Reduction of Contact Forces in a Rotor-Stator-System in case of Rubbing through Active Auxiliary Bearing

Abstract

The present manuscript deals with the problem of rotor-stator rubbing. Due to performance increase in rotating machinery, rubbing processes happen more frequently. These are very complicated mechanisms that lead to high impact loads, vibrations and instability. The authors propose a control technique by using an active auxiliary bearing to overcome the problem of rubbing. The control concept enables a transition of the rotor towards a contact situation (with an auxiliary bearing) without rebounding and loss of contact. To investigate the practical feasibility of this approach, numerical simulation has been used to show that using this control concept the impulse (and contact force respectively) can be significantly decreased. Experiments to validate the theoretical findings are already in progress and will be published soon.