Prediction of periodic response of rotor dynamic systems with nonlinear supports

A numerical-analytical method for estimating steady-state periodic behavior of nonlinear rotordynamic systems is presented. Based on a finite element formulation in the time domain, this method transforms the nonlinear differential equations governing the motion of large rotor dynamic systems with nonlinear supports into a set of nonlinear algebraic equations with unknown temporal nodal displacements. A procedure is proposed to reduce the resulting problem to solving nonlinear algebraic equations in terms of the coordinates associated with the nonlinear supports only. The result is a simple and efficient approach for predicting all possible fundamental and sub harmonic responses. Stability of the periodic response is readily determined by a direct use of Floquet’s theory. The feasibility and advantages of the proposed method are illustrated with two examples of rotor-bearing systems of deadband supports and squeeze film dampers, respectively.