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A Test Apparatus and Facility to

identify the Rotordynamic


Dara Childs
Jordan Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
Coefficients of High-Speed
Keith Hale
Hydrostatic Bearings1
Research Engineer.
A facility and apparatus are described which determine stiffness, damping, and
added-mass rotordynamic coefficients plus steady-state operating characteristics of
Turbomachinery Laboratory, high speed hydrostatic journal bearings. The apparatus has a current top speed of
Texas A&M University,
29800 rpm with a bearing diameter of 7.62 cm (3 in.). Purified warm water, 55°C
College Station, TX 77843
(130°F), is used as a test fluid to achieve elevated Reynolds numbers during op-
eration. The test-fluid pump yields a bearing maximum inlet pressure of 6.9 Mpa
(1000 psi). Static load on the bearing is independently controlled and measured.
Orthogonally mounted external shakers are used to excite the test stator in the
direction of, and perpendicular to, the static load. The apparatus can independently
calculate all rotordynamic coefficients at a given operating condition.

Introduction
Experience with the SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) has C, and added-mass M coefficients which are used in the fol-
demonstrated definite limits for the successful operation of lowing linearized force-displacement model for bearings
ball bearings in liquid oxygen (LOX). Currently, bearings in
fbx Kxx KXy

til*
the HPOTP (High Pressure Oxygen Turbopump) of the SSME ^xx (-'xy
\AX)
experience accelerated wear at full power level. The balls in
these bearings simply get smaller, rapidly. The problem has
/by. Kyx Kyy _ *~-yX ^yy UJ
3
MXX MXy
proven largely intractable. As a result, hydrostatic bearings + (i)
have been proposed for many new turbopump applications _MyX Myy_
because of their long lifetime, low friction factors, low wear, Here, (Ax, Ay) define the motion of the bearing rotor relative
and their ability to use low-viscosity lubricants. For cryogenic to its stator, and (fbx, fby) are the components of the fluid film
applications, the bearings will be pressurized from pump-dis- reaction force acting on the rotor. Identification of the ro-
charge flow. At zero speeds the bearings will befloodedbut tordynamic coefficients of Eq. (1) is a central objective of this
unpressurized. Rubbing will be experienced at start up and research project.
shut down as investigated by Scharrer et al. (1991, 1992). The
present research concerns steady-state fully pressurized bearing This paper describes the test-facility design requirements
operation. necessary to identify the rotordynamic coefficients and pre-
sents a sample of the resulting data for one bearing. The con-
The test apparatus and facility described here is used to tents include results for a 7.62 cm (3 in.) diameter, square-
develop experimentally validated tools to predict steady-state recess, smooth-land, annular-fed and orifice-compensated hy-
hydrostatic bearing operational data (resistance torque, static drostatic journal bearing with an L/D ratio of 1 and a Cr/R
load, flowrate, temperature and pressure distributions, etc.) ratio of 0.003. The design requirements and analysis techniques
and rotordynamic coefficients for vibration analysis. By ro- for determining the steady-state operational data are detailed
tordynamic coefficients, we refer to the stiffness K, damping thoroughly by Kurtin et al. (1991) and will not be repeated
here. Subsequent publications will provide test results for hy-
drostatic bearings with assorted recess shapes, distinct land
'The research reported here was supported in part by Rocketdyne, Division
of Rockwell International, under Contract No. R94QBA89-032182, NASA patterns and roughness, varied area ratios, and tangential-
through the Texas A&M University Center for Space Power, Contract No. injection against rotation.
NAGW-1194, and The State of Texas Advanced Technology Research Program
under Contract No. 4449.
Contributed by the Tribology Division of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ME- Apparatus and Facility—An Introduction and Overview
CHANICAL ENGINEERS and presented at the STLE/ASME Tribology Conference, The Hydrostatic Bearing Test Stand illustrated in Fig. 1
New Orleans, La., October 24-27, 1993. Manuscript received by the Tribology
Division, December 2, 1992; revised manuscript received July 14, 1993. Paper consists of the following major components. A base, fabricated
No. 93-Trib-48. Associate Technical Editor: R. F. Salant. from welded steel plates, supports the test section, gearbox,

Journal of Tribology APRIL 1994, Vol. 116/337


Copyright © 1994 by ASME
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TEST SECTION SHAKER HEADS

