2.

5 A Jeffcott Rotor Model with an Offset Disc

Figure 2.20(a) show a more general case of the Jeffcott rotor when the rigid disc is
placed with some offset from the mid-span. With a and b locate the position of the disc
in a shaft of length l. The spin speed of the shaft is considered as constant. For such
rotors apart from two transverse displacements of the center of disc, i.e., x and y, the
tilting of disc about the x and y-axis, i.e., xandy, also occurs; and it makes the rotor
system as a four DOFs. For the present analysis, the rotary inertia of the disc is
considered, however, the effect of the gyroscopic moment has been neglected. In Fig.
2.20(b) points C and G represent the geometrical center and the center of gravity of
disc, respectively. The angle, , represent the phase between the force and the
response.

Jeffcott rotor with an offset disc

From Figure 2.20(b), we can have the following relations for the eccentricity
(2.66)

where ex and ey are components of the eccentricity, e, in the x and y -directions,

respectively (in fact these components of eccentricity are in the plane of disc that is
inclined).
From Figure 2.20(c) equations of motion of the disc in the y- and x directions can be
written as
(2.67)

and
(2.68)
where m is the disc mass, Id is the diametral mass moment of inertia about the xaxis, fy is the reaction force and Myz is the reaction moment. It should be noted that the
moment is taken about the point G. From above equations it can be observed that
equations are non-linearly coupled with the angular (titling) component of
displacement, x.

(2.69)

and
(2.70)

where Id is the diametral mass moment of inertia about the y-axis, fx is the reaction force
and Mzxis the reaction moment. Equations (2.69) and (2.70) are also non-linearly
coupled with the angular component of displacement, y. However, two transverse
planes (i.e. y-z and z-x) motions are not coupled and that will allow two-plane motion to
analyze independent of each other, i.e., set of equations (2.67) and (2.68) and
equations (2.69) and (2.70) can be solved independent of each other.
Unbalance forces can be simplified (i.e., by linearization) with the assumption of small
angular displacement (i.e., cosx = cosy 1) and equations (2.67) and (2.69) can be
simplified as

(2.71)

and

(2.72)

Now equations (2.71), (2.68), (2.72) and (2.70) are assembled as

(2.73)

which can be written in matrix notation as

(2.74)

With

where [M] represents the mass matrix, {fumb} is the unbalance force vector, {x} is the
displacement
vector,
{R}
is
the
reaction
force/moment
vector
and
subscripts: L and NL represent the linear and the nonlinear, respectively. It should be
noted that the ordering of the displacement vector can be changed depending upon the
convenience and accordingly elements of other matrices and vectors will change their
positions. The reaction forces and moments onto the shaft can be expressed in terms of

shaft displacements at the disc location with the help of influence coefficients as
(Timoshenko and Young, 1968)

(2.75)

where
represent the displacement at ith station due to a unit force at jth station
keeping all other forces to zero. It should be noted that the displacement and force
terms are used as general sense so that displacement can be a linear or an angular
displacement whereas the force can be a force or a moment. The coupling of the force
and the displacement in two orthogonal planes has not been considered because of the
symmetry of the shaft. Equation (2.75) can be written in a matrix form as

(2.76)

with

where EI is the beam flexure, length parameters a and b are defined in Figure 2.21(a)
with . From the simple beam deflection theory, we can get these influence coefficients
(Timoshenko and Young, 1968). Equation (2.76) can be written as

(2.77)

where kij is the stiffness coefficient and defined as force at ith station due to a unit
displacement at jth station keeping all other displacements to zero. Similarly, since the
shaft is symmetric about its rotation axis, we can obtain

(2.78)

Equations (2.77) and (2.78) can be combined in matrix form as

(2.79)

with

Noting equation (2.79), the nonlinear reaction force vector takes the following form

(2.80)

Above equation contains product of the linear and angular displacements, which makes
the system equations as nonlinear. The present analysis considers only linear systems,
so contributions from these nonlinear terms can be ignored with the assumption of
small displacements. On substituting reactions forces and moments from equation
(2.79) into equations of motion, i.e., equation (2.74), we get

