Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

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Journal of Sound and Vibration

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsvi

Dynamic analysis of a planar multi-stage centrifugal pump

rotor system based on a novel coupled model
Wenjie Zhou a, Ning Qiu b, *, Leqin Wang c, Bo Gao a, d, Dong Liu a
a
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China
b
Research Center of Fluid Machinery Engineering and Technology, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China
c
Institute of Process Equipment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, PR China
d
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27606, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The coupled rotor-dynamics issue is always one of the most important and difficult
Received 7 November 2017 research for multi-stage pump system due to the complexity of multiple fluid-induced
Received in revised form 23 June 2018 forces and multi-degree of freedom rotor model. In this paper, the Reynolds equation of
Accepted 24 July 2018
journal bearing is solved by the finite difference method and corresponding fluid-induced
Available online 10 August 2018
Handling Editor: J. Astley
force is obtained by small parameter method. In addition, the dynamic coefficients of
annular seal are calculated according to bulk-flow model and perturbation method.
Furthermore, a novel rotor system model fully considering the coupled effects of bearing
Keywords:
Coupled rotor system
and seal is proposed by matrix manipulation method. Then the coupled rotor-dynamics for
Multi-degree of freedom (M-DoF) multi-stage pump system is investigated subsequently based on the novel model. Finally,
Matrix manipulation method (MMM) the Lomakin effect of annular seal is studied in detail. The calculated results indicate that
Dynamic characteristics the fluid-induced force of seal exerting on the rotor system should not be ignored in the
Lomakin effect calculation of coupled dynamic characteristics. Smaller length and clearance of annular
seal are good for the stability of coupled rotor system. Compared with asymmetric
structure, the symmetric sealing structure has a larger stability margin on condition of
‘rigid rotor’ status. Moreover, the Lomakin effect on stability presents linear superposition
property. The proposed method can provide valuable reference for the design and
modeling of multi-dimensional matrix system.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Multi-stage centrifugal pump, as one of the key devices for fluid transport, has been widely applied in many industry
fields, such as petroleum, chemical engineering and thermal power. The safe and smooth running of coupled rotor system
directly influences the stability and efficiency of multi-stage pump units. The vibration and stability problem of multi-stage
centrifugal pump rotor coupled system has been one of the most important issues with the higher operating requirements.
Compared with single-stage centrifugal pump, the geometric construction is more complicated and operating conditions
are stricter for multi-stage centrifugal pump, which is corresponding to more various and coupled dynamic behaviors. On the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: qiuning@ujs.edu.cn (N. Qiu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2018.07.041
0022-460X/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
238 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

one hand, the increase of length-diameter ratio for shaft weakens the rigidity of whole coupled rotor system, on the other
hand, multiple forms of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) increase the solving difficulty of complicated rotor-dynamics. For
actual multi-stage centrifugal pump, the FSI mainly includes two parts, fluid-induced force caused by unsteady flow in
impellers and gap circulation in journal bearing or annular seal. At present, it is well known that the NaviereStokes (N-S)
equations are the fundamental partial differential equations that describe the motion status of viscous and incompressible
fluids. Even the N-S equations can reflect the three-dimensional flow laws for viscous fluids, it is difficult to directly solve the
N-S equations and obtain the exact solutions in actual engineering instances. Therefore, the simplified equations derived from
N-S equations are applied for different specific flow models. The Reynolds equation is a simplified form for the N-S equations.
For the hydrodynamic lubrication in journal bearing, the Reynolds equation is usually adopted because of the thin-film flow's
characteristic. The differences between N-S equations and Reynolds equation are that the fluid inertia and body forces are
very small and negligible in comparison to the viscous forces in journal bearing for thin-film flow. The viscosity is the
dominant effect in determining the pressure distribution in a fluid film bearing. In addition, the radial velocity component
across the fluid film layer is relatively much lower than those in circumferential direction and axial direction. Therefore, the
pressure gradient in radial direction can be disregarded. In engineering research, the liquid film force obtained by Reynolds
equation is frequently involved in the research of coupled rotor-dynamics. Many researchers have done a lot on the way of
analyzing and understanding the coupling dynamics and mechanism of rotor-bearing coupled system [1e5].
Nevertheless, the rotor-seal coupled system develops slowly because of the lack of related sealing excitation theory. In
actual operation, annular seal not only avoids the fluid leakage, but also generates corresponding fluid-induced force, which is
known as Lomakin effect [6]. Afterwards, Black and Jessen [7,8] analyzed the flow condition inside annular seal based on
control volume method and proposed the linear sealing force model and equivalent dynamic coefficients including squeeze
effect. The perturbation method (PM) for solving the motion equations of annular seal considering the effect of inertia item
and pre-whirl was applied by Childs. The corresponding solving models for different length-diameter ratio were further
proposed to determine the dynamic coefficients [9e11]. Based on bulk flow model and Moody's friction coefficient equation,
Nelson and Nguyen [12,13] directly solved the governing equations by Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) and investigated the
influence of eccentricity on rotor-dynamic coefficients. Compared with the FFT method, a more efficient method, steepest-
descent method, was applied for describing the characteristics of floating ring seals by Duan [14]. Jiang [15] investigated
the effects of annular seal on dynamic response of pump rotor during the start-up period by finite difference method (FDM)
and numerical integration. Ha and Choe [16,17] introduced the reference coordinate system into steady-state model of
annular seal and studied the relationship between inner flow characteristics and dynamic coefficients. Zhai [18] found that
the exit recovery coefficient presented exponential growth with the increase of circumferential velocity-axial velocity ratio. In
fact, the research of dynamic characteristics for annular seal has gradually expanded to the seals with different complex
sealing structures due to the better sealing performance [19e24].
The consummation of sealing theory model results in the rapid development of rotor coupled system, more and more
researchers pay attention to the coupled method and mechanism of rotor-seal system and rotor-bearing-seal system. Raja-
kumar and Sisto [25] obtained the pressure distribution of labyrinth seal for different eccentric whirls and found that the
sealing force was the function of eccentricity. Huang and Li [26] regarded the non-damping Jeffcott rotor-seal system as
primary research object and solved the gas-induced sealing force and dynamic responses by unsteady 3-D Navier-Stokes
equation and fourth-order explicit Adams format, respectively. Based on Fluid-structure interaction technology and
Navier-Stokes equation, Jiang [27] established the rotor-seal system motion equations and researched the effects of annular
sealing force on rotor-dynamics without considering the varied dynamic coefficients of bearing. Subsequently, Wang [28]
considered the real variation of bearing dynamic coefficients and proposed a more integrated rotor-bearing-seal coupled
system, the reliability and accuracy of this model were verified by critical speed. Besides, the nonlinear coupled characteristics
of rotor system have been received increasing attention during the last couple of decades and a variety of nonlinear phe-
nomena were observed and captured [29e34].
Although a lot of efforts on studying the dynamic behavior of rotor-seal or rotor-bearing system have been done, most of
the coupled rotor systems are single-stage because there is a lack of corresponding model for describing the multi-stage
sealing force. Another reason is the dimension difference of matrix coefficients between the annular seal and rotor system
with M-DoF. Therefore, the coupled rotor model for multi-stage pump considering the real fluid-induced influence of annular
seal and journal bearing is not yet developed. Furthermore, the Lomakin effect of annular seal with symmetric or asymmetric
structures on the coupled dynamic characteristics of multi-stage rotor system is rarely studied. There is an urgent need to
establish a complete multi-stage pump rotor model for investigating the coupled dynamic response and coupled mechanism
illuminating the interaction between the fluid-induced force and rotor system.
In this paper, a novel coupled rotor system for multi-stage pump including the fluid-induced forces of annular seal and
journal bearing is proposed based on Reynolds equation, bulk-flow theory, finite element method (FEM) and MMM. The
steady dynamics of the proposed rotor system with M-DoF is investigated by order reduction and linear hypothesis. More-
over, the stability of this coupled system for first three orders vibration is also calculated. Finally, the Lomakin effect of annular
seal is paid much more attention for exploring the coupled effect on the steady response and stability of novel rotor system.
The calculated results imply that the symmetric effect of annular seal and the mode of vibration can be combined to inhibit
the severe vibration and improve the stability of coupled rotor system effectively.
 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 239

