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Alignment and Rotordynamic Optimisation of Turbine Shaft Trains Using

Adjustable Bearings in Real-Time Operation

Article  in  Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science · June 2018
DOI: 10.1177/0.954406218791636

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Original Article

Proc IMechE Part C:

J Mechanical Engineering Science
Alignment and rotordynamic 0(0) 1–21
! IMechE 2018

optimization of turbine shaft trains using Article reuse guidelines:

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adjustable bearings in real-time operation DOI: 10.1177/0954406218791636

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Athanasios Chasalevris and Gilles Guignier

Abstract
A study on the use of innovative journal bearings of adjustable geometry/properties in industrial turbines is presented in
this paper. The adjustable bearing geometry is investigated in this work as a bearing function which can resolve issues
in rotordynamic performance of industrial steam/gas turbines. The rotordynamic issues that the proposed bearing is
supposed to resolve are given shortly as (a) rotor–stator contact and eccentric rotor whirling, (b) non-optimum bearing
loading, (c) instability (steam or oil whirl) and (d) structural distortions (in casing, pedestal or other component). The
functionality of the proposed journal bearing is presented in results of unbalance response obtained through nonlinear
transient analysis. The principle of the adjustable bearing is the quasi-static displacement of the bearing pads to locate the
journal centre in the desired position and to configure the optimum bearing bore profile achieving the optimum per-
formance regarding key parameters of operation such as concentricity of rotor and stator, optimum bearing loading,
power loss, temperature rise, stability characteristics and others. The inner mechanism for applying the bearing pad
displacement is not a topic of discussion in this paper, as in the current work, the adjustable bearing operation is studied
on its fundamental operations. The journal bearing model concerns nonlinear bearing impedance forces which are
assigned in the rotor nodes after solving numerically the Reynolds equation for the two-partial arc journal bearing
lubrication of finite length and the configuration of the bearing is similar the bearing type installed in industrial turbine
applications (partial arc bearings). The bearing model enables the development of the oil-whirl/whip phenomenon if there
is a trend towards instability (e.g. light loaded bearing, high speeds). The study presented in this paper concerns two
steam turbine-generator shaft lines of small (50 MW) and medium size (200 MW) in which the adjustable bearings are
demonstrated on resolving different issues.

