Fatigue Damage Assessments of an External Compressor

Service Valve Based on Power Spectral Density of Random

Vibrations for Accelerated Bench Tests

Jianxiong Chen, Ph.D., Sr. Engineering Specialist

Applied Mechanics Dept., Technical Services, Emerson Climate Technologies

1675 West Campbell Road, P.O. Box 669, Sidney, Ohio 45365-0669, USA
Telephone: 937-498-3922
Fax: 937-493-2366
Email: jchen@copeland-corp.com

Abstract: A service valve is sometimes required in a system including a compressor. The

service valve is an overhung attachment to the compressor shell. It is subject to vibration-
induced loads, predominantly from the compressor operations. The major structural failure
mode of the attachment is the bending fatigue failure at its joint to the compressor shell.
Therefore, the fatigue damage estimates for the service valve becomes important to evaluate the
reliability of the service valve for the demanded operation life in a random vibration
environment. Based on PSD (Power Spectral Density) statistical characteristics and
mathematical manipulations in frequency domain, this paper demonstrates an engineering
method to estimate the cumulative fatigue damages and to evaluate the service valve reliability
using the accelerated bench random vibration testing based on the estimated cumulative fatigue
damages.

Keywords: random vibration, PSD, fatigue damage, accelerated test, Rayleigh distribution

1. INTRODUCTION

The cumulative fatigue damages under random vibrations can be estimated by using rain flow cycle
counting methods based on the fatigue stress history defined in time domain [5]. However, in some
engineering situations, the fatigue stress history as a function of time is not easily available, and the cycle
counting method is thus not applicable. In the analysis presented in this paper, the service valve operating
stress history could not be readily measured in time domain since the in-house compressor tests were
performed without the service valve. The cumulative fatigue damages were therefore estimated in
frequent domain using the transfer functions and the statistic characteristics of power spectral density
(PSD) of random vibration processes.

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The input PSD functions of the service valve were calculated from the measured operating vibration
accelerations of various compressor operating conditions at the valve shell side. The transfer functions of
the service valve were experimentally determined on a shaker. The PSD of valve fatigue stress can be
estimated from the transfer functions and input vibration PSD of acceleration.

The cumulative fatigue damage was estimated based on Miner’s hypothesis and the relationship of fatigue
stress versus fatigue life (S-N curve). According to the statistic characteristics of power spectral density
of a Gaussian narrow-band random vibration process, the peak fatigue stresses follow a Rayleigh
distribution. Therefore, with the measured input PSD functions of acceleration, the measured transfer
functions, and the peak stress distribution, close-form expressions can be derived to estimate the
cumulative fatigue damages of the service valve.

The accelerated bench durability tests of random vibrations were designed based on the fatigue damage
equivalence between the demanded compressor field operation history and the test duration and intensity
in order to assure a demanded field operation life.

2. DETERMINATION OF FATIGUE STRESS PSD AT FATIGUE LOCATION

As a very convenient macroscopic quantity in laboratory environment, vibration accelerations are

measured by accelerometers. The transfer function of acceleration amplitudes, Ha(f), is determined by
two accelerometers on a shaker. The two accelerometers are placed on both sides of the valve: one for
vibration input at the valve shell side and one for valve vibration response. Assuming the service valve is
a single-degree spring and mass system excited by the base vibration (the input vibration at the valve shell
side), the PSD of relative displacement across the service valve for operating condition “i” is
approximately calculated by:
Gi ( f )  H a ( f )  1
2
d r,i (f)  (1)
( 2f )4
where Gi(f) is the PSD of the acceleration of input vibration at valve shell side for operating condition “i”.
Hereinafter subscript "i" denotes operating condition “i”.

The major failure mode of the service valve is the bending fatigue failure. The bending fatigue stresses
could be approximately proportional to the relative displacements across the valve. The PSD of bending
fatigue stress at the failure location can thus be estimated by:
Si (f)  ka dr,i (f)
(2)
where ka is a proportional coefficient that converts the relative displacements to the fatigue stresses. The
reason of using the transfer function of acceleration amplitude is solely because of the convenience of
measuring accelerations in laboratory environment. The fatigue stresses are indirectly obtained from the
acceleration measurements, and assumptions and simplifications are included in the analysis.

A more accurate method of obtaining fatigue stresses from the input PSD of acceleration is directly
measuring the stresses using strain gages. The strain gage is placed near the high stress location (the
failure location). Usually, one strain gage is sufficient for beam bending deformations. One
accelerometer is needed to measure the accelerations of input vibrations at valve shell side. The stress
transfer function that defines the ratio of stress amplitude to input acceleration amplitude in frequency
domain can be determined from both strain gage and accelerometer readouts. The PSD of bending
fatigue stress at the failure location can be determined from the stress transfer function Hs(f) and input
PSD of acceleration by:
Si (f)  ks Gi (f) H s2 ( f ) (3)
where ks is a proportional coefficient that converts the strain gage readouts to the fatigue stresses.

