Numerical and experimental analysis of the influence of elastic supports on bearing-rotor systems

The application of elastic supports and bearings has a great influence on the performance of rotor systems. However, the coupling effect between these two is ignored in the current research. The primary purpose of this work is to reveal the influence of the strong coupling effect between elastic supports and bearings on rotor systems. This is conducive to improving rotor systems and thereby improving their performance. Hence, a 5-DOF model, which considers the strong coupling effect, is proposed and integrated into an elastic support-bearing-rotor system. For comparative purposes, a bearing-rotor system model is also developed. The vibration responses of both models are analyzed in the time and frequency domains by using the Newmark-β method. By comparing the results of these analyses, the impact of elastic supports on critical speed, vibration displacements, and contact load is determined. Furthermore, variations in critical speed and vibration displacements are examined through several experiments. Both experimental and simulation results indicate that elastic supports influence rotor systems by reducing critical speed, reducing vibration displacements, and decreasing contact load.