Lund’s Elliptic Orbit Forced

Response Analysis: The Keystone

R. Gordon Kirk
e-mail: gokirk@vt.edu
Professor,
Randolph Hall 0238,
Virginia Tech,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
of Modern Rotating Machinery
Analysis
A total understanding of rotating machinery vibration analysis requires evaluation of
critical speed placement, forced response sensitivity to imbalance, linear onset of insta-
bility prediction and full non-linear response analysis. Of these four areas of analysis,
only the first three are applied as a basic design tool in modern turbo-machinery analysis.
The prediction of multi-mass flexible rotor steady-state elliptic orbit response, including
bearing damping and support flexibility, has been and remains in this author’s opinion, to
be the basic workhorse and keystone of machinery design. This has now been true for
over 35 years. The person responsible for developing this basic method of analysis has
been a longtime friend of many engineers worldwide. This paper is written to acknowl-
edge this contribution, one of many in fact, made by Jørgen W. Lund and is presented in
memory of his life’s work at this occasion of honoring his contributions to our profession.
A short section on the methods and understanding gained from the basic analysis will be
presented. Finally, some personal reflections will be given concerning Jørgen Lund.
关DOI: 10.1115/1.1605977兴

Keywords: Synchronous, Response, Imbalance, Modeling

Introduction
A typical introduction to rotating machinery analysis graduate
course begins with a historical account of major contributors to
this field of research and the importance of this area of study to
many industries. The history must include both machinery dynam-
ics and bearing evaluation. In more recent years, the analysis of
liquid and gas seals have been added to the necessary literature
reviews to fully appreciate and understand the basic design re-
quirements of modern rotating machinery. The current paper is
focused on synchronous forced response and hence the review
will skip to the basic Jeffcott rotor analysis presented in 1919 关1兴
that explained by analysis, why a rotor can operate beyond the
first bending critical speed. The fact that a rotor can operate su-
percritical had been proven much earlier in fact. Engineers actu-
ally built a supercritical steam turbine rotor and operated it above
the first critical speed. And so the story of the interplay between
theoretical analysis and the practical design engineer has and con-
tinues to be a healthy source of advancement for the turbo ma-
chinery industry. New and improved designs for rotating machin-
ery are advanced beyond analysis capability by designers with
innovative insight into performance capability and requirements.
The resulting unacceptable vibrations that often result, gives mo-
tivation to develop enhanced capability to predict the vibration
levels, frequency content, and new instability mechanism.
In the mid 1940’s, Prohl 关2兴 developed his transfer matrix
method of iterative calculation of the undamped natural frequen-
cies of a turbine rotor supported on bearings. This capability has
continued to be of great use to designers, even into this century. In
the early 1960’s, basic response capability existed for circular
response 关3兴 but modern land based machinery were running on
fluid-film bearings and the resulting vibrations were not circular.
The analysis of jet engines continued to rely on such circular
response analysis evaluations as a result of the symmetry of the
Contributed by the Technical Committee on Vibration and Sound for publication
in the Jørgen Lund Special Issue of the JOURNAL OF VIBRATION AND ACOUSTICS.
Manuscript received June 2003. Associate Editor: L. A. Bergman.
engine rotors and the use of anti-friction bearings that are treated
as symmetric in most dynamic evaluations. The support structure
produces the asymmetry and has been treated by individual hori-
zontal and vertical calculations to prove a design as acceptable. It
is also true that iterative calculations required to evaluate the non-
linear squeeze film dampers are easier to include in assumed cir-
cular response evaluations 关4兴. The beauty and worth of elliptic
orbit analysis is best recognized and appreciated by land based
machinery designers and analysts. The author has been in both
industries under discussion in this paragraph, and has great respect
for engineers in both aircraft engine and land based machinery
design. The comments are made to show that all machinery indus-
tries may not and indeed have not needed the advances developed
for the general field of rotating machinery dynamics.
The subject of this paper is the report and computer program
written by Jørgen Lund 关5兴 for the computation of elliptic orbit
forced response. The capability remains as the major analysis tool
for initial design evaluations in many companies. Newer finite
element programs 关6 – 8兴 that have been since developed, have
relied upon basic concepts and equations first documented by
Lund 关5,9,10兴. This paper will first summarize the innovative con-
cepts developed in Lund’s response program. Then a short section
on the methods and understanding gained from this basic analysis.
Method of Solution
In the early 1960’s the rotating machinery industry was in need
of a innovative solution technique to solve the elliptic forced re-
sponse for a flexible multi-mass rotor bearing system, including
massive flexible pedestals for each bearing.
The original Lund solution 关5兴 is based on a lumped inertia and
massless beam analysis for a solution of the deflection and rota-
tion of the lumped inertia. This is shown in Fig. 1 for one plane of
deflection. This is all that is necessary to explain the solution
technique. A more detailed derivation is necessary to actually
implement the solution, this is outlined by Lund. A brief summary
of Lund’s solution is discussed below.