Fig. 1 Bearing-test-apparatus layout

and drive motor. In the test section, two stainless steel pedestals
spaced about 38 cm (15 inches) apart support a 7.62 cm (3 in.)
diameter stainless steel high-speed rotor. The rotor is driven
by a 93.2 Kw (125 hp) variable-speed electric motor through
a 7:1 ratio speed-increasing gearbox via a disc-type coupling.
The test-bearing stator supports itself on the rotor at a position Fig. 2 End view of a test bearing
midway between the support pedestals. A pneumatic cylinder
provides a fixed-direction side load to the bearing.
Two orthogonally mounted hydraulic shakers are attached
to the stator through isolation stingers as illustrated in Figure
2. The shakers provide excitation parallel and perpendicular
to the static side load along the Xand ^directions, respectively.
Each shaker can excite the stator with measured dynamic loads
to 4450 N (1000 lb) at frequencies to 1000 hz. The stingers
were designed following guidelines by Mitchell and Elliott
(1984). The static and dynamic loading arrangement of Fig. 1
and Fig. 2 is most closely related to that of Kanki and Ka-
wakami (1984) who use orthogonal static loads from pneumatic
cylinders in series with electromechanical shakers to excite the
stator in a liquid-seal test rig. Glienicke (1966-67) is normally FRONT
PEDESTAL
credited with the initial development of this rig type. Tonnesen
Fig. 3 Side-view of a test bearing showing axial-tensioning cables
and Hansen (1982) used this type of hydrostatic support bear-
ings setup in static tests to investigate temperature effects of
hydrodynamic bearings. Returning to Fig. 2, note that accelerometers are provided
Preloaded axial cables arranged in an opposing trihedral to measure the stator acceleration in the X and Y directions.
configuration (Fig. 3) constrain the shaft during static loading Although not illustrated in Fig. 2, the relative deflections Ax(t),
and dynamic excitation. A pitch mode instability of the stator Ay(t) between the bearing rotor and stator are also measured
with rotor onset speed around 17,000 rpm was also eliminated with high-resolution eddy-current transducers. In summary,
by these cables. This pitch restraint concept came from Nord- dynamic measurements at the bearing for rotordynamic coef-
mann and Massman (1984), who used a similar design on a ficient identification include the dynamic excitation forces, the
liquid-seal test rig. The pitch-restraint cables have an additional stator acceleration, and the relative rotor-stator deflections in
advantage in insuring that the stator remains parallel to the the X and Y directions.
rotor during excitation. Alternatively, they have been used to Purified water at 55°C (130°F) is supplied to the support
deliberately misalign a test bearing during excitation. and test bearings via a centrifugal pump with pressure and

Nomenclature
Hij = frequency-response func-
Ax, Ay = Fourier transformed com- tions defined by Eq. (6), xs, ys = absolute stator displacement
ponents of stator accelera- (F/L) components, (L)
tion components (L/T2) Kjj = stiffness coefficients intro- p = fluid density, (M/L3)
Cij damping coefficients intro- duced in Eq. (1), (F/L) ji = fluid viscosity, (FT/L2)
duced in Eq. (1), (FT/L) My = mass coefficients introduced co = rotor angular velocity (T_1)
Cr = bearing minimum radial in Eq. (1), (M) Ax, Ay = relative journal-to-bearing
clearance, (L) R - bearing radius, (L) displacement components
Dx, Dy = Fourier transformed com- R = vector Reynolds number in- introduced in Eq. (1), (L)
ponents of Ax, Ay-, (L) troduced in Eq. (8), ( - )
fw = whirl-frequency ratio, ( - ) Rz = axial Reynolds number in- Subscripts
fx, fy = input excitation-force com- troduced in Eq. (8), ( - ) x = static-load direction, see
ponents, (F) R9 = circumferential Reynolds Fig. 2
Fx, Fy = Fourier transformed com- number introduced in Eq. y =• perpendicular to static-load
ponents offx,fy\ (F) (8), ( - ) direction, see Fig. 2

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100 200 000 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500

