Comp,err

PII: soo45-7949(97)oooo3-5

d: Srruerurer Vol. 65, No. 6, pp. 849-856, 1997

1997 Elscvicr science Ltd. All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain
004s7949/97
517.00 + 0.00

ON THE VIBRATION AND CONTROL OF A FLEXIBLE

ROTOR MOUNTED
ON FLUID FILM BEARINGS
Z. Abduljabbar, M. M. ElMadany* and E. Al-Bahkali
Mechanical

Engineering

Department,
(Accepted

King Saud University,

19 December

Riyadh,

Saudi Arabia

1996)

Abstract-In
this paper, an active vibration controller for controlling
the dynamics of a flexible rotor
running in flexibly-mounted
journal bearings is addressed. The control effort consists of two components.
The first is a state feedback controller designed to stabilize the system and to achieve desirable transient
response. The second is a feed-forward
controller, based on the state of the excitation model, designed
to counteract the effect of the external excitations on the system. The results have shown that a significant
improvement
in the system response is achieved by a stationary
compensation
of the selected set of
excitation frequencies.
0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd

1. INTRODUCTION

of high-order

asymmetric discrete systems. Cheung

sliding mode control theory to
minimize rotor vibration due to mass imbalance.
The methods proposed
and used in the above
references have dealt merely with the control of free
vibrations of the rotor in terms of stabilizing the rotor
motion and ensuring proper damping levels. External
disturbances,
causing forced vibrations due to rotor
imbalance, were not considered in the feedback loop.
However,
the complete
usage of all possibilities
offered by state feedback will only be successful
through the optimal utilization of all information
available about the disturbance
and reference input
variables exciting the system. Such methodology
leads to a feed-forward control of the disturbance and
reference input variables.
Luckel and Kasper [l l] presented
a systematic
treatment of the theory of disturbance compensation
and demonstrated
its application
on the vertical
vibration of a motor vehicle. Gosiewski [12, 131 used
the method of disturbance accomodation
to control
the vibration of a linear flexibly-supported
flexible
rotor.
Electromagnetic
bearings
were used to
generate the controlling
forces. An optimal steady
state controller, which considered the participation of
the unbalance forces in the control law, was derived
and applied to 4 degrees of freedom rotor dynamic
systems by Zhu et al. [14] and to a flexible rotor
mounted on fluid-film bearings by Abduljabbar
et
al. [15].
The problem
of designing
an active vibration
controller for controlling the dynamics of a flexible
rotor running in flexibly-mounted
journal bearings is
addressed in this paper. The control effort consists of
two components.
The first is a state feedback
controller
designed to stabilize the system and to
achieve desirable transient response. The second is a
feed-forward
controller,
based on the state of the

et al. [lo] adopted

Due to the recent trend towards using lighter and

more flexible
rotating
shafts,
modern
rotating
machinery has become vulnerable to excessive lateral
vibrations. The feasibility of applying active control
as a method of corrective action to reduce force
unbalance-induced
rotor motion has recently attracted
increasing
attention [l-6].
Unlike
more
conventional
passive control devices (such as the
squeeze-film damper), active control generally consists of feedback control system that is designed to
sense the rotor-bearing
system motion so as to
generate necessary corrective actions.
Much work has been conducted
in an effort to
understand and improve the dynamic control of rigid
and flexible rotors. Scheweitzer [l] used an electromagnetic bearing as an active damper to damp and
stabilize
a flexible rotor.
Nikolajsen
et al. [2]
discussed
the use of contactless
electromagnetic
damper for vibration control of a long flexible shaft.
Stanway and Burrows [3], Stanway and OReilly [4]
and Nonami [5] examined the use of control forces
exerted on the bearing housings
to control
the
vibration of a rotating shaft. Salm [6] presented a
direct-output
control scheme with collocated actuators and sensors to control the motion of a flexible
rotor. Lee and Kim [7] designed a sub-optimal output
feedback controller based on a reduced order model
and applied it to a flexible rotor bearing system.
Lin et al. [8] used piezoelectric actuators to actively
control
rotor
dynamic
systems.
Fan et al. [9]
developed a linear quadratic
regulator-based
least
square output feedback technique using a complex
mode procedure
for the optimal vibration control

*Author to whom correspondence

should

be addressed.
849

850

Z. Abduljabbar et al.

excitation model, designed to counteract the effect of

the external excitations on the system.