2. Equivalent dynamic coefficients of journal bearing and annular seal

2.1. Dynamic coefficients of journal bearing

The supporting force caused by lubricating film is often expressed in the form of equivalent dynamic coefficients for
further rotor system coupling. The geometric model of a journal bearing and corresponding finite difference grid of lubri-
cating film are shown in Fig. 1. The bearing and journal rotate with an angular velocity Ub and Uj, respectively. The non-
concentric relative rotating can squeeze the lubricant medium and leads to asymmetric dynamic pressure between the
bearing and journal. The motion of oj can be calculated by the combined effect of external load and inner dynamic pressure,
meanwhile, the flow of lubricant medium obeys the generalized Reynolds equation.
The hypothesis of incompressible and iso-viscous Newtonian lubricating medium is proposed. Considering the bearing is
usually fixed with base during the rotation, that is vb ¼ RbUb ¼ 0. Then the generalized Reynolds equation for cylindrical
journal bearing can be expressed as [35,36]

3 

1 v h vp v h3 vp Uj vh vh
þ ¼ þ (1)
R2 v4 12m v4
b
vz 12m vz 2 v4 vt

where Rb is the radius of bearing, h is the thickness of lubricant medium, p is the pressure of the lubricant film, t is time, z is the
axial direction, m is dynamic viscosity, 4 is the angular direction from largest thickness.
Introducing the following dimensionless parameters for Eq. (1)

2z c2 L r
z¼ ; h ¼ 1 þ ε cos 4; p ¼ p; l ¼ b ; t ¼ Uj t; ε ¼ (2)
Lb 2mR Uj
2
b
2R b c

where Lb is the length of bearing, ε is the eccentricity, c is the radial clearance of bearing, Uj is the rotating angular speed of
journal, r is the eccentric distance of journal, l is length-diameter ratio, symbol ‘’ at the top of each parameter implies that
the parameter is dimensionless.
The dimensionless Reynolds equation can be obtained by

 3 !
v 3 vp v h vp dq dε
h þ ¼ 3ε sin 4 þ 6ε sin 4 þ 6 cos 4 (3)
v4 v4 vz l2 vz dt dt

where q is attitude angle.

Actually, the last two items of Eq. (3) represent the rotating effects of angular velocity dq=dt and the squeezing effect of
dε=dt. The Eq. (3) can be further simplified for stable motion (dq=dt ¼ dε=dt ¼ 0)

 3 !
v 3 vp v h vp
h þ ¼ 3ε sin 4 (4)
v4 v4 vz l2 vz

Fig. 1. Geometric model and finite difference grid of journal bearing.

240 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

The FDM is used to ensure the accuracy for solving the dimensionless Reynolds equation and the corresponding dis-
cretization domain is often treated as 2 dimensional problem [37,38]. The first and second order derivatives are both dis-
cretized by second order central difference scheme. The corresponding difference form of Eq. (5) can be described as follows

3
hi pi;kþ1  2pi;k þ pi;k1
hiþ þ ¼ 3ε sin4i (5)
1 3
ðpiþ1;k pi;k Þhi Dz2
=
2
1 3
=
2 ðpi;k pi1;k Þ l2
D42

where D4 and Dz are the distance of two adjacent points in circumferential and axial directions, respectively.
The resulting discretized form can be further expressed as

l2 D42 Dz2 Ei pi;k  l2 Dz2 h 3

iþ1 2
=
piþ1;k þ h 3
i1 2
=
pi1;k

3
 
2
D42 hi pi;kþ1 þ pi;k1 ¼ 3εl D42 Dz2 sin4i (6)

3
2hi
where Ei ¼ hiþ 1 3 þ .
l2 Dz2
=
2 þh
1 3
=
i 2
D42

From Eq. (6), it can be seen that the pressure at any grid point (i, k) can be obtained according to adjacent four pressure
points and the coefficient matrix is positive definite symmetric matrix, therefore, the successive over-relaxation (SOR)
iterative method [39] with the boundary condition is applied for grid pressure. The iterative form for Eq. (6) can be written as
follows
h 
l2 D42 Dz2 Ei pjþ1 2
¼ g l Dz2 h 3 jþ1   i
i;k iþ1 2
=
piþ1;k þ h 3
pjþ1 þ D42 hi pji;kþ1 þ pjþ1
3
i1 2
=
i1;k i;k1

j
þ3εgl2 D42 Dz2 sin4i þ ð1  gÞl2 D42 Dz2 Ei pi;k (7)

where g is relaxation factor.

Furthermore, the dimensionless lubricant film force components (F t,F r) can be determined by compound Simpson
quadrature formula

Z1 Z2p
Ft ¼ psin 4d4dz
1 0 (8-a)
" #
D4Dz X
m=2
  X 
m=21

¼ P 1 sin41 þ 4 P 2 sin42i þ 2 P 3 sin42iþ1 þ P 4 sin4mþ1
9 i¼1 i¼1

Z1 Z2p
Fr ¼ pcos 4d4dz
1 0 (8-b)
" #
D4Dz X
m=2
  X
m=21
 
¼ P 1 cos41 þ 4 P 2 cos42i þ 2 P 3 cos42iþ1 þ P 4 cos4mþ1
9 i¼1 i¼1

where

X
n=2 X
n=21
P 1 ¼ p1;1 þ 4 p1;2k þ 2 p1;2kþ1 þ p1;nþ1 (9-a)
k¼1 k¼1

X
n=2 X
n=21
P 2 ¼ p2i;1 þ 4 p2i;2k þ 2 p2i;2kþ1 þ p2i;nþ1 (9-b)
k¼1 k¼1
 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 241

X
n=2 X
n=21
P 3 ¼ p2iþ1;1 þ 4 p2iþ1;2k þ 2 p2iþ1;2kþ1 þ p2iþ1;nþ1 (9-c)
k¼1 k¼1

X
n=2 X
n=21
P 4 ¼ pmþ1;1 þ 4 pmþ1;2k þ 2 pmþ1;2kþ1 þ pmþ1;nþ1 (9-d)
k¼1 k¼1

The corresponding F x and F y can be calculated by coordinate transformation

  
Fx cos q sin q Ft
¼ (10)
Fy sin q  cos q Fr

In order to determine the equilibrium position of journal accurately and quickly, the hybrid method (HM) is applied
instead of secant method and bisection method for solving the nonlinear equation. The convergence criterions, f(q) and g(ε), of
the above equations gives:



f ðqÞ ¼
Fx Fy
< 103 (11-a)

 

gðεÞ ¼
Fy  Fw Fw
< 103 (11-b)

where Fw is the external load.