Table 1 Test-bearing physical parameters. (Refer to Fig. 4


for dimension definitions.)
Mass 11.34 kg (25 lb)
Diameter (stator) 76.441 mm (3.0095 in)
Diameter (rotor) 76.200 mm (3.0000 in)
Radial Clearance 0.12 mm (0.0048 in)
Length (L) 76.2 mm (3 in)
No. of Recesses 5
Recess dimension A 27.0 mm (1.064 in)
Recess dimension B 27.0 mm (1.0643 in)
Recess Volume 0.184996E-6 m (0.0112891 in3)
"0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
Area Ratio 0.2 FREQUENCY (Hz) FREQUENCY (Hz)
Recess depth 0.259 mm (0.010 in)
Orifice Diameter 2.49 mm (0.0983 in) Fig. 6 Real and imaginary parts of H„ and Hxy for a = 24,600 rpm, zero
Orifice Supply Line Volume 0.128994E-6 m (0.00787173 in3) eccentricity, and 6.90 Mpa (1000 psi) supply pressure
Land Roughness (peak-peak) 0.330 (im (13 fan)

Figure 5 provides a detailed view of the orifice and recess


cross section. The apparatus design provides access and easy
Table 2 Mnemonic definitions for measurements in Fig. 4 replacement of each orifice. Observe that there is a 90 deg
Meaurement Mnemonic Location/direction expansion flow cone for a transition section from the orifice
Relative motion Ml FrontAY- exit to the recess.
M2 Front/K-
M3 Rear/X Representative Dynamic Test Data
M4 Rear/y
M5 Rear/X- Figure 6 illustrates the real and imaginary parts of Hxx and
M6 Rear/7- Hxy for a test case defined by zero eccentricity, 24600 rpm,
Pressure PI Recess 1 and 6.9 Mpa (1000 psi) supply pressure. The dots in the figure
P2 Recess 2
P3 Recess 3 are calculated transfer-function values resulting from an av-
P4 Recess 4 erage (in the frequency domain) of 32 separate excitations.
P5 Recess 5 Note the discrepant data points at running speed (410 Hz).
P6 Inlet annulus Poor FRF accuracy can result at this frequency because rotor
P7 Backside annulus
Temperature Tl Annulus imbalance and runout can combine with the stator excited
T2 Land at Recesses motion to result in very small relative displacements. This
T3 Recess 1 problem is fixable by phase locking the stator input excitation
T4 Land at exit to the rotor angular position, but this fix has not been imple-
Acceleration Ax Center/X mented. Hence, data points at or near the running speed were
Ay Center/y
Force Fx Center/^ dropped in obtaining the curve-fitted lines shown in Fig. 6.
Fy Center/y Recall from Eq. (6) that Kxx and Mxx come from the real
part of Hxx, and C^ is obtained from the imaginary part of
Hxx, etc. Figure 7 illustrates the rotordynamic coefficients ver-
sus eccentricity ratio for a running speed of 24,600 rpm, a
the measurements made on a test bearing, with ( M ) , (F), (P), supply temperature of 54.4°C (130°F), and a range of supply
(T), and (A) denoting, respectively; relative motion, input pressures. The rotordynamic coefficients are seen to be gen-
force, pressures, temperatures, and accelerations. Table 2 doc- erally insensitive to eccentricity ratio. Recall from Fig. 4 that
uments the measurement mnemonics of Fig. 4. the bearing is loaded toward the center of a recess, and the

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100 200 000 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500

Table 1 Test-bearing physical parameters. (Refer to Fig. 4


for dimension definitions.)
Mass 11.34 kg (25 lb)
Diameter (stator) 76.441 mm (3.0095 in)
Diameter (rotor) 76.200 mm (3.0000 in)
Radial Clearance 0.12 mm (0.0048 in)
Length (L) 76.2 mm (3 in)
No. of Recesses 5
Recess dimension A 27.0 mm (1.064 in)
Recess dimension B 27.0 mm (1.0643 in)
Recess Volume 0.184996E-6 m (0.0112891 in3)
"0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
Area Ratio 0.2 FREQUENCY (Hz) FREQUENCY (Hz)
Recess depth 0.259 mm (0.010 in)
Orifice Diameter 2.49 mm (0.0983 in) Fig. 6 Real and imaginary parts of H„ and Hxy for a = 24,600 rpm, zero
Orifice Supply Line Volume 0.128994E-6 m (0.00787173 in3) eccentricity, and 6.90 Mpa (1000 psi) supply pressure
Land Roughness (peak-peak) 0.330 (im (13 fan)