2. ROTOR

DYNAMIC

MODEL

Figure 1 represents the model of a rotor shaft

system. The shaft is considered as an elastic member;
the rotor is symmetrically supported on two plain
fluid-film journal bearings. Each bearing is characterized by eight linearized coefficients of stiffness and
damping. The bearing housings are mounted on
flexible supports. Control of the rotor free vibration
is mainly achieved by applying two control forces to
the bearing housings in mutually orthogonal planes,
u, = [u,uJ. The periodically forced vibration is
counteracted by applying control forces, in the
horizontal and vertical directions, directly to the
rotor, u,, = [u&.
The rotor bearing system parameters used in the
present simulation are: disk mass (per bearing),
md = 5 kg; journal mass, m, = 5 kg; bearing mass,
mb = 3 kg; rotor stiffness (per bearing), k, = 20 x
IO4kN m-l; bearing stiffness, k, = 2 x IO4kN m-.

The bearing dimensions are: radius, r = 0.025 m;

land
length,
I = 0.0125 m; radial
clearance,
c=O.5 x 10e4m;
and
lubricant
viscosity,
p = 0.01 Ns rnm2. The eight oil-film coefficients, k,,
and c,, (i,j = x,y), are determined assuming short
bearings [ 161.
Since the rotor is symmetric, it will suffice to
consider one half of the system only. The rotor model
has three masses; thus, twelve state variables are
required to describe the motion of the system in both
the vertical and horizontal directions. The equations
of motion are given in appendix A The equations of
motion of the rotor-bearing system can be written ih
state space form:
f =

A,x,
+ B,gt+ Bp,,uI,
+ F,w,
YP= CP,

(b)

(a)
1.

(lb)

where x, (12 x 1) is the vector of state variable, A,

(12 x 12) is the open-loop dynamic matrix, B,,
(12 x 2) and B,,,
are the control input distribution
matrices, Fp(12 x 2) is the excitation input matrix, w,

"b

Fig.

(la)

Rotor-bearing system model.

Vibration

(2 x 1) is the excitation vector, yP (2 x 1) is the

measurement (output) vector and C, (2 x 12) is the
measurement (output) distribution matrix.

3. STATE VARIABLE

FEEDBACK

CONTROL

The unfavourable
characteristic of the rotorbearing system of suceptibility to instability may be
substantially improved by using feedback control
for desirable transient response and stability augmentation. Optimal linear quadratic (LQR) design
techniques are frequently used to synthesize control
laws for multi-input,
multi-output
systems. The
synthesized control law is non-linearly related to
matrices that weigh the cost of performance and
control.
For the regulator design, the following quadratic
cost functional is used:
m
J=;
HII

x;Qx, + u;Ru, dr
>

(2)

where Q and R are weighting matrices which are

based on the relative importance of each state and
control force, respectively. The only restrictions on Q
and R are that Q must be at least positive
semi-definite and R must be positive definite.
To minimize the preceding functional, the optimal
control force can be derived to be [ 161:
II, = - R - B;,Px,

(3)

where P is the positive definite solution of the steady

state matrix Riccati equation
PA, + A;P - PB,,R - B;,P + Q = 0 ,

(4)

In eqn (3), the following expression

K,=

-R-B;,P

(5)

851

and control

or
$ = A,xp + F,w, .

(6b)

Since the full state regulator requires knowledge of all

the states and this is not always possible, an estimator
may be designed to make the compensator realizable.
The estimator is given by
II, = K,ri,

Ua)

4 = (A, - L&J&, + L,y, + B plul.

WI

The estimator gain L, is chosen such that A, - L,C,

is stable and the performance of the combined
regulator/estimator
matches that of a full state
feedback design. From eqn (6a) or eqn (6b), it is clear
that if the original open-loop system is controllable,
then by suitable choice of the feedback gain matrix
K,, the eigenvalues of the closed-loop system can
be assigned to arbitrary locations on the complex
plane thus obtaining the desired closed-loop performance.
3.1. Open-loop system characteristics
One of the most important characteristics of the
rotor-b-earing
system is the variation
of the
characteristics of the system with rotational speed.
Eigenvalues of the rotor model at a running speed of
257 rad s- are given in Table 1.
It is clear from Table 1 that the oil-film modes are
stable, the rotor modes are marginally stable and the
suspension modes indicate the onset of instability. In
addition, the damped natural frequency of the rotor
modes is almost equal to the rotating speed which
would lead to large vibrations in response to
synchronous excitation. Figure 2 shows the response
of the rotor-bearing system to initial displacements
of the rotor in the vertical and horizontal directions
at a running speed of 257 rad s-l. The results are
shown for vertical motions. Similarly the oscillatory
nature of the transient responses is clearly seen in
Fig. 2.
3.2. Closed-loop system characteristics

is the gain matrix.

