Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2018

Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition

GT2018
June 11-15, 2018, Oslo, Norway

GT2018-76261

EFFECT OF AXIAL FORCE ON ROTORDYNAMICS OF A RIGID ROTOR

SUPPORTED BY FOIL BEARINGS

Wanhui Liu* Daejong Kim Kai Feng

State Key Laboratory of
Advanced Design and
Manufacturing for Vehicle Body,
Hunan University, Changsha
410082, China
Department of Mechanical and State Key Laboratory of
Aerospace Engineering, The Advanced Design and
University of Texas at Arlington, Manufacturing for Vehicle Body,
500 W. 1st Street, Arlington, TX Hunan University, Changsha
76019, USA 410082, China

ABSTRACT subsynchronous decreases as the asymmetry of the rotor bearing

This paper investigates the effect of gas foil thrust bearing system decreases. For the out of phase imbalances, the onset
(GFTB) on the rotordynamic performance of the rotor-gas foil speed of subsynchronous motion also decreases as axial force
bearing (GFB) system. A rigid rotor supported on two gas foil increases for the large asymmetric rotor, but an opposite trend
journal bearings (GFJB) and a pair of GFTBs is studied using a was shown as the asymmetry of the rotor decreases.
five degree of freedom (5-DOF) model. The studies were *Corresponding author email: duozhu@yeah.net. The author
performed in both frequency domain using excitation frequency- was a visiting PhD student at The University of Texas at
dependent bearing coefficients (modal analyses) and non-linear Arlington when the manuscript was submitted.
analyses (time domain orbit simulations). Modal analyses were
performed for both symmetrically and asymmetrically supported NOMENCLATURE
rotor systems. For the symmetric rotor, the modal stiffness for mr Rotor mass
the conical mode increases with the axial force, while cylindrical C Damping matrix
mode is not affected. The axial force has little effects on the Cmodal Modal damping
modal damping for both the cylindrical mode and conical mode.
Thus, the natural frequency and threshold speed (stability limit) F Force matrix
for the conical mode increases as the axial force increases, while FX _ JB GFJB dynamic forces acting on the rotor in
these values for the cylindrical mode remain almost constant. For X direction
the asymmetric rotor, the modal stiffness for both the cylindrical FX _ U Imbalance forces in X directions
mode and conical mode increases with the axial force, and thus FY _ JB GFJB dynamic forces acting on the rotor in
both natural frequency and threshold speed increase with the Y direction
axial force. Rotor lateral vibrations were also predicted using FY _ U Imbalance forces in Y direction
synchronous bearing coefficients (of both GFJB and GFTB) for
both conical and cylindrical modes. The predicted rotor lateral FZ External axial force to the rotor
responses show the critical speed increases with axial force for FZ _ TB GFTB axial dynamic force to the rotor
both cylindrical mode and conical mode. The nonlinear analysis g Gravitational acceleration
using time-domain orbit simulation was also performed Dimensionless gas film thickness
including the effect of axial force on the GFTB. The effect of h
axial force on the stability of the rotor system were discussed. Ip Polar moment of inertia of the rotor
The predicted results showed that the stability of rotor system IT Translational moment of inertia of the rotor
improved as the axial force increases for Case 1 when the out of
K Stiffness matrix
phase imbalances were added on the rotor. However, the stability
K modal Modal stiffness
of the rotor system for Case 2 not only influenced by the axial
force but also influenced by how asymmetry the rotor is. For the M Mass matrix
in phase imbalances, the onset speed of subsynchronous motion mr Rotor mass
decreases as axial force increases for the large asymmetric rotor M  _ JB Moments in  direction caused by GFJBs
bearing system and the decrement of the onset speed of

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 M _ JB Moments in direction caused by GFJBs performance of a rotor supported on two bump type GFBs
theoretically and experimentally. The linear rotordynamic
M  _ TB Moments in  direction by GFTBs
analysis method was adopted and the predicted results were
M _ TB Moments in direction by GFTBs compared with the experiment data. The test results evidence the
nonlinear characteristics of the rotor bearing system. Pan and
M  _U Moments in  directions caused by
Kim [10] proposed a modal analysis method to investigate the
imbalances
stability characteristics of a rigid rotor supported by a gas-
M _U Moments in directions caused by lubricated spiral-groove conical bearing. This method was
imbalances introduced to study the rotordynamic characteristics of the gas
p Dimensionless gas pressure foil bearings [11-16] and tilting pad gas bearings [17]. Kim [11]
q Displacement matrix presented time domain orbit simulation of foil bearing-point
r Dimensionless radial coordinate mass system for the first time. The paper pointed out the linear
Dimensionless time stability analyses provide only limited information on the
t
bearing stability and the non-linear analyses are more accurate.
X Y ,Z Coordinates
Lee and Kim [18] presented a 5-DOF nonlinear analysis of rigid
z Dimensionless axial coordinate rotor supported by two radial foil bearings and one set of
Ẑ Impedance matrix doubling acting thrust foil bearings. The simulated results
Zˆ K _ modal Modal impedance revealed important role of thrust bearing in conical mode
vibration especially when the bearing span between two journal
Greek bearings is short and rotor transverse moment of inertia is large.
 Excitation frequency ratio However, only symmetrical rotor system and rotor responses
 Circumferential coordinate under synchronous excitations were discussed. Kim and Lee [12]
J Bearing number of GFJB applied the time domain orbit simulation method to predict the
T Bearing number of GFTB performance of the hybrid air foil bearings. Kim et al. [14]
studied the rotordynamic performance of a 120 KW oil-free gas
 Coordinates
 turbine generator based on the four DOF rotordynamic model.
Rotor speed
They presented the formula of modal impedance for forward
s Excitation frequency
conical motion of the 4-DOF symmetrical rotor for the first time,
Subscripts and defined the physical meaning of the modal impedance. They
X Y , Z , , Coordinates presented non-linear rotordynamic analyses of two rigid rotors,
JB Journal bearing supported by foil bearings and connected by a flexible coupling.
TB Thrust bearing The results predicted by the time domain orbit simulation
Superscripts suggested an optimum air foil bearing clearance for stability.
L Left bearing Yazdi and Kim [15] adopted the controlled hydrostatic injection
R Right bearing method to improve the rotordynamic performance of the hybrid
air foil bearings system. Both the experiment and simulation
INTRODUCTION results showed the onset speed of subsynchronous vibration was
Gas foil bearing is a promising solution in high-speed and delayed and the amplitude of the synchronous vibration at the
high-efficiency micro-turbomachinery because of its distinct critical speed was decreased significantly. Moreover, Kim et al.
advantages like oil-free, maintenance free, low drag power loss, [19] successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the hybrid air
very high operating speed, and extreme temperature operating foil bearing under 5.55g rotor’s lateral acceleration and studied
capability. GFB technologies have been made a substantial the rotor responses under forced subsynchronous excitations,
progress in the past several decades. They have been successfully which was prepared for the development of oil-free aero
applied on many high-speed turbomachines, such as air cycle propulsion. The state space simultaneous solution approach was
machines (ACM) for aircraft [1-3], high-speed air compressors proposed to investigate the nonlinear responses of foil-air
[3, 4], micro gas turbine [5, 6] and high-speed turbo blowers [3]. bearing rotor system [20-23]. The time domain simulations
DellaCorte et al. [7] demonstrated GFBs operating at extreme predicted the orbit of the rotor supported by the air foil bearings
temperatures up to 650 ℃ in excess of 30,000 cycles. DellaCorte in Refs. [20-23], which is similar with the time orbit simulation
et al. [8] conducted a series of load capacity tests with various in Ref. [11]. Bonello and Pham [20] developed efficient
combinations of shaft and GFB top foil solid lubricant coating algorithms for the simultaneous solution of the state equations
materials. Three important factors that increase GFB load governing the dynamic interaction between the air film, foil
capacity were suggested as, proper geometrical design, smooth structure and rotor in oil-free turbomachinery. The method was
surface finish, and adequate solid lubrication. applied to a turbocharger rotor which was supported on two foil
Besides improving the load capacity of the GFB, the air bearings [21]. Larsen and Santos [22] measured the unbalance
rotordynamic performance for the GFB system was also responses of a rigid rotor supported by three pads segmented air
investigated. San Andrés et al. [9] studied the rotordynamic foil bearings and the simulated nonlinear responses of the rotor