Figure 5 provides a detailed view of the orifice and recess


cross section. The apparatus design provides access and easy
Table 2 Mnemonic definitions for measurements in Fig. 4 replacement of each orifice. Observe that there is a 90 deg
Meaurement Mnemonic Location/direction expansion flow cone for a transition section from the orifice
Relative motion Ml FrontAY- exit to the recess.
M2 Front/K-
M3 Rear/X Representative Dynamic Test Data
M4 Rear/y
M5 Rear/X- Figure 6 illustrates the real and imaginary parts of Hxx and
M6 Rear/7- Hxy for a test case defined by zero eccentricity, 24600 rpm,
Pressure PI Recess 1 and 6.9 Mpa (1000 psi) supply pressure. The dots in the figure
P2 Recess 2
P3 Recess 3 are calculated transfer-function values resulting from an av-
P4 Recess 4 erage (in the frequency domain) of 32 separate excitations.
P5 Recess 5 Note the discrepant data points at running speed (410 Hz).
P6 Inlet annulus Poor FRF accuracy can result at this frequency because rotor
P7 Backside annulus
Temperature Tl Annulus imbalance and runout can combine with the stator excited
T2 Land at Recesses motion to result in very small relative displacements. This
T3 Recess 1 problem is fixable by phase locking the stator input excitation
T4 Land at exit to the rotor angular position, but this fix has not been imple-
Acceleration Ax Center/X mented. Hence, data points at or near the running speed were
Ay Center/y
Force Fx Center/^ dropped in obtaining the curve-fitted lines shown in Fig. 6.
Fy Center/y Recall from Eq. (6) that Kxx and Mxx come from the real
part of Hxx, and C^ is obtained from the imaginary part of
Hxx, etc. Figure 7 illustrates the rotordynamic coefficients ver-
sus eccentricity ratio for a running speed of 24,600 rpm, a
the measurements made on a test bearing, with ( M ) , (F), (P), supply temperature of 54.4°C (130°F), and a range of supply
(T), and (A) denoting, respectively; relative motion, input pressures. The rotordynamic coefficients are seen to be gen-
force, pressures, temperatures, and accelerations. Table 2 doc- erally insensitive to eccentricity ratio. Recall from Fig. 4 that
uments the measurement mnemonics of Fig. 4. the bearing is loaded toward the center of a recess, and the

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solid Table 3 Measurement uncertainties for to = 24600 rpm, zero
dashed eccentricity, and 6.9 M P a (1000 psi)
<,150
Z Coefficient Value ^RSS •SRGS ^RSS Units
Si
Kxx 146 2.82 1.82 4.60 MN/m
KXY 136 2.21 1.34 3.47 MN/m
KYX -133 2.11 1.86 4.27 MN/m
a •• 4.0 UFa KYY 132 2.46 1.30 3.59 MN/m
3 60 » : S.5 MPa
in 0 : 7.0 UPa 112 2.26 0.74 2.71 kN/m
14.4 2.60 1.42 3.85 kN/M
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.S 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 O.S
-11.3 2.39 0.69 2.76 kN/m
'105 2.16 1.54 3.77 kN/m
MXx 8.8 1.06 0.99 2.24 kg
solid
MXY -5.1 0.50 0.79 1.66 kg
dashed MYX 2.2 0.44 1.00 2.04 kg
a : 4.0 UFa MYY 2.9 1.06 0.59 1.58 kg
—•— A : S.S UPa
A : 7.0 UPa
a too
-"T»

C n : solid first critical speed divided by the whirl-frequency ratio, Lund


C„ : dashed (1966). Unfortunately, these test results show that/ u = 0.5
a : 4.0 MPa
. : 5.5 UPa. for the hydrostatic bearings which is no better than a plain
J : 7.0 MPa
journal bearing. Constantinescu (1969) predicts this outcome
0+ 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 O.S for hybrid gas bearings.
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 O.S

