Nonlinear free vibrations analysis of overhung rotors under the influence of gravity

Abstract

In this paper, nonlinear free vibration of a cantilever flexible shaft carrying a rigid disk at its free end (overhung rotor) is investigated. The Rayleigh beam model is used and the rotor has large amplitude vibrations. With the assumption of inextensibility, the effect of nonlinear curvature and inertia is considered. The effect of disk mass on the dynamical behavior of the system is studied in the presence and absence of gravity (horizontal and vertical rotors). By using perturbation technique (method of multiple scales), the main focus is on the influence of gravity on equations of motion and on quantities such as amplitude and damped natural frequency. Here, a different behavior is observed due to the rotor weight. Indeed, the combination effects of gyroscopic term, nonlinearity and gravity are studied on the modal behavior of the system. It is shown that the static deflection creates second order nonlinear terms and changes the nonlinear damped natural frequency. With considering of gravity, both beat and high frequency in beat phenomenon increase. With increasing of the rotor weight, the minimum value of amplitude is extremely amplified in the direction of gravity but in the other transverse direction, amplitude of vibrations decreases. In addition, it is found that the weight has directly influence on beat frequency, while the mass ratio between disk and beam affects the high frequency.