Vibration analysis of an aerator in effluent treatment unit by

finite element method

Omidreza Rezaeian (supervisor of maintenance mechanical department)a

Abstract

Mechanical aerators play a vital role in sanitary drainage stations and affect reliability and performance of these
stations. The mechanical aeration construction is rather simple as it only has a fan attached to a motor mounted on
the aeration basin concrete structure. The fan is turning on to entrain air from the atmosphere to mix with the
wastewater. This will create high air to water exchange surface area and thus leads to more air being dissolved in the
water. Fan design is an important factor to consider when designing mechanical aerators. If the fan design is not
compatible with the aerator power requirements and the size of treatment basin, it will produces vertical forces on
the bearings providing shorter gearbox life and leading to decrease the concentration of dissolved oxygen. The
objective of this paper is to model and analysis an aerator in effluent treatment unit by Catia and Ansys workbench v
14.5.
Vibration signal analysis has been widely used in the fault detection of rotation machinery. The vibration signal
of a motor and gear box of aerator carries the signature of the fault in the gears, and early fault detection of the
aerator is possible by analyzing the vibration signal using different signal processing techniques. In this paper, a
review is made of some current vibration analysis techniques used for condition monitoring in machine fault.

Keywords: aerators, sanitary, vibration , modal , harmonic

1. INTRODUCTION

All machines with moving parts give rise to sound and vibration. Each machine has a specific vibration signature
related to the construction and the state of the machine. If the state of the machine changes the vibration signature
will also change. A change in the vibration signature can be used to detect incipient defects before they become
critical. This is the basics of many condition monitoring methods. Condition monitoring can save money through
increased maintenance efficiency and by reducing the risk of serious accidents by preventing breakdowns. The use
of vibration analysis as one of the fundamental tools for condition monitoring has been developed extensively over a
period of approximately 35 years. With the parallel developments in electronic equipment, transducers, computers
and software nowadays machine supervision is almost completely automated. In the present work the authors
present a review of a variety of diagnosis techniques for gearbox fault identification with particular regard to
vibration analysis. The vibration techniques were developed with two main purposes. The first purpose is to separate
the gearbox related signal from other components and to minimize the noise that may mask the gearbox signal,
especially in the early stages of the fault. The second purpose is to identify the status of the gearbox, to distinguish
the good and the faulty gear and to indicate the defective components. Examples of widely used techniques for
gearbox are such as Waveform analysis, Time-Frequency analysis, Faster Fourier Transform (FFT), Spectral
analysis, Order analysis, Time Synchronous Average, and probability density moments. These vibration based

a
Effluent Treatment Unit , Maintenance unit , Master of applied mechanical engineering
diagnosis techniques has been the most popular monitoring technique because of ease of measurement. Vibration
analysis was used former mainly to determine faults and critical operation conditions. Nowadays the demands for
condition monitoring and vibration analysis are no more limited trying to minimize the consequences of machine
failures, but to utilize existing resources more effectively. All regions face similar challenges in delivering
sustainable transport solutions to meet their current and future mobility requirements. Transport authorities are
aware of the real needs specific to their region but often find it difficult to identify detailed information on targeted
solutions that would deliver direct and tangible positive outcomes.

Aeration is the process of adding oxygen to water. Maintaining healthy of dissolved oxygen (DO) is one of the
most important water quality parameter. Oxygen transfer, the process by which oxygen is transferred from the
gaseous to liquid phase, is a vital part of the waste-water treatment process[1]. Due to low solubility of oxygen and
consequent low rate of oxygen transfer, sufficient oxygen to meet the requirement of aerobic waste does not enter
through normal surface air water interface. To transfer the large quantities of oxygen that are needed, additional
interfaces are created by employing aeration process[2]. The mechanical surface aerators are widely used because
they offer better efficiency as well as convenience in operation and maintenance. Further, oxygen transfer rate from
gas to liquid phase is dependent on various factors for given method of aeration such as dynamic variables like
speed, mixing intensity and turbulence, geometrical parameters like size and number of blades, depth of flow etc.
and physicochemical properties of the liquid. Mechanical problems associated with aerator drives include noisy
operation, abnormal heating, oil leaking, noisy bearings, over heated bearings, and vibration. Of all the mechanical
A problem that can be encountered, vibration is probably the most misunderstood phenomena. Any amount of
vibration is viewed as a sign of impending disaster. Although vibration is not a good sign, it is inherent in any
rotating machine. In recent years, there has been a large increase in the use of vibration measuring equipment’s as a
part of a general maintenance program [3].There are many several causes of vibration in mechanical aerations
systems. These causes including mechanical sources such as unbalance, misalignment, ear box, and bearing
problems. Also there are hydraulic sources including the excessive immersion level in water, adequate design of
fans and basins of mechanical aeration units, and colliding of solid bodies in waste water with the fan during high
speeds. These problems leading to dynamic stresses and cause damage, fatigue, wear, and failure[4] . The
continuous heavy duty operation life of rotating equipment, such as an aerator, demands a vibration level limiting
design that will assure smooth operation long after the unit has been installed. The high maintenance cost of
aeration equipment is directly related to the manufactures in ability to control vibration in the aerator systems. High
maintenance and equipment failure is a fact of life with many aerators installation [5] . Vibration signature can be
taken of piece equipment when it is new and saved for reference. Additional signatures taken over time can give a
warning of impending bearing failure or mechanical looseness. The signature analysis will exhibits peaks at a
certain frequencies. The frequencies may correspond to shaft rpm, ball passing and gear tooth frequencies and
harmonics of these. By denoting at which frequency a vibration increase has occurred, it is possible to pinpoint the
problem [6] . Shafts, couplings, gearboxes, and supports are oversized to reduce wear, vibration, and long term
maintenance. The slightest vibration in an aerator rotor could cause rapid damage to seals and bearings and
detrimentally affect reliability. To ensure optimum new operation, all new and modified product models undergo
rigorous testing, and any faults are quickly addressed [7] .

