Lab Report

ME 304-Experimental Engineering

Spring 2015

Experiment #6| Subject: Whirling of Shafts

Section # 8| Group #13
Yaz Efe Aksoy, Egecan oulu, .Yiit zba, Cem Bugey
01.04.2015

Abstract
In this experiment the main objective is observing the behavior of a whirling shaft. This process is
succeeded by rotating when speed is changed to different levels. In the end of the experiment the main
purpose is observing different mode shapes and whirling the shaft for the critical speed.

Introduction
In many industrial processes shafts are used for different parts of systems. Turbines
and compressors are the main fields that shafts are widely used. Rotating shafts are rotating
in this system. This rotation can be a factor for problems at specific speeds. It is not possible
to align the center of mass of the shaft with its rotation axis because of the inhomogeneity in
the material and design of the system. By centrifugal forces the beam gets deflected. When
the shaft is rotated at a critical speed, this deflection may cause the system to reach very
large amplitudes and therefore lead to buckling or failure of the system. Beyond that, the
large oscillations may be very harmful to heavy rotary machines. For the stated reasons, the
system should be set to reduce the harmful effects of whirling or the natural frequency should
be designed such that it is different than the rotation speed. Moreover, the critical speed of
the shaft must not be reached at starting and turning off stages of a machine in order to
protect the machine parts from harmful effects of whirling.

Theory
Number of varying parameters in a system is called degrees of freedom.
Systems are divided into two according to their type of degrees of freedom. Finite
dimensional systems are called lumped parameter system where their DoF is finite.
Mass spring systems are such examples. Finite dimensional systems have finite
number of natural frequencies and they are solved by ordinary differential
equations. Wherever in the case of infinite dimensional systems, mass is distributed
along the along the body and so there are infinitely many DoF and resonance
frequencies. They are solved by partial differential equations.
Free vibration of a one-dimensional homogeneous elastic string:
Wave equation is

Lab Report

ME 304-Experimental Engineering

Spring 2015

Figure 1: Wave equation for one-dimensional homogeneous elastic string. [1]

T
Wave equation implies v =
where

v is wave propagation speed in string

T is tension and is density.
For fixed springs where 0<x<L natural frequencies are as follows:
n
fn = 2 L
n=1,2,3,.+
and mode shapes
nx
yn = sin ( L )
n=1,2,3,.+
For n=1

f1=v/2L

y1= sin( x/L)

f1=v/L

y2= sin( 2 x/L)

->sin
For n=2
->sin2
For n=3

f1=3v/2L

y3= sin( 3 x/L)

at x=0 -> 0
at x=0 -> 0
at x=0 -> 0

at x=L
at x=L
at x=L

->sin3

Figure: Showing mode shapes for n=1,2,3,4,5,6,7. [2]

Lab Report

ME 304-Experimental Engineering

Spring 2015

Free vibration of thin uniform bars are calculated by partial differential

equations and the equation is as follows

Figure 2: Wave equation for thin uniform bars. [1]

n 2 EI
w
=(
)
n
Natural frequencies
L
A

Mode shapes yn =
For n=1

w1 =

sin (

nx
)
L

2 EI
( )
L
A

n=1,2,3,.+
y1= sin( x/L)

at x=0 -> 0

at x=L ->sin

Figure : Mode shape for n=1 has half sine shape[3]

For n=2

w1 =

2 2 EI
)
L
A

y2= sin( 2 x/L)

at x=0 -> 0

at x=L ->sin2

Figure : Mode shape for n=2 has full sine shape[3]

For n=3

w1 =

3 2 EI
( )
2L
A

y3= sin( 3 x/L)

at x=0 -> 0

at x=L ->sin3

Figure : Mode shape for n=3 has one half sine shape[3]
Whirling is turning very quickly round and round. [4] When the shaft lost in
balance when turning the centrifugal force will force the shaft to vibrate. At
the time when rotating speed of the shaft is equal to natural frequency of the
transverse oscillations vibration grows and whirling starts.
r: Deflection of the beam.
r+e: Distance to center of gravity:
48 EI
kt = 3
kt/m: Transverse stiffness
L
3

Lab Report

ME 304-Experimental Engineering

Spring 2015

Then the deflection force is F=kt/r

Centrifugal force is mw2(r+e)
Here kt/r = mw2(r+e)
1m w2 /k t
kt
Where
and kt/m=wn2
2
mw e
r=
This implies wn=w and r = e/0 which is infinity
and means when natural frequency is on
deflection goes infinity so shaft will whirl.
Figure : Shaft and mass attached. [3]

Whirling frequencies in simply supported shafts

n2 EI
f n=
and mode shapes are yn =
2 m L4

sin (

nx
)
L

f1 =1.571

n=1,2,3,.+

EI
m L4

y1= sin( x/L)

at x=0 -> 0

at x=L

->sin
f2 =6.283

EI
m L4

y2= sin( 2 x/L)

at x=0 -> 0

at x=L

y3= sin( 3 x/L)

at x=0 -> 0

at x=L

->sin2
f3 =14.137

EI
m L4

->sin3

Lab Report

ME 304-Experimental Engineering

Spring 2015

Figure showing mode shapes for n= 1,2,3 in shafts. [5]

Experimental Setup and Procedure

Before conducting the main experiment a mini experiment is conducted. A
rope with about 3-4 meters length is waved and when it reached resonance
frequencies mode shapes are seen for 1st, 2nd and 3rd mode shapes.

