On the Experimental Dynamic Force Performance of a Squeeze Film Damper Supplied Through a Check Valve and Sealed With O-Rings

Abstract

In rotor-bearing systems, squeeze film dampers (SFDs) assist to reduce vibration amplitudes while traversing a critical speed and also offer a means to suppress rotor instabilities. Along with an elastic support element, SFDs are effective means to isolate a rotor from its casing. O-rings (ORs), piston rings (PRs), and side plates as end seals reduce leakage and air ingestion while amplifying the viscous damping in configurations with limited physical space. ORs also add a centering stiffness and damping to a SFD. The paper presents experiments to quantify the dynamic forced response of an O-rings sealed ends SFD (OR-SFD) lubricated with ISO VG2 oil supplied at a low pressure (0.7 bar(g)). The damper is 127 mm in diameter (D), short in axial length L = 0.2D, and the film clearance c = 0.279 mm. The lubricant flows into the film land through a mechanical check valve and exits through a single port. Upstream of the check valve, a large plenum filled with oil serves to attenuate dynamic pressure disturbances. Multiple sets of single-frequency dynamic loads, 10 Hz to 120 Hz, produce circular centered orbits with amplitudes r =0.1c, 0.15c, and 0.2c. The experimental results identify the test rig structure, ORs, and SFD force coefficients, namely, stiffness (K), mass (M), and viscous damping (C). The ORs' coefficients are frequency independent and show a sizeable direct stiffness, KOR ∼ 50% of the test rig structure stiffness, along with a quadrature stiffness, K0 ∼ 0.26KOR, demonstrative of material damping. The lubricated system damping coefficient equals CL = (CSFD + COR); the ORs contributing 10% to the total. The experimental SFD damping and inertia coefficients are large in physical magnitude; CSFD slightly grows with orbit size, whereas MSFD is relatively constant. The added mass (MSFD) is approximately fourfold the bearing cartridge (BC) mass; hence, the test rig natural frequency drops by ∼50% once lubricated. A computational physics model predicts force coefficients that are just 10% lower than those estimated from experiments. The amplitude of measured dynamic pressures upstream of the plenum increases with excitation frequency. Unsuspectedly, during dynamic load operation, the check valve did allow for lubricant backflow into the plenum. Post-tests verification demonstrates that, under static pressure conditions, the check valve does work since it allows fluid flow in just one direction.