Once the equilibrium position is determined, the dynamic coefficients can be further calculated by small parameter
method (SPM). The small disturbance of displacement and velocity are imposed at the equilibrium position point and the
thickness and pressure of lubricant medium can be expressed as

vp vp vp vp
h ¼ h0 þ xsin f þ ycos f; p ¼ p0 þ x þ y þ x_ þ y_ (12)
vx vy vx_ vy_

where h0 and p0 are the dimensionless thickness and pressure at equilibrium position, x and y are the axes.
Introducing Eq. (12) into Eq. (4) and ignoring the higher-order terms, and removing the static Reynolds equation, the
dimensionless disturbance equations can be obtained by
8 ! ! 9
>
> sin f vh0 3 v sin f vp0 > >
>
> 3 cos f  3  3h0 >
>
> h0 vf vf vf >
8 9 > >
> h0 >
>
>
vp=vx > >


 >
>
<
>
>
=
>
>
< ! ! >
>
=
v 3 v 1 v 3v vp=vy cos f vh0 3 v cos f vp0
h0 þ 2 h0 _ ¼ 3 sin f þ 3  3h (13)
vf vf l vz vz >> vp=v x >
> > h0 vf
0
vf vf >
: ; > >
>
h0 >
>
>
vp=vy_ >
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 6 sin f >
>
>
> >
>
: ;
6 cos f

The discretized form of left side of Eq. (13) can refer to Eq. (5), and the discretized form of right items at discretized node (i,
k) can be expressed as
!
 .  .
! !! sin f h  sin f h
vh0 h0 iþ1 2  h0 i1 2 v 0 iþ1 2
=
sin f 0
i1 2
= = =
¼ ; ¼
vf Df vf h0 Df
i;k i;k

!
 .  .

 !! cos f h  cos f h
vp0 p0 iþ1 2;k  p0 i1 2;k
= =
v cos f 0 iþ1 2
=
0
i1 2
=
¼ ; ¼ (14)
vf i;k Df vf h0 Df
i;k

Similarly, the disturbance pressure can be got by SOR and the dimensionless dynamic coefficients of journal bearing can be
written as
242 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

2 3
b b Z1 Z2p  T
4
kxx kxy
5¼ sin f vp=vx
dfdz (15-a)
b
kyx
b
kyy cos f vp=vy
1 0

" # Z1 Z2p  T
cbxx cbxy sin f vp=vx_
¼ dfdz (15-b)
cbyx cbyy cos f vp=vy_
1 0

2.2. Dynamic coefficients of annular seal

The coupled theory of annular seal is similar with that of journal bearing. Fig. 2 shows the structure and geometric model
of annular seal. The interstitial fluid is driven by rotor rotate with unbalanced mass and the corresponding reaction of the
squeezed fluid can generate induction force. However, the Reynolds equation could not be applied for the fluid-induced force
because the flow regime of annular seal is much different with that of journal bearing, and the inertial effect also should be
considered in the calculation of sealing force.
Hence, the bulk-flow model derived from fluid control volume is used to calculated the dynamic coefficients of annular
seal. This model introduces the radial average velocity and ignores the change of velocity components in radial direction, i.e.,
only the shear stress on the dynamic and static surfaces of annular seal is considered. The governing equations for interstitial
fluid of annular seal based on bulk-flow model can be expressed as [10]

vuz 1 v   1 vH
H þ Huf þ ¼0 (16)
vz R vf Ru vt
( )
H 2 1 vp n0 1þm0  1þm0  h 2 i1þm0
2 2 2 2 2
¼ R uf uf þ uz þ uf  1 uf  1 þ uz
mU R vf 2 c
 (17)
H vuf Huf vuf vuf
þRc þ þ Huz
U vt R vf vz
( )
H 2 vp n0 1þm0  1þm0 h 2 i1þm0
uz u2f þ u2z þ uz uf  1 þ u2z
2 2
¼ Rc
mU vz 2
 (18)
H vuz Huf vuz vuz
þRc þ þ Huz
U vt R vf vz

where H is the radial clearance of seal, R is the radius of rotor, u is the rotating speed, uf and uz are the velocities in axial and
circumferential directions, U is the surface velocity of rotor, Rc is the circumferential Reynolds number, m0 is experience
coefficients
The PM is applied for above governing equations, introducing the following zero-order and first-order perturbation
variable

Fig. 2. Geometric model and structure of annular seal.

 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 243

uz ¼ uz0 þ zuz1 ; uf ¼ uf0 þ zuf1

(19)
H ¼ H0 þ zH1 ; p ¼ p0 þ zp1

where subscript ‘0’ and ‘1’ imply the zero-order and first-order perturbation items. z is dimensionless small eccentricity.
Substituting Eq. (19) into governing equations and doing dimensionless conversion, the zero-order and first-order
perturbation governing equations of annular seal can be obtained through a series of simplification and integration.
Generally, the zero-order perturbation governing equations are applied for calculating the leakage and pressure drop of the
seal, and the first-order perturbation governing equations can determine the equivalent dynamic coefficients. The corre-
sponding first-order continuity equation, circumferential and axial momentum equations of governing equations ignoring
the high order components can be written as

 !
vuz1 Lc v   vH 1 vH 1
þ uf0 H 1 þ uf1 þ uz0 þ ¼0 (20)
vz R vf vt vz

  
Lc vp1   vu
 s  A3 uf1 uz0 þ A4 vuz1 þ A5 vH1 uz0  f1 ðuz0 sÞ ¼ 0 (21)
R vf v2
 
vp vuz1
 1 s þ ð1  m0 ÞH1  A1 uz1 =uz0  A2 vuf1  ðuz0 sÞ ¼ 0 (22)
vz v2


Lc uf0 0 ½0:5ð1þm0 Þ
v≡v þ
where v2
vt Ruz0
v v
vf þ vz, s ¼ Lc n0 Rm
a0 b =H0 , b ¼ 1=ð1 þ 4u2z0 Þ, A1 ¼ 1 þ 4bu2z0 ð1 þ m0 Þ, A2 ¼ 4bð1 þ m0 Þ½1  bð1 

m0 Þ, A3 ¼ 1 þ bð1 þ m0 Þ, A4 ¼ 1=u2z0 þ 4b2 ð1 þ m0 Þð1  m0 Þ þ bð1 þ m0 Þð1  4u2z0 Þ=u2z0 , A5 ¼ ð1  m0 Þ½1 þ bð1 þ m0 Þ, Lc is the
length of seal, v is the pre-whirl velocity, n0 is experience coefficients.
In fact, the first-order pressure perturbation p1 , circumferential velocity perturbation uf1 and circumferential velocity
perturbation uz1 are the function of time, circumferential and axial coordinates. Additionally, the first-order dimensionless
thickness H 1 can be regarded as the function of circumferential coordinates and time on condition of concentric whirl.
Combination with the circumferential continuity condition, the circumferential coordinate of above four perturbation pa-
rameters can be separated as follows

p1 ¼ p1c cos f þ p1s sin f; uf1 ¼ uf1c cos f þ uf1s sin f

(23)
uz1 ¼ uz1c cos f þ uz1s sin f; zH 1 ¼ xcos f  ysin f

Introducing Eq. (23) into first-order perturbation governing equations and classifying the related coefficients in accor-
dance with the terms of cosf and sinf. Furthermore, the time variable can be separated by the following complex variable
forms

p1;tz ¼ p1c þ ip1s ¼ p1;z eiUTt ; uf1;tz ¼ uf1c þ iuf1s ¼ uf1;z eiUTt
r0 iUTt (24)
uz1;tz ¼ uz1c þ iuz1s ¼ uz1;z eiUTt ; H 1;t ¼ x þ iy ¼ e ¼ r0 eiUTt
H0

where T is the time for fluid flowing through annular seal, U is the whirl speed of rotor, i is imaginary unit.
The final first-order perturbation forms can be expressed by the function of the unknown parametric variables
Continuity equation




vuz1;z Lc r Lc
i uf1;z þ i 0 uf0  iuz0 UT ¼ 0 (25)
vz R z R

Circumferential momentum equation

 


vuf1;z Lc uf0 Lc r
þ sA3  i þ iUT uf1;z  uz0 sA4 vuz1;z  iuz0 p1;z þ sA5 v 0 ¼ 0 (26)
vz Ruz0 R z