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 Fig. 1 The basic transfer elements and station nomenclature

The presentation by Lund of a related discussion is shown in Integrating the equation from simple beam theory, d 2 x/dz 2
Fig. 2. The event was an invited Keynote Paper 关11兴 presented in ⫽M /EI, and using the above moment expression

冋冕 册 冋冕 册
1988 and the slide under discussion shows a lumped inertia with
Ln dz Ln
zdz
flexible support and the equations include the linear gyroscopic
␪ n⫹1 ⫽ ␪ n ⫹ M n⬘ ⫹ Vn (2)
terms. Figure 3 shows Lund making a point prior to the slide z⫽0 EI z⫽0 EI

再 冋冕 册 冕 冎
discussion of the same Keynote Paper presentation.
With reference to Fig. 1, the moments and deflection relations Ln dz Ln zdz
can be derived by applying simple beam theory for the shaft sec- X n⫹1 ⫽X n ⫹L n ␪ n ⫹M ⬘n L n ⫺
z⫽0 EI z⫽0 EI
tions. Since the shear is constant for the assumed massless shaft
section, then
M n⫹1 ⫽M n⬘ ⫹L n V n (1) 再 冕 冕 冎
⫹V n L n
Ln zdz
z⫽0 EI
⫺
Ln z 2 dz
z⫽0 EI
(3)

For the case of constant shaft properties (EI constant for each
different shaft section兲, then
M n⫹1 ⫽M n⬘ ⫹L n V n (4)

Fig. 2 Lund presenting an invited Keynote Paper in 1988 ex-
plaining the dynamics of a lumped mass station including the
support stiffness and gyroscopic terms
Fig. 3 Jørgen W. Lund
Ln L 2n
␪ n⫹1 ⫽ ␪ n ⫹ M ⬘⫹ V (5)
EI n 2EI n
L 2n L 3n
X n⫹1 ⫽X n ⫹L n ␪ n ⫹ M ⬘n ⫹ Vn (6)
2EI 6EI
The moment change across a mass station includes the gyro-
scopic action and angular spring rates of the bearing. The shear
change across a mass station includes the effect of inertia loading,
bearing reactions, and unbalance loading. Detailed equations for
these contributions are given by Lund 关5兴. Harmonic motion is
assumed and the bending moment, shear, angular and lateral de-
flections can then be expressed as
M x ⫽M xc cos共 ␻ t 兲 ⫹M xs sin共 ␻ t 兲 (7)
V x ⫽V xc cos共 ␻ t 兲 ⫹V xs sin共 ␻ t 兲 (8)
␪ ⫽ ␪ c cos共 ␻ t 兲 ⫹ ␪ s sin共 ␻ t 兲 (9)
X⫽X c cos共 ␻ t 兲 ⫹X s sin共 ␻ t 兲 (10)
For the y-direction, the variables M y , V y , ␸, Y are used in
similar equations. The resulting equations needed to describe the
rotor reactions include the change of moment across a mass sta-
tion and shaft length 共8 equations兲, plus change of shear across a
mass station 共4 equations兲, and the angular and lateral displace-
ment along a shaft length 共8 equations兲 for a total of 20 equations
to step across one mass and shaft section.
For a beam with free ends the bending moment and shear are
zero at the extremities, or they can be calculated for an assumed
deflection and given support characteristics. The unknown quan-
tities are the angular and lateral displacement components at the
left or first rotor station. Using the superposition principle, each
unknown is given a unit value with all the others set to zero and
the twenty equations as mentioned above are used to calculate the
residual bending moment and shear at the right end of the rotor.
An additional calculation is made applying the given unbalance
loading but with the other unknowns set to zero. The result of the
superposition of the applied unit loads produce a set of equations
which may be solved for the unknowns at the first rotor station.
This procedure is best described as follows:
Let ␪ c1 ⫽1, set ␪ s1 ⫽ ␸ c1 ⫽ ␸ s1 ⫽X c1 ⫽X s1 ⫽Y c1 ⫽Y s1 ⫽U xn
⫽U yn ⫽0 (U xn and U yn are rotor imbalance levels兲

