IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 40, NO.

4, JULY 2004 1911

Static and Dynamic Vibration Analyses of Switched

Reluctance Motors Including Bearings, Housing,
Rotor Dynamics, and Applied Loads
K. N. Srinivas, Member, IEEE, and R. Arumugam, Member, IEEE

Abstract—This paper presents a thorough numerical study of

vibration analysis in electric motors, with particular application
to switched reluctance motors (SRMs), using three-dimensional
finite-element analysis (3-D FEA) methodology. It covers the
major vibration sources: mechanical, magnetic, and applied load.
The following analyses are presented. 1) A 3-D modal analysis
including stator and rotor structures, shaft, end shields, bearings,
and housing. 2) An unbalanced rotor dynamics analysis of the
rotor, which is important for deciding on the eccentricity of the
rotor mass to ensure that the vibration of rotor and housing is
within acceptable limits. 3) A harmonic analysis to identify the
range of speeds producing high vibration and noise that should
be skipped over quickly during acceleration. 4) A stress analysis
under different loading conditions (a simulation of load testing)
to predict the deformation of the shaft and rotor. Apart from
frequently reported modal analysis on the stator of SRMs in two
dimensions, these 3-D vibration analyses are essential to examine
the vibration in SRMs as a whole.
Index Terms—End shields, loads and housing, pulleys, switched
reluctance motor, three-dimensional finite-element analysis, vibra-
tion analysis including bearings.

I. HISTORY OF VIBRATION AND ACOUSTIC NOISE IN SRM AND

ORGANIZATION OF CHAPTERS

V IBRATION is the to and fro oscillation of the part or struc-

ture about its mean aligned position. In any electric ma-
chine, tiny amplitudes in vibration may be ignored because their
contribution toward oscillation will be negligibly small when
compared to the mass of the machine. But large amplitude of
vibration is harmful to machine and human due to the following
reasons.
• It can result in premature fatigue failure due to large dy-
namic stresses.
• The high inertia forces can damage components such as
bearings, gears, etc.
• It can cause damage to internal organs of humans.
All of the above reasons are to be necessarily analyzed.
The cross section of switched reluctance motors (SRMs)
under investigation is shown in Fig. 1. The SRM is a “doubly
salient and singly excited” machine. The stator and rotor have
projecting poles in unequal numbers. Each stator pole carries
Manuscript received April 7, 2003; revised March 8, 2004.
K. N. Srinivas is with the Department of Electrical and Electronics En-
gineering, Crescent Engineering College, Chennai 600 048, India (e-mail:
kns_67@yahoo.com).
R. Arumugam is with Anna University, Chennai 25, India (e-mail: arumugam
@annauniv.edu).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2004.828034
0018-9464/04$20.00 © 2004 IEEE
Fig. 1. SRM under study.
a concentrated winding. The windings in the diametrically
opposite stator poles are joined together to form “a phase” of
the motor. When a phase winding is excited the rotor moves so
as to align itself with the magnetic axis of the excited phase,
producing the basic torque of the motor. In SRMs, there exists
a strong radial magnetic force in the total force developed,
apart from the torque producing tangential magnetic field (as
detailed understanding of principles of SRMs is well docu-
mented [1]–[5], it is avoided here). When a phase is excited,
the magnetic flux from the excited stator pole crosses the air
gap in radial direction producing large radial forces on the
excited stator poles, which deform the stator into an oval shape,
called ovalization. The ovalization or modal deformation of the
stator back iron as a ring, and the lateral rocking of the stator
poles, both together, produces radial vibration of the stator
leading to acoustic noise in SRMs. This is the way vibration is
produced due to magnetic reasons. It is imperative to know the
frequencies (called the modal frequencies) at which the radial
forces are induced, as, the coincidence of the natural frequency
of the stator with any of the modal frequencies will cause
1912
Fig. 2. 3-D model of SRM. (a) 3-D model of SRM under study. (b) 3-D model of SRM with shaft, bearings, end-shield housing, and foundation.
resonance resulting in vibration and noise. A modal study will
yield the possible frequencies (and hence the respective speeds)
to be skipped for a quiet operation of the machine. The modal
analysis of stator was investigated and reported earlier [6]–[9],
and hence, even though the same exercise is carried out for the
SRM under study and modes are identified, the procedure is
not discussed in this paper.
The modal analysis can be performed in frequency domain
or in time domain. Analysis of acoustic noise in frequency do-
main could provide the spectrum and dominant components of
the noise and vibration [6], whereas a time-domain analysis can
provide clear links between the vibration and the timing of the
applied excitation current in windings of the stator. A study by
Wu and Pollack [8] shows that greater noise suppression could
be achieved when a proper excitation current profiling is car-
ried out. Half-cycle counterexcitation at the turn-off angle rather
than at the turn-on angle was suggested. Pillay made notable
contributions on the vibration analysis based on the controller
side research in the past decade [9], [10]. Tang and Radan [12]
demonstrated the design aspects and experiments for reducing
vibration. These are the major papers that investigated vibra-
tions in SRMs and concentrated on the two-dimensional (2-D)
modal analysis on SRMs considering the stator frame alone. Al-
though the stator is the major portion of noise production, there
are contributions from other parts like rotor core, end shield,
etc., which were believed to be negligible in the above earlier at-
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 40, NO. 4, JULY 2004
tempts. A three-dimensional finite-element analysis (3-D FEA)
is capable of accounting for all these parts. In this paper, a 3-D
finite-element vibration analysis is performed considering the
rotor core, end rings, bearings, shaft, and applied loads.
Also, the mechanical structure of the stator is a major
mechanical source of vibration. The coincidence of the natural
frequency of the stator with any of the modal frequencies will
cause resonance and acoustic noise. The rotor does not react to
most radial waves as it is stiffer than the stator. So it cannot be
deformed easily and does not suffer any notable vibrations, but,
however, a modal analysis on the full model of SRM including
rotor, housing, and end shields can enlighten vibration modes
of the machine as a whole. As there is going to be series of
modes in which the machine as a whole will vibrate, there
is a necessity to perform modal analysis for the whole SRM
assembly. Section II describes the modal analysis on SRM
in three dimensions considering the rotor, shaft, end shields,
bearings, and housing.
In a vibration study on machines, study on rotor dynamics
called the unbalanced response analysis is essential to verify
whether the vibration of rotor including housing is within the
acceptable limits. Rotor unbalance gives rise to dynamic rotor
vibration and eccentricity, which will produce nonsupply fre-
quency-based vibrations. This vibration will finally converge to
the housing and its ovalization. In fact, the eccentricity of rotor
mass including shaft will help in deciding on the mass of the
SRINIVAS AND ARUMUGAM: STATIC AND DYNAMIC VIBRATION ANALYSES OF SRMs 1913