Axial momentum equation

244 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

 

vuz1;z vp1;z Lc uf0 r
þ uz0 þ sA1  i þ iUT uz1;z þ uz0 sA2 vuf1;z þ ð1  m0 Þuz0 s 0 ¼ 0 (27)
vz vz Ruz0 z

where r 0 is the dimensionless whirl amplitude.

Therefore, the first-order differential equations form of Eq. (26) to Eq. (28) can be concluded as follows
8 9 8 9 8 9
d < z1;z =
u < uz1;z =
r < iuz0 f =
u þ ½E uf1;z ¼ 0
sA5 v (28)
dz : pf1;z ; : p ; z : ;
1;z 1;z ð1  m0 Þs  if

where E11 ¼ E13 ¼ E33 ¼ 0, E12 ¼  iðLc =RÞ, E21 ¼  uz0 sA4 v, E22 ¼ sA3 þ if , E23 ¼  iuz0 ðLc =RÞ, E31 ¼ ðsA1 þ if Þ=uz0 , E32 ¼
sA2 v þ i½Lc =ðRuz0 Þ, f ¼ UT  Lc uf0 =Ruz0 .
Combining the first pressure perturbation boundary conditions of inlet and outlet with circumferential velocity pertur-
bation boundary of inlet [10], these differential equations can be solved by shooting method [40]. The first-order perturbation
pressure in annular seal can be obtained by

p1;z ðzÞ ¼ ðr0 =zÞ½g1c ðzÞ þ ig1s ðzÞ (29)

Generally, the cross-coupled added mass is usually ignored considering the very small value. Hence, the other five dy-
namic coefficients can be calculated based on the definition of sealing dynamic coefficients [10]

Z1
2s
K s þ cs ðUTÞ  Ms ðUTÞ2 ¼ g1c ðzÞdz (30)
1 þ x þ 2s
0

Z1
2s
ks  C s ðUTÞ ¼  g1s ðzÞdz (31)
1 þ x þ 2s
0

where 1 þ x þ 2s ¼ 2Dp=rV 2 ; Dp ¼ pin  pout , x is loss coefficient, r is density, pin and pout are the inlet and outlet pressure of
annular seal, respectively.
It is seen from Eq. (30) and Eq. (31) that the dynamic coefficients needs to be fitted for different whirl frequencies.
Furthermore, the above Equations can be transformed to the following matrix form
8 9
>
> Z1 >
>
>
> >
>
>
> g ðzÞdz >
>
>
> 1c;1 >
>
>
> >
>
2 3 >
> 0 >
>
2 8 9 >
> >
>
1 ðU1 TÞ ðU1 TÞ > s > >
> Z 1 >
>
6 2 7< K = s < =
6 1 ðU2 TÞ ðU2 TÞ 7 2 g ðzÞdz
6 7 cs ¼ 1c;2 (32)
4« « « 5> ; 1 þ x þ 2s >
: Ms > >
>0
>
>
>
>
> « >
>
1 ðUi TÞ ðUi TÞ2 >
> >
>
>
> Z 1 >
>
>
> >
>
>
> >
>
> g1c;i ðzÞdz >
>
>
>
: >
;
0
8 9
>
> Z1 >
>
>
> >
>
>
> g1s;1 ðzÞdz >>
>
>
>
> >
>
>
> >
>
2 3 >
>
0 >
>
1 ðU1 TÞ ( ) > Z1
> >
>
>
< >
=
6 1 ðU2 TÞ 7 ks 2 s g ðzÞdz
6 7 ¼ 1s;2 (33)
4« « 5 Cs 1 þ x þ 2s > >
>0
> >
>
1 ðUi TÞ >
> « >
>
>
> >
>
> Z1
> >
>
>
> >
>
> g ðzÞdz >
> >
>
> >
>
>
:
1s;i >
;
0

Finally, the fluid-induced force for annular seal can be obtained as

 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 245

rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2
Fs ¼ εH0 K s þ cs U  Ms U2 þ ð  ks þ C s UÞ2 (34)

3. Model of the novel rotor coupled system

The main rotating members for multi-stage pump rotor system are shaft and impellers. Actually, the solving of rotor-
dynamics can be transformed into solving the dynamic characteristics of shaft with multiple impellers and FSI under con-
servative force. The differential equations of impeller and shaft are established in this section, which are the basis for the final
differential equations of coupled rotor system.

3.1. Motion equation of rigid impeller

The impellers are usually regarded as rigid body in the calculation of dynamic response because of the tiny deformation of
cover boards and impeller blades [41e43]. Besides, the complex unsteady flow inside impeller is also ignored in rotor-
dynamics analysis. Therefore, only the translational energy and rotational energy need to be considered for modeling.
The motion status of impeller changes with the bend and deformation of rotor system, the center line of the impeller is no
longer collinear with the undeformed rotor center line. The different stationary status and rotation status are shown in Fig. 3.
Choosing the static coordinate o-xyz as reference coordinate, the impeller exists translational motion and rotational motion in
three axis directions. The motion status can be expressed by the mass center coordinate and corresponding spatial Euler
angle. The translational coordinate oc-x'y'z' is fixed at the mass center of impeller and rotates to the place of oc-x3y3z3 co-
ordinate according to Euler angle transformation.
Fig. 4 shows the spatial Euler angle and coordinate transformation. In turn, y', x1 and z2 axes are the rotation axes for
attached coordinate system oc-x'y'z'. The corresponding anticlockwise rotation angles are qy0 , qx1 and qz2 , respectively. As
shown in Fig. 4, the final rotating coordinate oc-x3y3z3 can be obtained and its coordinate directions are entirely different from
those of original static coordinate o-xyz through three rotations.
Supposing the unit vectors of translational coordinate are i', j', k', and rotation coordinate are in, jn, kn (n ¼ 1, 2, 3), the
subscript number n indicates the n-th rotational position of unit vectors. Therefore, the relationship of coordinate vectors can
be written as
0 1 2 30 1 2 30 1 0 0 1
i3 cosqz2 sinqz2 0 i2 cosqz2 sinqz2 cosqx1 sinqz2 sinqx1 i1 i
@ j3 A ¼ 4 sinqz cosqz2 0 5@ j2 A ¼ 4 sinqz2 cosqz2 cosqx1 cosqz2 sinqx1 5@ j1 A ¼ ½A @ j0 A
0
(35)
2
k3 0 0 1 k2 0 sinqx1 cosqx1 k1 k0
2 3
a011 a012 a013
where ½A0 ¼ 4 0 0 0 5
a21 a22 a23 , a011 ¼ cosqy0 cosqz2 þ sinqx1 sinqy0 sinqz2 , a012 ¼ cosqx1 sinqz2 , a013 ¼  sinqy0 cosqz2 þ
a031 a032 a033
sinqx1 cosqy0 sinqz2 , a021 ¼  cosqy0 sinqz2 þ sinqx1 sinqy0 cosqz2 ,a022 ¼ cosqx1 cosqz2 , a023 ¼ sinqy0 sinqz2 þ sinqx1 cosqy0 cosqz2 ,
a031 ¼ cosqx1 sinqy0 , a032 ¼  sinqx1 , a033 ¼ cosqx1 cosqy0
The absolute rotation angular velocity of impeller can be expressed as

Fig. 3. Stationary and rotation state of rigid impeller.