(2.81)

with

2.5.1: Calculation of natural frequencies: For obtaining natural frequencies of the

system the determinant of the dynamic stiffness matrix, [Z] = ([K] - 2[M]), should be
equated to zero and solved for , which gives four natural frequencies of the rotor
system. It should be noted that since two orthogonal plane motions are uncoupled (i.e.,

corresponding to y and x, and x andy). hence, equations of motion of each plane could
be solved independently This would make the size of [Z] matrix to half. It will be
illustrated through examples subsequently. More general method based on the eigen
value problem will be discussed in subsequent sections.
2.5.2: Unbalance forced response: The unbalance forcing with frequency, , can be
written as

(2.82)

where {Funb} is the complex unbalance force vector and it contains the amplitude and
the phase information,k represent row number in vector
and N is the total DOFs
of the system (N = 4 for the present case). The response of the system can be written
as

(2.83)

On substituting equations (2.82) and (2.83) into equation (2.81), we get the unbalance
response as

(2.84)

where [Z] is the dynamic stiffness matrix. Similar to the force amplitude vector, the
response vector will also have complex quantities and can be written as

(2.85)

which will give amplitude and phase information, as

(2.86)

Equation (2.84) is more a general form of the Jeffcott rotor response as that of the disc
at mid-span. However, it is expected to provide four critical speeds corresponding to
four-DOFs of the rotor system. Most often it is beneficial to observer the amplitude and

the phase of response rather than the time history. The present method gives the
response in frequency domain. When the damping term is also present, the above
unbalance response procedure can easily handle additional damping term, and the
dynamic stiffness will take the following form

(2.87)

where [C] is the damping matrix. It should be noted that [Z] is now a complex matrix
and by the numerical simulation critical speeds can be obtained by noticing peaks of
responses while varying the spin speed of the shaft. The procedure for obtaining
damped natural frequencies will be discussed subsequently. The analysis of the present
section is equally valid for other boundary conditions. The only change would be the
expressions of influence coefficients corresponding to new boundary conditions (e.g.,
cantilever, fixed-fixed, free-free, overhang, etc.).
2..5.3: Bearing reaction forces: Bearings are, in the present study, assumed to transmit
only forces and not moments. Forces transmitted through bearings are those, which are
related to the deflection of the shaft as shown in Figure 2.22 on the y-z plane.
On taking moments about ends L (left) and R (right) of the shaft, we have

(2.88)

and

(2.89)

From above equations, bearing reaction forces at the left and right sides are related to
the loading on the shaft, fy and Myz. In matrix form equations (2.88) and (2.89) can be
written as

(2.90)

with

where subscripts: b and s represent the bearing and the shaft, respectively. Complex
vectors {Fb} and {Fs} are bearing forces at the shaft ends and shaft reaction forces at
the disc, respectively. On using equations (2.79) and (2.84) into the form of equation
(2.90) for both plane motions (i.e.,y-z and z-x), we get

(2.91)

with

It should be noted that equation (2.91) has been written for both plane motions (i.e., yz and z-x), however they are uncoupled for the present case. Similar to the unbalance
force amplitude vector, the bearing force vector will also have complex quantities and
can be written as

(2.92)

where nb is the number of bearing. This will give the amplitude and the phase
information, as

(2.93)

It should be noted that for the case of no damping the phase remains zero between a
force in one plane and a response in that plane. These procedures will be illustrated now
with simple numerical examples.
Example 2.5 Find the bending natural frequency of a rotor system shown in Figure
2.23. The disc is rigid and has mass of 10 kg with negligible diametral mass moment of
inertia. Consider the shaft as massless and flexible with E = 2.1 X 1011 N/m2. Take one
plane motion only.
1

Solution: Figure 2.23 shows the deflected position of the shaft. For a simply supported
beam, the influence coefficient is defined as (Timoshanko and Young, 1968)