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 Calculate the residuals at the right rotor end. Call them
⬘ ;
M xcy,1 ⬘ ;
M xsy,1 M ⬘ycr,1 ; M ⬘ysr,1
and
V xcr,1 ; V xsr,1 ; V ycr,1 ; V ysr,1
Let ␪ s1 ⫽1 and set the other variables to zero. Calculate the re-
siduals and denote them as
⬘ ;
M xcr,2 ⬘ ;
M xsr,2 M ⬘ycr,2 ; M ⬘ysr,2
and
V xcr,2 ; V xsr,2 ; V ycr,2 ; V ysr,2
Repeat the procedure for the remainder of the unknown displace-
ments and rotations.
Then apply all of the unbalance loading with all initial station
values zero and call the residuals Fig. 4 Ellipse showing orientation angle, ␪ and semi-major, a
semi-minor axis, b
⬘ ;
M xcr,9 ⬘ ;
M xsr,9 M ⬘ycr,9 ; M ⬘ysr,9
V xcr,9 ; V xsr,9 ; V ycr,9 ; V ysr,9 Elliptical Orbits
The solution is correct when the initial state parameters at sta- A major basic understanding required in the study of dynamics
tion one will produce residuals equal and opposite to the residuals of rotors is the concept of forward and backward whirl. Elliptic
for the ‘‘imbalance only’’ applied condition. This produces a set of motion may in fact be whirling in one of two directions. A flexible
influence coefficients which allows the unknowns to be solved. rotor can have stations that whirl either forward or backward
The solution for the unknown displacements and rotations at sta- along the rotor, at the same time. Lund denoted a backward whirl-
tion 1 can then be found by solving the matrix expression of these ing mass station by making the semi-minor axis value a negative
influence coefficients. This can be expressed as follows: value. If a particular motion is described by the following

冤 冥冤 冥 冤 冥
⬘
M xcr,1 ⬘
M xcr,2 ⬘
M xcr,8 equations:
␪ c1 ⬘
⫺M xcr,9 x⫽x c cos共 ␻ t 兲 ⫹x s sin共 ␻ t 兲 ⫽A cos共 ␻ t 兲 ⫹B sin共 ␻ t 兲
⬘
M xsr,1 ⬘
M xsr,2 ⬘
M xsr,8 (12)
␪ s1 ⬘
⫺M xsr,9
M ⬘ycr,1 M ⬘ycr,2 M ⬘ycr,8 y⫽y c cos共 ␻ t 兲 ⫹y s sin共 ␻ t 兲 ⫽C cos共 ␻ t 兲 ⫹D sin共 ␻ t 兲 (13)
␸ c1 ⫺M ⬘ycr,9
M ⬘ysr,1 M ⬘ysr,2 M ⬘ysr,8 ␸ s1 ⫺M ⬘ysr,9 the resulting motion can then be described by the ellipse semi-
... ⫽ major axis, a and semi-minor axis b, plus the angle of inclination,
V xcr,1 V xcr,2 V xcr,8 x c1 ⫺V xcr,9 ␪, as shown in Fig. 4, where
x s1 ⫺V xsr,9
冑 冑␩
V xsr,1 V xsr,2 V xsr,8
y c1 ⫺V ycr,9 1 1 1 1
V ycr,1 V ycr,2 V ycr,8 a⫽ ␩ ⫹ 冑␩ 2 ⫺4 ␤ 2 ⫽ ⫹ 冑␥ 2 ⫹4 ␰ 2 (14)
y s1 ⫺V ysr,9 2 2 2 2

