Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.

in)

11.14 Description of the Rotor Test Rig at IIT Guwahati

The rotor kit is a precision high-speed rotating machine that may be assembled and operated in
various configurations. The rotor kit is designed and manufactured by Bently Nevada, USA
Company. The rotor test rig is shown in Figure 11.19, the rotor is supported by a servo fluid control
bearing at one end and bush bearing at other end. The rotor is driven through flexible coupling by an
electric motor, whose speed is adjusted by a frequency controller. Bearing load is adjusted by shafting
the masses mounted on the rotor. The rotor test rig consists of the following parts and part numbers
are in consistence with the number mentioned Figure 11.32: (1) Motor (2) Rotor base (3) Probe mount
(4) Servo fluid control bearing (5) Preload frame (6) Rotor (7) Rotor masses (rigid disks) (8) Journal
(9) Oil fill port (11) Oil plug (11) Oil seal. A brief description of the various parts of the test rig is
given below.
(1) Motor: It closely holds the desired speed with changes in loading conditions. This has been
accomplished by incorporating a direct current motor and high performance control circuitry. The
motor can run in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction and has adjustable slow roll speed
capability. It can be controlled remotely by using a 5-Volts control input, such as a signal generator
or DC power supply, to drive the motor speed control device. Rotor speed is displayed on a digital
tachometer with a large LCD readout.

Figure 11.32 Rotor bearing test rig

(2) Rotor base: The Rotor base has a V-frame design that has been developed by the manufacturers to
provide better control of the housing dynamic stiffness properties. The mechanical tolerances have

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

also been tightened, resulting in more accurate machine behavior modeling. It houses motor, bearing
and rotor.

(3) Probe mount: It is used in holding the proximity sensor probes, when response is taken off the
bearing center.

(4) Servo fluid control bearing: The servo fluid control exhibits certain characteristics of both bearing
types, hydrostatic and hydrodynamic, and combines them in an innovative way that gives new and
significant improvement over these other designs. Figure 11.33 shows the servo fluid control bearing.
It contains the following sub parts (the digit after the decimal point represent the part number given in
Figure 11.33) (4.1) Probe mounting holes (4.2) Bearing (4.3) Retainer (4.4) Oil reservoir (4.5)
Bearing support (4.6) Main pressure valve (4.7) Pocket pressure gauge (4.8) Oil seal. A brief
description of the servo fluid control bearing is given below.

(4.1) Probe mounting holes: Probes are mounted in these holes to measure the response in terms of
voltage.
(4.2) Bearing: It houses the journal of the rotor and proximity probe transducers using which response
is taken in two transverse directions of the rotor axis.
(4.3) Retainer: It holds the bearing to the bearing support, which is further supported on rotor base
(4.4) Oil reservoir: It stores the oil, which would be circulated during rotation of the journal. In the
present work oil Chevron GST 32 oil is used.
(4.5) Bearing support: It holds the bearing and encloses the oil reservoir.
(4.6) Main pressure valve: It is used in controlling amount of oil circulating to the bearing and also in
controlling the pressure of oil flow at bearing.
(4.7) Pocket pressure gauge: It quantifies the pressure of the oil flow at the bearing.

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

Figure 11.33 Servo fluid control bearing

(5) Preload frame: Preload frame is used in applying pretension to the rotor. In the present work
preload frame is used to position the journal at the center of the bearing clearance while determining
the natural frequencies of the rotor bearing system by impact test.

(6) Rotor: It is the rotating part of the rotor-bearing system. It consists of a circular shaft and rigid
masses. Solid steel shafts of diameter 10 mm and length 780 mm were used, along which balance
disks of inside diameter 10 mm, outside diameter 78mm and thickness 25 mm could be fixed at any
desired axial position on to the shaft. There were 16 equally placed M4-threaded holes in each disks at
radii of 30 mm, to allow for addition of balance weights, however in the present work additional
weights were not used. A flexible coupling connects the rotor to the motor driver shaft.

