Squeeze-Film Damper Technology: Part 2 — Experimental Verification Using a Controlled-Orbit Test Rig

This paper is a companion to “Squeeze-Film Damper Technology, Part 1,” which covered an analytic approach and computer program for squeeze-film damper performance prediction. This paper describes a series of damper tests in which a controlled-orbit rig is used to explore squeeze-film damper behavior for representative gas turbine damper geometries and to verify and calibrate the damper analysis program. Test results for both locally end-sealed (hole fed and drained) and globally sealed (groove fed and drained) dampers are presented, along with performance predictions for those test points made using the software analysis. In particular, the effects of feeder hole flow resistance, feed groove geometry, and fluid inertia on damper performance are discussed and illustrated.