26 U„ : solid - U , : solid Uncertainty Analysis


Uff : dashed Uja : dashed
20 a : 4.0 UPa
A "dry-shake" test (one in which the bearing fluid film
A : S.S UPa consists only of air at atmospheric pressure) was conducted to
"315 J : 7.0 MPa
examine the magnitude of the stiffness and damping imposed
Tio
01 on the stator by the cable, stinger, and other attachments.
« These values are negligible compared to the stiffness and damp-
a 5' o • 4.0 UPa
A • S.S UPa
5 : 7.0 UPa
ing of all bearings tested so far.
0 Q.- -O*
Table 3 contains estimates of the upper limit bias errors 5RSs
- 50.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 O.S the precision indices SRSs and the absolute uncertainties C/RSS
Eccentricity Ratio Eccentricity Ratio of the coefficients for the test case of Fig. 6. These are obtained
Fig. 7 Stiffness, damping, and added-mass coefficients versus eccen- by calculating bias and precision errors for each element of
tricity ratio at 24,600 rpm for three supply pressures the force and displacement matrices of Eq. (7) then numerically
propagating these errors through the functional relationship
between the elements and the resulting coefficients. The method
1.0
4.0 MPa used conforms to the ANSI/ASME standard on Measurement
5.5 MPa Uncertainty (1986). The coefficients fall within Value + / -
(0 7.0 MPa C/Rss f° r 95 percent coverage.
K0.8

o Summary, Conclusions, and Comments


C0.6 -
0)
The results and discussions included here present and explain
•P the design of a new test system for hybrid (combined hydro-
<
te=3gE==3£ E 5*= ag*
static and hydrodynamic) bearings. The tester can measure
J-H
0.4 static parameters including pressures, flowrate, temperatures,
drag torque, etc. plus a full complement of force/displacement
rotordynamic coefficients. The test system expedites rapid and
.fa 0.2 - flexible testing of fluid-film bearings. It combines proven de-
£1 sign elements of earlier experimenters and state-of-the-art ex-
citation and identification techniques to deliver high-quality
0.0 data.
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Space limitations have forced us to present only a very lim-
Eccentricity Ratio ited selection of the data which have been developed for a
Fig. 8 Whirl-frequency ratio versus eccentricity ratio at 24,600 rpm for single "generic" bearing. Tests have been completed for ap-
three supply pressures proximately 30 bearings as of 1 August 1992.
As noted in the introduction, this test program aims to
produce test data to help in developing and validating predic-
bearing is not symmetric. Hence, the direct coefficients (e.g., tions which have been under concurrent development by San
M„ and Myy) are not necessarily equal at zero eccentricity. Andres (1990a, 1990b). San Andres uses a 2-D, bulk-flow
Note the large value for direct and cross-coupled mass coef- •Navier-Stokes model for flow in the bearing land, a com-
ficients which arise because of the elevated Reynolds number. pressible flow continuity requirement for the recess, a dis-
Figure 8 illustrates whirl-frequency-ratio fu versus eccen- charge-coefficient model for the orifice, and concentrated
tricity ratio for three supply pressures at 24,600 rpm. The whirl- pressure drops for flow leaving the recess and entering the
frequency ratio definition developed by San Andres (1991) was lands. The analysis applies for rectangular recesses and radial
used in these plots and depends on all the rotordynamic coef- flow injection. Comparisons between measurements and pre-
ficients. Although not illustrated, fa increases slightly with dictions are generally good for rectangular-recess bearings and
decreasing running speed. In the absence of other rotordynamic are presently being prepared for publication.
forces, the onset speed of instability of a flexible rotor sup- A central question involved in the development of the present
ported by plain journal bearings is approximately equal to the apparatus concerned the required excitation device. Specifi-