246 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

Fig. 4. Euler angle and coordinate transformation.

ud ¼ q_ x1 i1 þ q_ y0 j0 þ q_ z2 k2 (36)

Combining Eq. (35) with Eq. (36), the total kinetic energy including translational energy and rotational energy for impeller
in coordinate oc-x2y2z2 can be written as follows

1   1 2 2
 2  2
Td ¼ md x_2 þ y_2 þ Jx q_ x1 þ Jy q_ y0 cosq_ x1 þ Jz q_ z2  sinqx1 q_ y0 (37)
2 2

where md is the mass of impeller, Jx, Jy and Jz are the moment of inertia in x-, y- and z-directions.
For tiny qx1 and qy0 , sinqx1 zqx1 zqx ; sinqy0 zqy0 zqy ; cosqx1 zcosqy0 z1; q_ z2 zu, moreover, considering the axisymmetric
structures of impeller, the following relationship can be got

J dd ¼ Jx ¼ Jy ; J dp ¼ Jz (38)

Ignoring the high order terms, the kinetic energy of rigid impeller can be simplified as

1   1
2 2

Td ¼ md x_2 þ y_2 þ J dd q_ x þ q_ y þ J dp u2  2J dp uqx q_ y (39)
2 2

where Jd is the diametric moment of inertia, Jp is the polar moment of inertia, superscript ‘d’ implies impeller.
For non-conservative system, the following Lagrange equation can be introduced

Fig. 5. Elastic shaft element and differential element.

 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 247

!
d vTn vðTn  Vn Þ
 ¼ qj ; j ¼ 1; 2; // (40)
dt vu_ j vuj

where Tn is kinetic energy, Vn is potential energy, uj and qj are the generalized coordinate and generalized force, respectively.
Finally, the motion equations of rigid impeller can be expressed as [34]
(
d d
M d u_ 1 þ uJ d u_ 2 ¼ qd1
d d
(41)
M d u_ 2  uJ d u_ 1 ¼ qd2
 
md 0 0 0
where M d ¼ d , Jd ¼ 0 , ud1 ¼ ½x; qy T , ud2 ¼ ½y; qx T
0 Jd J dp

3.2. Motion equation of shaft

In order to obtain the motion equations of shaft, the FEM is applied. Fig. 5 shows the elastic shaft element and differential
element. For every independent element, it can be regarded as an integration composed of numerous differential elements.
As shown in Fig. 5, the node numbers of a shaft element are j-1 and j, respectively. The degrees of freedom for differential
element, which is at the place of s between these two endpoints, can be expressed by the generalized coordinates [44]
      e
x N 0 ue1 qy N0 0 u1
¼ ; ¼ (42)
y 0 N ue2 qx 0 N0 ue2

where symbol ‘'’ indicates the derivative with respect to s, ue1 ¼ ½xj1 ; qy;j1 ; xj ; qy;j T , ue2 ¼ ½yj1 ; qx;j1 ; yj ; qx;j T , N ¼ ½N1 ;
N2 ; N3 ; N4  , N1 ¼ 1  3ðs=lÞ2 þ 2ðs=lÞ3 , N2 ¼ s,½1  2ðs=lÞ þ ðs=lÞ2 , N3 ¼ ðs=lÞ2 ½3  2ðs=lÞ, N4 ¼ ðs2 =lÞ,½  1 þ ðs=lÞ, s is the
place of shaft differential element, l is the length of shaft element.
The corresponding expression of kinetic energy for the differential element is similar with that of impeller. Therefore, the
total kinetic energy containing translational energy and rotational energy for differential element can be obtained


1   1 2 2
dTe ¼ me x_2 þ y_2 ds þ jed q_ x þ q_ y þ jep u2  2jep uqx q_ y ds (43)
2 2

where me is the shaft mass for length unit, jed and jep are the diametric moment of inertia and polar moment of inertia of
differential element, respectively.
Combining with Eq. (42), Eq. (43) can be transformed into the following form expressed by vectors ue1 and ue2
0" # " e #" # " #T " #" #1
e T e e e
1 @ N u_ 1 m 0 N u_ 1 N u_ 2 me 0 N u_ 2
Ads
dTe ¼ þ
0 _e
jed N 0 u_ 1 N 0 u_ 2 jed N 0 u_ 2
2 e e e
Nu 0 1 0
(44)
" e #T " #" #
N u_ 1 0 0 Nue2 1
þu ds þ jep u2 ds
N 0 u_ 1
e 0 jep N 0 ue2 2

Furthermore, the kinetic energy of elastic shaft element between the two nodes can be got by integral along the axial
direction

(45)

Rl Rl e 0T 0 Rl e 0T 0
where M eT ¼ 0 me N T Nds, M eR ¼ 0 jd N N ds, J e ¼ 0 jp N N ds
In addition, the Hooke's law can be written as

ss ¼ Eεs (46)

where E is Young's modulus, ss and εs are stress and strain, respectively.

The potential energy of deformed elastic shaft element can be obtained and expressed as following form
248 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

Z Z
1 1
Ve ¼ ss εs dV ¼ Eε2s dV (47)
2 2
V V

Based on the definition of neutral layer and linear strain hypothesis, the elongation of every longitudinal fiber is described
as

hs Ms h s
εs ¼ ¼ (48)
rs EI

where hs is the distance between neutral layer and longitudinal fiber, rs is radius of curvature, I is moment of inertia, Ms is
bending moment.
Therefore, the total potential energy consisted of deformation in x-z plane and y-z plane for differential element can be
achieved as

 "
2
2 2 #
1 Mx My 1 d2 y d x
dVe ¼ þ ds ¼ EIx þ EIy ds (49)
2 EIx EIy 2 ds2 ds2

00 2 00
where dds2x ¼ N ue1 , ddsy2 ¼ N ue2
2

For circular section, Ix ¼ Iy ¼ I, so the potential energy of elastic shaft element can be obtained

(50)

R l 00 T 00
where K e ¼ EI 0 N N ds
Substituting the Eqs. (45) and (50) into Lagrange equation, the motion equations of elastic shaft can be expressed as
 e e
M e u€1 þ uJ e u_ 2 þ K e ue1 ¼ qe1
e e (51)
M e u€2  uJ e u_ 1 þ K e ue2 ¼ qe2

where , the order number of submatrix

in above matrix is 2  2.