The optimal closed-loop system is given by
% = (A, + B&)x,

+ F,w,

(ha)

The state variable feedback controller is designed

by minimizing the quadratic penalty function of
eqn (2) with (a) case 1, Q = 10m51, R = I and (b)
case 2, Q = 0.5 x 10b51, R = I. As shown in Table 1,

Table 1. Eigenvalues of the rotor-bearing system

Open-loop eigenvalues, 1 s-

Closed-loop eigenvalues, I s-
Case

-30.90 x lo, -4.11 x 103

-221.49

k j 194.79

-0.13 f j
-0.002 f j
0.000 f j
0.004 + j

256.78
39.91
39.10
38.87

-30.90 x IO, - 4.11 x

-221.25 + j 194.76
- 17.20k j 254.97
- 16.48 + j 255.96
- 20.64 f j 32.97
-20.95 f j 32.99

Case 2
10

-30.90

x lo,

-221.01
-24.02
-22.99
-29.42
-29.35

-4.11

x 103

&j 194.24
f j 254.10
& j 255.10
& j 25.65
+ j 25.68

852

Z. Abduljabbar et al.
1.0

; ----

..

Rotor

Rotor
Bearing

----

....,

II

0.2
0.1
Time (set)

I
0.3

imposed initial conditions.

the controller makes the closed-loop system stable

and sufficient damping is introduced into the rotor
and suspension modes. The results are obtained at
a rotor speed of 257 rad SK. By reducing the weight
on the states, the closed-loop eigenvalues are
shifted to position further to the left in the complex
plane.
The transient responses of the controlled system
(with Q = 0.5 x lo-9 and R = I) to initial displace-

0.2

0.1

0.3

Time (set)

Fig. 2. Open-loop transient response of rotor system for

1.0

----Rotor
Bearing
.

Fig. 4. Transient

response with observer-based

variable feedback.

state

ments of the rotor in the vertical and horizontal

directions are shown in Figs 3 and 4. The increase of
damping due to control in the closed-loop system is
notable. The state variable feedback stabilizes the
system by augmenting the damping, causing the
transients to diminish to zero in about 0.25 s for
the controller without an estimator and 0.35 s for
that with an estimator.
Figure 5 shows the amplitude response of the rotor
vs the rotational speed. The uncontrolled response
magnitude due to the residual system unbalance is
very large, as demonstrated
in the two peaks
dominating the response. With the introduction of
the feedback control, the level of vibration of the
controlled response is satisfactory particularly near
resonance. The ability of active control to suppress
the peak amplitudes is clearly demonstrated in the
figure.
4. FORMULATIONOF THE COMPENSATION
PROBLEM
In the following, the compensation problem is
formulated based on the unique characteristics of the
rotor-bearing
systems. This is combined with an
analysis in the modal space. The state equation is
given by:

ap= Acx, +

_I
0.3
Time (set)
Fig. 3. Transient response with state variable feedback.

Bpr,u,,+ Fpw, .

(8)

Transformation to the modal domain is achieved by

the substitution x, = U,$, where Zp is the vector of
the principal coordinates and U, is the matrix of
eigenvectors of 4.

853

Vibration and control

Uncontrolled

**.....a.

Controlled,

Case

--- -

Controlled,

Case II

Speed (radlsec)
Fig. 5. Steady state response of the rotor with and without state variable feedback.

By substituting for xP in eqn (8) and premultiplying

both sides by U; a set of uncoupled equations is
obtained:
4 = APGP+ B plla,, + P,w,
yr=Cn

(9a)

Let
x, =

use.

