Nonlinear effects caused by coupling misalignment in rotors equipped with journal bearings

Misalignment is one of the most common sources of trouble of rotating machinery when rigid couplings connect the shafts. Ideal alignment of the shafts is difficult to be obtained and rotors may present angular and/or parallel misalignment (defined also as radial misalignment or offset). During a complete shaft revolution, a periodical change of the bearings load occurs in hyperstatic shaft-lines, if coupling misalignment between the shafts is excessive. If the rotating machine is equipped with fluid-film journal bearings, the change of the loads on the bearing causes also the variation of their instantaneous dynamic characteristics, i.e. damping and stiffness, and the complete system cannot be considered any longer as linear. Despite misalignment is often observed in the practice, there are relatively few studies about this phenomenon in literature and their results are sometimes conflicting. The authors aim at modeling accurately this phenomenon, for the first time in this paper, and giving pertinent diagnostic information. The proposed method is suitable for every type of shaft-line supported by journal bearings. A finite element model is used for the hyperstatic shaft-line, while bearing characteristics are calculated by integrating Reynolds equation as a function of the instantaneous load acting on the bearings, caused also by the coupling misalignment. The results obtained by applying the proposed method are shown by means of the simulation, in the time domain, of the dynamical response of a hyperstatic shaft-line. Nonlinear effects are highlighted and the spectral components of the system response are analyzed, in order to give diagnostic information about the signature of this type of fault. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.