3.3. Differential equations of novel rotor coupled system

For rigid impeller, the generalized coordinates of shaft are more than those of impeller, therefore, the motion model of
rotor coupled system needs to be modeled based on the motion equations of shaft. For multi-stage centrifugal rotor coupled
system with n nodes, the corresponding number of elastic shaft element is n-1. Supposing a rigid impeller is installed at node
i, so the rotor coupled system considering the rigid impeller and shaft can be integrated as follows

M 0 u€1 þ uJ 0 u_ 2 þ K 0 u1 ¼ q1
(52)
M 0 u€2  uJ 0 u_ 1 þ K 0 u2 ¼ q2

where u1 ¼ ½x1 ; qy1 ; x2 ; qy2 /; xj ; qyj ; /xn ; qyn T , u2 ¼ ½y1 ;  qx1 ; y2 ;  qx2 ; /yj ;  qxj ; /yn ;  qxn T
Furthermore, the Eq. (52) can be further written as following 4n  4n form

M ~ U_ þ KU
~ U€ þ C ~ ¼Q (53)
    
~ ¼ M0 0 ~ 0 uJ 0 , K
~ ¼ K
0
0 u1 q1
where M 0 , C ¼ 0 , U ¼ ,Q ¼
0 M uJ 0 0 0 K u2 q2

Considering the matrix structure of dynamic coefficients for bearing and annular seal, the MMM [28] is used to establish
the final vibration model of rotor coupled system. Assuming the fluid-induced force of an annular seal is on node j, then the
displacement of node j can be described as
 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 249

Fig. 6. Assembly coefficient matrix of u1.

 " #
xj esj 0 u1
¼ ¼ Lsj U (54)
yj 0 esj u2

where

2 3
6 7
6 7
esj ¼ 60; 0; /; 0 ; 1; 0; /; 0 7
4|fflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflffl} |fflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflffl} 5
2j2 2ðnjÞþ1

Therefore, the following vector of sealing force can be got

h iT h i h iT h i h iT h i
Q s ¼ Lsj K sj Lsj U þ Lsj C sj Lsj U_ þ Lsj M sj Lsj U€ (55)

where K sj , C sj and M sj are the stiffness matrix, damping matrix and mass matrix of annular seal, respectively.
Substituting Eq. (55) into Eq. (53) and the motion equation of the rotor coupled system including seal force can be
expressed as
 h iT h i  h iT h i  h iT h i
M~ þ Ls M s Ls U€ þ C~ þ Ls C s Ls U_ þ K~ þ Ls K s Ls U ¼ Q (56)
j j j j j j j j j

Likewise, assuming the fluid-induced force of a bearing is on node j-1, the similar motion equation of the rotor coupled
system including journal bearing force can be written as
 h iT h i  h iT h i  h iT h i
M~ þ Lb b b € ~ b b b _ ~ b b b
j1 M j1 Lj1 U þ C þ Lj1 C j Lj1 U þ K þ Lj1 K j Lj1 U ¼ Q (57)

Fig. 6 shows the assembly process for coefficient matrix of u1, the overlapping sub-matrix of adjacent shaft element is on
the main diagonal, as is the case with that overlapping sub-matrix of impeller. It is noted that the dynamic coefficients of
bearing and seal are not only on the primary diagonal, but also on the non-primary diagonal, shown in local assembly
matrixes. The placement of these dynamic coefficients is corresponding to the node place of fluid-induced force, and the
assembly coefficient matrix of u2 is similar with that of u1.
250 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

Fig. 7. Solving process for coupled rotor-dynamics.

Table 1
Experimental and theoretical results of first critical speeds (r/min).

Clearance of seal H (mm) Pressure drop Dp (MPa) Experimental results Theoretical results Error percentage
0.3 0.1 2022.5 1969.4 2.6%
0.2 2213.1 2150.0 2.9%
0.3 2306.7 2313.5 0.3%
0.4 2565.9 2464.5 4.0%
0.5 2616.3 2605.3 0.4%
0.4 0.1 1989.6 1912.5 3.9%
0.2 2082.4 2040.8 2%
0.3 2129.0 2158.0 1.4%
0.4 2230.5 2267.0 1.6%
0.5 0.1 1982.7 1874.4 5.5%
0.2 2024.4 1968.3 2.8%
0.3 2051.3 2054.6 0.2%

Table 2
Geometric parameters of journal bearing.

Length (m) Clearance (m) Diameter (m) Viscosity (Pa,s)

0.02 1  104 0.025 0.0414
 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 251

For the general case of multi-stage annular seals and considering the effect of bearings, the final complete motion
equations of the rotor coupled system can be expressed as [28]

M U€ þ C U_ þ KU ¼ Q (58)

where
~ þ Pns ½Ls T M s ½Ls  þ Pnb ½Lb T M b ½Lb , C ¼ C
M ¼M ~ þ Pns ½Ls T C s ½Ls  þ Pnb ½Lb T C b ½Lb , K ¼ K
~ þ Pns ½Ls T K s ½Ls  þ
n¼1 n n n n¼1 n n n n¼1 n n n n¼1 n n n n¼1 n n n
Pn b b T b b
nb and ns are the number of bearing and annular seal, respectively. K bn , C bn and M bn are the stiffness matrix,
n¼1 ½Ln  K n ½Ln ,
damping matrix and mass matrix of bearing, respectively.
In order to obtain the eigenvalue of coupled rotor system, the homogeneous linear equations derived from Eq. (58) can be
further transformed to the following first-order form

AV_ þ BV ¼ 0 (59)
 

_ M 0 C K
where V ¼ U , A ¼ ,B ¼
U 0 K K 0
Furthermore, the solution of Eq. (59) can be assumed as

V ¼ V 0 evt (60)

where v and V0 are eigenvalues and eigenvectors, respectively.

Substituting Eq. (60) into Eq. (59), the motion equations can be changed to the following solution form of eigenvalue

½vA þ BV 0 ¼ 0 (61)

Therefore, the eigenvalues and eigenvector of the coupled rotor system can be obtained according to Eq. (61).
It should be noted that even the fluid-induced force models for bearing and seal are established based on journal bearing
and annular seal, respectively, the general exciting forces for other objects with the similar form of multiple dynamic co-
efficients, such as rolling bearing or labyrinth seal, also can be applied to establish the novel rotor model.
The solving process for dynamic characteristics of multi-stage pump coupled rotor system is shown in Fig. 7.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Verification of the novel coupled rotor system

In order to verify the accuracy of the novel rotor model, the theoretical results calculated by the proposed MMM are
compared with the previous experimental results. In the experimental facility, the rotating rotor is supported by ball bearings
and inter-stage annular seals between two adjacent pressure cavities. The first critical speeds in the multi-stage rotor system
with different drop pressure and clearance of annular seal were tested and corresponding results are listed in Table 1 [28].
As shown in Table 1, the experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical results calculated by the novel multi-
stage pump rotor system using MMM. The maximum error percentage and minimum error percentage are 5.5% and 0.2%,
respectively, which implies the accuracy and feasibility of the novel M-DoF system. Actually, the proposed rotor coupled
model can be further extended if some other exciting forces could be described in the form of matrix coefficients.
Based on the reliable coupled rotor system, numerical results were obtained for the steady response and stability ac-
cording to the proposed novel coupled model. A multi-stage pump with 5 impellers is applied for investigating the linear
steady characteristics and Lomakin effect of annular seal on rotor-dynamics. The parameters of journal bearing and annular
seal used in the article are shown in Table 2 and Table 3, respectively. Additionally, the parameters of shaft and impeller are
listed in Table 4.
Furthermore, the computation efficiency and convergence for different number of shaft elements and lubricant film grids
are considered. The critical speed is calculated for three different groups. The numbers of shaft element and lubricant film grid
are (23, 500), (24, 2000) and (29, 4000) from group 1 to group 3, respectively. The corresponding critical speed are 2102 r/min,
2106 r/min and 2106 r/min. It can be clearly seen that all of the critical speeds are convergent to 2106 r/min and the results of
latter two groups are more accurate than that of first group, in addition, the last group consumes much more computing time

Table 3
Main parameters of annular seal.

