Detecting A Hidden

Lateral Rotor Natural

Frequency In A
Sewage Pump
Paul Boyadjis, Mechanical Solutions, Inc.

T
he need for municipalities to save money and control energy costs is a driv-
ing force in the decision by many of them to implement the use of Variable
Frequency Drives (VFDs) in their operations. Yet, while VFDs clearly
offer versatility to the pumping industry and cost savings to the consumer, they also
present some difficult engineering challenges for both suppliers and users—particu-
larly in the area of vibration.
In countless municipalities across the country, VFDs adjust motor speeds driving
pumps to match fluctuations in flow rate demand that arise from a community’s
daily and nightly sewage usage. A given sewage pump can and does run over a wide
range of speeds to match these fluctuations. This, in turn, vastly increases the
chances of exciting a natural frequency in the system from a variety of sources, such
as 1x imbalance and vane pass that otherwise may not have been excited by a con-
stant speed driver.

The road to cost-effective pumping

doesn’t have to be rough….
38 JUNE 2004 www.pump-zone.com PUMPS & SYSTEMS
 Although the pump industry in general is tak- controlled by a VFD. The pump flow rate at its best
ing steps to avoid designs with excitable natural fre- efficiency point (BEP) is 46,000 GPM and develops
quencies through some limited up-front analysis, 56 ft. of total discharge head (TDH) at 800 HP.
it’s not easy to uncover all potential vibration prob-
lems without a fully detailed 3D finite element anal-
ysis (FEA) of the entire pump system. Thus, there is
a dual focus to this case study. On one hand, it high-
lights the difficulty of identifying these natural fre-
quencies in the field. On the other, it points to the
fact that moving these natural frequencies outside
the excitable operating speed range often requires
substantial structural changes to the pump.

The Task
A certain VFD-driven sewage pump with a
long-drive shaft was experiencing excessive vibra-
tions at the bearing tower location at intermediate
flow and speeds.The majority of the vibration was
occurring at 3x running speed. The motor for this
pump was located on a separate floor and was iso-
lated from the pump itself.
The task was to determine the source of the
high vibrations and propose a suitable solution
without costly trial and error field fixes.

Operating Conditions
The operating speed range of the pump is from
382 RPM to 509 RPM (6.4 Hz to 8.5 Hz) and is Figure 1. Operating deflected shape ME scope model

Figure 2. Hammer impact/modal response at bearing tower

PUMPS & SYSTEMS www.pump-zone.com JUNE 2004 39

Figure 3. Shaft stick frequency response

The pump’s cast iron impeller

has three vanes with an outside
diameter of approximately 40
inches. The peak vibration of 0.4
in/s at the bearing tower was
occurring at 84% speed (428
RPM = 7.1 Hz) and was twice
the normal limit of 0.2 in/s for
this type of equipment.

Analysis Methods
To determine the nature of
the vibration, a sophisticated
field modal analysis of the pump
was carried out. The detailed
vibration analysis included ob-
taining an operating deflection
shape (ODS) using strategically
placed tri-axial accelerometers
and multi-channel data acquisi-
tion equipment, as well as identi-
fying pump natural frequencies
with instrumented hammer
impact testing. In addition,
broadband response from an Figure 4: Finite Element Model of Pump
accelerometer attached to a stick

40 JUNE 2004 www.pump-zone.com PUMPS & SYSTEMS

 1.000e+00 Displacement Mag 1.000e+00
Displacement Mag 9.000e-01 9.000e-01
Deformed Original Mode 8.000e-01
Deformed Original Mode
8.000e-01
Max Disp +1.0000E+00 7.000e-01 Max Disp +1.0000E+00 7.000e-01
Scale 3.3280E+01 6.000e-01 Scale 3.3279E+01 6.000e-01
5.000e-01 Mode 4. +2.0735E+01 5.000e-01
Mode 3. +2.0654E+01 4.000e-01 4.000e-01
3.000e-01 3.000e-01
2.000e-01 2.000e-01
1.000e-01 1.000e-01
1.000e+00 1.000e+00