rotor. Section III records the simulation procedure for unbal-

anced rotor dynamic analysis on SRM. This section also reports
on the harmonic analysis to identify the frequencies at which
the vibration is maximum due to the rotor eccentricity.
The load induced source of noise, which forms another major
category of source of noise, includes noise due to coupling with
a load, pulley, and belt tension, and mounting of SRM on foun-
dation. Auxiliaries, such as brushes and commutators (of course,
which are absent in SRM) and shaft-keys, also contribute to the
noise. Section IV is a documentation of vibration analysis on
SRM due to the applied loads. Modeling of different auxiliaries
and consideration of different loads are the highlights of the sec-
tion. Section V concludes this paper. ANSYS version 6 is used
for all the four analyses. Vibration analysis due to electronic
sources is not dealt with in this paper.

II. MODAL ANALYSIS INCLUDING HOUSING

The SRM model under consideration is shown in Fig. 2 and
the meshes formed during FEA are shown in Fig. 3. The length
of the stator stack is 90 mm. The end shield has thickness of
10 mm. The shaft has a diameter of 25 mm. The main values
set during simulation are: the Young’s modulus,
N/m ; specific mass of winding kg/m ; total mass
density kg/m ; Poisson’s ratio, .
In the SRM, it is found that resonance occurs if the phase
frequency or add harmonics coincides with the stator natural
frequency, resulting in a peaking of the stator frequency. The
phase frequency is given by [13]

(1)

where is the speed in radians per second and is the

number of rotor poles. Vibration is maximum if any of the
frequencies
Fig. 3. Meshed model of SRM. (a) Rotor. (b) Stator with stand. (c) Whole
(2) SRM model with end shield and housing.