For obtaining
(which is defined as the deflection at station 1 for the unit force at
station 1),we have z = 0.6 m, l = 1.0 m and b = 0.4 m. Hence, it can be obtained as

Considering a single plane (y-z) motion and neglecting the rotational displacement x,
the natural frequency can be obtained as (refer section 2.5.1)

which gives

Example 2.6: Obtain transverse natural frequencies of an offset Jeffcott rotor system as
shown in Figure 2.25. Take the mass of the disc, m = 10 kg, the diametral mass moment
of inertia, Id = 0.02 kg-m2 and the disc is placed at 0.25 m from the right support. The
shaft has the diameter of 10 mm and total length of the span is 1 m. The shaft is
assumed to be massless. Use the influence coefficient method. Take shaft Youngs
modulus E = 2.1 X 1011 N/m2. Neglect the gyroscopic effect and take one plane motion
only.
Solution: Influence coefficients for a linear and angular diaplacements
correspoding to a force (f) and a moment (M) acting at the disc are defined as

(y, )

For the present problem only single plane motion is considered. For free vibration, from
equation (2.81), we get

Since it will execute the SHM for the free vibration, we have

where nf is the natural frequency of the system. Above equation is an eigen value
problem. For non-trivial solution, we have

which gives a frequency equation in the form of a polynomial, as

On substituting values of the present problem parameters, it gives

It can be solved to give two natural frequency of the system as

For the present problem the linear and angular displacements in a single plane are
coupled. Since natural frequencies obtained are system natural frequencies and hence
are not as such related to the pure translational or pure rotational motions. If we
consider these two motions are uncoupled, then corresponding natural frequencies can
be obtained as

and

It can be seen that there is a small difference in the fundamental natural frequency due
to pure translation motion (29.65 rad/s) with that of the fundamental natural frequency
of the coupled system (29.4 rad/s), and a large difference in the natural frequency for
the pure tilting motion (188 rad/s) with the second natural frequency of the coupled
system (290 rad/s).

(iii) For the flexible shaft and rigid bearings (Method 2): Now the influence coefficient
method is used. Bearing forces are given as

where the reaction forces from the disc can be expressed as

with

where

Displacement vectors are related with the unbalance force as

with

In view of above equations, bearing reaction forces can be written as

From above equations, we have

and

which is same as by previous method. It would be interesting to vary the spin speed and
plot the bearing forces with it. It should be noted since the disc is at the mid-span,
hence there is no contribution of the diametral mass moment of inertia on to bearing
reactions. If there had been couple unbalance then the diametral mass moment of
inertia would have affected bearing reactions. As an exercise take the disc location from
the left support a = 0.3 l and obtain bearing bearings for the same.
Example 2.8. Find the transverse natural frequency of a rotor system as shown in
Figure 2.29. Consider the shaft as massless and is made of steel with 2.1(10) 11 N/m2 of
the Youngs modulus, and 7800 kg/m 3 of the mass density. The disc has 10 kg of the
mass. The shaft is simply supported at ends.

Solution: Considering only the linear displacement, first we will obtain the stiffness (or
the influence coefficient,
) for Figure 2.30 using the energy method. On taking the
force and moment balances, we have

which gives reaction forces as

Bending moments are obtained at various segments of the shaft to get the strain
energy of the system. On taking the moment balance in the free body diagram as
shown in Figure 2.31 of a shaft segment for 0.0 x 0.6, we get

(a)

On taking the moment balance in the free body diagram as shown in Figure 2.32 of the
shaft segment for 0.6 x 1.0, we get

(b)

The strain energy is expressed as

The linear displacement is expressed as

On substituting bending moment expression from equations (a) and (b), we get

The stiffness is given as

where
which gives the natural frequency as

It should be noted that the tilting motion of the disc has not considered. For the coupled
linear and angular motions, natural frequencies of the system can be obtained as an
exercise by obtaining corresponding influence coefficients.
Example 2.9 Obtain the bending natural frequency for the synchronous motion of a
rotor as shown in Figure 2.33. The rotor is assumed to be fixed supported at one end.
Take mass of the disc m = 1 kg. The shaft is assumed to be massless and its length and
diameter are 0.2 m and 0.01 m, respectively. Take shaft Youngs modulus E = 2.1 X
1011 N/m2.