Figure 5. Analysis results

Table 1. Analysis results tabulated

PUMPS & SYSTEMS www.pump-zone.com JUNE 2004 41

 riding on the shaft during opera-
tion was used to determine any
potential shaft natural frequen-
cies.
The first step in performing
the field test was to determine
Circle 578 on Reader Service Card
42 JUNE 2004
the ODS of the pump to visual-
ize how the pump was moving
during operation. Accelerometers
were placed at various points
along the pump while it was run-
ning to effectively map out the
www.pump-zone.com
entire vibration signature. The
acceleration and positional data
were then fed into a program
called ME’Scope, which created
a model and animated the
deflected shape.
Figure 1 is a plot of the ODS
of the sewage pump at 84%
speed with the frequency at 21.5
Hz or 3x the operating speed of
428 RPM. Notice the large
motion of the bearing tower.
Although the ODS was very
helpful in showing the overall
motion of the pump at the speed
at which the vibration was peak-
ing, it did not necessarily indi-
cate the presence of a natural fre-
quency.
At this point, the reader
might assume that the natural
frequency of the bearing tower
would probably have been
around 21.5 Hz, and that it
should easily have been identi-
fied through a bump or modal
impact testing of the structure.
Figure 2 is a graph of the response
of the pump at the bearing tower
from an impact by the instru-
mented hammer at the same
location. It shows no discernable
natural frequency anywhere in
the 3x running speed range.
Moreover, the graph also indi-
cates that the only visible vibra-
tion peaks obtained were outside
the operating range—these were
later identified as line shaft
modes.
There was still another piece
of data that might help identify if
a natural frequency was present
in the operating range, or if the
pump was just reacting to exter-
nal forces. Figure 3 is a graph of
the shaft stick response at a run-
ning speed of 390 RPM—less
than the speed at which the peak
vibration was occurring. From
PUMPS & SYSTEMS