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 by using the state space simultaneous solution method was
validated by the experiment results. Larsen et al. [23] studied the
stability of rigid rotors supported by air foil bearings through the
nonlinear time domain simulation method and the linearized
frequency domain method, respectively. The predicted onset
speed of instability showed significant discrepancies between the
two methods, which is consistent with the predicted results in
Ref. [11].
All the rotordynamic studies above were based on the
traditional rotordynamic analysis method and the effect of thrust
bearing was not taken into consideration. However, the effect of
thrust bearing on the rotordynamic responses has occurred in
many experiments [24-26]. The oil-free turbocharger supported
on two shimmed GFJBs and two four-pads GFTBs failed at the
top speed of 120 krpm, whereas the rotor operated up to 123
krpm without any bearing failure after replacing the two four-
pads GFTBs by two five-pads GFTBs [24]. Theoretical analysis
that focusing on the load capacity was conducted to try to explain
this phenomenon. But the theoretical analysis results were
contrary to the experimental results. Two reasons were given for
the discrepancy between the experiments and predictions but the
interpretations are not persuadable. Moreover, large axial
motions were measured in the experiments which indicates the
axial response cannot be neglected in the rotordynamics analysis
of the rotor-GFB system. The effects of GFTB tilting angle on
the rotordynamic performance of an oil-free turbo blower was
studied experimentally in Ref. [25]. The onset speed of
instability decreases from 13 krpm to 9 krpm as the GFTB tilting
angle increases from 0.002 rad to 0.006 rad. This phenomenon
was ascribed to the decrease of the load capacity as the tilting
angle increases. The vibration characteristics of a 75 KW turbo
blower supported on GFBs were studied experimentally in Ref.
[26]. The axial displacement is measured and its amplitude is
significant. The experiment results showed the rotor lateral
motions were affected by the axial excitations especially when
the surge occurs. The axial excitation frequencies was appeared
in the rotor lateral motion. This phenomenon demonstrates the
axial vibration was coupled with the lateral vibration. However,
Ref. [26] did not present a deep analysis about that phenomenon.
The experimental studies mentioned above all demonstrates that
GFTBs have a great influence on the rotordynamics performance
of the rotor-GFBs system. However, GFTBs are neglected in
most of the rotordynamic analyses.
The effect of thrust bearing on the rotordynamic performance
has been investigated in the oil-lubricated bearing system [27-
30]. Mittwollen et al. [27] studied the effect of thrust bearing on
lateral shaft vibrations. Both the theoretical and experimental
results showed that a reduction of the total axial clearance of the
thrust bearing and an increase of the axial thrust load that applied
on the thrust bearing can lead a significant increase in the first
critical speed, in the amplitude at the first critical speed, and in
the threshold speed of instability. Berger et al. [28] studied the
coupling between the axial dynamic behavior and the bending
vibrations of a flexible shaft. The shaft vibrates axially at a
frequency equal to the rotational shaft frequency when the
unbalance force is applied. Moreover, the axial dynamic force
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can excite the lateral motion of the shaft through thrust bearing.
The effect of defective thrust bearing (the thrust runner having a
tilted angle) on the rotor lateral responses has been studied in
Ref. [29]. The defective thrust bearing excited the rotor lateral
motion even though the imbalance was not applied on the rotor.
The investigations mentioned above all focus on the oil-
lubricated rotor-bearing system and just discuss the synchronous
excitations. However, there are much difference on the
rotordynamic performance between the oil-lubricated rotor-
bearing system and the rotor-GFB system. The operating speed
in the oil-lubricated rotor-bearing is generally larger than the first
bending critical speed and the rotor behaves as a flexible rotor.
The rotor responses around the first bending critical speed attract
much attention. However, the rotor generally behaves as a rigid
rotor in the normal operating speed range for the rotor-GFB
system and more attention is placed on the rigid mode critical
speeds. Moreover, there is a compliant support structure in series
with the gas film, which would lead to different rotordynamic
performance compared with the oil-lubricated systems.
SCOPE OF THE WORK
Earlier works on non-linear rotordynamics analyses on rigid
rotors with foil bearing were either point mass cases [11, 12] or
4-DOF rotor with only two radial foil bearings [14, 20-23] or
synchronous imbalance response simulation of 5-DOF
symmetric rotor using time domain orbit simulation [18], or
frequency domain and time domain non-linear analysis of
asymmetrical 4-DOF rotor without considering effect of thrust
foil bearings [16]. There is little published work that gives
detailed investigation on the effect of the GFTBs on the
rotordynamic characteristics of 5-DOF asymmetrical rotor in
both frequency domain and time domain using non-linear model.
This paper adopts a 5-DOF model for a rotor supported by two
GFJBs and a pair of GFTBs, considering the effect of GFTBs
and axial forces. Firstly, the lateral and axial modal stiffness and
modal damping were predicted in frequency domain for both the
symmetric and asymmetric rotor systems. The corresponding
natural frequencies and threshold speeds were also predicted.
Secondly, the effect of thrust bearing and axial forces on the
stability of the rotor-GFBs system was discussed through the
nonlinear analyses, where imbalance responses for the two cases
(symmetric and asymmetric rotors) with different axial forces
were calculated and compared with the modal analysis results.
Another contribution of this study is the development of
modal analysis of 5-DOF motion in frequency domain and time
domain for asymmetrical rotors, which was never been
investigated by other researchers.
THEORETICAL MODEL
Figure 1 shows the structure of the rotor-GFBs system. The
rotor with a thrust runner in the middle is supported by two
GFJBs and axial load is supported by a pair of GFTBs. The
coordinate system used in this study is also shown in Fig. 1. The
equations of the rotor radial motion (X and Y direction) are
mr X  FX _ JB  FX _ U  mr g (1)
 mr Y  FY _ JB  FY _ U
where mr is the rotor mass, FX _ JB and FY _ JB are the
GFJB dynamic forces acting on the rotor in X and Y directions,
FX _ U and FY _ U are imbalance forces in X and Y directions.
The equation of the axial motion (Z direction) of the rotor is
mr Z  FZ _ TB +FZ (3)
where FZ and FZ _ TB are the external axial force and GFTB
axial dynamic forces to the rotor. For the conical motion ( and
 direction), the equations can be expressed as
IT   I p  M  _ JB  M  _ TB  M  _ U (4)
IT  I p  M _ JB  M _ TB  M _ U (5)
where IT and I p are the translational and polar moment of
inertia of the rotor, respectively. M  _ TB and M _ TB are the
moments in  and directions by GFTBs, respectively.
M  _ JB and M _ JB are the moments in  and directions
caused by GFJBs, respectively. M  _U and M _U are the
moments in  and directions caused by imbalances,
respectively.
(2) axial coordinate, r is the dimensionless radial coordinate,  J
is the bearing number of GFJB, T is the bearing number of
GFTB,  is the excitation frequency ratio, and t is the
dimensionless time. The methodology presented in this section
is from previous works [14, 15, 19]. The compliant structure of
GFBs is treated as a two dimensional thin plate supported on the
distributed linear stiffness located at every bump pitch [31, 32].
The bump stiffness is calculated using the formula suggested in
[31] for free-free cases. Effect of frictions between bumps and
top foil and bearing sleeve are all consolidated as equivalent
viscous damping coefficient through structural damping model
with loss factor of 0.2.
The equations of motions in Eqs. (1)-(5) can be also
represented using linear stiffness and damping coefficients
calculated by perturbation methods applied to the GFJBs and
GFTBs [32-34].
Mq  Cq  Kq  F (8)
where M, C, K, F represent the mass, damping, stiffness, and
force matrixes, respectively. q represents the displacement
matrix. The expressions of those matrixes are listed in the
Appendix.
SIMULATION RESULTS
A finite element model of the rotor using commercial software
is shown in Fig. 2. Table 1 lists the parameters for the studied
rotor. The total mass and total length of the rotor are 0.958 Kg
and 150 mm, respectively. The two GFJBs located
symmetrically and the bearings’ axial span is 100 mm. The two
journal bearings are bump-type three pad GFJBs with preload
0.5. A pair of six pads GFTBs are adopted in this study. Details
of the GFJBs and GFTBs are listed in Table 2. The diameter of
the two GFJBs are 30 mm. The inner and outer diameter of the
GFTB is 35 mm and 70 mm, respectively. The taper ratio (the
ratio of the original film thickness at the leading and trailing edge
of the top foil taper) is set to 3 in the simulation.

