Modal Analysis of A High Speed Spindle

Chih-Hung Huang
Yubao Chen
Graduate Student
Assistant Professor
Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Eng. Dept.
University of Michigan-Dearborn
Dearborn. MI 48128

Yi Zhang
John G. Cherng
Assistant Professor
Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Michigan-Dearborn
Dearborn, MI 48128

Recently, high speed machining has emerged as a

technical viable in metal cutting for an improved
accuracy and productivity
[l. 21. An industrial
machine, either vertical or horizontal can be broken
into several major components:
spindle-motor,
toolcontrol unit, work piece, and machine structure. The
machine quality index which should be studied at the
contact point of the tool and the work piece is a
function of the performance of each components and
the interactions
between
them.
Studies that
concentrate on each components
can be found in
much literature, such as the spindle system dynamics
13, 41. the machine structure modeling [5, 61, the
cutting dynamics [7-g], the vibration controls [lo], the
chatter vibrations, etc. For a large and complex
system, the overall design optimization
is not
practically affordable or achievable.

spindle behavior is one of the dominant sources of

machine performance.
Static effects on the spindle
behavior can be easily determined by using straight
forward measuring technology.
Traditionally,
the
spindle is studied without rotations through modal
testing or finite element method.
However, the
spindles
in working
conditions
can not be
characterized
by their static behavior.
Instead,
spindle dynamics in different operating speeds and
temperature
coupled with the work load and the
power delivery
system
should be considered
regarding to the machine precision. The productivity
of a machine basically depends on the rotation speed
of its spindle. The properties of machine elemenfs
are varying with respect to the operating speed and
temperature.
Usually, the longer and/or faster a
machine operated the lower the stiffness of machine
elements.
This effect will have a negative
contribution
to the machine precision.
When a
machine operates, the spindle is always under a
combination of loads, namely the cutting forces and
the vibrations of the work pieces or the tools. These
loads are considered as disturbances to the spindle
and will introduce stability problems to the machine
system.
The characteristic
of the power delivery
system, usually an electric motor, is also important to
the overall machine performance.
It contributes to
the system stability and can be used to control the
machining processes. We believe that the quality
control can be best achieved only after a better
understanding of the spindle dynamics is established
and followed
by further
investigation
on the
interactions of cutting forces, power systems, and
other components.
Therefore, the study of spindle
dynamic behavior is essential for the industry to meet
the ever increasing demand on higher productivity
and quality.

Spindle is the most important component of industrial

machines which provides rotation motions of the walk
pieces or the machine tools.
In either case, the

The study of spindle

performance
has been
concentrated
on the following topics: the spindle
deformation under steady load; the dynamic features

ABSTRACT
The machining spindle is one of the most important
components that are closely related to the quality of
the product.
In order to determine
its dynamic
characteristics,
a fully instrumented
machining
spindle was built by the General Motors Technical
Center and donated to the University of MichiganDearborn.
This paper presents the experimental
modal analysis of this high speed spindle.
The
experience
received from conducting
the modal
analysis,
such as the excitation
method,
the
excitation location, the selection of accelerometers,
and the test results are included in the paper.
1. INTRODUCTION

1626

of the spindle-bearing
structure
under cutting
condition; the influence of the bearing to the spindle
assembly;
spindle thermal growth;
Recently, the
trends of spindle research work toward to investigate
the influence of the rotating motion to the dynamic
properties of the spindle structure.
A spindle with
angular contact bearings exhibits very interesting
behavior at high speeds. It has been observed that
both the natural frequencies
and the dynamic
compliance
of
a spindle with angular contact
bearings change as rotational speed varies.
To
further characterize the spindle structure behaviors,
both
Finite
Element
Modeling
(FEM)
and
experimental modal analysis should be carried out.
A research project which was funded by the State of
Michigan
through
its Research
Excellent
and
Economy
Development
Fund
(REEDF)
was
established in 1992 to conduct a detailed study on
the dynamic
characteristics
of the high speed
machine
spindle.
This paper
presents
the
experimental modal analysis of the project.

2. EXPERIMENTAL

FACILITY

SET-UP

The spindle test set-up is show in Figure 1. This test

stand was donated by the General Motors Technical
Center
and is located
at the Manufacturing
Engineering
and System Laboratory,
School of
Engineering.
The dimensions of the spindle itself is
shown in Figure 2. Features of this spindle include:
1.150kWat1360rpm.
2. Built in gear box with 3 speed ratios.
3. 1036 N-M torque max.
4. Built in sensor system:
- 4 quartz load cells.
- 2 instrumented bearings
* 2 triaxial accelerometers
- 1 monoaxial accelerometers
- 16 temperature sensors
This test stand has been installed with the help from
the University Plant Department
and the General
Motors Technical Center
Sensor system has been
checked out. Power amplifier and analog filters have
been
connected
to sensors and computer data
acquisition system which is a Macintosh FX II with a
LabView DSP software. In conducting modal testing,
an electric shaker with separated power supply is
used to provide excitation signals, such as the pure
sine and random signals.
A FFT Dual Channel
Analyzer (model B & K 2034) was interfaced with a
IBM compatible 466 computer.
The Star 3.1 modal

1627

analysis software from SMS was used. The newly

released version has the advanced curve fitting
function which is proved to be very useful.