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3. CUMULATIVE FATIGUE DAMAGE ESTIMATIONS FOR COMPRESSOR
OPERATING CONDITIONS

For a Gaussian narrow-band random process, the stress peak distribution of Si(f) follows a Rayleigh
distribution. The probability density function of a Rayleigh distribution for peak fatigue stress Sp of
operating condition “i” is:
Sp  S 2p 
pi (S p )  exp   2  (4)
2s,i  2 s,i 
 
where the root-mean square of fatigue stress is:
f 2,i
 s, i   Si ( f )df (5)
f1,i
in Equation (5), f1,i and f2,i are lower and upper frequency bounds (0 < f1,I < f2,i). The cumulative fatigue
damages for the operating condition “i” can be estimated according to Miner’s hypothesis:

N s ,i pi ( S p )
Ds, i   d(S p ) (6)
0
N
Ns,i is the total number of stress cycles. N is the number of cycles of stress level Sp which causes failures.
The relationship between N and Sp can be modeled by the well-known S-N curve. The S-N curve may be
expressed in a general form as:
N  f (S p ) (7)
Correspondingly, the cumulative fatigue damage is estimated by combining Equations (6) and (7):
 
N s,i pi ( S p ) N s,i pi ( S p )
Ds,i   d(S p )   d(S p ) (8)
0
N 0
f(S p )

In engineering applications, the following equation is often used to express the S-N curve between an
alternating fatigue stress amplitude Sp and the median fatigue life N at which a part would fail.
a
N S bp  a, or , N  (9)
S bp
where parameters a and b are the constants of material property. Substituting Equations (4) and (9) into
Equation (8) gives:
  S 2p 
 
N s,i Sp
Ds, i 
a  S bp
2s,i
exp   2
 2  s,i
d Sp

(10)
0  
Let
2
1  Sp 
u   (11)
2   s ,i 
Equation (10) is transferred to:

 2  2
b b b b
N s,i  s,i  b N s,i  s,i b 
Ds, i   u2 exp  u  d(u )     1 (12)
a 0
a 2 
where the gamma functions is:

3
 
  x    u x 1 e u du (13)
o

For a narrow-band random process, the statistical average frequency of zero crossings with positive slope
is calculated by:
f 2 ,i f 2 ,i
 s,i    Si ( f ) df
2
f Si ( f ) df (14)
f1 ,i f1 ,i
Therefore, the total number of stress cycles can be estimated from the compressor operation time Ts,i for
operating condition “i” as:
N s, i T s,i s,i (15)

Ds,i is the cumulative fatigue damage for the operating condition “i” with the operation time Ts,i. The
total operation fatigue damage of a product within the required operation life can be determined by
summation of the damages from all required n operating conditions:

 
b b
n n 2  s,i Ts,i s,i b 
Ds   Ds,i      1 (16)
i 1 i 1 a 2 
and the total operation life is:
n
Ts   Ts,i (17)
i 1
The time to failure may be estimated from:
n
T f   Ts,i @ Ds  1 (18)
i 1

4. CUMULATIVE FATIGUE DAMAGE ESTIMATION FOR BENCH RANDOM

VIBRATION TESTS

In the bench random vibration tests, the input vibrations is from a shaker, denoting the input PSD of
acceleration as Gt(f) and the test duration as Tt. Similar to operating conditions, the PSD of relative
displacement and the PSD of fatigue stress of a random vibration test are approximately calculated by:
Gt (f)  H a ( f )  1
2
d r,t (f)  (19)
(2f)4

St (f)  ka dr ,t ( f ) (20)
Alternatively, the PSD of fatigue stress can also be more accurately determined from the stress transfer
function Hs(f) by:
St (f)  ks Gt ( f ) H s2( f ) (21)
Note that subscript "t" denotes the bench test condition. From Equation (8), the cumulative fatigue
damage of a bench test is estimated by:

 2
b b
Nt t b 
D 
t    1 (22)
a 2 

4
where
f4
t   St  f  df (23)
f3

f4 f4
t  f
2
St  f  df  St  f  df (24)
f3 f3

(25)
Nt  t Tt
In Equations (23) and (24), f3 and f4 are lower and upper bounds of test frequency (0 < f3 < f4). σt in
Equation (23) is the root-mean square of fatigue stress, and νt in Equation (25) is the average frequency of
zero crossings with positive slope in bench test condition. Nt in Equation (25) is the total number of stress
cycles of a bench random vibration test.

5. DESIGN OF ACCELERATED RANDOM VIBRATION BENCH TESTING

The design of a random vibration testing includes the determinations of input vibration acceleration
intensity Gt(f) and test duration Tt. The acceleration intensity and the test duration of the bench tests are
determined based on the fatigue damage equivalence between operation and bench test conditions in
order to assure a demanded field operation life. Mathematically, this equivalence can be expressed as:
Dt  Ds (26)
Per Equation (26), the values of constants ka, ks, and a are not needed, and they cancel out of the equations
in designing a vibration testing.

In most engineering situations, bench fatigue tests are accelerated to reduce product developing time and
cost. A higher-than-service load is applied in the accelerated bench tests, which results in Tt << Ts.
However, care must be taken so that the failure mode of the parts in accelerated tests is not changed as a
result of excessively high acceleration levels. Therefore, careful examinations of the bench test failures
are highly recommended to make sure the proper failure mode is retained.