the shaft stick measurements,
there appears to have been a
potential underlying natural fre-
quency at approximately 22 Hz.
Unfortunately, there was no way
to corroborate this directly from
the field data. Instead, it was
becoming increasingly clear that
additional analytical tools would
be required to determine if this
was a natural frequency. And, if
it was, what steps would be
needed to correct the problem.
Preliminary
Conclusions
■ Peak vibration was being
excited by 3x vane pass at
84% speed (428 RPM).
■ ODS clearly showed bearing
tower motion at 21.5 Hz,
but impact testing at the
bearing tower indicated no
natural frequency in the 3x
operating range
■ Shaft stick measurements
indicated a potential natural
frequency around 22 Hz of
unknown source
■ The potential shaft natural
frequency could not be excit-
ed by hammer impact test
because the large overhung
weight of the impeller (>1
ton) could not be impacted.
Therefore, the nature and
mode shape of any potential
shaft frequency with motion
internal to the pump was
not known.
■ Detailed finite element analy-
sis could be used to deter-
mine if an internal shaft later-
al was indeed present, and
what would be required to
eliminate the vibration prob-
lem.
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Computer Analysis
Obtaining information di-
rectly from and working with the
OEM, a detailed 3D finite ele-
ment model of the pump was
made to predict the pump’s nat-
ural frequencies (see Figure 4).
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A 3D solids model of the
impeller was constructed to
obtain the following informa-
tion: metal weight, center of
gravity, transverse moment of
inertia, entrapped water weight
and external water weight. The
impeller properties were critical
to obtaining valid results.
Tabulated in Table 1, results of
this analysis show excellent Hydraulic Power Systems and
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agreement to the field test data,
including the line shaft modes
mentioned earlier.
Mode shapes of the line
shaft frequencies were not avail-
able directly from the field test
data. Accelerometers could not
be placed directly on the drive
shaft because the shaft was
guarded and difficult to access in
most locations. Nevertheless,
analysis indicated a shaft natural
frequency at 21 Hz. The mode
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 GOT SLUDGE?
WE CAN HANDLE
THAT! Analysis Conclusions ■ Fixes that would lower the
frequency were discouraged
■ As indicated by the underly- by the OEM, since this
ing shaft stick data and cor- would weaken the pump.
roborated with the FEA results,
■ Switching to a four-vane
THICKENED SLUDGE PUMPS a lateral rotor natural frequency
impeller would not allow a
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■ The rotor critical speed impeller would drastically
would have to be raised to affect the hydraulics and
28.0 Hz to provide a 10% might not provide enough
WANT BETTER margin above the maximum
running speed of 509 RPM
structural stability for such a
large impeller.
SLUDGE? ■
(25.5 Hz).
It was determined that even if Recommendations
WE CAN HELP the bearing tower were To raise the natural frequen-
infinitely stiff, the natural fre- cy, the following design changes
quency would still fall within were made to the pump:
the running speed range.
Consequently, no amount of ■ The elastic modulus of the
external bracing would solve stuffing box and bearing
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 switching from cast iron
(15e6psi) to ductile iron
(26e6psi)
■ The rotor shaft diameters
were increased substantially
to raise the shaft’s stiffness
■ The stuffing box frame had
internal ribs added to pro-
vide increased stiffness
■ The impeller was re-posi-
tioned slightly higher on the
shaft to reduce the moment
arm, thereby increasing the
stiffness.
According to the FEA, all of
these recommended changes
would be required to raise the
natural frequency to 28.0 Hz and
provide a 10% margin above 3x
running speed.
Final Results
After the OEM implement-
ed the recommended fixes, the
vibration levels decreased from
0.4 in/s to less than 0.1 in/s at
the bearing tower, throughout
the operating speed range.
Follow-up field tests noted a
number of improvements. The
frequencies that were at 21-22
Hz were gone. Shaft stick mea-
surements showed a small peak
around 28 Hz, just as the analy-
sis had predicted. The overall
stiffness of the rotor and sup-
port structure was increased by
about 60%, yet the vibrations
dropped by 400%—indicating
particular sewage pump ran
smoothly at 100% flow and
speed, which is notable since this
is where the energy is greatest.
However, at lower speeds, the
pump inadvertently excited a
lateral rotor natural frequency at
vane pass that could not have
been adequately predicted with-
out doing a comprehensive
finite element analysis.
End users that are planning
to install VFD-driven pumps
should insist that the OEM
and/or contractor perform
detailed FEA analysis on these
pumps. Pump manufacturers
can perform these evaluations
themselves, or if they are short-
staffed, they can contract com-
petent consulting groups to pro-
vide the needed in-depth analyt-
ical expertise. P&S
gear pumps, screen changers,
mixers, and filtration systems for
paints and pigments
fertilizers

Paul A. Boyadjis is a Senior
Staff Engineer with Mechanical
Solutions, Inc., a leading rotating
machinery analysis, test and trou-
bleshooting consulting group
based Parsippany, NJ. During his
20-year career, he’s specialized in
complex solids modeling tech-
niques, as well as in vibration and
structural analysis of turbo-
machinery using advanced FEA
methods. He also has developed
and perfected FEA methods for
accurately predicting natural fre-
quencies in vertical pumps. Boy-
adjis received both his B.S.M.E.
and M.S.M.E. from Lehigh
University. This article is based on
a presentation he delivered on
March 11, 2004, at Texas A&M’s
21st International Pump Sym-
posium in Baltimore, MD. For
information, contact him directly
at: paul.boyadjis@mechsol.com
applications in:
chemicals
fats and oils

pharmaceuticals
polymers

proven processing solutions
Circle 338 on Reader Service Card

that the motion of the bearing

tower was being amplified by a
natural frequency and not sim- Maag Pump Systems Textron
ply reacting to external forces. 704-716-9000
800-Maag-USA
maaginfo@maagusa.textron.com

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Conclusions americas
china
france
germany
italy
As originally designed, this
singapore
switzerland

PUMPS & SYSTEMS www.pump-zone.com JUNE 2004 45