3. EXPERIMENTAL

MODAL ANALYSIS

The experimental modal analysis was performed on

the outer surface of the spindle. A work piece or the
cutting tool is usually mounted at the center of this
surface. The dynamic characteristics of the surface,
which is the representative
of the complete system,
are the main interest of the project.
Figure 3 shows
the grid and the nodes of the surface. The surface
was divided into eight sections with two concentric
circles: inner circle and outer circle. A straight line
shown adjacent to the surface represents the stinger
and the force transducer located.
Both monoaxial and triaxial accelerometers
were
used in order to identify all normal modes. The single
monoaxial accelerometer
has significant difficulty in
receiving other direction mode except the radial
direction.
The triaxial accelerometer
is highly
recommended for any cylindrical structures.
Impact excitation was attempted but did not produce
good results. So it was abandoned
in the earlier
stage of the project. The electric shaker excitation at
a angle of approximately 45O from the horizontal was
found to be the most effective method. The driving
point is selected at approximate 25 cm (10 inches)
from the surface on the clamping wheel where is the
closest location to mount the force transducer.
The
force transducer
was threaded into an aluminum
wedge which was glued to the spindle shaft by using
dental cement..
Other end of the force transducer
was connected to a plastic stinger purchased from
the Modal Shop, Inc. We also found that a metal
stiffener tube added to the outside of the plastic
stinger appeared
to generate
better excitation.
Because of the large mass of the spindle unit, i.e.
about 1500 kg (3000 LB), it was difficult to generate
enough energy into the system to excite all relevant
modes. The sensors location, the stinger, and the
excitation angle played important roles in the modal
analysis. Most of all, we experienced that patience
and persistence are just as equally important as the
techniques if they are not more important.
By trials
and errors, the clean mode shapes were finally
obtained.
The most interest frequencies are below 600 Hz, or
30,000 rpm. The frequency range was set at 800 Hz.

Table 1 Freauencv

Figure 4 shows a Frequency Response Function

(FRF) plot with phase angles and coherence of an
outer circle grid point. It can be seen that there are
several dominating mode in the tow frequencies and
the coherence of these modes are quite acceptable.
The mode identification was performed by using the
advanced
curve fitting function
in the Star 3.1
software. This advanced curve fitting is not only able
to identify the potential modes but also to calculate
the instability of each mode.
Figure 5 shows the
potential modes and instability diagram.
The line
curve is the log-image square plot of all FRFs. The
darker color of the dots the more stable of the
potential modes. From this diagram, one can select
the most stable modes for the system.

4. RESULTS

J&de No

AND DISCUSSIONS

Table 1 presents the frequency-damping

of all five
modes.
It can be seen that all modes have very
small damping except the first mode. The frequency
of the first mode is at 16.6 Hz which is a rotational
mode as shown in Figure 6. Since the shaft of the
spindle is supported at all bearings.
The spindle is
really in a free rotation condition,
Therefore, we
considered that the first mode is one of Is rigid body
rotational modes.
Figure 7 show the third mode
which the surface moved in the horizontal Xdirection
as the spindle acting as a cantilever beam wlh the
end surface bending in the X-direction.
Figure 6
presents
the fourth mode which is a vertical
movement in Y-direction.
This will be similar to the
situation when the beam bending in the Y-direction
The other modes, i.e. second and fifth modes have a
combination of both X- and Y-direction mvements
and bending in the Z-direction.
Because of the
difficulty of showing them in a two dimensional
figures, They are not presented here. These modes
apparently
have some degrees
of complexity
included in the mode shapes.
They are not truly
normal modes. In reviewing the mode shape resutts,
the phase angles at the driving point are not perfectly
0 or 160.
This is probably
because
the
accelerometer
was not mounted
in the opposite
direction of the excitation point, the response of the
driving point was measured next to the excitation
point. This may cause the mode shapes are not as
normal as they shall be. To find a good excitation
location and perform
an accurate driving point
measurement
were the most difficulty
task of
conducting the experimental
modal analysis for a
solid spindle as this one.