Solution: Let us assume for simplicity that there is no coupling between the linear and
angular motions. Considering only the linear displacement, the transverse stiffness for
this case would be

(a)

with

(b)

Hence, the natural frequency would be

2.6 Alternative Way of Suppression of Critical Speeds

In the present section, an interesting phenomenon will be dealt in which a critical speed
will be shown to be eliminated by suitably choosing system parameters. For this
purpose, the Jeffcott rotor model with a disc offset has been chosen. Now, for a detailed
in depth analysis, a closed form expression for the response is obtained by defining
following complex displacements

(2.94)

Equations of motion (2.81) can be written as

(2.95)

and

(2.96)

with

. Let the solution be

where md is the mass of the disc and Id is the diametral mass moment of inertia. Let the
solution be

(2.97)

where R and rare

the
translational
and
rotational
whirl
amplitudes,
respectively; r and are the phase of the translational and rotational whirl amplitudes,
respectively (these are all real quantities); so that

(2.98)

On substituting equations (2.97) and (2.98) into equations of motion (2.95)-(2.96), we

get

(2.99)

(2.100)

Equation (2.100) can be expressed as

(2.101)

On substituting equation (2.101) into equation (2.99), we get

(2.102)

On equating the real and imaginary parts of both sides of equation (2.102), we get

(2.103)

and

(2.104)

From equation (2.104), we get

(2.105)

which means there will not be any phase difference between the force and the
response. On substituting phase information in equation (2.104), we get

(2.106)

which is the whirl amplitude and the condition of resonance can be obtained by
equating the denominator of equation (2.106) to zero

(2.107)

where cr represents the critical speed. By defining

(2.108)

Equation (2.107) can be written as

(2.109)

The solution of the above polynomial can be expressed as

or

(2.110)

which gives critical speeds of the rotor system (the outer most negative sign has no
meaning since frequency can not be negative). Hence, for the case when the rotor is not
mounted at the mid-span, there are two critical speeds due to coupling of the linear and
angular displacements. The above solution (i.e., equation (2.110)) can be more critically
analysed as follows. It can be seen that terms inside the first square root is always
positive, i.e.,

, since it can be rearranged as

(2.111)

It can be seen that the above condition be always true since all individual
terms r, , r, andr are the real quantity. However, if the following condition is valid
for terms inside the first square root

(2.112)

then, it gives two real critical speeds

However, if the following condition prevails

since equation (2.104) gives two real roots.

(2.113)

then, it gives only one real critical speed since the other root will be complex. Figures
2.34 (a) and (b) give these two cases, respectively. It can be seen that for the first case
two distinct peaks corresponds to two critical speeds. For the second case only one
critical speed is observed, and since system parameters chosen are different hence this
value is different as compared to the previous case. However, there is anti-resonance
with very low amplitude of vibrations. The following data is taken for the simulation: the
disc mass = 1 kg, the unbalance mass eccentricity = 0.0001 m, the diametral mass
moment of inertia = 0.03 kgm 2, k11 = 1000 N/m, k22 = 6 N/m, k12= 100 N/m and k21 = 0.5
N/m. For the disc at the center of the shaft span, we have k12 = k21 = 0, so Eqn.(2.114)
becomes

(2.114)

which is same as discussed in the previous section for the Jeffcott rotor. The response is
shown in Figure 2.34(c). It can be observed that it has only one critical speed, which
may not coincide with the critical speeds obtained by equation (2.110) in Figures 2.34(a)
and (b). However, there will be another critical speed corresponding to angular
displacement and it is illustrated subsequently.

