Dynamic Analysis of Geared Rotors - A Review

Rotor dynamics plays an important role in many engineering fields such as gas turbine, steam turbine, reciprocating and centrifugal compressors, the spindle of machine tools, and so on. Owing to the growing demands for high power, high speed, and light weight of the rotor-bearing system, computations of critical speeds and steady-state response at synchronous and sub critical resonances become essential for system design, identification, diagnosis, and control. The present paper reviews some of the approaches that have been developed to provide a means for understanding and simulations of the characteristics of a geared rotor dynamic system. More emphasis is given on the lateral vibrations of the rotors, effect of coupling of torsional and lateral vibration of rotors especially when the rotors are coupled with gears. Keywords—Critical speed, Geared rotors, Lateral vibrations, Rotor dynamics, Torsional vibrations.