are coincident with the natural frequency of the machine given
by [14]
(3)
where is the stator iron thickness in meters, is the mass
density of the material in kilograms per cubic meter, is the
mean radius of the stator shell in meters given by , they occur at several thousand revolutions per minute, which are
where is the outer diameter of the stator.
The governing Laplace equation that is solved iteratively to
find the modal frequencies is
(4)
where is the modal vector and is the frequency of vibra-
tion. The solution is the th mode shape and is the corre-
sponding natural frequency.
The vibration modes of housing with foundation are shown
in Fig. 4. There are modes at which the housing as a whole
vibrates, as depicted in Fig. 4(a) and (c), at mode frequencies
1017 Hz (approximately 10 000 rpm) and 1217 Hz, respectively.
Although the vibration spreads fully over the housing, the noise
will be of submerged humming in nature and will not be se-
vere, as the housing is well mounted onto the foundation. At a
frequency of 520 Hz [Fig. 4(e)] and at a frequency of 402 Hz
[Fig. 4(f)], there exists vibration modes twisting the shaft with
the rotor and arresting the housing, which is a severe phenom-
enon. Other frequencies of higher order are neglected because
considered impractical. Frequencies at which the rotor and shaft
undergoes bending leading to higher acoustic noise is depicted
in Fig. 5. There is a severe shaft deformation extending to rotor
core at 333 Hz, whereas there is shaft end deformation which
may lead to a twist of connected pulley, at frequencies 2259,
1910, and 3089, which are respectively shown in Fig. 5(b), (c),
and (d). It can be observed that the shaft end vibration does not
spread to rotor or housing, but, as the pulley and connected loads
will be put into vibration, the noise will be high. It can also be
noted that a 2-D analysis will not be demonstrating in detail
such involved vibrations of the machine which are practically
possible.
1914 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 40, NO. 4, JULY 2004

Fig. 4 (a) Mode frequency: 1017 Hz, housing vibration. (b) Mode frequency: 2419, severe shaft bending. (c) Mode frequency: 1217 Hz, housing vibration.
(d) Mode frequency: 333 Hz. (e) Mode frequency: 520 Hz. (f) Mode frequency: 402 Hz.

III. UNBALANCED ROTOR DYNAMICS
A harmonic frequency analysis has been performed to identify
whether the vibration of rotor and housing is within safe range.
It is a technique used to determine the steady-state response
of SRM to loads that vary harmonically with time. The aim
is to obtain the SRM structure response at several frequencies
with respect to displacement. Peak responses are identified
and plotted as a graph and stresses are reviewed at these
frequencies.
The weight of the rotor (w) is 3.75 kg. The balancing quantity
( ) and the damping ratio ( ) were assumed to be 2.5 and 0.02,
respectively, which are the usual standard values prescribed by
Indian Standard specifications ISO 1940, for high-speed ma-
chines. The rated speed is 3000 rpm. The centrifugal force is
calculated using the formula
w g (5)
As all the units are in millimeters, the g used is 9810, which
gives the centrifugal force ( ) as 0.3. This is applied to the
SRINIVAS AND ARUMUGAM: STATIC AND DYNAMIC VIBRATION ANALYSES OF SRMs 1915

Fig. 5 (a) Modal shape at 1910 Hz, rotor and shaft bending. (b) Modal shape at 2259 Hz, shaft bending. (c) Modal shape at 1910 Hz. (d) Modal shape at 3089 Hz,
having back ovalization and severe shaft bending. (e) Modal shape at 2520 Hz, having back ovalization and severe shaft bending.