Lab Report

ME 304-Experimental Engineering

Spring 2015

Figure showing the experimental setup.

A solid shaft is mounted to the setup seen above. With a help of a rotator
solid shaft is rotated. With a laser tachometer its shafts rotation speed is measured.
In normal case of rotation shaft did not whirl. However when natural frequencies are
reached it started to whirl and mode shape become clear with maximum deflection
at x=L/2. 8 data are obtained 4 with increasingly going to natural frequency 4 with
decreasingly.

Results
Raw Data:

Angular Frequency (1/min)

Tria
l

average

766.6

890.7

828.65

831.4

906

868.7

800.2

906.2

853.2

795.2

887.9

841.55

Overall
Average

848.025

Table 1: Natural frequencies of the shaft in different trials from upper and lower bounds.

Shaft Parameters:

Shaft Parameters
Diameter, d

6.35 mm

Length, L

0.9144 m

Mass per Length,

0.248 kg/m

Young's Modulus, E

207x109 Pa

Area Moment of
Inertia, I

7.98x10-11
m4
6

Lab Report

ME 304-Experimental Engineering

Spring 2015

Table 2: Some of the shaft and material properties.

Linear Elastic & Pinned-Pinned BC Modelling:

n=n2 2

EI
L4

n=

kt
48 EI
=
4
m
L

calculated=96.3 rad/s
Experimental Data vs Theory:

Value
(rpm)

Value
(rad/s)

% Error

Average 1

828.7

86.8

9.9

Average 2

868.7

91

5.5

Average 3

853.2

89.3

7.3

Average 4

841.6

88.1

8.5

Overall
Average

848

88.8

7.8

Table 3: Average measured angular frequency values and percentage errors with respect to
calculated angular frequency.

Lab Report

ME 304-Experimental Engineering

Spring 2015

Analysis of results
The natural frequency of a shaft can be calculated by two different theories. One of them is the beam
theory. It gives the equation for the first natural frequency f_natural= 1.571* (E*I*g/w*L^4) ^(0.5).Also,
using mass-spring system analogy is possible, by which a stiffness value for the shaft can be calculated.
Then, the first natural frequency of the shaft can be calculated as f_natural=((k/M)^0.5)/2* which gives
the result f_natural= 1.3948* (E*I*g/w*L^4) ^(0.5) and two equations for the first natural frequencies
give close values to each other. Any of these two formulas can be used so as to observe how whirling
(natural) frequencies change with the Youngs modulus. The Youngs modulus term(E) appears in the
numerator of the formula for the natural frequency, therefore an increase of modulus of elasticity also will
increase the value of the first and the following natural frequencies. However, change in length of the
shaft is inversely proportional to the whirling frequency. On the other hand, length of the shaft(L) appears
in the denominator of the natural frequency equation and an increase in the length of the shaft will cause
decrease in the natural frequencies of the shaft.

Conclusion
Shaft systems are used in a lot of different applications in industry such as compressors, turbines, etc.
Shafts rotate in their systems to carry out their tasks, however at certain speeds deflection of the shaft may
reach to critic levels (such levels that may lead to even failure) , therefore configuring the system in such a
way that the undesired and unexpected errors will be minimized, is important. To do this, it is crucial to
have knowledge on the phenomenon and this experiment is beneficial to understand the behavior of a
whirling shaft. The experimental setup and procedure were explained in the previous parts of this report in
detail. Making true numerical measurements was not possible because of the tachometer which is
disfunctional, the obtained results were mainly based on the observations, so they were not very accurate.
3 different shape modes for each of the 2 different shafts were obtained at different speeds as expected. In
the analysis part, two different formulas that can be chosen to calculate natural frequency of the shafts, are
mentioned. Eventually, it can be said that the experiment, which is mostly based on observations, was
carried out successfully, and both theoretical and experimental knowledge about shafts was gained.

References
1.Osman Yksel, Whirling of Shafts Laboratory notes, 2015
2.http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2613.htm
3.http://www.freestudy.co.uk/dynamics/
4. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary
5. http://www.usdidactic.com/