Usually, a uniform Gt(f) with a frequency range [f3, f4] that is sufficiently wide to cover the valve
frequency response would be used in the bench tests. The accelerometer for the shaker closed-loop
control should be placed on the same location where the operating vibrations are measured. The
vibrations are analyzed in vertical and horizontal directions. Accordingly, the bench fatigue tests are also
designed and performed in horizontal and vertical directions separately. An endurance limit of S-N curve
is not used, which makes the analysis on the conservative side.

Complete gamma function defined in Equation (13) is used to calculate the cumulative fatigue damages in
Equations (12), (16) and (22), indicating that peak stresses are assumed to range from zero to infinity. In
reality, the peak stresses only reach finite values, and the maximum possible peak stresses are clipped by
a crest factor. Since the equivalence of fatigue damages between operation and bench test conditions is
used to design an accelerated random vibration testing, the above formulations without considering the
crest factors are still valid as long as the same crest factor is used for both operation and bench test
conditions.

The analysis also assumes that the random vibrations are Gaussian, narrow-band, and stationary ergodic
random processes. However, operating vibrations are hardly true Gaussian, narrow-band, and stationary
ergodic processes. If the operating vibration is not stationary, it is possible that the random vibration
process can be divided into sections, and each section can be approximately modeled as a stationary

5
random process. The bandwidth and the degree of non-Gaussian of random vibrations can be evaluated
by spectral width parameter and the Kurtosis Coefficient. For simplicity, a correct factor λ ranging from
2 to 4 may be used to compensate for the bandwidth and non-Gaussian. Therefore, Equation (26) can be
modified as:
Dt   Ds (27)

6. SUMMARY

This paper presents an engineering approach to estimate the cumulative fatigue damages in frequency
domain based on the valve transfer functions and the statistic characteristics of power spectral density of
random vibration processes. The method for developing an accelerated random vibration testing is also
described using the equivalence of fatigue damages between operation and bench test conditions.

With the measured transfer functions and the input vibrations PSD functions of acceleration, the method
presented in this paper can be effectively used to evaluate the reliability of an external compressor service
valve for the required operation life. This method can also be used for assessing the reliabilities of similar
overhung compressor shell attachments.

REFERENCES

[1] J. P. Den Hartog, Mechanical Vibrations, Dover Publications, Inc, New York
[2] J. L. Meriam, Dynamics, Second edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
[3] Singiresu S. Rao, Mechanical Vibration, Fourth edition, Prentice Hall, 2003.
[4] Peter V. O’Neil, Advanced Engineering Mathematics, Third Edition, Wadsworth Publishing
Company.
[5] Jianxiong Chen & Donald Draper, Random Vibration Fatigue Tests to Prove Integrity of
Cantilevered Attachments on Compressor Shells, Sixteenth International Compressor Engineering
Conference at Purdue and Ninth International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference at
Purdue, July 16-19, 2002, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
[6] Paul H. Wirsching, Thomas L. Paez, & Keith Ortiz, Random Vibrations – Theory and Practice, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
[7] John Mandel, 1984, The Statistical Analysis of Experimental Data, Dover Publications, Inc., New
York.
[8] Irving Granet, Strength of Materials for Engineering Technology, Second edition, Reston Publishing
Company, Inc
[9] Leonard Meirovitch, Principles and Techniques of Vibrations, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey.
[10] Elsayed A. Elsayed, Reliability Engineering, Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

MONENCLATURE

f vibration frequency (Hz)

ka , ks proportional coefficients of fatigue stresses
Γ( ) complete Gamma function

i subscript indicating operating condition “i”

G i(f) input acceleration PSD of operating condition “i” at valve shell side
dr,i(f) relative displacement PSD of operating condition “i”
Si(f) fatigue stress PSD of operating condition “i”
pi( ) Reyleigh distribution of peak fatigue stress of operating condition “i”
Ds,i fatigue damage of operating condition “i”

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Ds total fatigue damage of all demanded operating conditions
νs,i frequency of zero crossings with positive slope of operating condition “i”
σs,i root-mean square of fatigue stress of operating condition “i”
Ns,i total number of stress cycles of operating condition “i”
Ts,i operating time of operating condition “i”
Ts total operation time of all demanded operating conditions

t subscript indicating random vibration bench test condition

G t(f) input acceleration PSD of random vibration tests
dr,t(f) relative displacement PSD of random vibration tests
St(f) fatigue stress PSD of random vibration tests
Dt fatigue damage of random vibration tests
νt frequency of zero crossings with positive slope of random vibration tests
σt root-mean square of fatigue stress of random vibration tests
Nt total number of stress cycles of random vibration tests
Tt duration of random vibration tests

Ha (f) transfer function of acceleration amplitudes

Hs (f) transfer function defining the ratio of stress amplitude to input acceleration
amplitude
Sp peak fatigue stress
N fatigue life (cycles) at stress level Sp
a, b material property constants defining S-N curve.
Tf time to failure