Simulation method for dynamic characteristics of rotor-support system subjected to environmental loads

An improved finite element method was proposed to investigate the dynamic characteristics of rotor system with environmental loads (temperature and aerodynamic forces) in aeroengines. According to the axial temperature distribution within shaft elements, the polynomials were established for physical properties of material. The derivation for coefficient matrices under thermal loads, and the tensile stiffness matrix considering axial aerodynamic forces were completed, based on the Timoshenko beam theory. A high-pressure rotor was simulated with operating temperature $200\sim 600{}^{\circ }C$, and the magnitude of aerodynamic force is ${10}^{5}N$. Furthermore, a squeezed film damper (SFD) was adopted to this rotor-support system, its steady responses were solved by the equivalent coefficient method, and the Newmark-HHT method was utilized to solve the transient responses. The results indicate that the first two critical speeds are reduced by 1.85 % and 2.07 %, which is mainly caused by thermal loads. The rising temperature leads to lower elastic modulus, higher Poisson's ratio and expansion ratio. With the amount of a mass unbalance being 500 $g·\text{mm}$ located at the 1st-stage compressor disk (CD1): the 1st resonance peaks at CD1 and turbine disk (TD) increase by 4.56 % and 4.98 %, respectively, and the 2nd resonance peaks at CD1 and TD rise 5.88 % and 5.00 %, separately. Owing to SFD damping, the first two resonance peaks at CD1 and TD decrease by 69 % and 51 %, respectively. Compared to 40 °C, the first two resonance peaks at CD1 increase by 88 % and 55 % at the oil temperature 100 °C. The oil-film damping deteriorates significantly due to the lower oil viscosity in higher temperature. When operating near the first-order critical speed, the transient responses of rotor perform as simple harmonics, circular precession trajectory, dominant rotational frequency, and periodic motions. Overall, the dynamic characteristics of rotor-SFD-support systems exposed to environmental loads can be predicted by the proposed simulation method.