Characteristics analysis of aero-engine whole vibration response with rolling bearing radial clearance

For the influence of rolling bearing radial clearance on the whole vibration in the aero-engine whole system, a real engine rotorbearing- casing whole model is established. The rotor and casing systems are modeled by means of FEM; the support systems are modeled by lumped-mass model; rolling bearing radial clearance and strong-nonlinearity of Hertz contact force at four different supports are considered. The coupled system response is obtained by the numerical integral method. The characteristics of the whole vibration response are analyzed. For rolling bearing at a typical support, the rotor, outer ring of rolling bearing and casing response characteristics at different rotating speeds are analyzed. The changing law of contact forces for each ball and the global contact forces at different speeds are analyzed. The influence of the radical clearance on the contact forces on the whole vibration is analyzed. The results show that the contact forces will be larger and the acceleration amplitude jumps obviously when the radial clearance is increased, and due to the variable stiffness of the rolling bearing, the natural frequency will appear when the stiffness changes fiercely, that is frequency-locked phenomenon. When the radical clearance is larger and the rotating speed is between two critical speeds, the rotor squeezes the outer ring now and then. Reducing the radical clearance can reduce the whole vibration and increase the rotor’s stability.