Journal of Tribology APRIL 1994, Vol. 116/341

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cally, should impulse devices or shakers be employed? Impulse As noted by Kurtin et al. (1991), two practical problems
excitation is a standard approach for modal identification, have been encountered which might restrict the applications
Ewins (1986), and was pioneered by Nordmann for bearing of hybrid bearings to commercial pumps. First, considerable
parameter identification and subsequently for annular seals, cavitation erosion has been experienced in the divergent section
Nordmann and Massman (1984). Hydraulic shakers were first downstream of the orifice in Fig. 5 after a comparatively short
used for parameter identification of annular seals by lino and test time ( = 4 hr). The eroded part is made from 17-4PH
Kaneko (1980). stainless steel with a high yield strength. Tests of a modified
Price is a central advantage of impulse devices over hydraulic bearing with the orifice exit flush to the recess3 showed no
shakers. The impulse "guns" which were initially purchased cavitation damage on the exit orifice surface but some rough-
for this project cost less than one tenth the eventual cost of ening of the rotor." Given that the recess pressure is on the
the hydraulic shakers. The decision to shift from impulse to order of 3.5 MPa (500 psi), this damage could be resulting
shaker excitation, despite financial considerations, involved from air bubbles coming out of solution in the water versus
the quality and volume of data to be acquired. The hybrid an actual phase change of the water. Long-term testing to
bearings were extremely noisy. Pressure pulsations in their investigate potential cavitation damage is recommended before
recesses generated unwanted relative bearing-rotor amplitudes these bearings are selected for commercial pumps. Tests with
of the same magnitude as that created by external excitation. the product fluid which will actually be used are advisable,
As detailed by Rouvas et al. (1992), impulse excitation can be since almost any fluid will be kinder from a cavitation view-
made to work, but only with many repetitions and averaging point than water. Rocketdyne personnel report zero damage
in the time domain. However, the FRF data developed by with liquid hydrogen.
Rouvas et al. with impulse excitation never approaches the The second problem concerns damage to the bearing due to
high quality shown in Fig. 6, despite averaging over 200 sep- fluid-borne debris. Our flow loop originally used a 10-micron
arate impulse excitations. nominal filter which was inadequate in removing particles from
An additional practical problem with impulse excitation con- the flow stream. Particles entering the bearing would lodge at
cerned tip selection for the impulse guns. Soft tips were needed the corners of the recesses and then create circumferential
to deliver the required low-frequency force excitation, but they damage grooves around the bronze stators. Switching to a 10-
would not have survived testing a bearing over a large test micron absolute filter eliminated the problem. Nonetheless,
matrix with 200-plus excitations per data point. A parallel care is suggested in providing adequate upstream filtration for
identification concern involved the comparatively large peak this bearing type.
rotor/stator amplitudes developed by impulse excitation which
were necessary to give adequate amplitudes at discrete fre-
quencies. References
Having acquired and installed the hydraulic shakers, the Bendat, J. S., and Piersol, A. G., 1986, Random Data Analysis and Meas-
nature of the excitation and identification procedures remained urement Techniques, 2nd Edition, Wiley Interscience.
to be resolved. Pseudo-random excitation is used because it is Constantinescu, V. N., 1969, Gas Lubrication, ASME, New York.
Ewins, D. J., 1986, Modal Testing: Theory and Practice, Briiel & Kjaer.
fast, and has no leakage in the analysis. The spectrum is shaped Glienicke, J., 1966-67, "Experimental Investigation of the Stiffness and