Then the modal equations

are,

(12)

of the excitation model

(9b)

i, = II,%, + &I,

(13a)

ye = w, = C,n,

(13b)

where
AP = U;A,U, = diag[&],Bp,, = U; BP,,,
i$ = U, F,,c:, = CPU,

where & = diag[l,i], 8, = U;B,, c:, = CJJ,. For a

pulse excitation at the point of time t = 0, according
to

eqn (9a) and (9b) describe the controlled rotor-bearing system in modal space variables.
The excitation vector w, = [cos at sin at] can be
generated by the following excitation model:

i& = i@(t)

W,= A,x, + B,u,

(loa)

ye= wp = CeX,

(lob)

(14)

where s(t) is the delta function and with initial

conditions xc(O)= 0, the solution of eqn (13a) is given
in the form

where
For the problem at hand, 2, takes the form:

and II, is a pulse excitation implicating the desirable

initial conditions and B, depends on the input vector
12. The eigenvalues and modal matrix of the
excitation model are given by:

&,,e2= fiR,

U,=

S-i:,

_lQ].

(11)

where ej is a unit vector.

Assuming that the control law of the part of the
system which counteracts to vibration caused by
unbalanceisve~b~Kg=gp
II-

(17)

854

2. Abduljabbar et al.
1.4

It
;r

0.4

0.2

I
I
II

Without

---

With

feed-forward

feed-forward

control.
control.

ti
II
II
II
Q

DO
Speed

(radkec)

Fig. 6. Steady state response of the stabilized rotor with and without feed-forward control calculated at
310 rad s.

where I?, = K&The

in the sequel.
The output
expressed as

gain matrix K&J

steady

state

response

is calculated
yP can

follows. The amplitude factor

be
belonging to each eigenvalue of the excitation model
has to be made as small as possible. The least squares
solution of eqn (22) is [17]:
k, = - Ht H,,C,

(23)

- E,

(24)

where
where I, is a unit matrix and k, = &e,, $ = c,e, are
the ith columns of the gain matrix K and the
measurement matrix C:,, respectively.
Let
R,, = t,[~e,I, -

A,1 [&&e,+ @,I

=H,k, + H,,ce, (19)

and

H,, =

C&i,4 - A,1- &A

H, = e,[A,I, - A,] -

P,

(20)
(21)

where R.,, is the residual matrix of the ith eigenvalue

of the excitation model, which determines the level
of forced vibration. H,, is the frequency response
matrix from the control input to the system
deviations at Q = 1, and H, is the frequency response
matrix from the force input to the system deviations
at fi = 12,;
The design problem for the compensation of the
modes of the excitation model may be expressed as

Ht = [I$H,,,l

is the generalized inverse of the frequency response

Hb, and Hc is the conjugate transpose of the matrix
Hb,. Eqc (23) gives the ith column of the modal gain
matrix k,.
In this section, simulation runs are performed to
demonstrate the performance of the control scheme.
The gain matrix Ke for the control law which
counteracts the effect of the imbalance on the plant
output is calculated from eqn (23). Figure 6 shows the
steady state response of the rotor for the stabilized
rotor, with and without feed-forward control. & is
calculated at an exciting frequency of 310 rad s-.
The effect of compensation is clearly illustrated in
the figure. It can be seen that the system generates
antiresonance, when the frequency corresponds
to the excitation frequency. Figure 7 shows the
compensated system with the feed-forward controller
being applied starting from a rotating speed of
200 rad s- and above. In this case, K, is calculated
at the exciting frequency of 257 rad s-. A marginal
improvement
in the system behaviour can be
achieved in the speed range of 200 to 1000 rad s-.

855

Vibration and control

1.4 b
:g
7
8
;;
.
s

1.2 1.00.8 -

00

Speed (radlsec)
Fig. 7. Steady state response of the stabilized rotor with feed-forward control being calculated at
257 rad s- and applied from 200 to 1000 rad s-.
5. CONCLUDINGREMARKS

The paper presents a method for utilizing optimal

control theory for active control of rotor-bearing
system vibrations. The control effort consists of two
components; the first is a state feedback controller
designed to stabilize and to achieve desirable
transient response. The second is a feed-forward
controller (stationary compensation), based on the
state of the excitation model, designed to counteract
the effect of the external excitations on the system.
The rotor system is subject to initial disturbance and
imbalance to evaluate the transient and steady state
performance of the controller.
From the simulation results, it is concluded that
the feedback control gain can effectively stabilize the
system and suppress unbalance
and transient
vibrations. The controlling forces resulting from the
feed-forward controller generate antiresonance for a
set of excitation frequencies. A significant improvement in the system response is achieved by a
stationary compensation
of the selected set of
excitation frequency.

