DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF CONTINUOUS SHAFTS

WITH DIFFERENT END CONDITIONS

Mahesh Chandra Luintel*1
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the dynamic response of the continuous shaft with different end
conditions. Equation of motion for the bending vibration of the shaft is developed by
using Hamilton’s principle by modeling the shaft as Euler-Bernoulli shaft. Governing
equation of motion in the form of partial differential equation is converted into time
domain equations for simply supported and both ends fixed shafts by using assumed
mode method. Critical frequencies for both cases are determined by performing free
vibration analysis. Effect of operating speed on first two critical speeds and ratio of
first two consecutive critical speeds are also studied.
Keywords : Continuous shaft, Euler-Bernoulli shaft, Free vibration, Critical speeds.

1. Introduction
Most of the rotating system consists of a shaft supported by the bearings. Depending
upon the applications in which the system is being used each principal components of
the system i.e. shaft and bearings can be assumed to be either rigid or flexible. Different
combinations of these assumptions constituent the different models of the same system.
Continuous shaft of any rotodynamic system can be modeled as a rotating Euler-
Bernoulli beam. Vibration analysis of the same rotodynamic system can be carried out
for longitudinal vibration, transverse vibration, torsional vibration or any combination
of theses. Among this longitudinal vibration analysis is not much common because this
mode of vibration is not a potential problem that may occur in any system.
Many researchers have investigated different aspects of dynamic behavior of a rotating
shaft by assuming it as a rotating Euler-Bernoulli beam. They performed free vibration
analysis to determine the critical speeds of the system and forced response analysis due to
unbalance as well other external interactions.
Some of the research works have been carried out for transverse vibration of continuous
shaft. Lee et al.[1]have analysed forced response of an undamped distributed parameter
rotating shaft by using a modal analysis technique. Yanget al.[2] have presented the
analytical solution of whirl speed and mode shape of a rotating shaft in six boundary.
Behzadet al.[3]have investigated the effect of shaft rotation on its natural frequency and
have found that apart from gyroscopic effect, the axial force originated from centrifugal
force and the Poisson effect results in change of shaft natural frequency.
Some researchers have analysed nonlinear aspect and stability of the continuous shaft.
1
Department of Mechanical, Pulchowk Campus
Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
*
Corresponding author :
E-mail : mcluintel@ioe.edu.np

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Geradinet al.[4]have proposed a 3-dimensional modeling of rotating machinery for