On substituting equation (2.106) into equation (2.101), we get

(2.115)

On equating imaginary parts of equation (2.115), we get

(2.116)

which means there will not be any phase difference between the rotational
displacement and the force also also since there is no damping in the system. On
substituting phase information in equation (2.115), we get

(2.117)

which is the whirl amplitude of angular displacement and the condition of resonance
can be obtained by equating the denominator of equation (2.117) to zero, which is same
as in equations (2.106) and (2.110) for the linear displacement. For the disc at the
center of the shaft span, we have k12 = k21 = 0, equation becomes

(2.118)

which gives critical speeds as

(2.119)

which is the case when the disc is at the center of the shaft span, and the linear and
angular displacements are uncoupled.
For the single plane motion from equation (2.91), we have

with

(2.120)

The bearing force amplitude and phase can be obtained from equation (2.120). Bearing
reaction forces will have similar trend in the variation with spin speed as that of the
response, since it has the same denominator, , as that of the response. It can be
shown from equation (2.120) that forces transmitted through bearings have also a
maximum at system critical speeds. These forces are dynamic forces and are
superimposed on any steady loads, which may be present, for example due to gravity
loading. In real systems which are designed to operate above their critical speeds, the
machine would normally be run through the critical speed very quickly so that very
large vibrations and forces associated with the resonance do not have sufficient time to
build up. Same is true during the run-down where some form of braking may be
employed. If the system is to run at the critical speed and vibrations are allowed to build
up then either the shaft will fracture and a catastrophic failure will result, or there may
be sufficient damping in the system to simply limit the vibration and force amplitudes to
some very large (however, tolerable) value
Concluding Remarks: The present chapter explains various simple rotor models in use to
describe some of the important rotor behaviour, especially natural frequencies and
critical speeds (i.e., the shaft spin at which the amplitude of rotor is maximum). Basic
terminologies generally used to describe the rotor dynamic characteristics are
introduced. For a single-DOF system the natural frequency and hence the critical speed
decrease by small amount due to damping. However, in the Jeffcott rotor model it is
shown that critical speed increases slightly due the increase in damping in the system.
Apart from the amplitude of the rotor vibrations, it is shown that the phase between the
force and the response is also important parameters to understand the rotor behaviour,
especially at the critical speeds, where it changes of the order of 180. The damping is
shown to be an important factor in suppressing the rotor vibrations at the resonance. It
is shown that the Jeffcott rotor is very a basic model to understand several important
phenomena of the rotor system. However, several other phenomena also emanate from
supports, and for this the basic understanding support dynamics is very important. The
motivation of the next chapter would be to find out dynamic parameters of the rolling
element and hydrodynamic bearings, and seals in isolation to the shaft. This will help in
understanding some of the instabilities, which occurs due to support dynamics.
Exercise Problems
Exercise 2.1: For a single degree of freedom damped rotor system, obtain an
expression for the frequency ratio
for which damped response amplitude
becomes maximum (i.e. location of the critical speed). Show that it is always more than
the undamped natural frequency of the system. What is the maximum feasible value of
damping ratio for under-damped system is possible.
[Hint: Differential the denominator of the unbalance response (Y/e) expression with
respect to the frequency ratio and equate is to zero. Answer:

Exercise 2.2: Let us define a new frequency ratio in terms of the damped natural
frequency, i.e.,
with
. Obtain an expression for the amplitude
ratio (Y/e) and the phase, , in terms of the new frequency ratio defined. Plot the
amplitude ratio and the phase versus the new frequency ratio and discuss the results.
Obtain an expression for the frequency ratio (
) for which damped response
amplitude becomes maximum. What is the maximum feasible value of damping ratio for
under-damped system is possible.

[Answer:
for

;
is a complex quantity. The maximum feasible value of damping ratio

for under-damped system will remain the same

].