1.1. Background of research

In this article researchers have observed aeration basin concrete structure and all cracks about to the axes of the
structure. As we saw in this article it useful to have good view of aerator vibration analysis.
In this article they studied the correlation between the fan diameter, vibration level, dissolved oxygen average,
and the performance of aeration unit. In here I design mechanical model an aerator of effluent treatment unit like
that aerator of an article that singed it in Catia software. After that the model imported in Finite element Ansys
software to do analysis.
1.2. Modelling and analysis of aerator in Catia and Ansys software

For modelling of aerator I used the drawing from company archive.

After that we imported in Ansys software to do analysis in modal, harmonic, random vibration window of Ansys
workbench version 14.5.
I put some measure in model not same as real, but I try to be same in scales.

1.3. Results of modal, harmonic vibration analysis

A continuous system possesses infinite degrees of freedom and natural frequencies. However, only the first few
natural frequencies are of interest in applications. Modal analysis of a structure of single degree of freedom with free
of external vibration is derived from Newton’s Second Law, whose Laplace Transformation is written as:

𝑚𝑠 2 + 𝑐𝑠 + 𝑘 = 0 (1)
Where
𝑠1,2 = −𝜔0 ± 𝑗𝜔0 √1 − |𝜉|2 (2)

𝑘 𝐶
𝜔0 = √ And 𝜉 = (3)
𝑚 2√𝑘𝑚

Where 𝜔0 is the natural frequency of the simulation system, and 𝜉 is the corresponding damping ratios. According
to (3), the natural frequency depends on the mass and stiffness of the structure, making it a unique character for the
structure. In general, the motions governing equations of continuous model are partial differential equations whose
exact solutions require both boundary and initial conditions. The solutions are often complex and difficult to find.
Thus, discrete model is adopted for the numerical approximation of continuous model. The Laplace Transformation
of motion equation for discrete model with multiple degrees of freedom subjected to external forces F is [4]:

(𝑀𝑠 2 + 𝐶𝑠 + 𝐾)𝑋(𝑆) = 𝐹(𝑠) (4)

We modelled an aerator of effluent treatment unit as see Fig.1 in Catia v5 as in see Fig 2.

Fig. 1. Aerator in effluent treatment unit

 Fig. 2. Aerator model in Catia

After modelling it in Catia we import it in Ansys workbench 14.5 see Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Imported model in Ansys workbench 14.5

After modal analysis the natural frequencies are as below Fig4

Fig. 4. Natural frequencies related to 10 mode shapes

 Fig. 5. Fifth mode shape at 936.52 Hz.

Fig. 6. Deformation x axis of fixed point (stud bolts) @ millimeter for 1st mode shape

After harmonic analysis we got results as see in Fig.7 to Fig.11 .At aerator supports in stud bolts (fix points).
In Fig.6 maximum amplitude 4.1195𝑒 7 mm/s2 exists at 1000 Hz.

Fig. 7. Frequency response acceleration per frequency at first studs bolt

 Fig. 8. Frequency response acceleration per frequency second stud bolt

Fig. 9. Frequency response acceleration per frequency Third stud bolt

Fig. 10. Frequency response acceleration per frequency fourth stud bolt
 Fig. 11. Frequency response displacement per frequency 1st stud bolt

1.4. Conclusion

From this model in Ansys workbench 14.5, we could use this to analysis the real model by association condition
monitoring teams of any company to improve and optimize the cost of aerators maintenance. As we see the height
of vibration occurs on fix point when you analysis results compare each other.

References

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[4] Boyd C.E., Watten, B.J., "Aeration systems in aquaculture.", CRC Critical Reviews in Aquatic Science, Vol.1, No. 3, CRC press, 1989.
[5] Genta, G. "vibration dynamics and control." ISBN: 978-0-387-7959-9, Spring Science LLC, 2009.
[6] R. N. Nordin, C. J. P. McKean., "A review of lake aeration as a technique for water quality improvement.", B.C. Ministry of environment,
ISBN 07719-8888-5, 1982.
[7] James A. Mueller, William C. Boyle., " aeration: principles and practice." CRC press, ISBN- 10: 1566769485, 2002.