its critical speed and stability analysis. Shaw et al.[5] have have analysed the non-
linear model of a slender, balanced rotating shaft for stability and bifurcations of the
trivial shaft configuration. Shahgholi et al.[6]have studied the free vibration analysis
of a nonlinear slender rotating shaft with simply support conditions. Zhuet al.[7] have
analyzed the nonlinear lateral vibrations of a beam with a spinning motion deploying
from a fixed rigid hub.Shawet al.[8] have studied the dynamic response of an unbalanced
rotating shaft for the interaction between the primary resonance and the destabilizing
influence of internal damping.
Some research works also have been carried on behaviour of in-extensional continuous
shafts. Hosseini et al.[9]have studied the free vibrations of an in-extensional simply
supported rotating shaft with nonlinear curvature and inertia including the effects of rotary
inertia and gyroscopic effects. Hosseini et al.[10]have studied combination resonances
of in-extensional simply supported rotating shafts with nonlinearities in curvature and
inertia using the method of harmonic balance. Khadem et al.[11]have studied the primary
resonances of a simply supported in-extensional rotating shaft with large amplitudes.
Khadem et al.[12]have also investigated the two-mode combination resonances of a
simply supported rotating shaft by modeling the shaft as an in-extensional spinning beam
with large amplitude including the effects of rotary inertia and gyroscopic.
Some reseach works on this field have also beeb carried out to study the effect of stretching
nonlinearity. Hosseini et al.[13]have studied primary resonances and Hosseini et al.[14]
have investigated the free vibration of a simply supported rotating shaft with stretching
non-linearity including the effects of rotary inertia and gyroscopic.
Vatta et al.[15], Shahgholiet al.[16], Shahgholiet al.[17], Shahgholiet al.[18], Shahgholiet
al.[19] and Shahgholiet al.[20]have analysed the dynamic behaviour of asymmetric
rotating shafts. Zorzi et al. [21]have investigated the effect of constant axial torque on
the dynamics of rotor-bearing systems using a finite element model. Hosseini et al. [22]
have investigated the effect of an axial force and shaft characteristics on the lateral natural
frequencies of a flexible rotating shaft with a cubic nonlinearity.
Some of the researchers have carried out their research work to study the coupled bending
and torsional vibration.Gasch et al.[23]have considered the bending vibrational behaviour
of a flexible rotor with a continuous mass distribution passing its critical speeds under a
driving torque and found that the non-linear equations of motion for an actual shaft can
be formally traced back to those of a Laval rotor. Bernasconi [24]has considered the
intrinsic behaviour of rotating shafts with residual unbalance. Nataraj [25] has studied the
problem of torsional and transverse deformations of a shaft rotating at a constant speed by
expressing the displacements in a perturbation series in terms of a small parameter. Plaut
et al.[26] have presented the general linearized equations governing coupled flexural and
torsional oscillations in which the angular velocity is considered as a function of time.
Szolc [27] has performed dynamic investigations of the rotor shaft systems by means of

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the discrete-continuous mechanical models. He has proposed the model to investigate

coupled linear or non-linear lateral torsional vibrations of the rotating systems in steady-
state and transient operating conditions. Zhu [28] has studied the intrinsic behaviour of
rotating Euler-Bernoulli flexible shafts due to coupled bending and torsional vibrations.
Ge-Qun [29] has presented a general calculating method of coupled torsional and flexural
vibration of a continuous distributed shafting system with damping which is subjected
to external excitations, especially considering the case in which the locus of the mass
centres does not coincide with that of the shear centres..
This research paper focuses on the dependency of critical speed and the ratio of first two
critical speeds of a continuous shaft on its boundary condition by modeling the shaft as a
rotating Euler-Bernoulli beam.

2. Derivation of equation of motion

Consider a flexible shaft as shown in Fig. 1. The axes x, y and z are chosen such that x
is along longitudinal direction of the shaft, y is along transverse direction of shaft on the
horizontal plane and z is along the transverse direction of the shaft on the vertical plane.
Similarly, transverse displacements of any point of the shaft along horizontal and vertical
directions are respectively v(x,t) and w(x,t).

Fig. 1: Flexible shaft supported by bearings

Then kinetic energy of the shaft is given by

Avoiding higher order terms, kinetic energy of the shaft given by Eq. (1) can be expressed
as

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The strain energy of the shaft due to bending is then given by

Then Lagrangian is given by

L=T-U (4)
Then applying Hamilton’s principle, equations of motion and associated boundary
conditions are obtained as

3. Analytical solution
Equations of motion in the can be solved by applying assumed mode method. For
this, displacement variables can be assumed as

where is the vector of orthogonal shape functions which should satisfy the
boundary conditions given by Eqs. (7) to (10).
Substituting Eqs. (11) and (12) into Eqs. (5) and (6) and applying orthogonality
principle, ordinary differential equations of motion for mode for and
can be obtained as

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Eqs. (14) and (15) can also be expressed as

where and are respectively modal mass, modal damping and modal
stiffness, are given by

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Substituting

intoEqs. (15) and (16), we get the characteristics equation of the system as

Eq. (22) is quadratic on and its roots are given as

Then the natural frequencies corresponding to backward whirl and forward whirl are
respectively given by

3.1 Modal parameters for simply supported shaft

For the first two modes polynomial orthogonal shape functions satisfying the required
boundary conditions for a simply supported shaft can be taken as