(7) Oil seal: It prevents the leakage of oil from the servo fluid control bearing housing, when the rotor
is in motion.
11.15 Description of the Instruments
11.15.1 Impact hammer
One of the popular methods of excitation is through use of an impact or hammer (Ewins, 1984). It is
a relatively simple means of exciting the structure into vibration. The equipment consists of an
impact, usually with a set of different heads and tips, which serve to extend the frequency and force
level ranges for testing a variety of different structures. Using different sizes of impact may also
extend the useful range. In the present work rubber tip is used in the hammer. Integral with the impact
is a force transducer, which detects the magnitude of the force, felt by the impact, and which is

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

assumed to be equal and opposite to that experienced by the structure. The impact incorporates a
handle to form a hammer as shown in Figure 11.34, so that impact can be applied manually. Basically,
the hammerhead and the acceleration with which it is moving when it hits the structure determine the
magnitude of the impact. The frequency range, which is effectively excited by this type of device, is
controlled by the stiffness of the contacting surface and the mass of the impact head. The stiffer the tip
materials, the shorter will be the duration of the pulse and the higher will be the frequency range
covered by the impact. It is for this purpose that a set of different hammer tips and heads are used to
permit the regulation of the frequency range to be encompassed. Care should be taken while
impacting so that multiple impacts or hammer bounce does not occur, otherwise these would create
difficulties in the signal processing stage.

Figure 11.34 Impact hammer

Specifications of the impact hammer are as follows: Attenuation factor: 4.06, Sensitivity at output of
hammer: 0.95 pC/N, Rubber tip specifications: Frequency range 0-500 Hz, Duration range 5-1.5 ms,
Force range

0-700 N, Physical: Weight of the hammer 280 g, Weight of the rubber tip 4.1g,

Materials: Anodized aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, neoprene rubber. When using the above
type of the hammer, the actual impact force applied to the test structure will always be greater than the
force measured across the transducer because of the inertia of the tip. These forces are related as
follows (calibration chart)

Fa = Fm M ( M M t )

(11.39)

where Fa is actual force input to structure, Fm is measured force, M weight of the hammer plus tip
and Mt weight of the tip.
Example 11.1: What are the advantages of an electro-dynamic shaker and how to choose its power
rating for a particular application (e.g. seals dynamic parameter estimation test rig)?
Solution: The electro-dynamic shaker has advantage that it has independent control of amplitude,
frequency and phase. The power rating calculation has been explained by an example. The excitation

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

frequency can be from 0.5 Hz to 60% of the maximum rotor rotational speed. Upper limit will
facilitate to eliminate frequencies by low pass filter corresponding to the rotational speed and its
multiples to avoid alising effects. A particular application of seal test ring has the following
requirements:
Diametral clearance

cd

0.2 mm

Mass of the stator

2 kg

Rotor rotational frequency

766.7 Hz (46000 rpm)

0.5 Hz to 460 Hz (60% of the )

Excitation frequency range

Maximum frequency of excitation

500 Hz

Maximum excitation displacement

0.02 mm (10% of cd)

Maximum acceleration (for SHM)

2x

31.41 m/sec

Force required to excite the mass

m2x

62.83 N

Mass of the exciter moving parts

mexc

0.16 kg (for 112 N B&K exciter)

Force rating of the exciter

(mexc + m) 2x

67.86 N

The force rating with 112 N will be sufficient taking into consideration of some of the unaccounted
mass effects from bellow seals etc. Hence the specification of the exciter are
Force rating (peak to peak)

112 N

Maximum frequency

500 Hz

Maximum displacement

0.02 mm

11.15.2 Measurement amplifier

A Bruel and Kjaer make measurement amplifier is used in the present work to convert the charge
signal out put from the impact hammer to voltage signal. This amplifier can be used for amplification
of the one signal. In the present application, sensitivity at output of the amplifier is 10 mV/N.
11.15.3 Proximity probe transducer
Bently Nevada make proximity probe transducers are used to capture the displacement signals. The
proximity probe transducers are eddy current type and the sensitivity of the proximity probe is 200
mv/mil (7.87103 mv/mm).
11.15.4 Pulse analyzer (Data acquisition system)