REFERENCES
1. Schweitzer, G., Dynamics of Rotors, Springer, New
York, 1975.
2. Nikolajsen, J. L., Holmes, R. and Gondhalekar, V.,
Investigation of an electromagnetic damper for vibration control of a transmission shaft. In: Proceedings
of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 193, pp.
331-336, 1979.
3. Stanway, R. and Burrows, C. R., Active vibration
control of a flexible rotor on flexibly- mounted journal
bearings. ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Conirol, 1981, iO3; 383-388.
4. Stanwav, R. and OReillv.
_ J., State variable feedback
control of rotor-bearing
suspension systems. 3rd
International Conference on Vibrations in Rotating
Machinery, vol. (274/84), pp. 515-524, 1984.
5. Nonami, K., Vibration Control of Rotor Shaft Systems

by Active Control Bearings. ASME Paper no. 85-DET-

126, 1985.
6. Salm, J., Active electromagnetic suspension of an elastic
rotor: modeling, control and experimental results.
ASME Journal of Vibration, Acoustic,
Reliability in Design, 1988, 110, 493-500.

Stress and

7. Lee, C. W. and

Kim, J. S., Model testing and

suboptimal vibration control of flexible rotor bearing
system by using a magnetic bearing. ASME Journal of
Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, 1992,114,
244-252.

8. Lin, R. R., Palazzolo,

A. B. and Kascak, A. F.,

Electromechanical simulation and testing of actively
controlled rotor dynamic systems with piezoelectric
actuators. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbine and
Power, 1993, 115, 324-335.
9. Fan, G. W., Nelson, H. D. and Mignolet, M. P.,
Optimal output feedback control of asymmetric systems
using complex modes. Journal of Engineering for Gas
Turbines and Power, 1993, 115, 307-313.
10. Cheung, L. Y., Dunn, R. W., Daniels, A. R. and Berry,
T., Active vibration control of rotor systems. In:
Proceedings of the International Conference on Control
94, IEE Conference Publication, 2(389), pp. 1157-l 163,

1994.
11. Luckel, J. and Kasper, B., Optimization of the
disturbance and reference characteristics of linear
time-invariant systems by stationary compensation of
unstable excitation models. International Journal of
Control, 1986, 41, 259-269.
12. Gosiewski, Z., Rotor vibration
control Part 1:
periodically forced vibration:. In: Proceedings, Rotating
Machinery Dynamics, 1lth ASME
Conference on
Vibration and Noise, Boston, pp. 237-244, 1987.

13. Gosiewski, Z., Rotor vibration control. Part II: free

vibrations. In: Proceedings, Rotating Machinery Dynamics, 11th ASME Conference on Vibration and Noise,
Boston, pp. 245-252, 1987.
14. Zhu, W., Catelazo, I. and Nelson, H. D., An active
optimal control strategy of rotor vibrations using external
forces. The 1989 ASME Design Technical Conferences

12th Biennial Conference on Mechanical Vibration and

Noise, Rotating Machinery Dynamics, DE, 18-1, pp.
351-359.
15. Adbduljabbar, Z., ElMadany, M. M. and Abdulwahab,
A. A., Active vibration control of a flexible rotor.
Journal of Computers and Structures, 1996,58,499-511.

Z. Abduljabbar et al

856

16. Holmes, R., The vibration of a rigid shaft on short

sleeve bearings. Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Science, 1966, 2, 337-341.

qi; - k,(x, - Xd)+ CT.& - i.b) + k&,

+c,,(j, - 3h) + k&,

- Xb)

- Yb)= 0

1I. Gopal, M., Modern Control System Theory. Wiley, New

mb.6 - c&,

Delhi. 1989.

- id - k&,

-k, (Y,- Ya)=

APPENDIX

- xd - CY~,(.c,
- J&l

UI

6.2. Vertical motion:

m& + k,(y, - y,) = mdao2 sin wt + u4

6. EQUATIONS

OF MOTION OF THE ROTOR-BEARING

SYSTEM

Let x and y refer to the motions in the horizontal and

vertical directions, respectively and subscripts b, d and j
refer to bearing, disk and journal, respectively.
6.1, Horizontal motion
m& + kr(xd - x,) = mdaoz cos ut + uj

Mel;-

MYd - VI) + Cvy(,+,- $3) + k,v(yj - Yb)

+ c&,

- *J + Mx,

mt& - c,, (,I - jd

-k&

where

- xtJ = 0

- kJy,

- YJ - c, 0,

- xd = ~2

is the disk mass eccentricity.

- %I