Figure 1. Rotor configuration with GFBs and coordinate system Table 1 Parameters for studied rotor
Rotor parameters
The forces and moments by the bearings are calculated by Total mass ( mr ) 0.958 kg
solving transient Reynolds equations for ideal gases. Total length 150 mm
Dimensionless Reynolds equation in Cartesian coordinate for
Bearings’ axial span 100 mm
GFJBs is
  3 p   3 p  ph  
 2 J
 ph   Thrust runner diameter 70 mm
 ph    ph    J (6) Polar moment of inertia ( I p ) 193 kg mm^2
     z  z   t 164.7 kg mm^2
Translational moment of inertia ( IT )
The dimensionless Reynolds equation for GFTB in cylindrical Rotor mass center location 0 mm
coordinates is
    Left bearing center location ( Z pL ) -50 mm
1   3 p 1   3p  ph  ph
 rh p
  2
  ph
   T
  2T (7) Right bearing center location ( Z pR ) 50 mm
r r   r  r      t
where p is the dimensionless gas pressure, h is the
Table 2 Parameters for GFJB and GFTB
dimensionless gas film thickness as a function of rotor motions,
Journal Bearing
 is the circumferential coordinate, z is the dimensionless

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 Bearing diameter 30 mm
Bearing width 30 mm
Nominal clearance 40 m
Top foil thickness 0.115 mm
Bump foil thickness 0.115 mm
bump
Bump pitch 2.7 mm
Bump height 0.5 mm
Bump half length 1.1 mm
Non-dimensional preload 0.5
Pad number 3 Figure 3. Predicted damped natural frequencies of the rotor supported by gas foil
Pad angle 120 deg bearings using synchronous bearing coefficients.
Foil elastic modulus 214 GPa
MODAL ANALYSES
Poisson's ratio 0.29 Modal analyses in the excitation frequency-domain are
Load 4.69 N conducted to investigate the effect of axial force on the stability
Thrust Bearing characteristic of the rotor-GFB system. The methodology of
modal analyses for the symmetric rotor and bearing load
Bearing inner diameter 35 mm conditions have been introduced and implemented in Refs. [10-
Bearing outer diameter 70 mm 14, 17]. The rotor cylindrical and conical motions are completely
Top foil thickness 0.115 mm decoupled in this case, which is not common in the real
Bump foil thickness 0.115 mm applications. LaTray and Kim [16] extended the modal analyses
Bump pitch 2.7 mm to the 4-DOF asymmetric rotor, where the rotor and bearing load
conditions are all asymmetric. The rotor cylindrical motion and
Bump height 0.5 mm conical motion are coupled in the asymmetric rotors. However,
Bump half length 1.1 mm the thrust bearing and axial force were not considered in [16]. To
Pad number 6 investigate the effect of axial force on the dynamic performance
Pad angle 55 deg of the rotor-GFB system, modal analyses considering the thrust
bearing and axial force are presented in this study.
Inclined plane angle 22.5 deg Based on Eqs. (1)-(5), the equations of rotor motions can be
Foil elastic modulus 214 GPa rewritten into the form of eigenvalues analysis using the
Poisson's ratio 0.29 impedance matrix Ẑ (a function of both excitation frequency,
Nominal clearance 45 m s , and rotor speed,  ), and the equations can be expressed as
Taper ratio 3 follows
ˆ Zˆ XY Zˆ XZ Zˆ X  Zˆ X   X 
1 0 0 0 0   X   Z XX 
Figure 3 shows the predicted damped natural frequencies 0 1 0 0 0    Y   ZˆYX Zˆ Zˆ Zˆ ZˆY    Y 
 
YY YZ Y
 
using commercial software. The natural frequency for the  s 2 0 0 1 0 0    Z  =  Zˆ ZX Zˆ ZY Zˆ ZZ Zˆ Z Zˆ Z    Z  (9)
bending mode is above 300 krpm. Thus, the rotor can be treated      
0 0 0 1 0     Zˆ X Zˆ Zˆ Zˆ Zˆ    
as a rigid rotor for the normal operating speed.  Y Z 
0 1      Zˆ  
 0 0 0
 X Zˆ Y Zˆ Z Zˆ Zˆ    
Here  X ,  Y ,  Z ,  , and  are the rotor natural
modes from the static equilibrium. At the state of neutral
stability, s  js (where s is now a self-excited unknown
frequency). The expression of the impedance matrix Ẑ is
listed in the Appendix. The impedance matrix includes the
stiffness and damping coefficients of the bearings as a function
of excitation frequency, gyroscopic effect, bearing locations, and
rotor inertial properties. Total combinational effect of all the
stiffness and damping coefficients appear as modal stiffness. The
modal impedance of the bearing is equivalent impedance of the
bearing in the opposite direction along the forward whirling
Figure 2. Finite element rotor model using commercial software. direction. The modal impendence can be tabulated as a function

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 of s by sweeping the s over range of interest. With bearing systems, where either rotor is geometrically asymmetric
and/or two radial bearings have different design parameters and
 s 2 = 2  Zˆ , Eq. (9) can be rewritten as
s K operating condition even if rotor is geometrically symmetric.
 Z XX  Zˆ K
ˆ Zˆ XY Zˆ XZ Zˆ X  Zˆ X 
   X 
 Y 
 ZˆYX ZˆYY  Zˆ K Zˆ Zˆ Zˆ CASE 1
 
YZ Y Y
 For symmetrical rotor-bearing system, Eq. (10) becomes
 Zˆ ZX Zˆ Zˆ ZZ  Zˆ K Zˆ Z Zˆ Z    Z  =0 (10)
 Zˆ XX  Zˆ K
  Zˆ XY 
ZY
0 0 0
 ˆ
 Z X ZˆY Zˆ Z  Zˆ K
ˆ Zˆ        X 
 Y 
Z
   ZˆYX ZˆYY  Zˆ K 0 0 0
 Zˆ
 X Zˆ
Y Zˆ Z Zˆ Zˆ  Zˆ K       
 0 0 Zˆ ZZ  Zˆ K ˆ
Z Z
ˆ
Z Z    Z  =0 (13)
 