D amoino

Freauency

16.8

14.4

120.2

0.13

156.4

2.25

201.4

2.20

665.1

0.36

It is obvious
that the flexible
modes at the
frequencies of 120 Hz and 156 Hz, i.e. 7200 rpm and
9366 rpm, will definite contribute to the deviation of
the center of the spindle at these high machining
speeds. One shall look into the dynamic modes of
his machining
equipment
before selecting
an
operation speed.
In addition to frequency
and damping,
the Star
software
also provides a method to check the
orthogonality between all identified mode. It is called
Modal Assurance Criterion (MAC). When the modal
vectors are weighted by the mass matrix, the cross
products of the modal vector are orthogonal.
The
MAC is scalar constant
relating
the causal
relationship between two modal vectors. If the values
of MAC equal to zero, it indicates there is no
consistent
correspondence
between
two modal
vectors. If the MAC value equals to 1 .O. there is a full
consistent
correspondence
between
two modal
vectors.
Table 2 presents the mode assurance
coefficients between all identified modes. In general
they are no consistent correspondence
between all
modes except the mode 3 and mode 5. This table
provides some confidence
to the experimental
resuits.

JdufeNo
1

1
1 .oo

2
0.05

3
0.00

4
0.00

5
0.02

0.05

1.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1 .oo

0.06

0.23

0.00

0.00

0.06

1 .oo

0.03

0.02

0.00

0.23

0.03

1 .oo

1628

5. CONCLUSIONS

161 Lee, S. J. and Kappor, S. G., Cutting process

dynamics simulation for machine tool structure

design, Journal of Engineering for Industry ,
vol. 108, pp. 69-74, May 1986

The experimental
modal analysis of a high speed
spindle has been presented.
It was found that the
quality of the results was very much dependent on
how the experiment was performed.
The important
factors include the location of the excitation, the
method of excitation, the mounting mechanism of the
force transducer, and the accelerometer type. The
modal parameter identified from this study indicated
that there is a potential of resonant problem in the
high speed machining spindle. An engineer should
investigate the dynamic characteristics of the spindle
in designing the operation speed of the equipment.

Katz, R., Lee, C. W.. Ulsoy, A. G., and Scott,

R. A., Dynamic stability and response of a
beam subject to a deflection dependent moving
load, Journal of Vibration, Acoustics, Stress,
and Reliability in Design, vol 109, pp. 361-365,
October, 1987

PI

Katz, R.. Experimental

investigation of a
cutting force model for turning of slender
workpieces, Ph.D. Dissertation, Chapter 5,
The University of Michigan, 1985.

6. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

PI

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of

this work by REEDF and Dr. Fred Bolling, Director of
Manufacturing
Engineering
Program, University of
Michigan-Dearborn.
Without their support, this work
will never be accomplished.

Wu, D. W. and Liu, C. R., An analytical model

of cutting dynamics. part 1: model building, pan
2: verification
Journal of Engineering for
industry, vol. 107, pp. 107-117. May, 1985

[lOI

Fussell, B. K. and Srinivasan, K., An

investigation of the end milling process under
varying machining conditions,
Journal of
Engineering for Industry, vol. 111, pp. 27-38.
February, 1989.

7. REFERENCES

PI

Komanduri, FL, Status of high-speed

machining, Carbide and Tool Journal , vol. 18,
no. 6, pp. 6-i 1,1986.

PI

Flom, D. G., Komanduri, R., and Lee, M.,

High-speed machining of metals, Ann. Rev.
Mater. Sci., 14:~~. 231-278,1984

f31

Shin, Y. C., Wang, K. W., and Chen, C. H.,

Dynamic analysis and modeling of a high
speed spindle system, Transactions of
NAMRIISME, Pennsylvania State Universfty,
May 23-25, pp. 298-304, 1990

I41

Aramaki. H., Shoda,

Sawamoto, T., The
bearings with silicon
high speed spindles
Journal of Tribology,
October, 1988

PI

Cho, D. W. and Lee, S. J., Complex mode

shape identification of a machine tool structure
in the comparative viewpoint, Proceedings of
the VI International Congress on Experimental
Mechanics, Portland, Oregon, June 6-10,
pp.128-133, 1988

Y.. Morishfta, Y., and

performance of ball
nitride ceramic balls in
for machine tools,
vol. 110, pp. 693-698,

1629

instrumented

Oynsmomaer
Accelerometer

Figure 1. Experimental

Test Set-Up of the Spindle

Figure 2. Detail Dimensions

1630

of the Test Spindle

Figure 3. Experimental

Modal Analysis Model

Figure 4. FRF, Phase Angle, and Coherence

000
IO
00

0
00
0

OLU

0
0
0

(
Figure 5. Potential Modes and Stability Plot

1631

Plot

I--

Figure 6. Mode Shape of First Mode

iFigure 6. Mode Shape of Fifth Mode

Y
I

4-

Figure 7. Mode Shape of Third Mode

1632