Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc.

(July 2008)

SQi-05A-072008

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions
Eric Li, Suri Ganeriwala SpectraQuest Inc.
8227 Hermitage Road Richmond, VA 23228 Ph: (804)261-3300 Fax: (804)261-3303 July, 2008 Abstract: Rotating machinery with overhung rotors is very common in industry. Unbalanced rotor and misaligned shafts usually causes excessive machine vibration, generates large forces on bearings and thus reduces the machine life span and may lead to property loss and even human life loss. Two-plane balancing of overhung rotors is one of the most challenge problems maintenance engineers may encounter. As a prerequisite, Successful diagnosis of unbalanced overhung rotor system must be performed. The vibration and force signatures of unbalanced overhung rotors with unknown initial conditions are different from those of the systems with center hung rotors and have been studied in this tech note. Experiments were carried out on a Machinery Fault SimulatorTM (MFS) for both balanced and unbalanced rotor systems. The data were analyzed using the VibraQuestTM software and efforts were focused on identifying the system characteristic signatures. 1. Introduction Unbalance is one of the most common reasons of excessive machine vibration. It has been said that 80% of the vibration problems of the rotating machinery can be solved by balancing and alignments. A small amount of unbalance weight in rotating system may have devastating effects as the system is operating with high speed or running near the critical speed. Therefore, extreme care must be taken in balancing high speed rotating system to avoid any potential damages. Overhung rotors are commonly used in fluid turbo-machinery, such as pumps, propellers and fans. The vibration and force signatures of the overhung rotors are different from that of the center hung rotors, which have been well studied. The vibration and force signatures of unbalanced overhung rotor can be simply explained as below: the unbalance forces will cause the bearing to move in a circle in its own plane. Refer to Figure 1, when the force is upward on the outboard bearing (the one close to the overhung rotor), the tilting of the bearing will be away from the rotor, so the axial phase at the top of the bearing will be out of phase with the vertical. At the inboard bearing (the one away from the overhung rotor), the situation is reversed relative to the outboard bearing at any given time. When the rotor is forcing the inboard bearing upward, it will force the outboard bearing downward, so the vertical phases will be 180 degrees apart between the two bearings. Also, the bending of the shaft between the bearings will causes the inboard bearing to tilt toward the rotor, opposite to the tilt of the outboard bearing.

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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Therefore, the axial phase at the top of the inboard bearing will be out of phase with the vertical.

Figure 1 Configuration of Single Plane Overhung Rotor 2. Test Setup The running test was carried out on a Machinery Fault SimulatorTM Magnum, as shown in Figure 2. Two types of overhung configurations are examined. One is the one plane overhung, with just one rotor cantilevered on the right side of the shaft, exactly as in Figure 1. The other configuration is a two-plane system as shown in Figure 2, with one rotor centered and another rotor cantilevered. In order to examine the linearity of the system, different unbalance weights are introduced by applying 1, 4, 5 or 6 grams of screw onto the rotor. Three triaxial accelerometers are mounted, one on the top of motor, and one on the top of each bearing housing. Force transducers are also mounted on the bottom of each of the bearing housing. The shaft in experiments is 5/8-inch in diameter and 31 inch in length. Rotors are 6 inch in diameter and weight 570 grams each. Data acquisition and analysis were carried out using SpectraQuests multi-channel sound and noise system VQPro. The test rig dimension and configuration are shown in Figure 3.

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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Figure 2. Machinery Fault SimulatorTM Magnum

Figure 3 Dimensions of the Test Rig (a) one rotor overhung (b) one centered and one overhung (Blue: triaxial accelerometer; red: force transducer) 3. Test Procedures Experiments were carefully designed so as to find out the vibration and force signatures of unbalanced rotating system with overhung rotors. Both baseline and unbalanced system were tested at four different shaft speeds: 600 rpm, 1200 rpm, 1800 rpm and 2400 rpm in order to compare the systems response. For system with one rotor overhung, the experiments were done by two steps:

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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A. The baseline was tested at four different RPMs and signals were stored B. System was retested with different unbalance weights: 1,4 and 6 grams