For nonzero eigen modes  X
 Y  Z    to
T 
 0 0 Zˆ
Z Zˆ  Zˆ K Zˆ    
 
exist, the determinant of the impedance matrix in Eq. (10) should 
 0 0 Zˆ Z Zˆ
 Zˆ  Zˆ K    
be zero, which leads to five solutions of Zˆ K . The unknown self- and the rotor’s cylindrical motion and conical motion are
excitation frequency, s , can be found from imag( Z K (s ))  0 decoupled. The modal stiffness and damping coefficients of
cylindrical mode can be predicted by using the first two line in
while sweeping s , at the given rotor speed  . It is noted it is Eq. (13).
possible that imag( Z K (s ))  0 for all s at the given rotor Figure 4 and Figure 5 show the predicted modal stiffness and
modal damping for the forward cylindrical mode and forward
speed, and in that case the self-excited vibration does not occur
conical mode versus different axial forces at 30 krpm. Both the
at the given speed. However, if s exists satisfying modal stiffness and modal damping coefficients for the
imag( Z K (s ))  0 , the corresponding s is an undamped cylindrical mode do not change as the axial force increases
natural frequency of the corresponding mode, and the following because cylindrical mode is completely decoupled from the axial
relations hold; and conical motions. However, the modal stiffness for the
conical mode increases as the axial force increases because the
real ( Zˆ K _ modal )  ks  mr s2 , if cylindrical mode or axial mode
(11) rotating stiffness of the GFTB ( K and K ) contribute to
real ( Zˆ K _ modal )  ks  IT s2 , if conical mode the direct stiffness of the conical motion, which can be observed
The threshold speeds for the given rotor mass and translational in the expression of the impedance matrix Ẑ . Moreover, the
moment of inertia can be expressed as modal stiffness increases as the excitation frequency increases
T  s /  T (12) for all the axial forces. The modal damping for the conical mode
where  T  s /  . It is noted that the modal analyses so far varies slightly as the axial load increases because the damping
and calculation of threshold speed in Eq. (12) were done at coefficients, C and C , of the GFTB are very small [32].
particular rotor rotational speed,  . In a traditional stability The synchronous modal damping for the cylindrical mode and
analysis of gas bearing-supported rotors, if T   , it is conical mode are both positive, which indicates the rotor bearing
considered the rotor is stable at the given speed  . However, as system would be stable if there are only synchronous excitations
will be shown in the non-linear analysis and other published (generally imbalance excitations). However, negative modal
reports [11, 14, 20-23, 35, 36], stability analysis in frequency damping is observed at low excitation frequencies for both
domain using the bearing coefficients have limitation. However, cylindrical and conical modes, which implies the high
results are presented to compare with non-linear analyses. susceptibility to instability if the low frequency external
If the excitation frequency, s , is swept over wide range disturbances are applied to the rotor. Figure 6 shows the
predicted natural frequency and threshold speed for the given
(treated as a forced excitation), the real and imaginary parts of rotor mass and translational moment of inertia at 30 krpm. Both
Zˆ K _ modal for each mode represents the modal stiffness, the natural frequency and threshold speed remain constant as the
K modal , and modal damping, Cmodal , respectively. The axial force increases for the cylindrical mode because the modal
stiffness and modal damping do not change as the axial force
damped natural frequency for the given rotor mass or increases. The natural frequency and threshold speed for the
translational moment of inertia at a certain operating speed,  , cylindrical mode are ~11.7 krpm and ~17.7 krpm, respectively.
can be estimated by finding the intersection of the modal However, both the natural frequency and threshold speed for the
stiffness, K modal , and mr s2 or IT s2 . forward conical mode increases as the axial force increases. The
Modal analyses for two different rotor-bearing systems are natural frequency for the conical mode increases from ~16.4
discussed in this study. Case 1 represents the symmetric rotor- krpm to ~27.5 krpm and the threshold speed increases from
bearing systems where rotor is geometrically symmetric and also ~25.0 krpm to ~42.6 krpm as the axial force increases from 0 N
two radial bearings (with identical design parameters) share the to 120 N. The results indicate the stability of conical mode is
equal rotor weight. Case 2 represents all other rotor-bearing improved as the axial force increases.
configurations different from Case 1, i.e., the asymmetric rotor-

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 Figure 4. Predicted modal stiffness of (a) forward cylindrical mode and (b)
forward conical mode for different axial forces at 30krpm. Figure 6. (a) Natural frequency and (b) threshold speed of the forward cylindrical
mode and conical mode for different axial forces at 30 krpm.

Figure 5. Predicted modal damping of the (a) forward cylindrical mode and (b) Figure 7. (a) Modal stiffness and (b) natural frequency of the axial mode for
forward conical mode for different axial forces at 30 krpm. different axial forces at 30 krpm.

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Figure 8. Imbalance responses in the (a) vertical and (b) horizontal directions at