Keywords
Adjustable bearings, journal bearings, turbines, alignment

Date received: 25 May 2017; accepted: 25 June 2018

the machine’s lifetime in shorter time than in steam

Introduction
Industrial turbomachinery for power generation con-
sists of long shaft trains mounted in hydrodynamic
journal bearings, and they are supposed to run in ser-
vice for more than 200,000 h (or approximately 30
years) concerning steam turbines, and for more than
100,000 h (or approximately 15 years) concerning gas
turbines. The life time of industrial steam turbines for
power generation is mainly assessed/limited with
respect to creep, corrosion, erosion and low cycle fati-
gue. Creep and corrosion/erosion is caused by high
temperatures in rotor segments or other parts suffer-
ing also from wet steam conditions that degrade the
rotor material properties. In gas turbines, the high
temperatures of combustion chamber in combination
to thermally/acoustically excited resonances of mech-
anical vibrations due to the combustion of gas, limit
turbines, as mentioned above. Although the design of
industrial turbomachinery may be very robust, there
can be always rotordynamic issues appearing, which
cannot be predicted, or avoided in such complicated
mechanical systems.
Structural distortions occur quite often due to ther-
mal loads in connections of casings or pedestals, and
it is very common that the rotor-bearing system
becomes slightly misaligned from the initial/reference
Industrial Steam Turbines, General Electric Co. (GE Oil & Gas), Rugby,
UK
Corresponding author:
Athanasios Chasalevris, Industrial Steam Turbines, General Electric Co.,
Rugby UK.
Email: athanasios.chasalevris@ge.com
2 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
design configuration. The structural distortion of the
machine (rotor, pedestals or casings, gearbox) may
have the consequence to increase bearing vibrations
mainly due to non-optimum bearing loading, rotor–
stator contact (rub), steam-whirl excitation and oil-
whirl excitation, non-uniform heating of journals
(Morton effect), as the bearings may change proper-
ties when their loading experiences variation from the
design. According to statistical data for industrial
steam turbine performance, the downtime due to
bearing vibration is 0.1% of total downtime
caused from any other reason, and bearing vibration
is one of the major contributors to the total steam
turbine downtime/reliability. Furthermore, the mean-
time to repair the bearing-related issues in a small
steam turbine is estimated at 200 h, and this is a
severe cost for power generation suppliers.
For decades, there is a continuous effort to develop
the root cause analysis and the corrective actions so as
the industrial turbomachinery to run smoothly, effi-
ciently and continuously. Due to the complexity and
the demand for reliability of the industrial turboma-
chinery for power generation, the bearing technology
that has been developed for more than half century has
not been implemented in these machines in all its
modern features and latest developments. The conven-
tional industrial turbomachinery designed and deliv-
ered nowadays implements, with few exceptions, the
same principals regarding bearing technology and per-
formance as in the latest 20–30 years.1–3 However,
there have been innovative bearing configurations
implemented to optimize bearing performance regard-
ing instability, power loss, load capacity and other key
parameters, also applied in the industrial turbomachin-
ery, these can be found in literature4–12 with or without
the relative study. Most industrial turbines for power
generation running at 50 Hz/60 Hz, producing power
output from 200 MW to >1000 MW implement bear-
ings of fixed geometry and of various configurations,
e.g. circular partial arc, lemon bore, offset bore (offset
halves).3 The great advantages of non-fixed geometry
tilting-pad bearings are beneficial for smaller turbines
running at higher speeds e.g. 5000 to 10,000 r/min, pro-
ducing power at the range of 20 MW to <200 MW.3,13
The fixed or non-fixed geometry bearings may
develop superior performance and reliability, but
once that the rotordynamic performance of the
system degrades (for some of the reasons above),
they do not enable any corrective action to compen-
sate for the high vibrations occurring. For instance, a
tilting-pad bearing with spherical pad mounting has
the great advantage to self-adjust when angular mis-
alignment between rotor and bearing bore is taking
place, but they still miss the ability to compensate for
the lateral misalignment. Furthermore, according to
the bearing suppliers, conventional tilting-pad bearing
design should not receive specific load higher than
2.013; therefore, their use is limited in small turbines
(specific bearing loads in 50 Hz/60 Hz medium and
large turbines usually exceeds 2.0 and may exceed
3.0). At any case, the tilting-pad bearing remains a
supreme bearing element widely applied in turboma-
chinery of higher speeds.6,9
To enable the possibility for a corrective action to
enhance/optimize rotordynamics through bearing
elements, the feature of adjustment/control (active
or passive) should be implemented in future bearing
development.11–14 The interest for a fluid film journal
bearing of variable geometry that can adjust/control
the rotor-bearing system’s operation has been sus-
tained high among the researchers in industry and
academy during the latest decades.12–21 There have
been various configurations and applications of jour-
nal bearings with adjustable/controllable properties,
either considering fixed or non-fixed geometry, and
implementing various principles.21–32
In some recent theoretical achievements, the
adjustable/controllable bearings were considered to
implement the periodic variation of the fluid film
characteristics to introduce parametric excitation
into the rotor-bearing systems.22–25
During the latest years, and being at the era of
Industry 4.0, sensors and actuators are embodied in
components of machines, engines and mechanical
structures. One of the various benefits is the adaptation
of the machine-engine-structure in an optimum operat-
ing condition. The turbine power industry is not yet
following a similar design trend as other smaller
machinery (e.g. automotive engines) as the respective
technology cannot eliminate the high risk, yet.
Therefore, it would be rather difficult to say that the
industrial turbomachinery can currently include sen-
sory and actuating elements on bearings, sealing, or
casing components that might render an optimized
rotordynamic performance. Nevertheless, the concepts
of adjustable bearings including sensors and actuators
have gained interest during the latest years11 and their
application seems to be rather a matter of collabor-
ation between research bodies and turbine designers/
manufacturers than a matter of technological develop-
ment of the core elements in rotor–stator interaction.11
In the present paper, the very similar to adjustable
journal bearing configuration found in litera-
ture,16–25,31 is now considered to implement the func-
tion of adjusting the journal’s equilibrium position
with respect to the pedestal/casing structure of the tur-
bine-generator shaft line and to change the relative
position of its pads configuring various lubricating pro-
files. The adjustment is supposed to be happening
under quasi-static displacements of the pads from the
reference configuration (conventional bearing) to the
corrective configuration that will resolve the respective
rotordynamic issue. The displacement of each pad is
enabled through mechatronic mechanism including
either servomotors or piezoelectric actuators; the mech-
anism for adjusting the bearing pads is under develop-
ment and is out of the scope of this paper. However,
the adjustment mechanism may be considered by the
Chasalevris and Guignier
readers as a combination of servomotor and worm
drive. The worm drive (also known as worm gear) is
used to amplify the torque of the servomotor and then
the higher torque will rotate the base of the bearing
pads. Each of the bearing pads will demand a separate
drive system, and this layout can be used only for
adjustment of bearing pads. In another application,
that is out of the scope of the current paper, piezo-
actuators will mount and excite the bearing pads,
tuned at frequencies that introduce parametric excita-
tion on the rotor-bearing system.28,29,33
The proposed bearing enables the communication
between the monitoring interface and the shaft line
configuration; the proposed adjustable bearing estab-
lishes a channel between the engineer and the
machine, through which a corrective action will be
applied in real time operation, to resolve a rotordy-
namic issue. The function of the proposed journal
bearing of adjustable geometry is supposed to correct
and optimize the journal bearing’s operation. It does
not aim to introduce different operating principles or
to bias the system as in literature.28–30
The common problems that appear in industrial
turbine-generator shaft lines and they are supposed
to be resolved with the proposed bearing are pre-
sented below in two groups, together with the correct-
ive action that the adjustable bearing will apply:
1. Rotor–stator eccentricity or contact: structural
distortion in bearing housing/pedestal or casing
yields a bearing in the shaft line receiving higher
or lower load. Also, the rotor may become more
eccentric with respect to the stator and the risk of
contact to be considerable. The adjustable bearing
enables the possibility to correct the internal align-
