419

INSTABILITY PHENOMENA DUE TO CIRCULAR

BEARING OIL FILMS
By R. Holmes*
In this paper is presented a range of instability phenomena arising from the elastic and
damping properties of circular bearing oil films. In particular the effects of bearing length
to diameter ratio and inequality of bearing loading are discussed,

INTRODUCTION 2m Shaft mass.

IT HAS BEEN SHOWN (I)t that the displacement and velocity P External load per bearing.
coefficients of the bearing oil films are instrumental in Oil-film forces.
determining the stability of rotors supported on short Shaft weight taken by bearing.
bearings. The importance of the bearing length to diameter P/mcw2 or g/cwa.
ratio and inequality of bearing loading will now be Oil-film pressure.
assessed. Bearing radius.
Sternlicht (2) has shown that for any circular bearing Shaft weight = 2mg.
oil film, hydrodynamic oil-film forces (Fig. 1) may be Bearing axial co-ordinate.

($q
written in the form (l-.Y)/Y.
Mass location.
PI = xw (1-g) fl Dynamic eccentricity ratio.
1-- Static eccentricity ratio.
w Lubricant viscosity.
qbR3/rrc2.
P2 = xw (l-?) f2 +
.&
.)( Circumferential co-ordinate, measured from
1-- maximum film thickness.
w Static attitude angle.
$0

These lead to expressions for linear displacement and D Incipient whirl frequency.
velocity coefficients which are discussed in Appendix 1. w Shaft speed.

Notation Centres
A,,, etc. a,,(c/P), etc. CB Bearing centre.
a,,, etc. Displacement coefficient. CJD Dynamic journal centre.
B,,, etc. b,,(wc/P), etc. CJS Static journal centre.
b Bearing length.
b,,, etc. Velocity coefficient.
C Bearing radial clearance.
D Differential operator, dldt. EFFECT ON STABILITY OF BEARING
9 dld(wt). LENGTH TO DIAMETER RATIO
g Gravitational constant. Consider a light rigid shaft carrying a central mass (of
L Shaft length between bearings. zero moment of inertia) symmetrically supported on two
similar oil-film bearings. The symmetric and anti-
The M S . of this paper was first received at the Institution on 15th
September 1965 and in its revised form,as accepted by the Council symmetric modes are uncoupled and may be considered
for publication, on 26th August 1966. 23 separately.
* Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, School of Applied Sciences, Consider first the symmetric mode in which the motions
University of Sussex.
t References are given in Appendix 2. of each journal are equal and in phase. Using x,y Cartesian
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420 R. HOLMES

boundary conditions used by Cameron and Wood (4).

For the infinitely long bearing these give vastly different
coefficients to those deduced by Hori (5): However,
Smith's boundary conditions are the more realistic and so
his coefficients will be used here. I n Smith's notation we
have
a11 =AYY bll = BY,
a12 = A,, b21 = -Bx,
a21 = -Axy b12 = --BY,
a22 = A,, 622 = Bx,
Using equation (3) the stability borderlines are obtained
for length to diameter ratios 0-5, 1.0 and 00 (Fig. 2). The
borderline for the short oil film (I) is also shown. From
these it may be observed that there is little difference
between the various borderline curves when, eccentricity
ratio is used as an operating parameter. However, since a
decrease in bearing length increases c0 then short bearings
are likely to give greater stability when other parameters
co-ordinates (Fig. 1) the equations of motion may be remain constant.
written (I): Consider now the anti-symmetric mode in which the
journal motions are equal and in anti-phase. Since
2mjt+2(b,,3i++a,,x+~xYj+a,YY)
+ +
=0
2mY+ 2(bYyj ay,y by$ -ayxx) = 0 } (2)
the point mass possesses zero pitching inertia moment the
equations of motion may be written:
These give rise to the following frequency equation 2(b,,3i++,,x+b,,~+a,yy)O.5L =0
A494+A3$B3+A2L92+Al~+A0 =0 2 ( b y y ~ + ~ y y ~ + b y x ~ - ~ y , ~=
) O0~ 5 L
in which These equations are equivalent to equations (2) with
1 the inertia term zero and hence from Fig. 2 lead to stability
A, =- under all conditions. Hence for a shaft with a central point
8 2
mass any instability will be of a symmetric form only.