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Substituting and , into Eqs. (17) to (19), modal mass, modal damping and
modal stiffness for each mode for a simply supported shaft are given by

3.2 Modal parameters for shaft fixed at both ends

For the first two modes polynomial orthogonal shape functions satisfying the required
boundary conditions for a shaft fixed at both ends can be taken as

Substituting and , into Eqs. (17) to (19), modal mass, modal damping and
modal stiffness for each mode for a shaft fixed at both ends are given by

Eqs. (28) to (33) for a simply supported shaft and Eqs. (35) to (40) for a shaft fixed at
both ends show that all modal parameters are dependent on the material and geometric
properties as well as operating speedof the shaft.

4. Numerical Results and Discussion

To interpret the results obtained in Eqs. (25) and (26), different material and geometric
properties of the shaft are taken as shownin Table 1.

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Table 1: Parameters of the System

Parameters Value
Density of shaft material, r 7860 kg/m3
Cross-sectional area of the shaft, A 0.8042 10-3 m2
Length of the shaft, L 0.52 m
Modulus of Elasticity of shaft material, E 202 109GPa
Area moment of inertia of the shaft section, Is 5.1472 10-8 m4
Polar moment of area of the shaft section, Jps 1.029410-7 m4

4.1 Results for a simply supported shaft

Using the above listed shaft properties into Eqs. (28) to (33), modal mass, modal damping
and modal stiffness for a simply supported shaft are determined for different operating
speeds. Then first two critical speeds and their ratio are determined by substituting the
modal values into Eqs. (25) and (26). The results obtained are tabulated in Table 2.

Table 2: Critical speeds for a simply supported shaft

Critical Speed for Forward Whirl Critical Speed for Backward Whirl
Speed
(rpm) First Mode Second Mode First Mode Second Mode
Ratio Ratio
(rad/s) (rad/s) (rad/s) (rad/s)
0 1485 5964 4.016 1485 5964 4.016
500 1537 6017 4.126 1432 5911 3.913
1000 1590 6070 4.244 1380 5858 3.817
1500 1642 6122 4.372 1327 5805 3.727
2000 1695 6175 4.511 1275 5753 3.643
2500 1747 6228 4.661 1223 5700 3.564
3000 1800 6281 4.824 1170 5647 3.489
3500 1852 6334 5.003 1118 5594 3.419
4000 1905 6387 5.199 1065 5541 3.352
4500 1958 6440 5.417 1013 5489 3.289
5000 2010 6493 5.657 960 5436 3.229
5500 2063 6546 5.925 908 5383 3.173
6000 2115 6599 6.226 856 5330 3.119
6500 2168 6652 6.567 803 5278 3.068
7000 2220 6705 6.954 751 5225 3.019
7500 2273 6758 7.399 699 5172 2.972
8000 2326 6811 7.917 646 5119 2.928
8500 2378 6864 8.525 594 5067 2.886
9000 2431 6917 9.251 542 5014 2.845
9500 2484 6970 10.132 489 4961 2.806
10000 2536 7023 11.223 437 4909 2.769

Variation in first two critical speeds with the operating speed for a simply supported shaft
is shown graphically in Fig. 2 in the form of Campbell diagram.
Fig. 2 shows that critical speeds corresponding to forward whirl for both modes increases
linearly with the operating speed whereas that critical speeds corresponding to backward
whirl for both modes decreases linearly with the operating speed. Fig. 2 also shows that
the difference between critical speeds due to forward and backward whirl also increases
linearly with the operating speed of the shaft

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Similarly, variations in ratio of critical speeds corresponding forward whirl and

backward whirl with the operating speed for a simply supported shaft are shown
respectively in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2: Campbell diagram for a simply supported shaft

Fig. 3: Ratio of second and first critical speed for a simply supported shaft

Fig. 3 shows that the ratio between first two successive critical speeds decreases linearly
for backward whirl whereas that for the forward whirl increases linearly for lower speeds
and increases more rapidly for higher operating speeds.