ment and redistribute bearing loads (up to a level),
by displacing the bearing centre in lateral plane
relatively to the bearing housing/pedestal/casing.
However, a non-optimum internal alignment
may be a result not only due to structural distor-
tion but also due to site-work. The rotor–stator
concentricity can also be improved as the pro-
posed bearing can locate the entire rotor centre
line in the desired position with respect to the
casing (this is internal alignment). The rotor–
stator eccentricity may be corrected also for an
intact machine as the journal bearings operate
always with some eccentricity with respect to the
bearing shell. The proposed journal bearing
amends the position of the journal with respect
to the bearing pedestal by displacing the bearing
pads (displacing the effective lubricating area).
2. Instability: steam-whirl instability may be trig-
gered when a slender rotor experiences high pres-
sure steam flow through its tip clearances.34,35 The
steam pressure increases when the power supplier
desires to set the machine in further output power,
and slender rotors with non-appropriate bearing
characteristics may enter unstable regimes of
3
lateral vibrations. A corrective action to elimin-
ate/suppress steam-whirl instability is to introduce
some further anisotropy in journal bearings, or to
implement bearing profiles with enhanced stability
characteristics (lemon-bore, offset-halves, three-
lobe) that establish higher effective eccentricity in
the fluid film. This action is enabled through the
proposed bearing as it can configure fixed-lobe
profiles without the need of site work.
Furthermore, oil-whirl instability may be triggered in
turbines operating at higher speeds when for some
reason the bearing load gets lower (e.g. partial steam
arc admission, or vacuum valve open). The proposed
journal bearing can apply different bearing profiles
regarding the operating conditions of the machine
and therefore ensure stable performance. This case is
investigated in the last section of this paper.
It should be explained at this point that the exter-
nal shaft alignment (influencing coupling moments
and shaft bending stresses) is different than the inter-
nal alignment (influencing the distance of the rotor
with respect to the machine’s inner casings). A
change of bearing elevation can have completely
opposite effect on each.
The principle of operation, the configuration, the
functionality and the simulation of the proposed
adjustable journal bearing is presented in the next sec-
tion together with short description regarding the
rotor-bearing system modelling.
The section Theoretical application consists of five
sub-sections, where each section presents how the pro-
posed bearing resolves five different issues that affect
the rotordynamic performance of the system. Major
concern is on the oil-whirl instability, presented in the
section Instability in small turbines of higher speed.
Two case studies are included in Theoretical applica-
tion section: the first concerning a medium steam tur-
bine running at 50 Hz and producing 200 MW, and a
second concerning a small steam turbine running in
5000 r/min and producing 50 MW.
This paper is an introduction into the current con-
cept of adjustable journal bearing and aims to high-
light the configuration, the functionality and the
efficiency of the current innovation in resolving prob-
lems of industrial turbines connected to rotordy-
namics. The various bearing configurations that the
adjustable bearing can obtain have been thoroughly
investigated in the past from the pioneers on hydro-
dynamic lubrication and this paper is not an insight
into the hydrodynamic lubrication principles under
which the various bearing configurations operate.
Adjustable bearing configuration and
functionality
The principle of operation of the proposed bearing
with two adjustable pads is on the relative displace-
ment of the bearing pads with respect to the bearing
4 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Figure 1. (a) The adjustable bearing in its ‘default adjustment’ as a plain two-sector cylindrical bearing. Rotor centre appears to
coincide with the bearing centre. (b) Effective surfaces of hydrodynamic lubrication of a partial-arc bearing of bore radius Rb .
centre. Bearing centre is defined as the centre of the
bearing shell (not the pads). In Figure 1(a), the bear-
ing centre coincides with the centred rotor.
Nevertheless, in Figure 1(a), each of the pad centre
coincides also with the bearing centre, but as it will be
presented in continue, each of the pad centres may not
always coincide to the bearing centre according to the
adjustment.
In Figure 1(a), the bearing pads are fixed in the
default position and they form a 2-partial-sector cylin-
drical bearing. The partial sectors of the inner bearing
lubricated surfaces are arcs of the same circle of radius
Rb , and each of them extents at an angle of p ¼ 60
(‘p’ stands for ‘pad’) as in many industrial applica-
tions.3,35 The radial clearance of the bearing is defined
as cb ¼ Rb  R (‘b’ stands for ‘bore’) where R is the
journal’s radius, meaning that the radius of the largest
journal that can fit in the bearing is Rb . This notation
will be valid in the entire paper.
In the default adjustment, the bearing centre coin-
cides to the pads’ centre as in Figure 1(a) the bearing
centre. The rotor centre would execute any trajectory
inside the clearance circle of the pads as in a conven-
tional bearing. Having defined the ‘default adjust-
ment’ of the bearing, four different adjustments are
described in continue, corresponding to different func-
tions of the proposed bearing.
The mechanism for adjustment is not the subject of
this paper as it is a mechatronic mechanism under
development. The ‘adjustment mechanism’ shown in
figures consists of servomotor(s) and potentially
piezoelectric elements that enable the displacements
of pads, applying quasi-static force that is mechanic-
ally amplified and in vertical direction may exceed the
300 kN in the case of a turbine of medium size (100–
200 MW). The mechanism includes a monitoring
system with the measurement of pad displacements,
of force applied, and of pad temperature to be the
measures of major interest. The pads are supposed
to be conventional bearing pads considering a
Babbitt layer and a backing material (steel) as in
most commercial applications.
Displaced adjustment
The ‘displaced adjustment’ configures a displaced 2-
partial-arc cylindrical bearing with the centre of its
pads to be common, and to be displaced referring to
the bearing centre, see Figure 2. The effective bearing
surfaces for the hydrodynamic lubrication (pads) are
concentric to each other, but eccentric to the bearing
centre. The common centre of the pads is displaced in
vertical and horizontal position regarding the correct-
ive function that they perform; this will be explained in
the section Eccentric rotor whirling. The displacement
of the centre of pads is defined in vertical and horizon-
tal direction as yb and zb, respectively. The proposed
bearing performs displacements yb and zb within the
range cb 5 ðyb, zbÞ 5 cb . For industrial turbine appli-
cations, the displacements yb and zb may have a max-
imum of some hundredths of microns (200–800 mm).
Lemon bore adjustment
The possibility for an independent relative displace-
ment of the two pads can yield various bearing con-
figurations. The ‘lemon-bore adjustment’ is defined
here. The lemon-bore bearings are widely applied in
industrial turbine applications1,3,10,35 of higher speeds
(e.g. >4000 r/min) or at even lower speeds (e.g. 3000/
3600 r/min) especially when they mount a slender
rotor, e.g. generator rotor. Among their advantages,
the stability characteristics are highlighted. The pro-
posed adjustable journal bearing considerably
improves the stability characteristics of the bearing
when it configures a lemon-bore. To achieve this,
Chasalevris and Guignier
Figure 2. The ‘displaced adjustment’ scheme. The adjusted
bearing as a plain two-partial arc bearing with a displaced centre
of the pads.
a geometric preload is introduced to the pads, with
respect to the bearing centre, by displacing each pad
in the vertical direction (both approaching the jour-
nal) by a displacement c, see Figure 3. In this way, the
effective eccentricity of the established fluid films is
getting increased and thus, the stability characteristics
are improved.1,10
The centres of the pads lay in a common circle of
radius c, called ‘preload circle’. The largest journal
that would fit in the bearing has a radius of
Rb ¼ R þ c0b , with c0b ¼ cb  c, where cb is the clear-
ance of the bearing with its pads concentric to the
bearing centre (see Figure 1(a)). The radius of the
pad measured from its centre is then
Rp ¼ R þ c0b þ c or Rp ¼ R þ cb . With the pad clear-
ance (called also ‘machined pad clearance’) to be
cp ¼ Rp  R, and the bearing clearance (called also
‘assembled bearing clearance’) to be in this adjust-
ment c0b ¼ Rb  R, the formula m ¼ 1  c0b =cb yields
the geometric preload (or just ‘preload’) of the bear-
ing. In the current application, m ¼ c=cb and a sug-
gested initial preload value to check the bearing
performance is m ¼ 0:5. In general, the higher the pre-
load m is, the more stable the bearing is, as the bear-
ing obtains more sharp lemon shape. Preload m values
are theoretically at the range 04m 5 1, with m ¼ 0 to
yield a plain circular bearing configuration, but prac-
tically, in industrial turbines preload would rarely be
out of the range 0:3 5 m 5 0:6. To avoid confusion, it
should be stated that in a conventional lemon bore