the left end for different axial forces. Imbalance distribution is out of phase at
two ends of the rotor.
Figure 7 shows the modal stiffness and natural frequency of
the axial motion for different axial forces at 30 krpm. The modal
stiffness increases significantly as the axial force increases as
expected. Moreover, the modal stiffness increases slightly as the
excitation frequency increases. The natural frequency for the
axial motion increases from ~5.0 krpm to ~45.0 krpm as the axial
force increases from 0 N to 120 N.
To investigate the effect of axial force on the rotor responses,
the imbalance responses of the symmetric rotor-bearing system
are predicted using the 5-DOF rotor model. Considering that the
stiffness and damping coefficients of the thrust foil bearing only
affect the conical mode, a pair of 0.5 g-mm out of phase
imbalances are added at the two ends of the rotor. Figure 8(a) and
8(b) show the predicted imbalance responses at the left end of
the rotor in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively,
with different axial forces. As the axial force increases, the
critical speed increases significantly in both the horizontal and
vertical directions and the results are consistent with the modal
analyses. It is noted the imbalance response analyses use
synchronous bearing coefficients, and modal damping at
synchronous excitations are all positive as shown in Figure 5.
Therefore, no instability is observed any prediction in Figure 8.
CASE 2
The geometry of the rotor is the same with Case 1, while the
left bearing has a radial clearance of 30 m and the right bearing
has 60 m radial clearance. This would lead the rotor-bearing
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system becomes asymmetric. This case may not be very common
in the real applications but it is possible to adopt the different
clearances between two bearings if thermal expansions of the
bearing journals are different. More common asymmetrical rotor
configuration would be geometrically asymmetric rotor with
identical bearings. However, current study focuses on symmetric
rotor with two different bearing clearances. The translational
motion, axial motion and rotating motion are all coupled in this
case.
Figure 9 and Figure 10 show the predicted modal stiffness and
modal damping for the forward cylindrical mode and forward
conical mode versus different axial forces at 30 krpm. The modal
stiffness for both the cylindrical mode and conical mode
increases as the axial force increases. It implies that the thrust
bearing stiffness affects both the cylindrical mode and conical
mode, which is different from the symmetric case. The reason is
that the rotor cylindrical motion is coupled with the conical
motion in this case. Similar with the modal damping in Case 1,
negative modal damping is also observed at low excitation
frequency ratio for both the cylindrical and conical modes, which
indicates high susceptibility of instability under low frequency
external disturbance. The modal damping decreases as axial
force increases at low excitation frequency, while the value
increases as axial forces increases at high excitation frequencies
for the forward cylindrical mode. The modal damping for the
forward conical mode are close for different axial forces except
for the high frequency ratios. Figure 11 shows the damped
natural frequencies and threshold speeds of the forward
cylindrical mode and conical mode for different axial forces at
30 krpm. The natural frequency for both the cylindrical mode
and conical mode increases as the axial load increases. The
damped natural frequency for the forward cylindrical mode
increases from ~10.1 krpm to ~12.9 krpm as the axial load
increases from 0 N to 120 N. The natural frequency for the
forward conical mode increases from 20.3 krpm to 29.3 krpm.
Similarly, the threshold speed for both the cylindrical mode and
conical mode increases as the axial load increases, which
indicates the stability is improved as the axial force increases.
The threshold speed for the cylindrical mode increases from
~20.3 krpm to ~23.1 krpm and the threshold speed for the conical
mode increases from ~31.4 krpm to 47.6 krpm as the axial force
increases from 0 N to 120 N. The modal stiffness and damped
natural frequency for the axial motion are also predicted for this
case. As shown in Fig. 12(a), the modal stiffness increases
significantly as the axial force increases. Moreover, the modal
stiffness increases slightly as the excitation frequency ratio
increases. The damped natural frequency increases from ~5.1
krpm to ~45.1 krpm as the axial force increases from 0 N to 120
N.
The imbalance responses of the rotor are predicted based on
the 5-DOF rotor model. A pair of 0.5 g-mm in phase imbalances
are added at the two ends of the rotor considering the imbalance
can excite cylindrical, axial and conical motions all together.
Figure 13 shows the imbalance responses in the vertical and
horizontal directions at the left end for different axial forces. Two
critical speeds are shown in the responses because both the
 Figure 11. (a) Natural frequency and (b) threshold speed of the forward
Figure 9. Predicted modal stiffness of the (a) forward cylindrical mode and (b)
cylindrical mode and conical mode for different axial forces at 30 krpm.
forward conical mode for different axial forces at 30 krpm.