Exercise 2.3: Obtain transverse critical speeds of an overhung rotor system as shown
in Figure E2.3. Take the mass of the disc, m = 10 kg, the diametral mass moment of
inertia, Id = 0.02 kg-m2. The shaft diameter is 10 mm and total length of the span is 0.2
m. The shaft is assumed to be massless and its Youngs modulus E = 2.1 X 1011 N/m2.
Neglect the gyroscopic effect and take one plane motion only.
Influence coefficients are given as

[Answer: With the diametral mass moment of inertia effect two natural frequencies will
exist:

= 5.55 rad/s and

= 144.12 rad/s. If the linear and angular motion is

uncoupled then
= 5.56 rad/s and
= 71.80 rad/s. In case diametral
mass moment of inertia is zero and no coupling between the linear and angular
motion

= 9.91 rad/s].

Exercise 2.4: Obtain the transverse critical speed of a rotor system as shown in Figure
E2.4. Take the mass of the disc, m = 5 kg and the diametral mass moment of
inertia, Id = 0.02 kg-m2. Take shaft length a = 0.3 m and b = 0.7 m. The diameter of the
shaft is 10 mm. Neglect the gyroscopic effect.

For the present case, influence coefficients are given as

and
[Answer:

.
= 12.14 rad/s and

moment of inertia

= 110.24 rad/s. With negligible diametral mass

= 5.98 rad/s]

Exercise 2.5: Obtain the bearing reaction forces and moments of an overhung rotor at
rotor speeds of (i) 0.5
, (ii) 0.5(
+
) and (iii) 1.5
; where
and
are
the first and second bending natural frequencies, respectively. Take the mass of the
disc, m = 10 kg, the diametral mass moment of inertia, Id = 0.02 kg-m2. The disc has a
residual unbalance of 25 g-cm. The shaft diameter is 10 mm and the total length of the
span is 0.5 m. The shaft is assumed to be massless and its Youngs modulus E = 2.1 X
1011 N/m2. Take one plane motion only.

Influence coefficients are given as

[Answer:
= 15.60 rad/s and
= 203.76 rad/s.; (i) RA = 1.4568 X 109 N, MA =
12
-1.1008 Nm (ii) RA= -3.2363 X 10 N, MA = 2.4240 X 1012 Nm (iii) RA = -2.1125 X 104 N,
MA = 1.5831 X 104Nm].
Exercise 2.6: Find transverse natural frequencies of an overhung rotor system as
shown in Figure E2.6. Consider the shaft as massless and is made of steel with the
Youngs modulus of 2.1(10)11 N/m2. A disc is mounted at the free end of the shaft with
the mass of 10 kg and the diametral mass moment of inertia of 0.04 kg-m 2. In the
diagram all dimensions are in cm.

[Answer: For the pure translatory motion: 1200.7 rad/s and for pure rotary motion:
6561.9 rad/s. For analysis of combined translatoy motion refer Chapter 8]
Exercise 2.7: (a) While the Jeffcott rotor is whirling, with the help of the center of
gravity, the center spinning of the disc and the bearing axis, draw their relative
positions in an axial plane when the rotor is (i) below the critical speed (ii) at critical
speed and (iii) above the critical speed. (b) Define following terms: natural frequency
and critical speed of a rotor; synchronous and asynchronous whirls.
Exercise 2.8: In a design stage of a rotor-bearing system it has been found that its one
of the critical speed is very close to the fixed operating speed of the rotor. List what are
the design modifications a designer can do to overcome this problem.
Exercise 2.9: A cantilever shaft of 1 m length (l) and 30 mm diameter (d) has a 5 kg
mass (m) attached at its free end, with negligibly small diametral mass moment of
inertia. The shaft has a through hole parallel to the shaft axis of diameter 3 mm (di) ,
which is vertically below the shaft center, with the distance between the centers of the
shaft and the hole as 6 mm (e). Consider no cross coupling in two orthogonal directions
as well as between the linear and angular displacements; and obtain the transverse
natural frequencies of the shaft system in two principal planes. Consider the shaft as
massless and Youngs modulus E = 2.1 X 1011 N/m2.
[Hint: Find the equivalent stiffness of the shaft in two principal directions and then
obtain

natural

frequencies:

and
= 70.55 rad/s,

= 70.78 rad/s].

and