bearing, the machined pad radius is defined as
Rp ¼ R þ cp , with cp (machined pad clearance) to be
different (higher) than cb (assembled bearing clear-
ance), and not equal as in the current example.
In the current example, the bearing profile obtains
5
Figure 3. The ‘lemon-bore adjustment’. The adjustable bear-
ing adjusted to configure a lemon bore bearing. Pad 1 is above
pad 2. Notice that the centres of the pads lay in a common
circle of radius c (preload circle).
its lemon configuration due to the displacement of
the pads and not to the form of the pad. Under this
latest consideration, in the current example, the lemon
bore adjustment would require a relatively high
assembled bearing clearance cb of the reference bear-
ing (Figure 1(a)) so as the displaced (by c) arc to com-
pose a relatively lemon shape as in Figure 3. In other
words, the current possibility of adjustment would
rather yield a smaller/higher bearing clearance than
a lemon bearing unless the clearance is relatively
high, e.g. >2.5% of journal radius.
Offset bore (offset halves) adjustment
Very similarly to the ‘lemon-bore adjustment’, the
‘offset-bore adjustment’ considers again a relative dis-
placement of the two bearing pads, but unlike the
lemon bore adjustment, in the offset bore adjustment,
the bearing pads will be displaced only in horizontal
direction, see Figure 4.
The ‘offset configuration’ enhances the stability
characteristics of the bearing in a very similar manner
to this of ‘lemon-bore configuration’,1,3,35 but in the
current application it is proved that the offset bore
adjustment is much more efficient than the lemon
bore adjustment of the proposed bearing; this is due
to the fact that the lemon bore adjustment of the pro-
posed bearing is efficient in stability enhancement if
bearing clearance is high and the pad displacement is
also relatively high. For normal clearances, e.g. 1–2%
of journal radius, the lemon bore adjustment is prac-
tically a bearing with smaller clearance (that may per-
form even more unstable). The definition of geometric
parameters corresponds to this for ‘lemon-bore
6 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Figure 4. The ‘offset-bore adjustment’. The adjustable bear-
ing adjusted to configure an offset bore bearing. Pad 1 is above
pad 2. Notice that the centres of the pads lay in a common
circle of radius c (preload circle).
configuration’ presented in the section Lemon bore
adjustment, so the definitions for preload and preload
circle are still valid. This configuration may be also
found as ‘offset halves configuration’. This configur-
ation is proved to be very efficient on enhancing stabil-
ity and its performance is presented in the section
Instability in small turbines of higher speed.
Combined adjustment
As mentioned in sections Lemon bore adjustment and
Offset bore (offset halves) adjustment, the possibility
for independent relative displacement of the two pads
can yield various bearing configurations. Combining
the possibility for the adjustment of bearing-pad
centre and the enhancement of stability characteris-
tics, the adjustable bearing may operate under com-
bined configuration, defined with respect to the
definitions of the previous sections as ‘displaced
lemon-bore adjustment’ or ‘displaced offset-bore
adjustment’. In Figure 5, the centre of each pad is
located low-left to apply corrections regarding eccen-
tricity of the journal (and of the shaft line) with
respect to the casing, and simultaneously to suppress
any potential instability that may appear to a ‘light-
loaded’ bearing, implementing an offset-bearing con-
figuration. It may be perceived, that the combined
adjustment will be the most applicable configuration.
Theoretical application
Among the issues that have severe influence to the
rotordynamic performance of industrial turbine-gen-
erator shaft lines, four common problems are
Figure 5. The ‘displaced offset-bore adjustment’. The
adjustable bearing adjusted to configure a displaced offset bore
bearing. Pad 1 is above pad 2. Notice that the centres of the
pads lay in a common circle of radius c (preload circle).
presented in this chapter together with the action for
resolving them through the proposed adjustable bear-
ing. The theoretical application concerns a medium
size turbine of 200 MW machine and a small turbine
of 50 MW output power. The rotordynamic analysis
concerns bending vibrations that are evaluated with
conventional bearing configuration to produce the
reference results. The adjustable bearing configur-
ation is implemented in the model to produce the
results showing the benefits of the proposed bearing.
Both bearing configurations consider nonlinear bear-
ing models that have been developed for the scope of
this paper based on the models in literature.19–21 The
nonlinear bearing models for both conventional and
adjustable bearings are combined with a model for
elastic rotor which is simulated through the
Transient Transfer Matrix Method (TTMM)36 to
enable nonlinear transient response evaluation.
All the simulating results of this paper have been
obtained by TTMM36 and concern nonlinear transi-
ent analysis, as nonlinear bearing models are imple-
mented to the model. The rotor is discretized with
lumped mass models as in the common Transfer
Matrix Method and the rotor-bearing system
response is evaluated in discrete time domain after a
set of initial values (close to zero) is given for lateral
and angular displacement (tilting) and velocity of all
lumped masses, in two main directions. With the
TTMM, the forces and moments acting in each
lumped mass and at every discrete time moment are
obtained by the definition of the lateral and angular
position of the lumped mass at the previous time
moment. The system of the eight ODEs for each
mass can be solved with a common numerical
Chasalevris and Guignier
integration solver (e.g. Newmark algorithm) and to
obtain the time response of each lumped mass.
In the following sub-sections, the proposed adjust-
able bearing will be implemented in the medium size
turbine of 150 MW to apply corrective actions to:
1. set the elastic shaft line centred to the casing of the
turbine (Eccentric rotor whirling section),
2. compensate the defects of structural distortion of
casing/pedestals that are supposed to lead to
rotor–stator rubbing (Optimization of bearing
performance section),
3. optimize bearing alignment regarding loading and
bearing frictional power loss (Distortion of pedes-
tal or casing section).
The adjustable bearing is implemented to a small
size turbine of 50 MW to:
4. apply corrective actions for oil-whirl instability
that is supposed to be triggered due to light bear-
ing load when partial arc steam admission is
applied in the turbine (Instability in small turbines
of higher speed section).
The reference rotordynamic evaluation is presented in
section Reference rotordynamic evaluation including
key parameters of the design and performance for the
medium size turbine.
Reference rotordynamic evaluation
The initial rotordynamic evaluations used as reference
are presented in this section. The schematic represen-
tation of the medium size turbine-generator is given in
Figure 6; this is a shaft line consisting of three rotors
and four bearings. Note that bearings #3 and #4 have
Figure 6. Steam turbine-generator shaft line consisting of GEN-HP-IPLP rotor (Generator Rotor – High Pressure Rotor –
Intermediate and Low Pressure Rotor), indicating the locations of bearings and couplings, and the relative elevation of each bearing to
perform the alignment.
7
been lifted to align the shaft line per GE’s standards
for minimum bending moment in the rigid couplings.
All four bearings are plain 2-partial arc bearings
(equal to adjustable bearing in the default adjustment,
see Figure 1). The turbine-generator shaft line exe-
cutes a virtual transient run-up from 0 to 3000 r/min
in a time of 30 s (in real application this duration may
be more than 10 min) with a constant rotating accel-
eration at the rate of 100 r/min/s and then continues in
steady-state operation of 3000 r/min rated speed for
another 20 s to produce the steady-state response that
the system is supposed to produce running on site.
The basic dimensions of the rotor-bearing system
are described in Table 1 while the bearing dimensions
and specific loads are described in Table 2.
Representative properties for stiffness, damping and
mass of each of the bearing housing (pedestal) are
described in Table 3.
Each bearing housing (pedestal) is simulated as a
rigid body of mass MP,Y and MP,X in vertical and
horizontal direction which is connected to the
ground through springs of stiffness KP,Y and KP,X ,
and dampers CP,Y and CP,X as in Figure 7. Stiffness
and damping for the pedestal structure do not depend
on frequency of excitation (rotating speed) in the
applications of this paper. However, the oil film
impedance forces FBX and FBY (see Figure 7), applied
from the oil film to the pedestal and the rotor, are
always nonlinear functions of the displacement and
velocity of the respective journal and pedestal.
In the virtual run-up of the system and the steady-
state operation at 3000 r/min, each journal will be per-
forming trajectories inside the bearing clearance as
shown in Figure 8. The conventional 2-arc 60 bearing
is considered in this calculation (equal to the config-
uration of Figure 1). In each of the graphs of Figure 8
there are indications for the respective clearance
8 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Table 1. Basic geometric and physical properties of the turbine-generator rotors.

