On the Experimental Dynamic Force Performance of a Squeeze Film Damper Supplied Through a Check Valve and Sealed With O-Rings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis San Andrés ◽  
Bryan Rodríguez

Abstract In rotor-bearing systems, squeeze film dampers (SFDs) assist to reduce vibration amplitudes while traversing a critical speed and also offer a means to suppress rotor instabilities. Along with an elastic support element, SFDs are effective means to isolate a rotor from its casing. O-rings (ORs), piston rings (PRs) and side plates as end seals reduce leakage and air ingestion while amplifying the viscous damping in configurations with limited physical space. ORs also add a centering stiffness and damping to a SFD. The paper presents experiments to quantify the dynamic forced response of an O-rings sealed ends SFD (OR-SFD) lubricated with ISO VG2 oil supplied at a low pressure (0.7 bar(g)). The damper is 127 mm in diameter (D), short in axial length L = 0.2D, and the film clearance c = 0.279 mm. The lubricant flows into the film land through a mechanical check valve and exits through a single port. Upstream of the check valve, a large plenum filled with oil serves to attenuate dynamic pressure disturbances. Multiple sets of single-frequency dynamic loads, 10 Hz to 120 Hz, produce circular centered orbits with amplitudes r = 0.1c, 0.15c and 0.2c. The experimental results identify the test rig structure, ORs and SFD force coefficients; namely stiffness (K), mass (M) and viscous damping (C). The ORs coefficients are frequency independent and show a sizeable direct stiffness, KOR ∼ 50% of the test rig structure stiffness, along with a quadrature stiffness, K0∼0.26 KOR, demonstrative of material damping. The lubricated system damping coefficient equals CL = (CSFD + COR); the ORs contributing 10% to the total. The experimental SFD damping and inertia coefficients are large in physical magnitude; CSFD slightly grows with orbit size whereas MSFD is relatively constant. The added mass (MSFD) is approximately four-fold the bearing cartridge mass; hence, the test rig natural frequency drops by ∼50% once lubricated. A computational physics model predicts force coefficients that are just 10% lower than those estimated from experiments. The amplitude of measured dynamic pressures upstream of the plenum increases with excitation frequency. Unsuspectedly, during dynamic load operation, the check valve did allow for lubricant backflow into the plenum. Post-tests verification demonstrates that, under static pressure conditions, the check valve does work since it allows fluid flow in just one direction.

Author(s):  
Luis San Andres ◽  
Bryan Rodríguez

Abstract In rotor-bearing systems, squeeze film dampers (SFDs) assist to reduce vibration amplitudes while traversing a critical speed and also offer a means to suppress rotor instabilities. Along with an elastic support element, SFDs are effective means to isolate a rotor from its casing. O-rings (ORs) reduce leakage and air ingestion while amplifying the viscous damping in configurations with limited physical space. ORs also add a centering stiffness and damping to a SFD. The paper presents experiments to quantify the dynamic forced response of an O-rings sealed ends SFD lubricated with ISO VG2 oil supplied at a low pressure. The lubricant flows into the film land through a mechanical check valve and exits through a single port. Upstream of the check valve, a large plenum filled with oil serves to attenuate dynamic pressure disturbances. The experimental results identify the test rig structure, ORs and SFD force coefficients; namely stiffness, mass and viscous damping. The ORs coefficients are frequency independent and show a sizeable direct stiffness along with a quadrature stiffness demonstrative of material damping. The experimental SFD damping and inertia coefficients are large in physical magnitude; CSFD slightly grows with orbit size whereas MSFD is relatively constant. The added mass (MSFD) is approximately four-fold the bearing cartridge mass. Unsuspectedly, during dynamic load operation, the check valve did allow for lubricant backflow into the plenum. Post-tests verification demonstrates that, under static pressure conditions, the check valve does work since it allows fluid flow in just one direction.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis San Andre´s ◽  
Oscar De Santiago