Figure 10. Predicted modal damping of the (a) forward cylindrical mode and (b) Figure 12. (a) Modal stiffness and (b) natural frequency of the axial motion at 30
forward conical mode for different axial forces at 30 krpm. krpm.

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 Figure 14 shows the waterfall plots for vertical vibration at
rotor left end for Case 1 rotor-bearing system when the axial
forces are 0N and 60N, respectively for out of phase imbalance
of 0.5 g-mm at the two ends of the rotor. The results at the right
end are similar to those at the left end thus they are not shown
for simplicity. Clear synchronous motions are shown in both
waterfall plots. Both the amplitude and frequency of the main
subsynchronous motion increase as the speed increases. Note
that as the axial force increases from 0 N to 60 N, the onset speed
of subsynchronous motions increase from 19 krpm to 25 krpm,
which means the stability of the rotor-bearing system is
improved. This agree with the results of the linear analysis. It is
noted that out-of-phase imbalance is imposed in Figure 14
because axial force has no effect on the cylindrical mode of Case
1 rotor.

Figure 13. Imbalance responses in the (a) vertical and (b) horizontal directions
for different axial forces. Imbalance distribution is in phase at the two ends of the
rotor

cylindrical and conical modes are excited. Critical speeds in both

cylindrical and conical modes increase as the axial load
increases. This agrees with the modal analyses, where both
modal stiffness and damped natural frequency increase with
axial force for both modes.
The frequency domain modal analyses and imbalance
responses above are based on the linear dynamic coefficients of
the GFJBs and GFTBs predicted using the perturbation method.
The linear rotordynamic analyses can predict the natural
frequencies accurately. It is further noted there are a few cases
that linear analyses predict onset speed of instability quite
accurately, and these cases are very lightly loaded single pad
circular foil bearings and rigid walled circular gas bearings.
However, numerous other works suggest that the linear analyses
provide limited information about the rotor-bearing stability [11,
14, 20-23, 35, 36]. Typically gas bearings with non-circular
Figure 14. Waterfall plots for vertical vibration at the rotor left end for Case 1
geometry such as tilting pad gas bearings [37, 38], Rayleigh when the axial force is (a) 0 N and (b) 60 N, respectively.
step/lobed gas bearings [39], hydrodynamically preloaded
(lobed) foil bearings [35] do show discrepancies between the Figure 15 shows the waterfall plots for the vertical vibration
linear and non-linear analyses regardless of imbalance condition. at the rotor left end for Case 2 rotor-bearing system when the
axial forces are 0 N and 60 N, respectively for in phase
NONLINEAR ANALYSIS imbalance of 0.5 g-mm at the two ends of the rotor (in-phase
The nonlinear analyses in this section integrate Eqs. (1)~(7) imbalance is used because it can excite all modes). Contrary to
along with foil deformation in time domain, i.e., orbit the results for Case 1, the onset speed of subsynchronous
simulations, to investigate the effect of axial force on the vibrations decreases from 23 krpm to 19 krpm as the axial load
rotordynamic responses. increases from 0 N to 60 N. This result is contrary to the linear
analysis, and the reason is as following: The restoring moment

