / M ) x& + (k / M ) x = (m / M ) ω2 e sin ωt (7)

c / M = 2ξ ω n (8)

2
 k
ωn = (9)
m

&x& + 2ξ ω n x& + ω n2 x = (m / M ) ω 2 e sin ωt (10)

Equation (10) can be solved via Reference 1.

The steady-state displacement magnitude X is

⎧⎪ m ω 2 e ⎫⎪ 1
X=⎨ ⎬ (11)
⎪⎩ k ⎪⎭ ⎛ 2
⎜1 − ρ ⎞⎟ + (2ξρ )2
2
⎝ ⎠

where
ω
ρ=
ωn

The steady-state displacement magnitude can be scaled as

M ⎧⎪ Mω2 ⎫⎪ 1
X=⎨ ⎬ (12)
me ⎪⎩ k ⎪⎭ ⎛ 2
⎜1 − ρ ⎞⎟ + (2ξρ )2
2
⎝ ⎠

M ⎧⎪ ω 2 ⎫⎪ 1
X=⎨ ⎬ (13)
me ⎪⎩ ω n 2 ⎪⎭ ⎛ 2
⎜1 − ρ ⎞⎟ + (2ξρ )2
2
⎝ ⎠

M ρ2
X= (14)
me 2
⎛⎜1 − ρ 2 ⎞⎟ + (2ξρ )2
⎝ ⎠

3
The corresponding phase angle is

⎡ 2ξρ ⎤
θ = arctan ⎢ ⎥ (15)
⎢⎣1 − ρ 2 ⎥⎦

Reference

1. T. Irvine, The Time-Domain Response of a Single-Degree-of-Freedom System Subjected

to a Sinusoidal Force, Vibrationdata, 1999.