Length (m) Clearance (m) Radius (m) Viscosity (Pa,s) Pressure drop (Pa) m0 n0
0.012 5  104 0.018 0.0013 5  105 0.25 0.079
252 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

Table 4
Parameters of shaft and impeller.

(a) Shaft details

Number of shaft segments 9
Shaft segm-diameter (m) 1e0.024; 2e0.025; 3e0.028; 4e0.025; 5e0.028; 6e0.025; 7e0.028; 8e0.025; 9e0.02;
Shaft segm-length (m) 1e0.042; 2e0.201; 3e0.024; 4e0.107; 5e0.286; 6e0.107; 7e0.024; 8e0.126; 9e0.028;
Density (kg,m3) 7831
Young's modulus (GPa) 207.8
(b) Impeller details
Mass (kg) 3.32
Polar MoI (kg,m2) 0.11

Fig. 8. Campell diagram and corresponding response for different (a) length and (b) clearance of annular seal.

compared with the other two groups. Therefore, the second group is chosen for further calculation under a comprehensive
consideration of computation efficiency and accuracy.
 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 253

Table 5
Eigenvalue of coupled rotor system (H ¼ 0.5 mm, L ¼ 0.012 m).

U (r/min) Order

1st 2nd 3rd

1000 22.79 þ 212.51i 36.47 þ 604.40i 36.54 þ 1146.9i
2000 19.18 þ 219.75i 47.84 þ 639.81i 50.56 þ 1223.4i
3000 15.77 þ 225.53i 66.32 þ 672.41i 52.14 þ 1301.6i
4000 11.54 þ 233.88i 71.87 þ 710.34i 57.97 þ 1362.3i
5000 7.83 þ 240.79i 83.69 þ 747.05i 69.29 þ 1431.4i
6000 4.52 þ 245.72i 103.63 þ 788.39i 83.79 þ 1502.7i
7000 1.05 þ 252.83i 103.93 þ 833.38i 89.41 þ 1577.6i

4.2. Dynamic characteristics of coupled rotor system

For a specific multi-stage pump, the adjustable parameters for annular seal is the length and clearance, which are selected
as the independent variables of annular seal for coupled rotor-dynamics. Fig. 8 shows the Campell diagrams and corre-
sponding steady amplitudes. It can be clearly seen in Fig. 8(a) that the first-order critical speed of the coupled rotor system
increases from 2106 r/min to 2270 r/min as L increases from 0.012 m to 0.02 m, and the corresponding amplitude reaches to
the peak at the critical speed. However, the maximum value of amplitude and relative increment becomes smaller with the
increase of L. On the contrary, the critical speed decreases from 2463 r/min to 2106 r/min as H increases from 0.3 mm to
0.5 mm, shown in Fig. 8(b). Besides, smaller H induces smaller steady amplitude and relative increment increases from 6.46%
to 9.86% when H changes from 0.5 mm to 0.3 mm. The calculated results imply that larger length and smaller clearance can
obviously restrain the vibration of the coupled system. The reason for above phenomenon is that the Lomakin effect caused by
larger length or smaller clearance is more obvious, i.e., larger fluid-induced force in annular seal brings greater local stiffness
of couple system. The calculated results are in harmony with those of Jiang [27].
The stability of rotor system directly influences the operation safety of multi-stage pump, here the logarithmic decrement
is taken for judging the stability of coupled rotor system, which is convenient for M-DoF system [45]. The real part of the
eigenvalue is attenuation index, the motion of system is attenuated and stable when it is negative. The system is unstable
when the attenuation index is positive. Furthermore, the logarithmic decrement ratio d can determine the motion status and
manifest the attenuation speed of vibration.
Table 5 shows the first three orders eigenvalue of the system. In this table, the whole real part of the system is negative,
which means that the coupled system is stable. But it needs to be noted that the real part of any order decreases with the
rotating speed increases except for first-order. The imaginary part of eigenvalue, which is the characteristic frequency, in-
creases markedly as order increases. The corresponding logarithmic decrement d and fitting curve are shown in Fig. 9, the
second-order and third-order d are proportional to the rotating speed, instead, the first-order d is inversely proportional to the
rotating speed, which can be seen from the obvious negative slope of the fitting curve. The results imply that the first-order
vibration can finally induce instability as the rotating speed increases to a certain value. Besides, all the values of d present an
approximate linear change.
In addition, L ¼ 0.02 m and H ¼ 0.3 mm are selected to research the effects of length and clearance on stability of rotor
system, respectively. Meanwhile the other parameters keep the same. The eigenvalues of the coupled rotor system when L
increases to 0.02 m are presented in Fig. 10. In Fig. 10(a), the imaginary part, i.e., characteristic frequency, increases when it
changes from first-order to third-order, this is because that the impellers fixed with shaft could generate the gyroscopic
moment to prevent the shaft from further deformation when the rotor system whirls around the balance position, the
phenomenon is usually called gyroscopic effect, which is sensitive to the rotating speed. Moreover, the gradually increasing
trend of real part for first-order eigenvalue is completely opposite to that of second-order or third-order eigenvalue. Fig. 10(b)
shows the corresponding logarithmic decrement of Fig. 10(a), the negative slope of the linear first-order fitting curve also
illustrates that the first-order vibration is the main instability reason for coupled rotor system. Besides, larger length can
weaken the stability of the rotor system especially for higher rotating speed, even the system is more stable for lower rotating
speed. The higher-order eigenvalues are also positive no matter how the rotating speed changes.
As Fig. 11 shown, compared with the previous calculated results, the change of clearance could not change the variation
tendency of eigenvalue when H decreases to 0.2 mm, Similarly, the relative change rate of first-order eigenvalue and loga-
rithmic decrement is more obvious than that of higher-order eigenvalue, which means that the first-order characteristics are
more sensitive to geometric parameters of annular seal. According to Fig. 11, it can be seen that the annular seal with smaller
clearance is benefit to improving the stability of rotor system, especially for the first-order term. The reasons for this phe-
nomenon are that the decrease of clearance increases the pressure drop between the narrow and the wide gap along the axial
direction, and the pressure drop creates greater centering force to make the rotor system more stable. The calculated results
are consistent with the those of previous researches [29,30].
Based on the above results, the first-order vibration is the key factor for stability of coupled rotor system. Considering the
general operating speed is lower than the second-order critical speed, the first-order vibration characteristics are paid more
attention in the following research. Fig. 12 represents the change trend of logarithmic decrement on conditions of different
254 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

Fig. 9. Logarithmic decrement curve (H ¼ 0.5 mm, L ¼ 0.012 m).

Fig. 10. (a) Eigenvalue and (b) logarithmic decrement curve (H ¼ 0.5 mm, L ¼ 0.02 m).