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

Figure 4 Different unbalanced configurations by adding screws at different locations For system with two rotors, the experiments were done by the following steps: A. Baseline was tested with different shaft speeds: 600, 1200, 1800 and 2400 RPMs B. System was retested with unbalanced weight only on centered rotor. Added weights were 1, 4, 5 and 6 grams, as shown in Figure 4(a). C. System was retested with unbalanced weight only on cantilevered rotor. Added weights were 1, 4, 5 and 6 grams, as shown in Figure 4(b) D. System was retested with unbalanced weights on both rotors: static unbalance type, added weight was 4 gram, as shown in Figure 4(c). E. System wad retested with unbalanced weights on both rotors: coupled unbalance type, added weight was 4 gram, as shown in Figure 4(d). F. System was retested with unbalanced weights on both rotors: dynamic unbalance type, added weight was 4 gram, as shown in Figure 4(e) 4. Experimental Results and Discussion 4.1. System with only one rotor overhung vibration signature analysis: 4.1.1 Spectrum analysis The vibration and force signal analysis of the one rotor system was carried with two methods, namely: spectrum analysis and the phase analysis. As we stated before, the unbalanced weight will generate centrifugal forces and thus will apply extra forces on both inboard and outboard bearings. Figure 5 and Figure 6 show spectrum amplitude (1X) of horizontal force component on inboard and outboard bearing housing as function of shaft speed and unbalanced weight.

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with 072008 Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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7.00E-02 S pectrum A mplitude 6.00E-02 5.00E-02 4.00E-02 3.00E-02 2.00E-02 1.00E-02 0.00E+00 500

Baseline_ImB_F_H 1g_InB_F_H 4g_InB_F_H 5g_InB_F_H 6g_InB_F_H

1000

1500 Shaft Speed (rpm)

2000

2500

Spectrum Amplitude

Figure 5 Spectrum amplitude (1X) of horizontal force component on the inboard bearing housing as function of shaft speed and unbalanced weight 3.00E-01 Baseline_OutB_F_H 1g_OutB_F_H 2.50E-01 4g_OutB_F_H 5g_OutB_F_H 2.00E-01 6g_OutB_F_H
1.50E-01 1.00E-01 5.00E-02 0.00E+00 500 1000 1500 Shaft Speed (rpm) 2000 2500

Figure 6 Spectrum amplitude (1X) of horizontal force component on the outboard bearing housing as function of shaft speed and unbalanced weight

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with 072008 Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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Table 1 Bearing Force Ratio vs. shaft speeds Ratio and unbalanced weights
Force Spectrum Magnitude ratio (inboard Vertical) 1 gram 1 0.96 0.97 1.32 6 gram 1 0.71 0.84 2.75 Force Spectrum Magnitude ratio (outboard Vertical) 1 gram 1 2.58 6.18 14.39 6 gram 1 5.06 12.09 26.97

Baseline Shaft rpm ratio 1 2 3 4

0 gram 1 1.41 2.80 5.91

Table 1 provides a quantity analysis. We can see that the force resulted from unbalance on inboard bearing did not change too much with respect to shaft speed and unbalance weight. However, the force on outboard bearing increases sharply as the shaft speed increases. For instance, with 1 gram unbalance weight (~0.17% of the rotor weight) and shaft speed at 2400 rpm, the force resulted from unbalance on the outboard bearing was 14 times of the same system that runs at 600 rpm. Also, the force increases as unbalanced weigh increases and the system is also nonlinear with respect to unbalance weight.

Figure 7 Spectrum of inboard bearing housing axial acceleration with shaft speed at 2400 rpm: (upper) Baseline (bottom) 6 gram unbalanced weight

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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Figure 8 Spectrum of outboard bearing housing axial acceleration with shaft speed at 2400 rpm: (upper) Baseline (bottom) 6 gram unbalanced weight Another very important signature of the rotating system with unbalanced overhung rotors is the existence of axial acceleration [1]. Figure 7 and Figure 8 clearly indicate the situation. Both inboard and outboard bearing housings show a nonlinear large increment of the 1X spectrum magnitude of axial acceleration. 4.1.2 Waveform analysis Waveform or time domain analysis is also very important in the diagnosis of rotating machinery unbalance. This is due to the fact that when unbalances exist, the phase of force or acceleration from inboard and outboard bearing housings will be either in phase or out of phase. By checking the waveform diagram of the collected signals, we may be able to tell whether or not there exists any unbalance. Figure 9 shows the waveforms of inboard and outboard baseline bearing forces in the horizontal direction. One can clearly see that they are in phase. However, by checking Figure 10, when unbalanced was introduced, the inboard and outboard baseline bearing forces became out of phase, a difference of 180 degree.

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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Figure 9. Baseline bearing housing horizontal force waveform at 2400 rpm In phase: (left) inboard bearing (right) outboard bearing

Figure 10. Unbalanced (6 gram) bearing housing horizontal force waveform at 2400rpm Out of phase: (a) inboard bearing (b) outboard bearing 4.2 Two rotors system vibration signature analysis: In order to analyze the vibration and force signatures of the unbalanced rotating machinery with overhung rotors, we tested the rotating system with 1) only one unbalance weight on either centered or cantilevered rotor, 2) one unbalance weight on each rotor but at different locations. The unbalance type can be actually classified into three categories: i) Static unbalance, by definition it means that two unbalance weights are located at the same place on each rotor, case #3 will fall into this category. ii) Coupled unbalance, this means that unbalanced weights located at opposite location on each rotor, case #4 falls into this category. iii) Dynamic unbalance, all the unbalance cases that can not be classified into category I and II will fall into this category. Dynamic unbalance is the most common type of unbalance that an engineer will encounter. Case #1, #2 and #5 are typical dynamic unbalances. Due to the nature of center-overhung rotor system, the diagnosis and balancing of such a system have been proved to be much more difficult than that of the center-loaded