Experimentally derived damping and inertia force coefficients from a test squeeze film damper for various dynamic load conditions are reported. Shakers exert single frequency loads and induce circular and elliptical orbits of increasing amplitudes. Measurements of the applied loads, bearing displacements and accelerations permit the identification of force coefficients for operation at three whirl frequencies (40, 50, and 60 Hz) and increasing lubricant temperatures. Measurements of film pressures reveal an early onset of air ingestion. Identified damping force coefficients agree well with predictions based on the short length bearing model only if an effective damper length is used. A published two-phase flow model for air entrainment allows the prediction of the effective damper length, and which ranges from 82% to 78% of the damper physical length as the whirl excitation frequency increases. Justifications for the effective length or reduced (flow) viscosity follow from the small through flow rate, not large enough to offset the dynamic volume changes. The measurements and analysis thus show the pervasiveness of air entrainment, whose effect increases with the amplitude and frequency of the dynamic journal motions. Identified inertia coefficients are approximately twice as large as those derived from classical theory.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andrés ◽  
Bonjin Koo

Abstract Practice and experiments with squeeze film dampers (SFDs) sealed with piston rings (PRs) show the lubricant exits through the PR slit, i.e., the gap made by the PR abutted ends when installed, forced as a jet during the portion of a rotor whirl cycle generating a positive squeeze film pressure. In the other portion of a whirl cycle, a subambient dynamic pressure ingests air into the film that mixes with the lubricant to produce a bubbly mixture. To reduce persistent air ingestion, commercial air breathing engines utilizing PRSFDs demand of a sufficiently large lubricant supply pressure (Ps), and hence a larger flow rate that is proportional to the journal squeeze velocity (vs = amplitude r × frequency of motion ω). The stringent requirement clearly limits the applicability and usefulness of SFDs. This paper presents a computational physics model for a sealed-end SFD operating with a mixture and delivers predictions benchmarked against profuse laboratory test data. The model implements a Reynolds equation adapted for a homogeneous bubbly mixture, includes temporal fluid inertia effects, and uses physics-based inlet and outlet lubricant conditions through feed holes and PR slit, respectively. In the experiments for model validation, a SFD damper, 127 mm in diameter D, film land length L = 25.4 mm (L/D = 0.2), and radial clearance c = 0.371 mm, is supplied with an air in ISO VG2 oil bubbly mixture of known gas volume fraction (GVF), zero (pure oil) to 50% in steps of 10%. The mixture supply pressure varies from Ps = 2.06 bar-g (30 psig) to 6.20 bar-g (90 psig). Located in grooves at the top and bottom of the journal, a PR and an O-ring (OR) seal the film land. The OR does not allow any oil leakage or air ingestion; hence, the supplied mixture discharges through the PR slit into a vessel submerged within a large volume of lubricant. Dynamic load tests with a single frequency ω, varying from 10 Hz to 60 Hz, produce circular centered orbits (CCO) with amplitude r = 0.2c. The measurements record the exerted forces and journal motions and an analysis delivers force coefficients, damping and inertia, representative of the exerted frequency range. The model predicts the pressure field and evolution of the GVF within the film land and, in a simulated process replicating the experimental procedure, delivers representative force coefficients. For all Ps conditions, both predictions and tests show the SFD added mass coefficients significantly decrease as the inlet GVF (βs) increases. The experimentally derived damping coefficients do not show a significant change, except for tests with the largest concentration of air (βs = 0.5). The predicted damping differs by 10% with the test derived coefficient which does not readily decrease as the inlet GVF (βs) increases. The added mass coefficients, test and predicted, decrease with βs, both being impervious to the magnitude of supply pressure. The test PRSFD shows a quadrature stiffness due to the sliding friction between the PR being pushed against the journal. An increase in supply pressure exacerbates this unique stiffness that may impair the action of the squeeze film to dissipate mechanical energy. The comprehensive test results, first of their kind, demonstrate that accurate modeling of SFDs operating with air ingestion remains difficult as the flow process and the paths of its major components (air and liquid) are rather complex.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andrés ◽  
Adolfo Delgado