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 on the shaft created by the thrust bearing changes the rotor
eccentricities at the two journal bearings for different axial
forces. The restoring moment reduces the tilting of the rotor, and
thus the eccentricity of the left bearing (small clearance)
increases and the eccentricity of the right bearing (large
clearance) decreases. The reduction of eccentricity in the right
bearing deteriorates the stability of the right bearing and thus
deteriorates the stability of the entire rotor-bearing system. In the
linear analyses, the static eccentricities of the GFJBs (used to
predict the bearing coefficients) are decided by only the rotor
weight shared by these bearings, and the thrust runner is assumed
to be parallel with the thrust bearing regardless of the rotor
weight distribution. Therefore, the change in eccentricities in the
radial bearings due to axial force on the thrust bearing is not
considered in the linear analysis.
Figure 15. Waterfall plots for vertical vibration at the rotor left end for Case 2
when the axial force is (a) 0 N and (b) 60 N, respectively.
Table 3 lists the onset speed of subsynchronous vibrations for
different bearing clearance combinations between the left journal
bearing and right journal bearing for the in-phase imbalance.
When the left bearing clearance is 30 m and the right bearing is
60 m (asymmetry is stronger), the onset speed of
subsynchronous vibration decreases by 4 krpm as the axial force
increases from 0 N to 60 N. As the difference in clearances
between the left and right bearings decreases, the onset speeds of
subsynchronous vibrations for axial force 0 N and 60 N become
11
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closer. Finally, the onset speeds of subsynchronous vibration
become the same for the axial force 0 N and 60 N when the left
bearing clearance is equal to the right bearing clearance
(symmetric rotor). The cylindrical mode is the main motion with
in phase imbalance, thus the change in eccentricity in the bearing
with larger clearance has a larger influence on the rotor stability.
Table 4 lists the onset speed of subsynchronous vibrations for
different bearing clearance combinations when the imbalances
are in out of phase. The onset speed of subsynchronous motion
for axial force of 0 N is higher than that for axial force of 60 N
when the difference in bearing clearances is very large. However,
as the difference in bearing clearances decreases, the onset speed
of subsynchronous motion increases with the axial force. The
onset speed of subsynchronous vibration increases by 6 krpm
when the rotor is symmetrical. Therefore, in general, axial force
increases the stability as long as the difference in clearances is
not significant.
Table 3 Onset speed of subsynchronous motions for different bearing clearance
differences between the left journal bearing and right journal bearing. Imbalances
distribution is in phase at the two ends of the rotor.
Axial force 0 N Axial force 60 N
CL=30 m, CR=60 m 23 krpm 19 krpm
CL=40 m, CR=60 m 21 krpm 19 krpm
CL=40 m, CR=50 m 20 krpm 20 krpm
CL=40 m, CR=40 m 18 krpm 18 krpm
Table 4 Onset speed of subsynchronous motions for different bearing clearance
differences between the left journal bearing and right journal bearing. Imbalances
distribution out of phase at the two ends of the rotor.
Axial force 0 N Axial force 60 N
CL=30 m, CR=60 m 23 krpm 22 krpm
CL=40 m, CR=60 m 20 krpm 22 krpm
CL=40 m, CR=50 m 17 krpm 23 krpm
CL=40 m, CR=40 m 19 krpm 25 krpm
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The effect of axial force on the rotordynamic performance of
a rigid rotor which was supported on two GFJBs and a pair of
GFTBs was investigated in this study. Both the frequency
domain and time domain analyses were conducted based on the
5-DOF model. Both the symmetric and asymmetric rotor cases
were discussed.
Modal analyses for the symmetric rotor-bearing system (Case
1) show the conical modal stiffness increases with the axial
force, whereas the cylindrical mode is not influenced. The axial
force had little influence on the modal damping for both
cylindrical and conical modes. The damped natural frequency
and threshold speed for the conical mode increase with the axial
force, while those for the cylindrical mode are not affected. The
predicted rotor lateral responses with out of phase imbalances
Copyright © 2018 ASME
 show the conical mode critical speed increases as the axial force
increases.
For the asymmetric rotor-bearing system (Case 2), the natural
frequency and threshold speed for both the cylindrical and
conical modes increase with the axial force because the modal
stiffness for both modes increases with the axial force. The
predicted rotor lateral responses showed the critical speeds for
both cylindrical and conical modes increase with the axial force.
The axial modal stiffness and damped natural frequency increase
with the axial force for both symmetric and asymmetric rotor-
bearing systems.
The nonlinear analyses using time-domain orbit simulations
were performed to investigate the effect of axial force on the
rotordynamic performance focusing on the stability. For Case 1,
the onset speeds of subsynchronous motions increase as the axial
force increases from 0 N to 60 N, which agrees with the linear
analyses. However, for Case 2, the onset speeds of
subsynchronous motion decrease from 23 krpm to 19 krpm as
the axial force increases from 0 N to 60 N because the rotor
eccentricities at the two journal bearings change in a way to
deteriorate the stability. As the difference in bearing clearance
reduces, stability changes slightly for in-phase imbalance, while
the stability improved significantly for out-of-phase imbalance.
The findings in the study indicates the stability characteristics
of rotor-bearing systems is affected by not only the rotor
geometrical configurations but also clearance difference in two
radial bearings due to various reasons such as different
centrifugal expansions and thermal expansions within the rotor.
Linear method using the bearing coefficients has a limited
capability to consider these factors and only non-linear analyses
give better insight to the rotor-bearing stability. Linear analysis
method is available in predicting the rotor responses and stability
only when the perturbation assumption is satisfied.
It is further noted that the current case studies of asymmetric
rotor-bearing system were limited to the geometrically
symmetric rotor supported by two radial bearings with different
clearances. Geometrically asymmetric rotor configurations are
beyond the scope of current work because there is no unique
asymmetric rotor configuration. However, the 5-DOF modal
analyses and nonlinear analyses can be applied to any arbitrary
asymmetric rotor-bearing system, and each case has to be
investigated case by case.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The lead author appreciates China Scholarship Council
(CSC) for scholarship for 12 months to stay at University of
Texas at Arlington for the research presented in this paper. The
author also acknowledges help and support from other PhD
students in Dr. Daejong Kim’s group and staff at Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington
to support the visiting student position.
The second author, Dr. Daejong Kim has a potential research
conflict of interest due to a financial interest with company
Bellkim Energy LLC. A management plan has been created to
preserve objectivity in research in accordance with UTA policy.
APPENDIX
The mass, damping, and stiffness matrixes are expressed as
follows:
 mr 0 0 0 0
0 m 0 0 0 
 r
M  0 0 mr 0 0 
 
0 0 0 IT 0 
 0 0 0 0 IT 

 L
C XX R
+C XX L
C XY  C XY
R
0   C XY
L
Z pL  C XY
R
Z pR  L
C XX Z pL  C XX
R
Z pR 
 
 CYXL +CYXR CYYL +CYYR
0   CYYL Z pL +CYY
R
Z pR  CYXL Z pL +CYXR Z pR 
 
C= 0 0 L
CZZ +CZZR
CZL +CZR CZL +CZR 
 
   CYX Z p +CYX Z p    CYY Z p +CYY Z p  C Z +C Z   CYX Z pL Z pL  C  C  I p  
R R L L R R L L L R
C Z Z +CYYL Z pL Z pL +CL +CR
R
YY
R
p
R
p
R
Z pR Z pR +CYX L L R