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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rotor systems [1,2]. In this technical note, by both spectrum analysis and waveform analysis, we actually can not tell which type of unbalance the system has. However, for most of the cases, we are able to tell that there exist unbalances in the rotating system. 4.2.1 Case I: One unbalance weight on the center rotor

Figure 11 Full spectrum of inboard bearing axial acceleration at 2400 RPM: (upper) baseline, (bottom) 6 gram unbalanced weight
Spectrum Magnitude (1X) 3.00E-02 2.50E-02 2.00E-02 1.50E-02 1.00E-02 5.00E-03 0.00E+00 500
baseline-InB-Ax 1g-InB-Ax 4g-InB-Ax 6g-InB-Ax

1000

1500

2000

2500

Shaft speed (RPM)

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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S pectru m Magn itu de (1X )

1.20E-02
baseline-OutB-Ax

1.00E-02 8.00E-03 6.00E-03 4.00E-03 2.00E-03 0.00E+00 500

1g-OutB-Ax 4g-OutB-Ax 6g-OutB-Ax

1000

1500

2000

2500

Shaft speed (RPM)

Figure 12. 1X spectrum magnitude of the bearing housing axial acceleration as function of shaft speed and unbalance weight: (upper) inboard (bottom) outboard Figure 11 shows the full spectrum of the inboard bearing housing axial acceleration at 2400 RPM, the upper figure is the baseline and the bottom one is the system with 6 gram unbalanced weight. One can hardly tell the differences between these two spectrums. Further investigation on the axial acceleration spectrum of inboard and outboard bearing housing with different unbalance weight and operating speed gave interesting results. The 1X baseline spectrum magnitude was close to that of the system with 1 gram, 5 gram and 6 gram unbalanced weight, while the system with 4 gram of unbalanced weight has the lowest 1X magnitude, as all shown in Figure 12. The results suggest two possibilities: one possibility was, due to the nature of such a centered-overhung system, the system may have initial unbalance and the addition of the 4 gram weight happened to balance the eccentricity. Another possibility is that we are unable to do the diagnosis based on the information at hands; further works are needed in order to be confidently telling the existence of unbalance. 4.2.2 Case II: One unbalanced weight on the overhung rotor

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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Figure 13. Full spectrum of the inboard axial acceleration at 2400 RPM, upper: baseline, bottom: 6 gram unbalance For the rotating system with only one unbalance weight on the cantilevered rotor, the diagnosis also dependents on two characteristic signatures: 1X radial force (inboard and outboard, vertical and horizontal) spectrum analysis and 1X axial acceleration (inboard and outboard bearings) spectrum analysis. As shown in Figure 13, the full spectrum of the inboard bearing housing axial acceleration at 2400 RPM, there was a significant increment of 1X axial acceleration increment accompany with the existence of unbalance. Further analysis of the 1X spectrum magnitude of outboard bearing housing and the radial force reveal the same trend. Two results are shown in Figure 14 and Figure 15.

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with 072008 Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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7.00E-02 Spectrum Magnitude (1X) 6.00E-02 5.00E-02 4.00E-02 3.00E-02 2.00E-02 1.00E-02 0.00E+00 -1.00E-02 500 1000 1500 Shaft speed (RPM) 2000 2500 Baseline-OutB-Ax 1g-OutB-Ax 4g-OutB-Ax 6g-OutB-Ax

Figure 14. 1X spectrum magnitude of the outboard bearing housing axial acceleration as function of shaft speed and unbalance weight
7.00E-01 Spectrum magnitude (1X) 6.00E-01 5.00E-01 4.00E-01 3.00E-01 2.00E-01 1.00E-01 0.00E+00 500 1000 1500 Shaft speed (RPM) 2000 2500 Baseline-OutB-F-V 1g-OutB-F-V 4g-OutB-F-V 6g-OutB-F-V

Figure 15. 1X spectrum magnitude of the outboard bearing housing vertical force as function of shaft speed and unbalance weight 4.2.3 Case III: two rotors system: static/coupled/dynamic unbalance type For the rotating system with one unbalanced weight on both the centered and cantilevered rotors, the unbalance diagnosis also dependents on two vibration and force signatures: 1X radial force spectrum analysis and 1X axial acceleration spectrum analysis. The completed results are shown in Figure 16, 17 and 18. A general conclusion is: the 1X radial force spectrum and the 1X axial acceleration spectrum will increase with the