冑 冑␩
V ysr,1 V ysr,2 V ysr,8
1 1 1 1
(11) b⫽ ␩ ⫺ 冑␩ 2 ⫺4 ␤ 2 ⫽ ⫺ 冑␥ 2 ⫹4 ␰ 2 (15)
2 2 2 2
The unbalance on the rotor produces a residual moment and
shear that must be equal and opposite to the residuals generated with
by the solution. The unknowns at the first station can thus be
determined as indicated in Eq. 共11兲 and the response all along the ␩ ⫽A 2 ⫹B 2 ⫹C 2 ⫹D 2
rotor can then be calculated for a given speed. Lund’s original ␰ ⫽AC⫹BD
analysis included an iterative approach to the solution of the gy-
roscopic contribution which required a tenth pass and another ␥ ⫽A 2 ⫹B 2 ⫺C 2 ⫺D 2
contribution to the residual vector on the right hand side of Eq.
共11兲. However, linear gyroscopic equations, as suggested by Dr. ␤ ⫽AD⫺BC
Gunter, can replace this iterative solution for the small motion of and
rotating machinery vibrations. The documentation of the exact
equations needed to complete the solution including the linear 1
␪ ⫽ arctan共 2 ␰ / ␥ 兲 (16)
gyroscopic terms is beyond the purpose of this paper. The conven- 2
tion for shear and moments and angular rotations must be properly
These equations may be applied to the rotor, journal, and sup-
addressed. When that is in order, the solution is simple and el-
port displacements to describe the motion. Lund had programmed
egant. Lund continues and details the solution including bearing
the second expression in Eq. 共12兲 and Eq. 共13兲 for the semi-major
station pedestal flexibility and pedestal mass. In addition, the so-
and semi-minor axis for the ellipse calculation. The condition for
lution was not written in matrix form but rather each equation was
forward or backward whirl is for the result of AD⫺BC⫽x c y s
expressed individually, which makes the calculations very effi-
⫺x s y c to be positive or negative, respectively. The obvious to
cient by the elimination of multiplication of terms by zero. This is
Lund has taken years for the casual vibration engineer to under-
a major problem for a program written in matrix notation, if many
stand or in some cases, to even believe the facts, let alone the
computations must be performed. This is true of either forced
theory.
response or stability programs written for application of transfer
An alternate representation 关12兴 is to write the x, y components
matrix methods.
of motion as
The major innovative contribution of this work was the method
of solution for the initial state vector. The influence of shear de- x⫽X cos共 wt⫺ ␤ x 兲 (17)
formation, methods to account for beam mass, and even taper
sections are easily adapted to Lund’s basic solution method. y⫽Y sin共 wt⫺ ␤ ⬘y 兲 ⫽Y cos共 wt⫺ ␤ y 兲 (18)

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 Fig. 5 Graphical construction to find actual phase from an or-
bit with timing mark if the direction of whirl is known

These amplitudes and phase angles can be obtained from ex-

perimental results as indicated in Fig. 5 if the direction of whirl is
known. This type synchronous orbit and timing mark can be
shown on a dual axis scope with z-axis input of the one per rev
timing mark. The phase angles are dependent on whether the whirl
is forward or backward. The other way of saying this is that if the
phase angles are known, you know if the orbit is forward or back-
ward. For experimental data from (x,y) probes at 90 deg, the
whirl is backward if the phase lag difference for y-phase minus
x-phase lies between 180 and 360 deg. For a symmetric system
the phase lag difference will produce round forward/ straight line/
round backward/ straight line for phase lag difference of
90/180/270/360 deg respectively.
The experimental result form the early 1970’s for a test rig rotor
is shown in Fig. 6. This figure shows a strong backward mode and
then a forward mode excited by very small imbalance levels. The
rotor was operating on hard mount precision ball bearings. Nu-
merous other whirl orbits are also visible in the attached scope
photos.