Fig. 11. (a) Eigenvalue and (b) logarithmic decrement curve (H ¼ 0.2 mm, L ¼ 0.012 m).

length and clearance. With the increase of rotating speed, the logarithmic decrement of rotor system significantly decreases
no matter how the length and clearance of annular seal change. Besides, the color ranges in Fig. 12(a) and (b) are symmetrical
distribution approximately. The calculated red zones are in good agreement with the results obtained from Figs. 10 and 11, the
gradient of logarithmic decrement is gradually obvious as L increases from 0.01 m to 0.03 m or H decreases from 0.6 mm to 0.2
 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 255

Fig. 12. The change of logarithmic decrement for different (a) length and (b) clearance of annular seal.

Fig. 13. The impeller center trajectories for different (a) lubricant clearances, (b) rotating speeds and (c) shaft Young's moduli.

mm. Combining the real operating condition and above analyses, it can be obtained that it is better to choose smaller length
and clearance of annular seal for the stability of multi-stage coupled rotor system.
Fig. 13 presents the steady impeller center trajectories. The rotating speed for Fig. 13(a) and (c) is 3000 r/min and the other
calculating parameters are kept the same. It can be seen from Fig. 13 that the impeller trajectories are oval and the shaft whirls
256 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

Table 6
Different rotor-bearing-seal coupled system.

Case number Annular seal number Effect of annular seal

1 2 3 4 5
1 ✓  ✓  ✓ Symmetry
2  ✓  ✓  Symmetry
3 ✓   ✓  Asymmetry
4  ✓   ✓ Asymmetry

Fig. 14. The steady response for different case.

Fig. 15. Logarithmic decrement curves for different case.

 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 257

Fig. 16. The change of logarithmic decrement for different length and case (a) case 1, (b) case 2, (c) case 3 and (d) case 4.

in ‘bow’ shape. Besides, the whirl amplitudes are more sensitive to rotating speed than lubricant clearance and Young's
modulus. From Fig. 13(b), the whirl amplitudes firstly increase and then decrease when the rotating speed increases from
1000 r/min to 4000 r/min. The maximum deformation of shaft occurs at u ¼ 2000 r/min because this rotating speed is closer
to the critical speed, which can be referred in Fig. 8. From Fig. 13(a), the whirl amplitudes decrease with the increase of
lubricant clearance, on the contrary, the whirl amplitudes increase with the increase of Young's modulus in Fig. 13(c). Theses
results means that the larger lubricant bearing clearance or smaller shaft Young's modulus is beneficial to coupled multi-stage
pump rotor when the rotating speed is slightly greater than the first-order critical speed.

4.3. Lomakin effect on rotor-dynamics of multi-stage pump

As the above results shown, the annular seal plays a vital role in vibration characteristics of coupled rotor system. In order
to further investigate the Lomakin effect of annular seal on rotor-dynamics and provide referable guidance for the design of
multi-stage rotor system, the rotor system is divided into 4 cases in this section. The annular seals are symmetric in case 1 and
case 2 while they are asymmetric in case 3 and case 4, the specific load position of fluid-induced sealing force is listed in Table
6.
Fig. 14 presents the steady response for different 4 cases. From this figure, the maximum peak values of case 1 and case 2
are obviously smaller than those of case 3 and case 4. In addition, the rotating speeds corresponding to the peak of case 1 and
case 2 are greater than those of case 3 and case 4. According to these results, it can be concluded that the symmetric effect of
annular seal is much more effective for restricting the vibration amplitude and enhancing the critical speed compared with
the asymmetric effect. The reason for this phenomenon is that the first-order vibration shape is more sensitive than sym-
metric Lomakin effect. In other words, the symmetric centering forces caused by the annular seals have a better inhibiting
258 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260

Fig. 17. The change of logarithmic decrement for different clearance and case (a) case 1, (b) case 2, (c) case 3 and (d) case 4.

effect for the first-order vibration with cambered shape. Therefore, applying the symmetric structure of annular seal is a good
way to improve the dynamic response of coupled rotor system.
The corresponding logarithmic decrement and fitting curves are plotted in Fig. 15. As indicated in this figure, all of the
logarithmic decrements for 4 cases presents linear decrease progressively with the increase of rotating speed and can be fitted
by straight line. On the whole, the change trend of logarithmic decrement can be distributed into two kinds according to the
slope of fitting curve. The absolute slope of fitting curves for case 1 and case 2 are nearly twice that for case 3 and case 4. It also
needs to pay attention that the absolute slope of fitting curve for case 1 is a little greater than that for case 2 while the absolute
slopes of fitting curves for case 3 and case 4 are almost the same. These results indicate that the symmetric Lomakin effect
changes from beneficial to profitless when the rotating speed is over 4000 r/min compared with the asymmetric seal effect.
Figs. 16 and 17 presents the contour of logarithmic decrement for different length and clearance. Analogously, the gradient
of logarithmic decrement for larger L or smaller H is obviously greater as the rotating speed increases. But the gradient
gradually decreases with the decrease of L or increase of H. Combining the Fig. 14, Figs. 16 and 17, it also can be obtained that
the higher stability regions of coupled rotor are mainly gathered in the top left corner and bottom left corner for different
length and clearance, respectively, which is nothing with the interaction position of fluid-induced sealing force. Besides, the
higher stability regions for symmetric sealing structure (case 1 and case 2) are wider than those for asymmetric sealing
structure (case 3 and case 4), especially when the rotating speed is lower than 3000 r/min. The reason of above results can be
attributed to the bending vibration shape, the rotor system changes from ‘rigid rotor’ to ‘flexible rotor’ once the rotating speed
excesses first-order critical speed, the symmetric Lomakin effect of annular seal is more obvious for first-order vibration
shape while the asymmetric effect is more obvious for higher vibration shape. Finally, there is an interesting phenomenon in
 W. Zhou et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 434 (2018) 237e260 259

Figs. 12, 16(a)-(b) and 17(a)-(b) that the logarithmic decrement is approximately linear superposition, which indicates the
linear characteristics of coupled rotor system model proposed in this paper.

5. Conclusion

A novel coupled rotor system model including fluid-induced forces of annular seal and bearing for multi-stage pump is
established and the M-DoF system presents obvious coupled vibration characteristics. The dynamic vibration of this coupled
system is solved numerically and the Lomakin effect of annular seal on steady response and stability are further studied for
symmetric structure and asymmetric structure. Main conclusions are as follows:

1) The method combining MMM and FEM for establishing the M-DoF rotor system with coupled interaction effects of seal
and bearing is feasible. Actually, the method can be popularized in the modeling of multi-dimensional matrix system.
2) The fluid-induced force of annular seal, which is usually ignored or simplified in the calculating of rotor-dynamics, needs
to be paid more attention. Smaller length and clearance accompanying with dominating centering force can obviously
enhance the overall stability of rotor system. Besides, the first-order vibration is the key factor for system instability.
3) The Lomakin effect of annular seal also plays an important role in dynamic characteristics and stability of coupled rotor
system. The instability speed is greater than firsteorder critical speed and the coupled rotor-dynamics caused by sym-
metric structure of annular seal is different from that caused by asymmetric structure. Compared with the latter asym-
metric structure, former symmetric structure has twice slope for logarithmic decrement and wider high stability range.
4) The Lomakin effect of annular seal needs to be combined with the bending vibration shape in order to inhibit the severe
vibration and improve the stability of coupled rotor system. In addition, the logarithmic decrement presents linear su-
perposition characters under the Lomakin effect of annular seal.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51706087), Six Talent Peaks
Project in Jiangsu Province (2014-ZBZZ-016) and Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education In-
stitutions (PAPD).

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