Nonlinear Vibration Analysis of an Unbalanced Flexible Rotor Supported by Ball Bearings With Radial Internal Clearance

In the present work, the nonlinear dynamic response of an unbalanced horizontal flexible rotor supported by deep groove ball bearing is studied. Nonlinearity effects in rolling element bearings arise from Hertzian contact force deformation relationship and clearance between rolling elements and races. The system is bi-periodically excited due to varying compliance of ball bearing and rotating unbalance. The flexible rotor bearing system is modeled by finite element method, taking into account the gyroscopic moments, rotary inertia, shear deformation, proportional damping, nonlinear stiffness and radial internal clearance of ball bearing. The implicit type numerical time integration scheme Newmark-β and Newton-Raphson methods are used to numerically solve the nonlinear equations of motion. The mathematical model is validated for the natural frequencies of the flexible shaft and whirl frequencies. On account of variation in the ball bearing stiffness, the variation in natural frequencies of the rotor ball bearing system is estimated. The influence of ball bearing nonlinearity on dynamic behavior is analyzed by time histories of steady state response, phase portraits and power spectra. Effect of radial internal clearance and varying compliance on the unbalance response of flexible rotor is studied in detail.