Special Modeling Methods
The use of forced response analysis to study coupling effects is
often of interest in the evaluation of turbo machinery. Solid
coupled rotors are very easy to evaluate. Older gear couplings
have been successfully modeled by a small diameter shaft section
for the length of the mesh, at each gear mesh. This usually re-
sulted in a 1 in. diameter by 1 in. long section at the mesh 共2.54
⫻2.54 cm兲. The trick was to have the shaft in effect have very
little moment transfer, but to force displacement continuity. At the
same time, the solution residual moment and shear was to remain
very low. Lund had in fact included the effect of a pin joint in his
analysis as one option. It was never made to work correctly by
anyone, not even Lund. The writer concluded that if Lund could
not fix the problem, it could not be fixed in fact. In any event a
coupling is actually not a perfect pin joint and the use of a small
section of shaft was very adequate to represent a coupling mesh in
train analyses. For newer dry diaphragm type couplings, the flex
members are often so flexible that it is not possible to use the
transfer matrix solution without adding some additional moment
stiffness. The method was to put in a small shaft section that had
Fig. 6 „a… Experimental results showing forward and back-
ward whirl orbits; „b… Critical speed map for test rig showing
predicted forward and backward modes
the same moment flexibility as quoted for the actual coupling flex
section. The moment flexibility is given by L/(EI), see Eq. 共5兲,
and if the inverse of the disk pack stiffness was made to equal the
small shaft section flexibility, and if the residual shear and mo-
ment were near zero, it was a good simulation. This method usu-
ally had difficulty as the speeds increased. Individual machine
analysis was considered acceptable in these cases.
Another influence of interest to simulate for power turbines or
expanders, with large overhung disks, was the influence of disk
skew angle, ␶. It is possible to simulate the effective disk skew by
considering two imbalance planes, one on either side of the disk
and 180 deg out of phase. The amount of imbalance is computed
with the application of the disk skew moment effect given by the
equation developed from the work of Yamamoto 关13兴.