center of the rotor. The center node on the rotor is selected to
which is applied as a lateral load. The arrow mark at the
middle of the rotor in Fig. 6 indicates the application of
Arresting the nodes at the foundation, which forms one of the
boundary conditions to model that the SRM is bolted to the
foundation, can also be noted. These boundary conditions set
up the condition of a simply supported beam on two bearings.
In case of SRM, the whole housing also sit on the bearings. So,
the is set throughout the outer housing surface and to the
front and rear bearings.
This is a constant force (forms the boundary condition) ap-
plied over a frequency range. The frequency range was assumed
to be 400, which is on the upper side. The “harmonic analysis”
is run on this model using an FE package.
Actually, the unbalance force , at a frequency , is
. (6)
But, the force which the FE package finds will be at . It has
to be converted to satisfy the relation, as given in (7), using a
FORTRAN program
(7)
The result of simulation is shown in Fig. 7.
It can be observed that the rotor eccentricity reaches a max-
imum of 6 m, whereas that of outer frame is 1 m. As this
eccentricity is of negligible micrometers, it is conclusive that the
rotor dynamics of the considered SRM is in acceptable limits.
1916
Fig. 6. Applied lateral force at the central node (or surface) of the rotor and
bearings, for unbalanced rotor dynamic analysis.
Fig. 7. Rotor dynamic-harmonic analysis results showing displacement versus
speed: (a) for rotor and front bearing and (b) for outer frame (housing) and rear
bearing.
IV. STATIC STRESS ANALYSIS
Static analysis is simulating a load test on SRM for observa-
tions in limit violations of stress and deformation at different
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 40, NO. 4, JULY 2004
Fig. 8. Bearing model.
Fig. 9. Upward arrow marks indicate the location of applied loads and pulley
weight at the shaft end for the conduct of stress analysis (the load test).
places. Additional models required are bearings and pulley.
Bearing is the element in SRM to hold the housing and the
rotor mass at the shaft. So, bearing is simulated as four springs
attached to the housing from the bearing locations. Two such
models are made at the locations of front and rear bearings.
The node at the front bearing location and four nodes at the
housing each displaced by 90 in and axes are selected and
joined. A similar procedure is repeated at the rear side of the
shaft. The spring stiffness (21 000) is assigned and bearing is
thus modeled (Fig. 8). The spring holding the housing with the
shaft forms respectively the front and rear bearings.
The pulley is modeled by assigning its weight at the end of the
front shaft. The procedure adopted in the conduct of static stress
analysis (or load test) on SRM through a 3-D FEA is described
below.
The required geometrical data are as follows: radius of the
shaft mm; outer diameter of pulley mm; thickness
SRINIVAS AND ARUMUGAM: STATIC AND DYNAMIC VIBRATION ANALYSES OF SRMs
Fig. 10. ISO view of stress plot (kgf/mm ), showing the distribution of stress
at the shaft, at full load. Maximum stress is 21.99 kgf.
Fig. 11. Zoomed view of stress plot (kgf/mm ), showing the distribution of
stress at the shaft, at full load.
Fig. 12. ISO view of deformation (in mm) that takes place in rotor due to the
application of full load. Maximum deformation is 1.205 mm.
of pulley mm; weight of pulley 2.85 kg; belt prestress and
housing kg. The full load of 3.63 N m is considered. As the
assignment of load, etc., are in force units, the equivalent kgf m
is kgf m. Using the radius of the shaft and
1917
+
Fig. 13. ISO view of torsional rotation (in rad) occurring in shaft rotor apart
from the rotating torque developed at the application full load.
Fig. 14. ISO view of stress plot (kgf/mm ), showing the distribution of stress
at the shaft, at half load. Maximum stress is 10.9 kgf.
converting all quantities to a single unit, the force is
kg. This force is spread over all the finite-element nodes
at the shaft end. It is observed that there are 12 nodes. Thus,
the equivalent force applied to each of the 12 nodes for a load
of 3.63 N m is 5.1. This force applied in the direction, as
this is the load tensioning the belt-pulley mechanism and acts
upwards. Further, the sum of the weight of pulley-belt loading
mechanism, belt’s prestress and the housing with stator, which
amounts to 7.85 kg, is divided by all the 12 nodes in a similar
way and applied at the direction, as they act downwards.
The zoomed view of the above applied loads is shown in Fig. 9.
At this full-load model, a “stress analysis” is run whose output
is shown in Figs. 10–13. Winding weight is considered as net
mass along with the weight of the stator.
A similar “load test” needed to be conducted on the SRM
at different working loads to ascertain whether the deformation
and torsional rotor rotation are within limits. The simulated ex-
periment results at half load and twice full loads are presented in
Figs. 14–16 and Figs. 17–19, respectively. The half-load torque
is 1.815 N m and twice full-load toque is 7.26 N m. The FEA
1918
Fig. 15. Zoomed view of stress plot (kgf/mm ), showing the distribution of
stress at the shaft, at half load.
Fig. 16. Front view of deformation (in mm) that takes place in rotor due to the
application of half-load. Maximum deformation is 1.522 mm.
Fig. 17. ISO view of stress plot (kgf/mm ), showing the distribution of stress
at the shaft, at twice full load. Maximum stress is 31.869 kgf.