to only excite frequencies in the range of interest with energy Damping Coefficients of Turbine Bearing and Their Application to Instability
only at each DFT analyzed spectral line, and only a few av- Prediction," Proc. Mech. Engrs., Vol. 181, (part 3B).
erages are needed due to its low crest factor and good signal- Herlufsen, H., 1985, "Digital Signal Analysis using Digital Filters and FFT
Techniques," Selected reprints from Technical Review, Briiel and Kjaer, pp.
to-noise ratio (Herlufsen, 1985). This excitation technique, 199-252.
along with identification procedures as outlined by Bendat and lino, T., and Kaneko, H., 1980, "Hydraulic Forces Caused by Annular Pres-
Piersol (1986) and extended by Rouvas and Childs (1992)2 sure Seals in Centrifugal Pumps," Proceedings of the 5th Rotordynamic Insta-
eventually achieved the high-quality FRF's of Fig. 6. bility Workshop, Texas A&M University, pp. 213-225.
Kanki, H., and Kawakami, T., 1984, "Experimental Study on the Dynamic
The test results developed here show one principal limitation Characteristics of Pump Annular Seals," Vibrations in Rotating Machinery,
to the planned use of hybrid bearings in cryogenic turbopumps, Proceedings of the 3rd IMechE International Conference on Vibrations in Ro-
specifically, a whirl-frequency ratio near 0.5. With this whirl- tating Machinery, York, England, pp. 159-166.
frequency ratio, running speeds above twice the rotor's first Katayama, T., and Okada, A., 1992, "Liquified Natural Gas Pump with
Hydrostatic Journal Bearings," Proceedings of the 9th International Pump Users
critical speed are likely to yield unstable motion. Hence, recent Symposium, Texas A&M University, pp. 39-50.
developments have considered the following options for im- Kurtin, K., Childs, D., San Andres, L., and Hale, K., 1991, "Experimental
proving rotordynamic stability by reducing / u : Versus Theoretical Characteristics of a High-Speed Hybrid (Combination Hy-
drostatic and Hydrodynamic) Bearing," accepted for publication in ASME
(a) Directed injection against rotation. Tondl (1967) ini- JOURNAL OF TRIBOLOGY.
tially proposed injecting the fluid against rotor rotation as Lund, J., 1966, "Self-Excited, Stationary Whirl Orbits of a Journal in a
compared to the radial injection of Fig. 4. Sleeve Bearing," Ph.D. thesis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.
Measurement Uncertainty, ANSI/ASME PTC 19.1-1995 Part 1, 1986 (re-
(b) Roughened Stator. Von Pragenau (1982) initially pro- affirmed 1991).
posed roughened stators for annular seals to yield, "damper Mitchell, L., and Elliott, K., 1984, "How To Design Stingers for Vibration
seals." Testing of Structures," Sound and Vibration, Apr., pp. 14-18.
Nordmann, R., and Massman, H., 1984, "Identification of Dynamic Coef-
ficients of Annular Turbulent Seals," Rotordynamic Instability Problems in
Both of these approaches act to reduce the average tangential High-Performance Turbomachinery—1984, NASA CP-2338, Proceedings of a
velocity within the bearing. Favorable tests (reduced fj) have Workshop held at Texas A&M University, pp. 295-311.
been completed for both types of improved bearing configu- Rouvas, C , and Childs, D., 1992, "A Parameter Identification Method for
rations and will be reported shortly. the Rotordynamic Coefficients of a High Reynolds Number Hydrostatic
Bearing," accepted for publication in the ASME Journal of Vibration and
The emphasis of this work has been on the application of Acoustics.
hybrid bearings to cryogenic turbopumps. However, they pre- Rouvas, C , Murphy, B., and Hale, K., 1992, "Bearing Parameter Identifi-
sent obvious alternatives as product-lubricated bearings for cation Using Power Spectral Density Methods," Proceedings of the Fifth In-
commercial pumps. Katayama and Okada (1992) have recently ternational Conference of Vibrations in Rotating Machinery, Bath, England,
pp. 297-303.
reported the results of a six-year development program at To- San Andres, L., 1990a, "Turbulent Hybrid Bearings with Fluid Inertia Ef-
kyo Gas Co. implementing hybrid bearings into vertical li- fects," ASME JOURNAL OF TRIBOLOGY, Vol. 112, pp. 699-707.
quified-natural-gas pumps.