wc
B,, = b,, 7 etc. W
\

-%+bXXl%+axx1x1 +bXYljJl +QXYlY1+ L 2 3 i 2

g
P
g=- + ~ x n 2 ~ 2 + b n y 2 3 j 2 + ~ n u 2 Y 2= 0
mcw2
W
The",condition for stability of this system is given by -Y
g
+ bYY131+ aYylY1 + b y x 4 1 - bYY2Y2
aYxl-?tl+

Routh's stability criterion, '

+aYY2Y2+bYX2~2--aYx2X2 =0
A2 -+-A,
2 AlA4 A1
. . . (3)
YUbX,l% +asxlXl + b X Y d l +GYlYl) 4 1 -Y)~(b,,23i2
+~,,,~,+~,Y2~2+~,,2Y2) =0
Smith (3) presents the displacement and velocity 1
YZ-(b,Y& +aYYlYl + b Y X A -aYxlxl)- (1- Y ) J v Y Y 2 3 2
coefficients (in slightly different notation) for length to +aYY2Y2+bYx&a-aYx2XZ) = 0,
diameter ratios of 0-5, 1.0 and co taking the oil-film
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 INSTABILITY PHENOMENA DUE T O CIRCULAR BEARING OIL FILMS 42 1

b/d.=O3

0.16

0.14
c

0’12

0.10

B
UNSTABLE
0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0.2 0.3 0-4 0.5 0.6 0.7
€0

Fig. 2

i and 9 = d/d(wt), gives

9 2
B (3+L1B+Axx1) (g+BXX29+AXX2)

X1

X2
Fig. 3
Y1
Yz
putting x = Xl(l---y)SYX2
Y = Ydl--Y)+YYz
B = (l--d/Y If we take, say, that case of the short oil film (I)the stability
of this system may be assessed and the stability borderline
C
A,., = axxl=,etc. curves of Fig. 4 are thus obtained. In these a negative
p1 value of y implies an overhung mass. The mantissa
B = g/cd Wc2/7b3Rwis used in conjunction with y to determine the
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422 R. HOLMES

Wc2/1 Rb3w

Fig. 4. Stability borderlinesfor different values of y

c0 value of each bearing using Ocvirk's short bearing

approximation (6) whence the values of AXXI;AxxP,etc.
are obtained. It is significant that the unsymmetrical
system is more stable than the symmetrical system,
y = 0.5, for all cases in which the mass is located between
the bearings. This is due to the fact that the stabilizing
influence of the heavily loaded bearing outweighs the
unstabilizing influence of the lightly loaded bearing.
However, this does not hold for the outboard mass, in
which case the anti-symmetric form of instability pre-
dominates.
Loci representing the running up to speed of a 200 lb
E
and a 2000 lb rotor are shown in Fig. 4. I n each case the L3
bearing parameters are c = 0.002 in, d = 1 in, R = 1 in, E t12-
0
and = 10 centipoise. From these loci Fig. 5 is drawn w = 2 0 0 Ib
showing the effect of y on the whirl-onset speed.