Total Equivalent Slenderness Equivalent 4stiffness Equivalent damping

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
3ED
Rotor ðiÞ Description mass Diameter ratioLR,i =DR,i KR,i ¼ 4L3 R,i CR,i ¼ MR,i KR,i
R,i

1 Generator rotor MR,1 DR,1 10.5 NAa NAa

2 HP rotor MR,2 DR,2 11.1 NAa NAa
3 LP rotor MR,3 DR,3 7.7 NAa NAa
HP: high pressure; LP: low pressure.
a
NA (not available) implies that the author cannot publish the value.

Table 2. Bearing configuration and applied load corresponding to the analysed shaft line.

Length to
diameter Clearance Specific Lubricant dynamic
Bearing ðiÞ Bearing type LB,i =DB,i 2cr,i =DB,i load LB,iPB,iDB,i viscosity i

1 Conventional or 0.73 NAa 1.39 NAa

2 Adjustable (2-arc 60 ) 0.73 1.72
3 0.82 1.84
4 0.89 2.88
a
NA (not available) implies that the author cannot publish the value.

Table 3. Basic physical properties of pedestals as function of the properties of the respective rotor mounted (coordinate system as
defined in Figure 7).

Mass Stiffness Damping

Pedestal MP,Y MP,X KP,Y KP,X CP,Y CP,X

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 0:07MR,1 0:07MR,1 8:9KR,1 10:1KR,1 0:03 KR,1 MR,1 0:02 KR,1 MR,1
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 0:07MR,1 0:07MR,1 8:9KR,1 10:1KR,1 0:03 KR,1 MR,1 0:02 KR,1 MR,1
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
3 0:21MR,3 0:21MR,3 2:2KR,3 2:8KR,3 0:03 KR,3 MR,3 0:04 KR,3 MR,3
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
4 0:30MR,3 0:30MR,3 2:5KR,3 3:3KR,3 0:03 KR,3 MR,3 0:04 KR,3 MR,3

circle, the respective bearing bore centre (showed as

‘bearing centre’), and the respective casing centre that
is the point that the casing stator centreline is sup-
posed to pass through. Note that the initial condition
for initiating the run-up from zero speed sets each
journal centre in the centre of the respective bearing.
Starting from zero speed, each journal follows a
very fast downward motion before the speed raises
approximately above 100 r/min and the hydro-
dynamic lubrication principle starts taking place.
Then, each journal follows an upward motion, pas-
sing through resonance at critical speeds, moving
towards the centre of the respective bearing before it
reaches the rated speed of 3000 r/min.