The paper presents parameter identification measurements conducted on a squeeze film damper (SFD) featuring a nonrotating mechanical seal that effectively eliminates lubricant side leakage. The SFD-seal arrangement generates dissipative forces due to viscous and dry-friction effects from the lubricant film and surfaces in contact, respectively. The test damper reproduces an aircraft application that must contain the lubricant for extended periods of time. The test damper journal is 2.54cm in length and 12.7cm in diameter, with a nominal clearance of 0.127mm. The damper feed end opens to a plenum filled with lubricant, and at its discharge grooved section, four orifice ports evacuate the lubricant. In earlier publications, single frequency force excitation tests were conducted, without and with lubricant in the squeeze film land, to determine the seal dry-friction force and viscous damping force coefficients. Presently, further measurements are conducted to identify the test system and SFD force coefficients using two sets of flow restrictor orifice sizes (2.8mm and 1.1mm in diameter). The flow restrictors regulate the discharge flow area and thus control the oil flow through the squeeze film. The experiments also include measurements of dynamic pressures at the squeeze film land and at the discharge groove. The magnitude of dynamic pressure in the squeeze film land is nearly identical for both sets of flow restrictors, and for small orbit radii, dynamic pressures in the discharge groove have peak values similar to those in the squeeze film land. The identified parameters include the test system damping and the individual contributions from the squeeze film, dry friction in the mechanical seal and structure remnant damping. The identified system damping coefficients are frequency and motion amplitude dependent due to the dry-friction interaction at the mechanical seal interface. Squeeze film force coefficients, damping and added mass, are in agreement with simple predictive formulas for an uncavitated lubricant condition and are similar for both flow restrictor sizes. The SFD-mechanical seal arrangement effectively prevents air ingestion and entrapment and generates predicable force coefficients for the range of frequencies tested.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andre´s ◽  
Adolfo Delgado

The paper presents parameter identification measurements conducted on a squeeze film damper (SFD) featuring a non-rotating mechanical seal that effectively eliminates lubricant side leakage. The SFD-seal arrangement generates dissipative forces due to viscous and dry-friction effects from the lubricant film and surfaces in contact, respectively. The test damper reproduces an aircraft application that must contain the lubricant for extended periods of time. The test damper journal is 2.54 cm in length and 12.7 cm in diameter, with a nominal clearance of 0.127 mm. The damper feed end opens to a plenum filled with lubricant, and at its discharge grooved section, four orifice ports evacuate the lubricant. In prior publications (ASME Paper GT2006-90782, IJTC2006-12041), single frequency force excitation tests were conducted, without and with lubricant in the squeeze film land, to determine the seal dry-friction force and viscous damping force coefficients. Presently, further measurements are conducted to identify the test system and SFD force coefficients using two sets of flow restrictor orifice sizes (2.8 mm and 1.1 mm in diameter). The flow restrictors regulate the discharge flow area, and thus control the oil flow through the squeeze film. The experiments also include measurements of dynamic pressures at the squeeze film land and at the discharge groove. The magnitude of dynamic pressure in the squeeze film land is nearly identical for both sets of flow restrictors, and for small orbit radii, dynamic pressures in the discharge groove have peak values similar to those in the squeeze film land. The identified parameters include the test system damping and the individual contributions from the squeeze film, dry friction in the mechanical seal and structure remnant damping. The identified system damping coefficients are frequency and motion amplitude dependent due to the dry friction interaction at the mechanical seal interface. Squeeze film force coefficients, damping and added mass, are in agreement with simple predictive formulas for an uncavitated lubricant condition and are similar for both flow restrictor sizes. The SFD-mechanical seal arrangement effectively prevents air ingestion and entrapment and generates predicable force coefficients for the range of frequencies tested.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andrés ◽  
Bonjin Koo