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

Pulse analyzer 3560 C (make Bruel and Kajer) is a multi channel analyzer system, and it consists of a
PC with LAN interface, Pulse software, Windows NT/2000, Microsoft office and data acquisition
hardware. The system possesses time capture and FFT analyzers, however in the present work it is
used for sampling and data acquisition of displacement signals. In order to achieve this task it is
necessary to make a project in the Pulse analyzer. The details of making a project are described as
follows.
Setting of a project is to ensure that a measurement is set up exactly according to individual
specifications, after hardware is set up. Setting of a project involves setting of the configuration,
measurement, function and display organizers. The organizers are the tools in the Pulse to set up
stages of the measurement task and are described briefly as follows.
Configuration organizer: Configuration organizer is the starting point when setting up a Pulse project.
It is used to set up the basic front-end configuration of Pulse. Pulse detects front-end modules it
contains (hardware interface) and loads the information into the configuration organizer when the
following steps are carried out. Selecting the transducers that are used for the measurement for the
appropriate positions on the front-end. Configuring and naming the signals and signal groups and
connecting them to hardware channels on the front end.
Measurement organizer: Measurement organizer is the next step in setting a project. In this one has to
(i) Load the front-end configuration created in the configuration organizer into the measurement
working template (ii) Define and configure instruments (analyzers) and decide which signal groups
should be connected to which analyzers and (iii) Set the pre-processing parameters for the signals to
be measured.
Function organizer: In the function organizer the following steps are carried out (i) Creation of postprocessing functions for signals being measured (ii) Usage of functions as the basis for displays of
measurement data and (iii) Organization of functions in the function organizer.
Display organizer: In the display organizer the following steps are carried out: (i) Organization of
displays and (ii) Creation of displays based on single or multiple functions created in the function
organizer.
11.16 Measurements and Analysis of the Test Rig
(i) Determining the bearing center
Bearing center is required to be known, to calculate the eccentricity under running conditions. In the
present case it is found as described in the subsequent lines. Clearance circle is drawn initially by
manually rotating the shaft against the bearings internal wall. The average of two extreme outputs of

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

each probe is considered as the bearing center and is used to calculate the eccentricity under running
conditions. The bearing center and clearance circle are shown in the Figure 11.35. Diametral
clearance is determined, from the clearance circle and is found to be 0.16 mm.

Figure 11.35 Experimental bearing clearance circle

(ii) Determining natural frequencies of the rotor bearing system
Natural frequencies of the rotor bearing system are important parameters to be determined prior to any
investigation. In the present work two natural frequencies are obtained by using the impact test. Prior
to impact test journal position is shifted to the center of the bearing clearance circle by applying
pretension to the rotor, as journal would be at the bottom of the clearance circle initially. Impact is
then applied at either of the rigid disks while the rotor is stationary. Displacement to impulse force is
measured at the bearing end both in horizontal and vertical direction using proximity probe
transducer. FFT of the measured impulse response then gives frequency domain impulse response. In
the frequency domain response natural frequencies appear as higher amplitude peaks. In the present
work two natural frequencies were observed. Figure 11.36 and Figure 11.37 show the absolute value
of the FFT of the measured impulse response in both horizontal and vertical directions respectively.
The figures also indicate the first and second natural frequencies, and these are equal to 38 Hz and
125 Hz, for the present configuration of the rotor bearing system (will be discussed in section 5.).

Figure 11.36 Natural frequencies of the rotor bearing system in horizontal direction

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Dr R Tiwari, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., IIT Guwahati, (rtiwari@iitg.ernet.in)

Figure 11.37 Natural frequencies of the rotor bearing system in vertical direction
(iii) Experimental procedure for identification of bearing dynamic parameters
The procedure for carrying out the experiment is as outlined below.

Start the servo fluid control bearing, and set the pressure in the pocket pressure gauge.
Run the rotor at a particular speed, sample and save the initial displacements at the bearings in
both the vertical and horizontal directions

Keep the rotor running at the same speed; hit the rotor horizontally with the impact hammer
(or alternately unbalance can be put at discs) and record the response at bearings in both
horizontal and vertical directions and impact force.

Keep the rotor running at the same speed; hit the rotor vertically with the impact hammer (or
alternately unbalance can be put at discs) and record responses at bearings in both the
horizontal and vertical directions and the impact force (or the unbalance force).

Repeat the above procedure for different rotor rotational speeds.

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