Eccentric rotor whirling

In steady-state operation at rated speed, each journal
will be whirling around an equilibrium position at a
distance from the bearing centre, see Figure 9. The
Figure 7. Schematic representation of the bearing pedestal bearing eccentricity should be expected from 30% to
model. 70% of the respective bearing radial clearance for
Chasalevris and Guignier 9

Figure 8. Orbit of relative journal displacement as a function of time during a transient run-up of the system (0–30 s) and steady-
state operation (30–50 s). (a) Bearing #1, (b) Bearing #2, (c) Bearing #3, (d) Bearing #4.

Figure 9. Representation of the turbine-generator shaft line layout after alignment and at rated speed. Rotor centreline is displaced
from the casing centreline due to operating position of each journal inside the bearing’s clearance.
10 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

normal operating conditions. For this application, As an effort towards the decrement of the blade tip
this is translated to an absolute eccentricity of clearances for the increment of power efficiency, the
approximately 90 to 210 mm. This eccentricity is not adjustable bearing appears to compensate the bearing
considered for alignment calculations for the bearing eccentricity and to align the elastic rotor’s centreline to
elevation and the alignment of the casing to the rotor the casing centreline. The scheme of operation for the
centreline. However, the implemented radial clear- adjustable bearing corresponds to the ‘displaced adjust-
ances between rotor and stator allow the development ment’ presented in the section Displaced adjustment.
of the bearing eccentricity without blades to contact In order to locate the rotor centreline close to the
the casing (rotor-stator contact). casing centreline, each adjustable bearing should dis-
place its pads so as to produce a new equilibrium
position around which the steady-state response whir-
Table 4. Relative displacement of the bearings’ pads to relo- ling will be executed. The relative displacements of the
cate the equilibrium position, see also Figure 9. pads of each bearing in horizontal and vertical plane
Direction Bearing #1 Bearing #2 Bearing #3 Bearing #4
are presented for this application in Table 4.
In the simulation, the adjustment of the bearing
Horizontal, dZ 33%cr,1 32%cr,2 32%cr,3 30%cr,4 pads in the new position is achieved in the time of
Vertical, dY 52%cr,1 55%cr,2 56%cr,3 64%cr,4 1 s. The transient motion of each journal during the
time of the adjustment (1 s) and the further 4 s

Figure 10. Orbit of relative journal displacement as a function of time at rated speed and for the transition from the default position
to the corrected position. (a) Bearing #1, (b) Bearing #2, (c) Bearing #3, (d) Bearing #4.
Chasalevris and Guignier 11

Figure 11. Representation of the turbine-generator shaft line layout after alignment and displacement-correction of the bearing shell
position. Rotor centreline approximates the casing centreline but the journal retains its position inside the bearing’s clearance.

Table 5. Static load and power loss at each of the bearings for the conventional and adjusted (centred) operation.

#1 Conventional- #2 Conventional- #3 Conventional- #4 Conventional-

Bearing adjusted adjusted adjusted adjusted

Static load 1.39–1.37 MPa 1.72–1.71 MPa 1.84–1.82 MPa 2.88–2.88 MPa
Power loss 40.15–40.56 kW 48.19–48.41 kW 36.78–37.52 kW 23.74–23.90 kW
Note: No changes appear in the bearing performance comparing conventional and adjusted (centred) operation.

operating in the new position, is plotted in Figure 10.
The adjusted bearing bore centre is displaced by the
values of Table 4 yielding a well-centred journal tra-
jectory with respect to the casing centre. With the
proper corrections in bearing pad centre, the journal
centring to the casing can be optimized. The loading
at each bearing does not change considerably because
the entire shaft line is lifted in relatively similar
amount at each bearing location. This is the reason
that the relative bearing eccentricity of operation does
not change as well. The journal orbit retains its char-
acteristics of extent (amplitude).
The system is supposed now to operate with the
rotor’s centreline well approximating the casing’s cen-
treline, see Figure 11. The bearing performance (e.g.
regarding power loss) does not change as well, see
Table 5. The alignment configuration is negligibly
changed and therefore the static load at each bearing
remains approximately the same as in conventional
bearing operation, see Table 5.
Optimization of bearing performance
In this section, the adjustable bearing is demonstrated
regarding its ability to optimize its fluid film performance
concerning the resulting friction coefficient. The analysis
concerns steady-state operation at the rated speed of the
turbine-generator shown in Figure 6, which is still
defined at 3000 r/min as in previous examples.
Regarding the calculations of the section Reference
rotordynamic evaluation, this section presents how
the supposing on-site performance of the bearings
can be enhanced regarding power loss using the adjust-
able bearing. Temperature rise and static load are also
affected but the results highlight the impact in power
loss as this is a decisive parameter for the evaluation of
the guarantee from the turbine supplier (turbine manu-
facturer) to the customer (e.g. electric power factory), if
the output power does not meet the agreed values.
The operating eccentricity of the journal inside the
bearing clearance is influenced primarily from the static
load applied at the journal. If journal diameter exceeds
certain dimension it is essential to know the shaft
eccentricity in operation to adjust the radial clearance
distribution at the seals. Therefore, the possibility of
adjusting the journal centre according to the achieved
clearance distribution is a benefit form the proposed
bearing and this was discussed already in the section
Eccentric rotor whirling. The operating journal eccen-
tricity affects the bearing performance intensively. It is
suggested that bearings should operate in an eccentri-
city of 45–65% with respect to radial clearance to
achieve stable operation and keep power losses and
temperature rise in reasonable values.
The power loss for the conventional and the
adjusted (default adjustment, see Figure 1) operation
was found in the section Eccentric rotor whirling to be
as in Table 5. The bearing power loss PLOSS ðWÞ due
12 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Figure 12. Two-parametric (Y,2 , Y,3 ) optimization: total power loss (OBF) value and respective bearing pad adjustment (relative
to clearance), bearing load, vertical and horizontal relative eccentricity, and coupling bending moment, at each iteration of the
optimization algorithm.