IMPORTANCE OF THE VELOCITY

COEFFICIENTS
The velocity coefficients are often dismissed as being
relatively unimportant. However, unlike most isotropic , 61 1
-06 -0.4 -0.2 0.2 0.4 0.6
materials the oil-film damping is considerable and its Y
importance will now be discussed. Fig. 5. Effect of y on whirl onset f o r two different rotors
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 INSTABILITY PHENOMENA DUE TO CIRCULAR BEARING OIL FILMS 423

Ignoring for a moment the velocity terms, the equations large area of unstable operation below and to the left of
of motion (2) reduce to curve (a).
mf+uxxx+uxyy = 0 In this area frequency ratios 52/w ranging from zero to
infinity may be obtained by using appropriate values of
my+uyyy-uyxx = 0 sz
These give rise to the following frequency equation : 'inthe expression ~ L Y -
9 To overcomethis apparent
wd93
incompatibility with experimental evidence Cameron (7)
assumed that for incipient whirl Q / w = based on the +
where 9 = P/mcw2. continuity of flow principle for an unloaded journal. The
sz 1 .
Hence axis could then be regarded as the -
21/93
D To assess the importance of the velocity coefficients in
w2/B = the analysis let us now include these. Using the stability
borderline and the incipient whirl frequency ratios of
Fig. 3 (I), the borderline curve (c) of Fig. 6 is constructed.
Above and to the left of this curve is the instability region
Thus, provided whose area is reduced as a result of the inclusion of the
velocity terms. Also values of frequency ratio Qjw are
explicitly obtained, two such values being indicated by
curves in the unstable region in Fig. 6. This suggests that
D / ( ~ z / . s Pwill
) consist of a real part, ,4, as well as an
the main roles of the velocity terms are to determine whirl
imaginary part, Q, whilst if
frequencies and to provide stability-it is the cross-
displacement terms which are responsible in the main for
any instability.
the result will be purely imaginary. Using the short
bearing coefficients Q / ( w Z / 9 3 ) is evaluated for different
values of c0 and the results are shown as curves (a) and (b) IMPORTANCE OF THE DISPLACEMENT
in Fig. 6 . These indicate good agreement with the calcula- COEFFICIENTS
tions of Cameron (7). It will be noticed that there is a A major cause of. instability lies in the inequality of the
cross-displacement coefficientsu12- 421(3). Indeed a broad
3'2 r indication of the preferred form of static locus may be
obtained from this fact.
The cross-displacement coefficients may be expressed
in the following way (9)
1 ar
a21= - A x y = --- sin t,bo
P ac0
1 a*0
a12= A,, = - sin $o+- cos #o
€0 a%

Q 0 for stability
Hence for maximum stability the journal centre C,,
should be on a portion of the static locus in which +o is
small and/or a(co sin #o)/lkois negative (Fig. 1). These
conditions are achieved in the high-load portion of the
locus and more particularly in a locus which departs very
little from a straight line in the load direction.

1.4 -
CONCLUSIONS
The main conclusions may. be summarized as follows.
1 I I I I I I
Shaft stability is improved by: (1) reducing the bearing
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 06 0.7 length to diameter ratio; (2) locating the shaft centre of
70 gravity asymmetrically between the bearings. The damp-
Fig. 6 ing terms should be included in all stability and response
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424 R. HOLMES

calculations since these endow considerable stability and Therefore

effectively reduce forced-vibration amplitudes. The static
locus affords a rough measure of stability.
dP, = hwf,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS therefore
xwaf,
The author wishes to thank Mr J. R. Mitchell of Lough- dP, = - -r+ -
c aE a i i-fl -
borough University of Technology who suggested, and
wrote the computer programme for, the investigation of +
= -av,r -b,,i b,,S -arss
equations (4).
CE
= -aa,,s+a,,r+b,,i-bb,,B
APPENDIX 1 where

C O E F F I C I E N T S FOR T H E C I R C U L A R B E A R I N G
OIL-FILM
From Fig. 1,
P, = PI cos a-P, sin a
ara= +-f,
CC
( E,-
3
as#= - kCEf , (E,:)
P, = P, sin a+P, cos a
therefore
asr= +xw af,~ x
dP, = dP, cos a-P, sin a da-dP2 sin a-Pz cos a da
b ----
xw af,
. . . . (7)
dP, = dPl sin a+P1 cos a da+dP, cos a-P, sin a da rr - c a€ I

'I
For a small we have
dP, = dP1-PZ da
dP, = Pi da+dPz
. . . . (5)