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Fig. 7 Simulation of a turbocharger rotor to rotating imbal-
ance excitation. The lower right hand corner shows orbits at
the bearing locations plus a phase reference for the imbalance
angular location.
M skew⫽ ␶ 共 I P ⫺I T 兲 ␻ 2 cos共 ␻ t 兲
Equating this to an equivalent unbalance couple results in the
following expression for a simple solid disk
2 ␦ S WD 2
U OZ ⫽
D S␦ WD W
where,
␦ S ⫽runout from dial indicator, in. 共1 in.⫽2.54 cm兲
␦ w ⫽axial separation of balance weights, symmetric to disk cen-
terline, in.
U oz ⫽oz-in needed to counteract skew or to simulate a skew,
oz-in. 共1 oz-in⫽28.35 g-in.兲
D⫽diameter of disk, in.
D s ⫽diameter where skew was measured, in.
D w ⫽diameter of balance weight circle, in.
W⫽disk weight, lb f . (1 lb f ⫽4.448 N)
Animation of Elliptic Forced Response
The use of Lund’s forced response program in the compressor
industry was and remains the major program required to satisfy
API specifications on rotor sensitivity to imbalance and the loca-
tion of actual critical speeds and separation margins. The tabular
data from the analysis was first presented as line printer plots and
digital plots with a, then amazing, resolution of 0.01 inches. Mod-
ern laser printers run easily at 300-600 dots per inch and any less
than 300 is considered unacceptable. The mainframe programs
were modified slightly to make them PC compatible. Then came
the desire to make easier to use front-ends and then post proces-
sors. But Lund’s basic computation module has been untouched
for over 30 years.
By the mid 1990’s, the ability to see an animated whirling rotor
on a personal PC gave tremendous further insight into how com-
plex a simple rotor vibration can actually be. The visualization of
mixed forward backward whirling from a simple imbalance or the
simple fact of whirling modes being phase shifted as you move
down the rotor. The facts were all contained in the solution pro-
cedure results documented by Lund in 1965.
One such PC based rotor analysis package has been in use for
almost fifteen years 关14兴. The post processors are still being de-
veloped but the animation capability was written some eight years
ago. An example of the projected rotor whirling motion is cap-
tured in Fig. 7 where the simulation program was a major factor in
solving the field problem 关15,16兴. The response mode shapes must
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Fig. 8 Major axis response to imbalance excitation versus ro-
tor speed for a turbocharger
be seen in live animation for full effect of the forward/backward
whirling and phase shifting. The response versus speed often plot-
ted is major axis response versus speed such as shown in Fig. 8
for the same turbocharger rotor running in fixed geometry fluid-
film bearings. Such calculations, and many more in fact, are now
considered routine, thanks to Jørgen Lund.
Personal Reflections
How can one compute the steady state response to imbalance of
a multi-mass flexible rotor? The author asks this question, to
stimulate the analytic solving ability of graduate students who
may have had a first course or even an advanced course in vibra-
tion analysis, yet have never been faced with solving this particu-
lar problem. The lead-in to the discussion in previous lectures and
assignments have addressed the Holzer method for solution of
torsional vibration natural frequency solution with the assignment
to write such a search program to find the zero crossings of the
characteristic determinant. The introduction to lateral analysis
starts with a review of the Jeffcott model for a single mass rotor,
followed by the extended Jeffcott analysis 关17兴. Then the students
are introduced to the Prohl transfer matrix solution for a zero
damped flexible beam, supported on one or more bearing stations
with specified bearing stiffness. They are not required to write a
program but rather, they use a standard industrial program to in-
vestigate mode shapes and influence of bearing stiffness on criti-
cal speed placement. Following these lectures and problem solv-
ing, the students are asked how they would solve for the forced
response of a general multi-mass rotor. The discussion of Lund’s
technique is in the course notes to read but not for the day of this
lecture. The normal response is silence and deep thought. The
ones who have knowledge of FEA have the better comments but
not a single student has independently formed a solution method
without a lot of leading questions and suggestions. It is true that
with the speed of modern computers the transfer matrix solution
seems to be obsolete and many are doing FEA of large structural
systems. The simplicity and speed of the transfer matrix solution
for forced response cannot be matched.
The solution procedure was introduced to the author in graduate
school in the late 1960’s by his advisor and teacher, Dr. E. J.
Gunter. Professor Gunter had worked at The Franklin Institute
Research Labs while getting his graduate degrees and prior to
coming to The University of Virginia. He had become acquainted
with Lund, who worked at Mechanical Technology Inc., through