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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increase of unbalance weight and operating speed. The most significant increment lies in the outboard axial acceleration, as shown in the bottom figure in Figure 16. The difficulty of the diagnosis is how to classify the results into the three types of unbalance: static, coupled or dynamic. Unfortunately, we did not see any consistence trends in the 1X spectrum analysis, which means by just looking at the 1X spectrum of axial and radial components, we are unable to tell the unbalance type. This is because we have no information of the system initial conditions. The system may already have the fault like unbalance misalignment etc. However, we can make the conclusion that the existence of unbalance is closely related to the increment of the 1X axial force increment, and especially, significant increment with respect to 1X outboard axial acceleration.

5.00E-02 Spectrum magnitude (1X) 4.00E-02 3.00E-02 2.00E-02 1.00E-02 0.00E+00 -1.00E-02 5.00E-02 Spectrum magnitude (1X) 4.00E-02 3.00E-02 2.00E-02 1.00E-02 0.00E+00 -1.00E-02 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Baseline-OutB-Ax 4g-Static-OutB-Ax 4g-Coupled-OutB-Ax 4g-Dynamics-OutB-Ax 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Baseline-InB-Ax 4g-Static-InB-Ax 4g-Coupled-InB-Ax 4g-Dynamic-InB-Ax

Shaft speed (RPM)

Shaft speed (RPM) Figure 16. 1X spectrum magnitude of the bearing housing axial acceleration as function of shaft speed and unbalance weight. Upper: inboard, bottom: outboard

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with 072008 Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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Spectrum magnitude (1X)

1.20E+00 1.00E+00 8.00E-01 6.00E-01 4.00E-01 2.00E-01 0.00E+00 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Shaft speed (RPM) 1.20E+00 1.00E+00 8.00E-01 6.00E-01 4.00E-01 2.00E-01 0.00E+00 500 Baseline-OutB-F-H 4g-Static-OutB-F-H 4g-Coupled-OutB-F-H 4g-Dynamic-OutB-F-H Baseline-InB-F-H 4g-Static-InB-F-H 4g-Coupled-InB-F-H 4g-Dynamic-InB-F-H

Spectrum magnitude (1X)

1000

1500

2000

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Shaft speed (RPM)

Figure 17. 1X spectrum magnitude of the bearing housing horizontal force as function of shaft speed and unbalance weight. Upper: inboard, bottom: outboard

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with 072008 Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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1.20E+00 Spectrum magnitude (1X) 1.00E+00 8.00E-01 6.00E-01 4.00E-01 2.00E-01 0.00E+00 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Shaft speed (RPM) Baseline-InB-F-V 4g-Static-InB-F-V 4g-Coupled-InB-F-V 4g-Dynamic-InB-F-V

1.20E+00 Spectrum magnitude (1X) 1.00E+00 8.00E-01 6.00E-01 4.00E-01 2.00E-01 0.00E+00 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Shaft speed (RPM) Figure 18. 1X spectrum magnitude of the bearing housing vertical force as function of shaft speed and unbalance weight. Upper: inboard, bottom: outboard Baseline-OutB-F-V 4g-Static-OutB-F-V 4g-Coupled-OutB-F-V 4g-Dynamic-OutB-F-V

Vibration and Force Signatures of Overhung Rotor Rotating Machine with Unknown Initial Conditions Technote, SpectraQuest Inc. (July 2008)

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5. Summary and Future Work In this work, the vibration and force signatures of unbalance rotating machinery with overhung rotors was studied by using the multi-functional Machinery Fault SimulatorTM Magnum. Experiments were carried out with different operation speed, different unbalance type and different unbalance weight. The data collected during the running tests were analyzed and several observations can be reported. 1. Rotating system with overhung rotors, the existence of unbalance is closely related to two important signatures: the 1X radial force/acceleration spectrum magnitude, and more significantly and strongly, related to outboard bearing (the one close to the overhung rotor) 1X axial acceleration spectrum magnitude. Waveform analysis or time domain analysis is also very important and helpful in the diagnosis of unbalance. Phase analysis can help to make the final decision. Due to the nature complexity of the system, using 1X spectrum information only, we are unable to classify the unbalance type, especially when there is no information of the system initial conditions. More researches are needed for: classification of unbalance type and the final and real challenge job: balancing.

2. 3.

4.

6. References: [1] Randy Fox, 1998, Balancing Overhung Rotors, technical paper presented at ENTERACT 98 Information Through Integration Cincinnati OH April 19-22 [2] Jose A Mendez-Adriani, 2004, Consideration on the field balancing of the overhung rigid rotors, shock and vibration digest, v37 n3 179-187