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4.2 Results for a shaft fixed at both ends

Using the above listed shaft properties into Eqs. (35) to (40), modal mass, modal damping
and modal stiffness for a shaft fixed at both ends are determined for different operating
speeds. Then first two critical speeds and their ratio are determined by substituting the
modal values into Eqs. (25) and (26). The results obtained are tabulated in Table 3.

Table 3: Critical speeds for a shaft fixed at both ends

Critical Speed for Forward Whirl Critical Speed for Backward Whirl
Speed
(rpm) First Mode Second Mode First Mode Second Mode
Ratio Ratio
(rad/s) (rad/s) (rad/s) (rad/s)
0 3375 9425 2.793 3375 9425 2.793
500 3427 9478 2.821 3322 9372 2.765
1000 3480 9531 2.849 3270 9319 2.739
1500 3532 9584 2.879 3217 9266 2.713
2000 3585 9637 2.911 3165 9214 2.688
2500 3637 9690 2.943 3112 9161 2.664
3000 3690 9743 2.976 3060 9108 2.640
3500 3743 9796 3.011 3007 9055 2.617
4000 3795 9849 3.046 2955 9002 2.595
4500 3848 9901 3.083 2902 8949 2.573
5000 3900 9954 3.121 2850 8896 2.552
5500 3953 10007 3.161 2798 8844 2.532
6000 4005 10060 3.202 2745 8791 2.512
6500 4058 10113 3.245 2693 8738 2.492
7000 4110 10166 3.289 2640 8685 2.473
7500 4163 10219 3.335 2588 8632 2.455
8000 4216 10272 3.384 2535 8579 2.437
8500 4268 10325 3.434 2483 8527 2.419
9000 4321 10378 3.486 2430 8474 2.402
9500 4373 10431 3.541 2378 8421 2.385
10000 4426 10484 3.598 2326 8368 2.369

Variation in first two critical speeds with the operating speed for a shaft fixed at both ends
is shown graphically in Fig. 4 in the form of Campbell diagram.

Fig. 4: Campbell diagram for a shaft fixed at both ends

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Fig. 5: Ratio of second and first critical speed for a shaft fixed at both ends

Fig. 4 shows that critical speeds corresponding to forward whirl for both modes increases
linearly with the operating speed whereas that critical speeds corresponding to backward
whirl for both modes decreases linearly with the operating speed. Fig. 4 also shows that
the difference between critical speeds due to forward and backward whirl also increases
linearly with the operating speed of the shaft.
Similarly, variations in ratio of critical speeds corresponding forward whirl and backward
whirl with the operating speed for a shaft fixed at both ends are shown respectively in
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5 shows that the ratio between first two successive critical speeds decreases almost
linearly for backward whirl whereas that for the forward whirl increases also almost
linearly for the operating speeds up to 10000 rpm.
Comparing behavior of a simply supported and a shaft with both ends fixed having same
dimensions show that variation of critical speed with operating speed is more for simply
supported than that for the shaft fixed at both ends. This is due to increment in stiffness of
the fixed-fixed shaft due to end conditions.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, dynamic behavior of shafts with two different set of end conditions is
studied by modellingthe shaftas a rotating Euler-Bernoulli shaft. The governing equations
of the system for bending vibrations in two transverse directions are found to be coupled
system of differential equations. Performing free vibration analysis, the critical speeds of
the system for different operating speeds for the first two modes are found for the both
backward whirl and forward whirl. For both modes of both types of shaft the critical speed
for the forward whirl increases with the operating speed whereas that for the backward
whirl increases with the operating speed.

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It is also found that the rate of increase in the ratio of successive critical speeds of each
forward and backward whirl mode is more for a simply supported shaft than that for the
shaft with both ends fixed.
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