Stability of Rotors Supported by Hydrodynamic Film Bearings

December 1, 2008

Texas A&M University

The document, "Hydrodynamic Fluid Film Bearings and Their Effect on the Stability of Rotating Machinery" represents a lecture in a series "Design and Analysis of High-Speed Pumps," held in 2006 under the auspices of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The document introduces the basic principles of hydrodynamic lubrication and the fundamental equation of classical lubrication theory, then proceeds through derivation of the static and dynamic performance characteristics of short cylindrical journal bearings, with application to the dynamic forced performance of a rigid rotor supported on plain bearings. The Sommerfeld number is introduced and shown to define the relation among load, speed, and equilibrium eccentricity of a journal within a radial bearing. Rotordynamic force coefficients (direct and cross-coupled stiffnesses) are introduced and the relationships between them and instabilities of the rotor-and-bearing system are thoroughly discussed. The relationship between the whirl frequency ratio (the ratio between the frequency of undesired orbital rotor motion about the nominal journal axis and the frequency of rotation) and the threshold rotational frequency for instability is discussed. The document concludes with a review of practical journal-bearing configurations, including summaries of their major advantages and disadvantages and brief descriptions of typical applications.

This work was done by Luis San Andrés of Texas A&M University.

AMU-0001