to frictional forces can be evaluated in a fluid film
quite accurately using equation (1).
PLOSS ¼ ðR  TÞ  ðR  Þ
RðmÞ is the journal radius, ðrad=sÞ is the journal’s
rotating speed, and TðNÞ is the resulting shearing
force acting on the lubricated surface of the journal,
meaning from the starting angle 1 to the ending angle
2 of the developed fluid film wedge. The cavitation of
the lubricant is considered with the Gümpel (Half
Sommerfeld) boundary condition, meaning that only
the positive pressure Pðx, Þ is accounted in the evalu-
ation of formula in equation (2).
Z 2 Z L=2  
R hðÞ @Pðx, Þ
T¼ þ dxd
1 L=2 hðÞ 2R @
In equation (2), ðPa  sÞ is the dynamic viscosity of
the lubricant (here corresponding to an ISO VG46
lubricant at a constant temperature of 45 C), LðmÞ
ð1Þ is the width of the bearing, and hðÞ is the fluid film
thickness that is given in equation (3) as a function of
the journal centre coordinates (zJ , yJ ), the bearing
centre coordinates (zP , yP ), the radial clearance
cðmÞ, and the angular coordinate ðradÞ.
hðÞ ¼ c  ðzJ  zP Þ cosðÞ  ðyJ  yP Þ sinðÞ ð3Þ
The evaluated power loss for the operating trajec-
tories of the journal shown in Figure 10 is presented in
Table 4, summing up a total bearing power loss to
approximately 148.9 kW.
The possibility of reducing the total power loss in
ð2Þ the bearing by adjusting a different alignment config-
uration is now investigated. Note that the new
Chasalevris and Guignier 13

Table 6. Two-parametric optimization.

Coupling bending
Bearing pad Adjustment Bearing Relative eccentricity Bearing Specific load moment
Total
1 2 power loss 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2
dY2 dY3 e1 e2 e3 e4
Iteration c2 c3 OBFðkWÞ c1 c2 c3 c4 P1 ðMPaÞ P2 ðMPaÞ P3 ðMPaÞ P4 ðMPaÞ M1 ðkNmÞ M2 ðkNmÞ

1 0.00 0.00 148.9 0.62 0.64 0.65 0.71 1.39 1.60 1.84 2.88 0.5 0.3
2 0.71 0.00 138.2 0.62 0.64 0.70 0.71 1.45 0.98 2.51 2.85 2.2 0.2
3 0.71 0.81 128.5 0.62 0.74 0.88 0.71 1.40 1.41 2.03 2.88 0.1 6.6
4 0.88 0.81 123.8 0.62 0.76 0.95 0.71 1.45 0.93 2.56 2.87 3.1 6.0
5 0.97 0.81 123.0 0.62 0.75 0.96 0.71 1.46 0.81 2.69 2.86 3.7 5.6
6 0.97 0.91 122.8 0.62 0.78 0.98 0.71 1.45 0.89 2.60 2.87 3.5 6.4
7 0.97 0.96 122.7 0.62 0.79 0.99 0.71 1.45 0.93 2.55 2.87 3.4 6.8
8 0.99 0.96 122.4 0.62 0.79 1.00 0.71 1.45 0.91 2.57 2.87 3.5 6.8
9 0.99 0.99 122.4 0.62 0.80 1.00 0.71 1.45 0.93 2.56 2.87 3.5 6.9

Note: Operational characteristics of the system, regarding bearings’ power loss, adjustment of pad, relative eccentricity, and specific load; rotor’s
bending moment at the couplings’ locations are presented. Iteration 1 is the reference case using conventional bearings (see also Table 4).