Now from Sternlicht (2)

Pi = xw 1-- ( Z) fi ( €
-, a+)
1-
s,, From equations (7) it may be observed that
.
Pz = xw (l-g) fz (€?,)
1 --
* (6) w
ass= - b,,
2
w
J arr= 3 b,,
Therefore
This is true for any circular bearing oil film. For the extreme cases
of the very long and the very short oil films of any circumferential
extent equations (6) may be simplified somewhat. The oil-film
forces arise from integration of the oil-film pressure p around the
journal and for both the very short and the very long oil films it
may be shown (8) that

P =k [aZdE, 4)+($-6j gZ(5 411 f(z)

k is a constant dependent on the bearing parameters. Integrating
J along the bearing length and around the, oil film, forces Pi, P,
(Fig. 1) are given by
For L;!w Q 1 this becomes

+-af,d e dc.-fi ( P1 = R /ob/,","pcos + d4 dz

dP1 = hw
(5
- dc E, i)-2 dci)
w w

also P, = R lobjdTp sin 4 d4 dz

(E$) w ZdG)
w where and 4, denote the circumferential boundaries of the oil
film. Thus P , and Pz are of the form
In equations (5) we have Pi = -iFi(<)- --ci
c 1 hi(€)

for 0; small.
Pz = iFZ(c)+ --a
c 'j
These are thus simplified forms of equations (6) in which
hz(E)

dP, = hwf1 (de,:) da+Xw ( ~ d d e + ~ d i - f(.,i).?&)

, w w

s
fi
(-
€2

1 --
= --i
hw
1
Fi(€)-- 2x hi(€)

Now ds = CY da = s, d i = -
CE CE since, for small perturbations, 2&/w 4 1.
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 INSTABILITY PHENOMENA DUE TO CIRCULAR BEARING OIL FILMS 425

whilst for the very short journal the further relationship

b,, = 2asr
- 0

Using equations (7) we obtain is obtained (I).

APPENDIX 2
REFERENCES
R.
(I) HOLMES, ‘The vibration of a rigid shaft in short sleeve
bearings’, J. mech. Engng Sci. 1960 2 (No. 4), 337.
(2) PINKUS,0. and STERNLIGHT, B. Theorx of hydrodynamic
lubrication 1961,267 (McGraw-Hill, New York).
(3) SMITH,D. M. ‘Dynamic characteristics of turbine journal
bearings’, Proc. Lubrication Wear Convn 1963, 72 (Instn
Mech. Engrs, London).
(4) CAMERON, A. and WOOD, W. L. ‘Full journal bearing’, Proc.
Instn mech. Engrs 1949 161, 59.
(5) HORI,Y. ‘Theory of oil whip’, Am. SOC.mech. Engrs paper
NO. 59-APM-2, 1959.
(6) DUBOIS,G. B. and OCVIRK, F. W. ‘Short bearing approxima-
tions for full journal bearings’, Nut. aero. Space Admin.
Report 1157,1953.
(7) PARSZEWSKI, Z. and CAMERON, A. ‘Oil whirl of flexible
Thus, once P , and Pz have been found, the displacement and rotors’, Proc. Znstn mech. Engrs 1962 176 (No. 22), 523.
velocity coefficients are obtainable directly. (8) HOLMES, R. ‘Oil-whirl characteristics of a rigid rotor in 360”
For both the very short and very long 180” oil films, forces PI journal bearings’, Proc. Instn mech. Engrs 1963 177 (No.
and Pa have been deduced elsewhere (I) (5). Using these the 1 l), 291:
displacement and velocity coefficients may be deduced using (9) MITCHELL, J. R., HOLMES, R. and VAN BALLEGOOYEN, H.
equations (8). For both these cases the following additional ‘Experimental determination of a bearing oil-film stiff-
relationship emerges : ness’, Labrication Wear Comn 1966 Proc. Instn mech.
b,, = b,, Engrs 196566 180 (I‘t 3K), 90.

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