Modeling unbalanced rotor system with continuous viscoelastic shaft by frequency-dependent shape function

A reduced-order dynamic model for an unbalanced rotor system is developed, taking the coupling between torsional and lateral vibrations into account. It is assumed that a shaft is regarded as a continuous viscoelastic shaft with unbalanced and small deformation properties. The equations of motion for the torsional and lateral vibrations are derived using Lagrange's approach with the frequency-dependent shape function. The rotor torsional vibration is coupled with the lateral vibrations by unbalance elements in a way of excitations. Simulation and experiment results show clearly that the torsional vibration has strong impact on the rotor lateral vibrations, and it causes subharmonic and superharmonic excitations through unbalance elements, which leads to the superharmonic resonances in the lateral vibrations. This model with low-order and high accuracy is suitable for rotor dynamic analysis in real time simulation as well as for active vibration control syntheses.