Abstract Practice and experiments with squeeze film dampers (SFDs) sealed with piston rings (PRs) show the lubricant exits through the PR slit, i.e. the gap made by the PR abutted ends when installed, forced as a jet during the portion of a rotor whirl cycle generating a positive squeeze film pressure. In the other portion of a whirl cycle, a sub ambient dynamic pressure ingests air into the film that mixes with the lubricant to produce a bubbly mixture. To reduce persistent air ingestion, commercial air breathing engines utilizing PRSFDs demand of a sufficiently large lubricant supply pressure (Ps), and hence a larger flow rate that is proportional to the journal squeeze velocity (vs = amplitude r × frequency of motion ω). The stringent requirement clearly limits the applicability and usefulness of SFDs. This paper presents a computational physics model for a sealed ends SFD operating with a mixture and delivers predictions benchmarked against profuse laboratory test data. The model implements a Reynolds equation adapted for a homogeneous bubbly mixture, includes temporal fluid inertia effects, and uses physics based inlet and outlet lubricant conditions through feed holes and PR slit, respectively. In the experiments for model validation, a SFD damper, 127 mm in diameter D, film land length L = 25.4 mm (L/D = 0.2), and radial clearance c = 0.371 mm, is supplied with an air in ISO VG2 oil bubbly mixture of known GVF, zero (pure oil) to 50% in steps of 10%. The mixture supply pressure varies from Ps = 2.06 bar-g (30 psig) to 6.20 bar-g (90 psig). Located in grooves at the top and bottom of the journal, a piston ring (PR) and an O-ring (OR) seal the film land. The OR does not allow any oil leakage or air ingestion; hence the supplied mixture discharges thru the PR slit into a vessel submerged within a large volume of lubricant. Dynamic load tests with a single frequency ω, varying from 10 Hz to 60 Hz, produce circular centered orbits with amplitude r = 0.2c. The measurements record the exerted forces and journal motions and an analysis delivers force coefficients, damping and inertia, representative of the exerted frequency range. The model predicts the pressure field and evolution of the gas volume fraction (GVF) within the film land and, in a simulated process replicating the experimental procedure, delivers representative force coefficients. For all Ps conditions, both predictions and tests show the SFD added mass coefficients significantly decrease as the inlet GVF (βs) increases. The experimentally derived damping coefficients do not show a significant change, except for tests with the largest concentration of air (βs = 0.5). The predicted damping differs by 10% with the test derived coefficient which does not readily decrease as the inlet GVF (βs) increases. The added mass coefficients, test and predicted, decrease with βs, both being impervious to the magnitude of supply pressure. The test PRSFD shows a quadrature stiffness due to the sliding friction between the PR being pushed against the journal. An increase in supply pressure exacerbates this unique stiffness that may impair the action of the squeeze film to dissipate mechanical energy. The comprehensive test results, first of their kind, demonstrate that accurate modeling of SFDs operating with air ingestion remains difficult as the flow process and the paths of its major components (air and liquid) are rather complex.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andre´s ◽  
Thomas Abraham Chirathadam

Metal mesh foil bearings (MMFB) are an inexpensive compliant gas bearing type that aims to enable high speed, high temperature operation of small turbomachinery. A MMFB with an inner diameter of 28.00 mm and length of 28.05 mm is constructed with low cost and common materials. The bearing incorporates a copper mesh ring, 20% in compactness and offering large material damping, beneath a 0.127mm thick preformed top foil. Prior experimentation (published papers) provide the bearing structure force coefficients and the break away torque for bearing lift off. Presently, the MMFB replaces a compressor in a small turbocharger driven test rig. Impact load tests aid to identify the direct and cross-coupled rotor dynamic force coefficients of the floating MMFB while operating at a speed of 50 krpm. Tests conducted with and without shaft rotation show the MMFB direct stiffness is less than its structural (static) stiffness, ∼25% lower at an excitation frequency of 200 Hz. The thin air film acting in series with the metal mesh support, and separating the rotating shaft and the bearing inner surface while airborne, reduces the bearing stiffness. The equivalent viscous damping is nearly identical with and without shaft rotation. The identified loss factor, best representing the hysteretic type damping from the metal mesh, is high at ∼0.50 in the frequency range 0–200 Hz. This magnitude reveals large mechanical energy dissipation ability from the MMFB. The measurements also show appreciable cross directional motions from the unidirectional impact loads, thus generating appreciable cross coupled force coefficients. Rotor speed coast down measurements reveal pronounced subsynchronous whirl motion amplitudes locked at distinct frequencies. The MMFB stiffness hardening nonlinearity produces the rich frequency forced response. The synchronous as well as subsynchronous motions peak while the shaft traverses its critical speeds. The measurements establish reliable operation of the test MMFB while airborne.