procedure described for full-load case has to be repeated appro-
priately for these two cases.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 40, NO. 4, JULY 2004
Fig. 18. Zoomed view of stress plot (kgf/mm ), showing the distribution of
stress at the shaft, at twice full load.
Fig. 19. ISO view of deformation (in mm) that takes place in rotor due to the
application of twice full load. Maximum deformation is 4.685 mm.
TABLE I
SUMMARY OF LOAD TEST RESULTS OF STRESS AND DEFORMATION
The stress and the deformation in the three cases considered
viz., full, half, and twice full loads, are tabulated in Table I. The
material considered has a maximum tensile stress of 45 kg/mm .
From this table, it can readily be observed that the factor of
safety is 2.05 for the full-load case, 4.35 for the half-load case,
and is 1.4 for the twice full-load case. Thus, the SRM can be
operated up to twice full load without any mechanical threat.
V. CONCLUSION
The vibration that is triggered in SRMs due to magnetic,
mechanical, and load-induced reasons has been addressed in
this paper [15]. The stator, stator frame, rotor, end rings, bear-
ings, shaft, pulleys, and applied loads have been modeled in
three dimensions to study the vibration in SRMs as a whole.
SRINIVAS AND ARUMUGAM: STATIC AND DYNAMIC VIBRATION ANALYSES OF SRMs
A step-by-step 3-D vibration analysis procedures for modal, dy-
namic, harmonic, and static stress analyses are presented for a
6/4 SRM. The eccentricity in the SRM rotor including housing
is found to be much less from the rotor dynamic study. From
the static stress analysis, the reviewed stresses reveal that, up to
twice the full load, the stresses are under safe limit. The proce-
dure can be adopted for any pole combination and dimension
of SRM to thoroughly perform vibration study in three dimen-
sions. This will help to fine tune the design to be declared for
end product.
REFERENCES
[1] P. J. Lawrenson, “Development of application of reluctance motor,”
Proc. Electron. Power, pp. 195–198, June 1965.
[2] P. J. Lawrenson, J. M. Stephenson, P. T. Blenkinsop, J. Corda, and N. N.
Fulton, “Variable-speed switched reluctance motors,” Proc. Inst. Elect.
Eng. B, vol. 127, pp. 253–265, July 1980.
[3] M. R. Harris, H. R. Bolton, P. A. Ward, J. V. Byrne, G. B. Smith, J. Mer-
rett, F. Devitt, R. J. A. Paul, K. K. Schwartz, M. F. Mangan, A. F. An-
derson, R. Bourne, P. J. Lawrenson, J. M. Stephenson, and N. N. Fulton,
“Discussions on variable speed switched reluctance motors,” Proc. Inst.
Elect. Eng. B, vol. 128, pp. 260–276, Sept. 1981.
[4] T. J. E. Miller and M. McGilip, “PC CAD for switched reluctance
drives,” in Proc. IEE Electric Machines and Drives Conf., London,
U.K., Dec. 1987, pp. 360–366.
[5] N. M. Fulton, “The application of CAD to switched reluctance drives,”
in Proc. IEE Electric Machines and Drives Conf., London, U.K., Dec.
1987, pp. 275–279.
[6] C. G. C. Neves, R. Carlson, N. Sadowski, J. P. A. Bastos, N. S. Soeiro,
and S. N. Y. Gerges, “Vibrational behavior of switched reluctance motors
by simulation and experimental procedures,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol.
34, pp. 3158–3161, Sept. 1998.
[7] C. Yongxiao and W. Jianhua, “Analytical calculations of natural frequen-
cies of stator of switched reluctance motor,” in Proc. 8th Int. Conf. Elec-
tric Machines and Drives, 1997, pp. 81–85.
[8] C.-Y. Wu and C. Pollock, “Analysis and reduction of vibration and
acoustic noise in the switched reluctance drive,” IEEE Trans. Ind.
Applicat., vol. 31, pp. 91–98, Jan./Feb. 1995.
1919
[9] P. Pillay and W. Cai, “An investigation into vibrations in switched
reluctance motors,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 35, pp. 589–596,
Mar./Apr. 1999.
[10] P. Pillay, R. M. Samudio, M. Ahmed, and P. T. Patel, “A chopper-con-
trolled SRM drive for reduced acoustic noise and improved ride through
capability using super capacitors,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 31,
pp. 1029–1038, Sept./Oct. 1995.
[11] A. Michaelides and C. Pollock, “Reduction of noise and vibration in
switched reluctance motors,” in IEEE-IAS Annu. Meeting, 1996, pp.
771–778.
[12] Y. Tang, “Characterization, numerical analysis and design of switched
reluctance motors,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 33, pp. 1542–1552,
Nov./Dec. 1997.
[13] J. F. Lindsay, R. Arumugam, and R. Krishnan, “Finite-element anal-
ysis characterization of a switched reluctance motor with multi-tooth
per stator pole,” Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng. B, vol. 133, pp. 347–353, Nov.
1986.
[14] P. Vijayraghavan and R. Krishnan, “Noise in electric machines,” IEEE
Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 35, pp. 1007–1014, Sept. 1999.
[15] K. N. Srinivas, “Analysis and characterization of switched reluctance
motors,” Ph.D. dissertation, Anna Univ., Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, Jan.
2003.
K. N. Srinivas (M’03) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical
and Electronics Engineering, Crescent Engineering College, Chennai, India. His
research mainly includes performance simulation of electric drives.
Dr. Srinivas is the recipient of IECON 2000 and IECON 2003 awards and
fellowships from the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.
R. Arumugam (M’03) is Professor and the Director of the Electrical and Elec-
tronics Engineering Department, Anna University, Chennai, India. His main
research area is electric drives. He is an industrial consultant with major In-
dian industries such as Lucas TVS, BPL Telcom Ltd., and Tamilnadu Electricity
Board.