2 3
See Appendix A. The diverging transition section from the orifice exit to the recess is eliminated.

342 / V o l . 116, APRIL 1994 Transactions of the ASME

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San Andres, L., 1990b, "Approximate Analysis of Turbulent Hybrid Bearings, "d
Static and Dynamic Performance for Centered Operation," ASME JOURNAL OF
TRIBOLOGY, Vol. 112, pp. 692-698. Gap J]A*(o>)PiM (A.2)
~ndNAt
San Andres, L., 1991, "Effect of Eccentricity on the Force Response of a
Hybrid Bearing," Tribology Transactions, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 537-544.
Tribology, Vol. 112, pp. 669-707.
where nd is the number of statistically independent blocks of
Scharrer, J., Tellier, J., and Hibbs, R., 1991, "A Study of the Transient data, TV is the number of data points in each data block, At
Performance of Hydrostatic Journal Bearings. Part I: Test Apparatus and Fa- is the time increment between sampling of each data point,
cility," STLE Preprint 91-TC-3B-1, presented at the STLE/ASME Tribology A*(o>) = the complex conjugate of ^{a(t)\ and P(u>) =
Conference, St. Louis, MO. ${p(t) j (ff is used to represent the DFT here).
Scharrer, J., Tellier, J., and Hibbs, R., 1992, "A Study of the Transient
Performance of Hydrostatic Journal Bearings. Part II: Experimental Results," We wish to apply the unbiased estimator for the SISO system
STLE Preprint 91-TC-3B-2, presented at the STLE/ASME Tribology Confer- described above to the MIMO system of Eq. (7). First, recall
ence, St. Louis, MO. that we have 32 statistically independent blocks of data (nd =
Tonnesen, J., and Hansen, P., 1982, "Some Experiments on the Steady State
Characteristics of a Cylindrical Fluid Film Bearing Considering Thermal Ef-
32), each block containing 1024 (N = 1024) data points for
fects," ASME JOURNAL OF LUBRICATION TECHNOLOGY, Vol. 103, pp. 107-114. each of the dynamic loads, accelerations, and relative motions
Tondl, A., 1967, "Bearings with a Tangential Gas Supply," University of whose JF appear in Eq. (7). Next, we identify each independent
Southampton, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gas Bearing Sympo- dynamic load of Eq. (7) (Fxx and Fyy) as a clean input a, and
sium, United Kingdom, paper no. 4. each of the resulting elements of the force and displacement
von Pragenau, G., 1982, "Damping Seals for Turbomachinery," NASA Tech-
nical Paper 1987. matrices as noise contaminated outputs b. Eq. (A.l) is then
applied separately to each individual element of the force and
displacement matrices, yielding an unbiased estimate for each
input and output element contained in these matrices. The
A P P E N D I X A resulting equation,
Spectral-Density-Averaging for Rotordynamic-Coefficient G,Jxxax. fyyfx) G,fvya„x
Identification 1-M S
Spectral density averaging techniques are used to obtain the JxxJy
XXJXX
Gfyyfyy fyyfyy
frequency-response functions (FRF) of Eq. (7), which defines JxxJyxK . , Jxx aa
xx yx Gf a
a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system. The inputs are —M, \-Ms J
Gr f GJ yy"yy
Dxx, Dxy, Dyx, and Dyy, and the outputs are Fxx - MSAXX, Fxy xxJx>
JxxJxx
- MsAxy, Fyx - MsAyx, and Fyy - MsAyy. fyyfyy.
Before calculating the FRF for this MIMO system, first Jf d
consider the best solution for the FRF of a single-input single- Hxx HX) •f xx^xx fyyfyy
, (A.3)
output (SISO) system. A SISO system with a clean input a and " VX tl VI Gf d ^
a noise contaminated output b will be examined. According
JxxJx> Gfyyfyi
to Bendat and Peirsol (1986), an unbiased estimate H, of the
FRF for this type of SISO system is given by, yields improved estimates for the FRF when solved.
Once Eq. (A.3) is solved, the rotordynamic coefficients are
H= (A.l) extracted from the FRF definitions of Eqs. (6) by performing
a least-squares curve fit on the real and imaginary parts of
with Gab being the cross spectral density and Gaa the auto each element of the FRF matrix. Plots of typical real and
spectral density. For discrete data, (which we have) an FFT imaginary parts for Hxx are shown in Fig. 6. The stiffness,
algorithm is used to calculate the Discrete Fourier Transforms damping, and added-mass coefficients of Eqs. (1) and (3) have
(DFT's) of Eq. (A.l). In particular, the spectral densities are now been identified. A more detailed discussion is provided
calculated by, by Rouvas and Childs (1992).

DISCUSSION

J. Scharrer4 any tests or analyses to arrive at the 32 excitation average or


was this simply a limitation of the system?
The authors are to be congratulated on their development It is admirable that the authors have included an estimate
of a first class hydrostatic bearing test facility. The data pre- of the experimental uncertainty with their results. Could the
sented in this publication and that presented in future publi- authors expand the discussion and explain in more detail the
cations will provide a valuable database for the validation of process used to obtain uncertainties for the stiffness, damping,
computer models and design tools. While this paper is very and inertia coefficients? Were uncertainties related to the data
complete in its presentation, I would like to focus on several acquisition hardware accounted for in addition those of the
points. transducers? Also, it has been my experience that eddy-current
The paper focuses on testing hydrostatic bearings. Are there proximity probes similar to those used for this effort have
limitations inherent in the design of the tester which would frequency dependent amplitude and phase characteristics. Was
prevent it from being used for annular seals, foil bearings, or .this accounted for in the uncertainty analysis and/or the cal-
even magnetic bearings? ibration of the test apparatus?
Also, the authors state that the noise generated by hydro-
static bearing is on the same order of magnitude as the exci-
tation force. Have the authors considered an approach which Authors' Closure
uses this noise to excite the stator instead of using an external
excitation source? The transfer function data shown in Fig. 6 Concerning alternate measurement applications for the test
seems very clean and tightly grouped. Did the authors perform apparatus, rotordynamic coefficients have been measured for
high-speed annular liquid seals, Lindsey (1993). The tester
4
Rotordynamics and Seal Research, Inc., Canoga Park, CA 91304. could be used to measure rotordynamic coefficients of a range

Journal of Tribology APRIL 1994, Vol. 116/343

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