Author(s):  
Luis San Andrés ◽  
Thomas Abraham Chirathadam

Metal mesh foil bearings (MMFBs) are inexpensive compliant gas bearing type that aim to enable high speed, high temperature operation of small turbomachinery. A MMFB with an inner diameter of 28.00 mm and length of 28.05 mm is constructed with low cost and common materials. The bearing incorporates a copper mesh ring, 20% in compactness, and offering large material damping beneath a 0.127 mm thick preformed top foil. Prior experimentations (published papers) provide the bearing structure force coefficients and the break away torque for bearing lift off. Presently, the MMFB replaces a compressor in a small turbocharger driven test rig. Impact load tests aid to identify the direct and cross-coupled rotor dynamic force coefficients of the floating MMFB while operating at a speed of 50 krpm. Tests conducted with and without shaft rotation show the MMFB direct stiffness is less than its structural (static) stiffness, ∼25% lower at an excitation frequency of 200 Hz. The thin air film acting in series with the metal mesh support and separating the rotating shaft and the bearing inner surface while airborne reduces the bearing stiffness. The equivalent viscous damping is nearly identical with and without shaft rotation. The identified loss factor, best representing the hysteretic type damping from the metal mesh, is high at ∼0.50 in the frequency range 0–200 Hz. This magnitude reveals large mechanical energy dissipation ability from the MMFB. The measurements also show appreciable cross directional motions from the unidirectional impact loads, thus generating appreciable cross-coupled force coefficients. Rotor speed coast down measurements reveal pronounced subsynchronous whirl motion amplitudes locked at distinct frequencies. The MMFB stiffness hardening nonlinearity produces the rich frequency forced response. The synchronous as well as subsynchronous motions peak while the shaft traverses its critical speeds. The measurements establish reliable operation of the test MMFB while airborne.


Author(s):  
Tae Ho Kim ◽  
Luis San Andre´s ◽  
Anthony W. Breedlove

The forced response of a gas foil bearing (GFB), a typical rotor support in oil-free microturbomachinery, relies heavily on its resilient bump-strip layers structure, which also offers dry-friction type damping to ameliorate rotor vibrations. Operation at high temperature not only changes the FB elastic support material properties, but also produces thermal growth of the rotor and bearing components which ultimately affect the bearing structural stiffness and energy dissipation characteristics. The paper presents dynamic shaker load versus foil bearing structural deflection measurements for increasing shaft temperatures, from ambient to 188°C. In the tests, a FB supported on a non-rotating shaft is excited with a shaker at three load amplitudes (13 N, 22 N, and 31 N) and frequencies ranging from 40 to 200 Hz. A mechanical impedance model identifies the frequency dependent FB structural stiffness and equivalent viscous damping coefficient or dry-friction coefficient. Surface plots show trends in test results across increasing dynamic loads, shaft temperatures, and excitation frequencies. The FB stiffness increases by as much as 50% with dynamic loads amplitudes increasing from 13 N to 31 N. The stiffness nearly doubles from low to high frequencies; and most importantly, it decreases by a third as the shaft temperature rises to 188°C. In general, the FB dynamic structural stiffness is lower than its static stiffness, reported in a companion paper, at low excitation frequencies, while it becomes larger with increasing excitation frequency due apparently to a bump slip-stick phenomenon. The bearing viscous damping is inversely proportional to the amplitude of dynamic load, excitation frequency, and shaft temperature. The FB structure dry-friction coefficient decreases with increasing amplitude of applied load and shaft temperature, and increases with increasing excitation frequency. The experimental results demonstrate the paramount effect of operating temperature on the structural parameters of a foil bearing.


Author(s):  
Bugra H. Ertas ◽  
Huageng Luo

The present work focuses on the dynamic characterization of oil-free wire mesh dampers. The research was aimed at determining nonlinear stiffness and damping coefficients while varying the excitation amplitude, excitation frequency, and static eccentricity. Force coefficients were extracted using a forced response method and also a transient vibration method. Due to the nonlinearity of the dampers, controlled amplitude single frequency excitation tests were required for the forced excitation method, whereas the transient response was analyzed using a Hilbert transform procedure. The experimental results showed that eccentricity has minimal influence on force coefficients, whereas increasing excitation amplitude and frequency yields decreasing stiffness and damping trends. In addition to the parameter identification tests, a rotating test was performed demonstrating high-speed damping capability of the oil-free wire mesh dampers to 40,000 rpm, which was also simulated using a nonlinear rotordynamic response to imbalance analysis.


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