meetings associated with research contracts that required these
joint research meetings. As part of a NASA funded project work,
a circular response program was adapted from Lund’s response
analysis that included an iterative squeeze film damper solution
关4兴. It was called LUNDJR, which was pronounced ‘‘Lund jun-
OCTOBER 2003, Vol. 125 Õ 459
 ior.’’ The author has been using a modified version of Lund’s
forced response analysis, known as MODLUND, for nearly thirty
years. This consists of thirteen years in industry from 1972 until
1985 and then as a private consultant and teaching Introduction to
Rotor Dynamics at Virginia Tech for the past seventeen years.
This is in addition to the use of the analysis as a graduate student
prior to 1972.
The writer recalls vividly a discussion with Lund in 1992 re-
garding forward and backward whirl. The discussion started with
the reason an unbalance can cause a rotor to whirl backwards.
Lund indicated an elliptic orbit can be expressed as a forward and
backward component that could be described to produce the el-
lipse and hence energy could get into the backward mode in this
manner. The writer agreed this was indeed true and agreed with
his statement. A question was asked and answered to see if Lund
agreed. Was it possible for even a rigid rotor to whirl both forward
and backward? Lund seemed interested and in serious thought,
that I said it could and then illustrated this action to him with a
pencil. At the time I thought I had explained one thing to Lund
that he had not previously considered. In retrospect, he was more
likely simply being polite to me.
Following another paper presented in 1998 关18兴, Lund was still
present at the end of the presentation. Just to see him still in the
room at the end of the presentation was a great personal reward.
The presentation included a detailed discussion and experimental
orbits showing forward and backward whirl in the same rotor and
an instability that was claimed to have been generated by an aero-
dynamic pumping action on a double disk overhung station.
Lund’s comment as he was approached after the session was
something like this. ‘‘That was a nice one.’’ A short pause. ‘‘I
wonder what was causing that instability in your rotor.’’ He did
not buy into the theory as to the cause. He suggested a continua-
tion of the study of this rotor and another paper at the next meet-
ing, in 2002. To have Lund’s approval for the paper content and
possible follow-on study of a simple rotor was one conversation
that will forever be etched in this writer’s memory. That and our
struggle to keep up with Mel Prohl after one session at a Boston
ASME Vibration Conference as we were heading to a nice little
place for a drink and discussion with Lund.
An indication of the conflict between analytical and experimen-
tal engineers that was mentioned earlier in this paper is more
clearly shown in a humorous way, by this excerpt from a memo
written by Jørgen at the occasion of issuing his hydrostatic gas
bearing design manual:
Numerous comparisons between the theoretical results of
the report and actual test data obtained outside MTI have
shown almost perfect agreement. Hence, should the reader
decide to take up residence and employment outside the
Greater Latham area, he can use the report with absolute
confidence and to the last decimal. For those who are not
that fortunate, a word of warning and caution is necessary.
It is far from me to suggest, or even hint, that our diligent
staff of diligent research scientists and diligent research
laboratory specialists should not conduct their experiments
and build their scientific apparatus with the most diligent
care and effort, but neither can I hide the truth: the results
are not diligent. I shall pass lightly over a few slighting
remarks I happened to overhear with regard to the trustwor-
thiness of my own results. I have forgiven the frustrated
originators their ignorant utterances, after all, it is not
granted everybody to understand the beauty of theory and
the 8-decimal place accuracy of a computer. The fact still
remains: any agreement between the calculated perfor-
mance and the subsequently measured performance is
purely accidental as long as the comparison is made inside
MTI. Thus, it is by no means a rare occurrence to find that
the bearing flow decreases as the supply pressure is in-
creased, that the stiffness bears no relationship whatsoever
with the supply pressure or that a thrust bearing, which
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without any trouble carried 500 lbs with a 2 mil film thick-
ness, touches when the load is reduced to 20 lbs. Anybody
intending to use the design charts must leave behind him
his natural common sense 共this may be superfluous advice
to most of the readers兲 before embarking upon the adven-
ture and just hope for one of those miracles which, after all,
happens once in a while to those who have faith.
The design charts are based on a somewhat arbitrary set
of design parameters selected in such a way that the curves
are very close together and, therefore, almost impossible to
read. Other systems of presentation have been investigated
