Selection criteria and design evaluations of several types of bearing dampers with active control for application to aircraft engines were described in a companion paper. A disk type electrorheological (ER) damper was chosen for further study and testing. The results of the tests and the final conclusions of the study are described in this paper. Experimental results including stiffness and damping coefficients are presented for the ER bearing damper with two types of ER fluid, 350 CS and 10 CS (centistokes) viscosity. The vibration attenuation performance of the ER damper was measured on a rotordynamic test rig in the form of free vibration decay, rotor orbits, and runup unbalance responses. The results show that the ER fluid with lower viscosity has the better characteristics for rotordynamic applications. It was found that ER fluids produce both Coulomb and viscous damping. If only the damping is considered, the Coulomb type is less desirable, but with active control it can also achieve control of rotor stiffness. A feedback control system was developed and applied to the ER damper with the objective of improving the overall rotordynamic performance of the rotor bearing system, considering both vibration amplitudes and dynamic bearing forces. A “bang–bang” (on and off) simple control logic was found to work better in practice than more sophisticated schemes. The measured runup response of the rotor-bearing system with this control approximated the desired vibration response curves fairly well. The tests highlighted some of the practical considerations that would be important for aircraft engine applications, such as the ER fluid limitations, the electrical power supply requirements, the electrical insulation requirements, the nonlinear relationship between the voltage and the damping, and the relative benefits of active control. It is concluded that active control of bearing damping is probably not a practical improvement over the passive squeeze film dampers currently used in most aircraft gas turbine engines. [S0742-4795(00)01202-3]
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April 2000
Technical Papers
Experimental Measurements of Actively Controlled Bearing Damping With an Electrorheological Fluid
John M. Vance,
John M. Vance
Mechanical Engineering Department, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843
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Daniel Ying
Daniel Ying
Bently Nevada Corporation, 7651 Airport Boulevard, Houston, TX 77059
Search for other works by this author on:
John M. Vance
Mechanical Engineering Department, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843
Daniel Ying
Bently Nevada Corporation, 7651 Airport Boulevard, Houston, TX 77059
Contributed by the International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS for publication in the ASME JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. Paper presented at the International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exhibition, Indianapolis, IN, June 7–10, 1999; ASME Paper 99-GT-17. Manuscript received by IGTI March 9, 1999; final revision received by the ASME Headquarters January 3, 2000. Associate Technical Editor: D. Wisler.
J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. Apr 2000, 122(2): 337-344 (8 pages)
Published Online: January 3, 2000
Article history
Received:
March 9, 1999
Revised:
January 3, 2000
Citation
Vance, J. M., and Ying, D. (January 3, 2000). "Experimental Measurements of Actively Controlled Bearing Damping With an Electrorheological Fluid ." ASME. J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. April 2000; 122(2): 337–344. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.483212
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