 L L R R 
 C XX Z p +C XX Z p C XYL
Z pL +C XY
R
Z pR CLZ +CR Z   C XY
L
Z pL Z pL +C XY
R
Z pR Z pR  CL  C
R
+I p  L
C XX Z pL Z pL +C XX
R
Z pR Z pR +C
L
+CR


 L
K XX  K XX
R
K XYL
 K XY
R
0   K XY
L
Z pL  K XY
R
Z pR  L
K XX Z pL  K XX
R
Z pR 
 
 KYX L R
+KYX KYYL +KYYR 0   KYYL Z pL +K YYR Z pR  L
K YX Z pL +K YXR
Z pR 
 
K  0 0 L R
K ZZ +K ZZ K ZL  K ZR K ZL  K ZR 
 
   KYX Z p +KYX Z p    KYY Z p +KYY Z p  K Z +K Z   KYX Z p Z p +KYX Z p Z p  K  K  
R R L L R R L L L R
KYYR Z pR Z pR +KYYL Z pL Z pL +K L +K R R R R L L L L R

 L L 
 K XX Z p +K XX Z p
R R L
K XY Z pL +K XY
R
Z pR KLZ +KRZ   K XY
L
Z pL Z pL +K XY
R
Z pR Z pR  KL  KR  L
K XX Z pL Z pL +K XXR
Z pR Z pR +KL R
+K 

The stiffness and damping coefficients in the matrixes are K K XY  C C XY 

from the dynamic stiffness and damping coefficients of the K J   XX  C J   XX 
 KYX KYY   CYX CYY 
GFJBs and GFTBs.
The dynamic stiffness and damping matrixes for the GFJB are The dynamic stiffness and damping matrixes for the GFTB are

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  K ZZ K Z K Z   CZZ CZ  CZ  X 
    Y 
KT   K Z K K  CT   C Z C C   
    q  Z 
 
 K Z K K  C Z C C   
The superscript ‘L’ and ‘R’ in the matrixes represent the left  
 
GFB and the right GFB, respectively. Z pL and Z pR represent Here mL and mR represent the imbalance mass at the left
the position along axial Z of the left GFJB and right GFJB in the side and right side of the rotor, respectively. u L and u R
coordinate system, respectively. represent the imbalance radius at the left side and right side of
The force and displacement matrixes are expressed as follows the rotor, respectively. L and R represent the imbalance
 mLuL 2 cos t +L   mRu R 2 cos t +R   mr g 
  phase angle at the left side and right side of the rotor,
 mLu L sin t +L   mRu R sin t +R 
2 2

  respectively. Z pL _ U and Z pR _ U represent the position of the
F  FZ

   mLuL sin t  L   Z p   mRu R sin t  R   Z p 
2 L _U 2 R _U imbalance at the left side and right side of the rotor in the
  coordinate system, respectively.
  mRu R 2 cos t  R   Z pR _ U   mLu L 2 cos t  L   Z pL _ U 
The expression of the impedance matrix Ẑ is shown below




L
K XX  K XX
R
 / mr K L
XY  K XY
R
/ mr  0 
 K XY
L R

Z pL  K XY Z pR / mr K ZL
XX
L
p  K XX
R
Z pR / mr 


 
L R

KYX +KYX / mr K L
YY +K R
YY /m r 0   K Z +K Z  / m
L
YY
L
p
R
YY
R
p r K Z
L
YX
L
p+K Z R
YX
R
p /m
r


Zˆ =  0 0  L
K ZZ R
+K ZZ / mr  K  K  / m
L
Z
R
Z r K Z  K Z / mr
L R
 

 
 L

  KYX Z p +KYX Z p / IT
R R L R

 KYY Z pR +KYY
L
Z pL / IT  K L
Z +KRZ / IT  R
KYY Z pR Z pR +KYY
L
Z pL Z pL +KL +KR / IT  
 KYXR
Z pR Z pR +KYXL
Z pL Z pL  K 
L
 K 
R

/ IT 
 L L 

 XX p
K Z +K XX R

Z pR / IT  L
K XY Z pL +K XY
R
Z pR / IT  K
L
Z +KRZ / I T 
 K XY
L
Z pL Z pL +K XY
R
Z pR Z pR  K
L
 K
R
/ IT   L
K XX Z pL Z pL +K XX
R
Z pR Z pR +K
L R
+K 
/ IT 



L
C XX  R
+C XX / mr C L
XY C R
XY/m r 0 
 C Z C Z
L
XY
L
p /m R
XY
R
p r CL
XX Z C
L
p
R
XX Z /m
R
p r




L
 R

CYX +CYX / mr C L
YY
R
+CYY /m r 0   C Z +C Z  / m
L
YY
L
p
R
YY
R
p r
L
C L
YX Z p +CYX p
R R
Z /m
r



+ js  0 0 C L
ZZ +C R
ZZ /m r C +C  / m
L
Z
R
Z r 
CZL +CZR /m
r


 
R

  CYX Z p +CYX Z p / IT
R L L
 
 C Z +C Z
R
YY
R
p
L
YY
L
p / I T C L
Z +C R
Z / I T C R
YY
R
p
R
p
L
YY
L
Z Z +C Z Z +C +C / IT
p
L
p
L R
 
 CYX
R
Z pR Z pR +CYX L
Z pL Z pL  C L
 CR

 I p  / IT 
 L L R R 

 C XX Z p +C XX Z p / IT  C L
XY
L
Z +C Z
p
R
XY
R
p / I T C L
Z +C Z R
/ I T 
 C Z Z +C Z Z  C  C +I p / IT
L
XY
L
p
L
p
R
XY
R
p
R
p
L R
 L

C XX Z pL Z pL +C XX
R
Z pR Z pR +C
L
+CR

/ IT 

[7] DellaCorte, C., Lukaszewicz, V., Valco, M. J., Radil, K., and
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