such as the Lewis-method which is based on plotting actu-
ally measured data according to some preconceived for-
mula but the method has proven costly and time consuming
and there are nowadays more efficient ways of obtaining a
uniform scatter of points on any given size graph paper.
Another method, which lately seems to have gone out of
fashion at MTI, is the so-called Warner—method where the
choice of dimensionless parameters is such that all the 742
curves on the attached 86 graphs reduce to a single point.
This, however, proved disastrous on at least one occasion
due to the presence of a dust speck on the screen in the
Xerox machine. The subsequently calculated bearing flow
requirement prompted the acquisition of a 1150 HP com-
pressor with a discharge pressure of 4,500 psi from which
transaction the overhead account has as yet not recovered.
With this short introduction I shall leave this unique de-
sign manual in your hands trusting that in the future you
will still come back to my office and ask: ‘‘How does one
design a hydrostatic bearing?’’
Jørgen
2/3/65
Conclusion
Words cannot express the importance of Jørgen Lund’s techni-
cal publications and research work to the field of rotating machin-
ery analysis and design. One of his earlier publications documents
the analysis for elliptic forced response, a capability that every
rotating machinery manufacturer must have to design and analyze
their machinery to satisfy current industry standards and customer
expectations.
Nomenclature
a ⫽ ellipse semi-major axis 共L兲
b ⫽ ellipse semi-minor axis 共L兲
E ⫽ Young’s modulus 共F/L2兲
I ⫽ area moment of inertia 共L4兲
IP , IT ⫽ polar, transverse moment of inertia 共M L2兲
L ⫽ shaft length between mass stations 共M L2兲
M ⫽ shaft bending moment 共L F兲
V ⫽ shaft shear 共F兲
x, y ⫽ ellipse horizontal and vertical motion 共L兲
␪ ⫽ rotation angle in x-z plane 共⫺兲
␾ ⫽ rotation angle in y-z plane 共⫺兲
␶ ⫽ disk skew angle from vertical 共⫺兲
␻ ⫽ synchronous angular spin velocity 共1/T兲
References
关1兴 Jeffcott, H. H., 1919, ‘‘The Lateral Vibrations of Loaded Shafts in the Neigh-
borhood of a Whirling Speed . . . The Effect of Want of Balance,’’ Philos.
Mag., 37共6兲, pp. 304 –314.
关2兴 Prohl, M. A., 1945, ‘‘A General Method for Calculating Critical Speeds of
Flexible Rotors,’’ ASME J. Appl. Mech., 12共3兲, pp. 142–148.
关3兴 Tang, T. M., and Trumpler, P. R., 1964, ‘‘Dynamics of Synchronous Precessing
Turborotors With Particular Reference to Balancing; Part I, Theoretical Foun-
dations,’’ ASME J. Appl. Mech., 31共1兲, March, pp. 115–122.
关4兴 Kirk, R. G., 1972, ‘‘Nonlinear Transient Analysis of Multi-Mass Flexible Ro-
tors,’’ Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Virginia, June.
关5兴 Lund, J. W., and Sternlicht, B., 1962, ‘‘Rotor-Bearing Dynamics With Empha-
sis on Attenuation,’’ ASME J. Basic Eng., 84共4兲, pp. 491–502.
Transactions of the ASME
 关6兴 Rouch, K. E., and Kao, J. S., 1979, ‘‘A Tapered Beam Finite Element for Rotor
Dynamics Analysis,’’ J. Sound Vib., 66, pp. 119–140.
关7兴 Nelson, H. D., 1980, ‘‘A Finite Rotating Shaft Element Using Timoshenko
Beam Theory,’’ ASME J. Mech. Des., 102共10兲, pp. 793– 803.
关8兴 Nelson, H. D., and McVaugh, J. M., 1975, ‘‘The Dynamics of Rotor-Bearing
Systems Using Finite Elements,’’ ASME J. Eng. Ind., 98共2兲, pp. 593– 600.
关9兴 Lund, J. W., and Orcutt, F. K., 1967, ‘‘Calculations and Experiments on the
Unbalance Response of a Flexible Rotor,’’ ASME J. Eng. Ind., 89共4兲, pp.
785–796.
关10兴 Lund, J. W., 1965, Rotor-Bearing Dynamics Technology, Part V, AFAPL-TR-
65-45, Aero Propulsion Lab, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio,
May.
关11兴 Lund, J. W., 1988, ‘‘Keynote Paper: Topics in Rotor Dynamics,’’ The Second
International Symposium on Transport Phenomena, Dynamics and Design of
Rotating Machinery, Honolulu, Hawaii, pp. 205–211.
关12兴 Kirk, R. G., and Gunter, E. J., 1973, ‘‘Nonlinear Transient Analysis of Multi-
Mass Flexible Rotors-Theory and Applications,’’ NASA CR 2300.
Journal of Vibration and Acoustics
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关13兴 Yamamoto, T., 1954, ‘‘On the Critical Speeds of a Shaft,’’ Memoirs of the
Faculty of Engineering, Nagoya University, Japan.
关14兴 Kirk, R. G., Raju, K. V. S., and Ramesh, K., 1999, ‘‘PC-Based Analysis of
Turbomachinery Vibration,’’ Shock Vib. Dig., 31共6兲, pp. 449– 454.
关15兴 Faulkner, H., Strong, W., and Kirk., R. G., 1997, ‘‘Thermally Induced Syn-
chronous Instability of a Radial Inflow Overhung Turbine PART I,’’ Proceed-
ings of ASME Design Technical Vibrations Conference, Sacramento, CA.,
Sept.
关16兴 Faulkner, H., Strong, W., and Kirk., R. G., 1997, ‘‘Thermally Induced Syn-
chronous Instability of a Radial Inflow Overhung Turbine PART II,’’ Proceed-
ings of ASME Design Technical Vibrations Conference, Sacramento, CA, Sept.
关17兴 Kirk, R. G., and Gunter, E. J., 1972, ‘‘The Effect of Support Flexibility and
Damping on the Synchronous Response of a Single-Mass Flexible Rotor,’’
ASME J. Eng. Ind., 94共1兲, pp. 221–232.
关18兴 Kirk, R. Gordon, 1998, ‘‘Observation of Disk Axial Face Instability,’’ Proceed-
ings of 1998 IFTOMM Conference, Darmstadt Technical University Germany,
Sept., pp. 595– 604.
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