alignment will not implement displacements of the
bearing centres higher than their respective clearances,
meaning that the condition for minimum coupling
bending moments will be retained (this condition
is satisfied through permanent bearing elevation, as
shown in Figures 9 and 11).
At the steady-state operation shown in Figure 8,
each bearing can be adjusted under the scheme for
minimizing an objective function that is defined in
equation (4) as a function of the adjustment of the
bearing shell’s centre in vertical direction, see also
Figures 9 and 11.
OBF ¼ PLOSS,1 þ PLOSS,2 þ PLOSS,3 þ PLOSS,4
¼ fðy1 , y2 , y3 , y4 Þ
From the initial value of y1 , ¼ y2 ¼ y3 ¼
y4 ¼ 0 (conventional bearing operation), independ-
ent disturbances occur in y1 , y2 , y3 , y4 through
a MATLAB optimization toolbox, named ‘pattern
search’, that renders the minimization of the OBF.
The ‘pattern search’, known also as ‘direct search’, is
a derivative-free optimization method; it is a numerical
optimization method and does not require calculation
of gradients, therefore it can be used on functions that
are not differentiable. The pattern search method is
based on the theory of positive bases.37
The disturbances are bounded on the interval
c4ðy1 , y2 , y3 , y4 Þ40, meaning that the bear-
ing pad displacement at each bearing will not exceed a
limit value equal to the radial clearance. It must be
clear that the bearing pad displacement does not cor-
respond explicitly to the relative eccentricity at which
the fluid film is established. As it will be shown in
continue, a vertical displacement of the pad e.g. at
50% of the radial clearance does not mean that the
relative bearing eccentricity will be influenced.
For each disturbance, a new steady-state response
is evaluated for each journal, and the power loss is
evaluated using equation (1). A simple optimization
scheme may consider two input parameters; these are
chosen to be the vertical displacements of bearings #2
and #3, keeping bearings #1 and #4 in reference ele-
vation. The disturbances are bounded within the
values c4yi 40. With the input parameters to be
now y2 and y3 the ‘pattern search’ function
achieves gradual decrement of the OBF from the con-
ventional bearing total power loss of 148.9 to
138.2 kW, that is a considerable decrement of 7%,
see Figure 12. Further decrement of the total power
loss may be theoretically achieved according to the
optimization scheme, achieving value up to
122.4 kW (18% decrement), but at this case the
adjustment of the bearing would not yield realistic
ð4Þ values for the relative eccentricity of the journal,
meaning that one of the bearing would have to oper-
ate in relative eccentricity higher than 80%. The OBF
values and the respective values of y2 and y3 are
presented in Table 6 together with other parameters
of evaluation for the optimization pattern, see also
Figure 12.
As it is highlighted in Table 6 (see also Figure 12),
the displacement of the bearing #2 pad vertically
downward by 0.71 of its radial clearance transfers a
percentage of its loading to the neighbour bearings #1
and #3, while it reliefs itself from a percentage of
loading. The vertical displacement of the bearing #2
pads will change the absolute eccentricity of journal
#2 and thus the bending moment in the 1st coupling
(located next to bearing #2) will slightly increase in
absolute value. However, the relative eccentricity in
bearing #2 does not appear to change; in Figure 12
(4th and 5th chart) it is shown that the vertical eccen-
tricity of bearing #2 is decreased while the horizontal
eccentricity is increased by similar portion, keeping
the effective eccentricity unchanged comparing iter-
ation 1 and iteration 2.
The demonstrated ‘pattern search’ for the mini-
mization of total power loss is a way to show how
the adjustment of one bearing affects the loading and
14
Figure 13. Representation of the turbine-generator shaft line layout at rated speed after alignment and distortion of the pedestal #2
in the horizontal direction. Bearing #2 operating position has shifted, potentially leading to non-optimum loading.
the performance of the rest bearings and of the align-
ment configuration.
In 10 iterations of bearing adjustment, shown in
Figure 12 and Table 6, it is demonstrated that the
proposed adjustable bearings enable the possibility
to assign static load in a bearing and to affect its per-
formance. For instance, if a bearing operates at higher
than expected eccentricity, there is the possibility to
relief some load from it and to assign it to its neigh-
bour bearings; this is supposed to occur in real time
with the respective monitoring of the machine.
The adjustment of the bearings should not be hap-
pening mandatorily with concerns of power loss; the
major concerns regarding bearing performance and
the corrective action through adjustable bearings
may be described as follows:
(a) High or low eccentricity: journal relative eccentri-
city less than 35% or more than 65% of the radial
clearance may be considered as low or high,
respectively. The corrective action would be the
adjustment of the bearing’s pads to apply more
load in the bearing or to relief some load from the
bearing. Consequently, the neighbour bearings
would receive less or more load.
(b) High temperature rise: in correspondence to the
adjustment of eccentricity and load, as described
above, there can be corrective actions to prevent
high temperature rise. The adjustment of the bear-
ing’s pads affects the bearing’s thermodynamic
performance because of the adjustment of its
eccentricity. For instance, if a bearing appears
to develop higher temperature than expected,
there can be some change in its operating eccen-
tricity towards the decrement of temperature rise.
(c) Stability: if a bearing operates in relatively low
eccentricity it is a potential source of instability
due to oil whirl. Corrective actions as described in
Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
(a) may be not always possible because the influ-
ence to the neighbour bearings may be not always
acceptable. At this case, meaning when the issue is
only the enhancement of bearing hydrodynamic
stability, the adjustable bearing can change its
configuration and be transformed from a cylin-
drical bore bearing to offset bore or lemon bore
bearing, see Figures 3 and 4. This possibility is
demonstrated extensively in the section
Instability in small turbines of higher speed.
Distortion of pedestal or casing
The distortion of the pedestal and/or casing structure
may appear in steam/gas turbines due to various rea-
sons. In some cases, the thermal distortion of casing
has been predicted and preventing actions are taken
during design. A distortion of the pedestal may affect
the relative eccentricity of the journal bearing, espe-
cially if the extent of the distortion, that may exceed
few hundreds of microns. Such a distortion in multi-
bearing shaft line would influence the operating eccen-
tricity of the journal bearing as shown schematically
in Figure 13 where the pedestal distortion results to
the bearing #2 horizontal displacement of dz, 2. Then,
the equilibrium position is shifted and the journal
obtains (supposed to) an equilibrium closer to the
vertical centreline of the bearing shell.
The adjustable journal bearing is supposed to
enable the corrective action to locate the bearing
bore in the optimum position regardless the pedestal
distortion, permitting the journal bearing operation as
designed, see Figure 14.
A distortion of the casing (stator) may result to
further non-concentric rotor–stator operation (add-
itionally to the already eccentric operation of the
rotor due to journal bearing clearance). The distorted
Chasalevris and Guignier 15

Figure 14. Representation of the turbine-generator shaft line layout at rated speed after alignment and correction of the distortion
of pedestal #2 in the horizontal direction, by adjustment of bearing #2. Bearing #2 operating position has shifted back to yield
optimum loading.

Figure 15. Representation of the turbine-generator shaft line layout at rated speed after alignment and distortion of casing cen-
treline. Distorted casing centreline does not pass through the centre of bearings #2 and #3.

casing centreline is shown in red in Figure 15, where
the bore of bearings #2 and #3 are not anymore con-
centric to the casing. The corrective action of the
adjustable bearings can retain the concentricity of
the bearing bore and the casing if the casing distortion
is within some extent, see Figure 16.
Such an application would require a grid of sensors
for the measurement of the relative distortions in
casing and its pseudo-bearings (e.g. gland sealings
and tip blade sealings) in real time. Such a technology
has not yet been implemented in industrial turboma-
chinery, at least to the authors’ perception. However,
in sections of lower temperature (e.g. <100 C), like
low pressure rotors-segments, the embodiment of
inductive sensors is feasible, at least considering
what is currently offered to the market. The relative
distance between blade tips and stator can be then act
as an input to the adjustable bearings of the shaft
train, retaining the concentricity on certain limits
Instability in small turbines of higher speed
Small steam turbines for electric power generation
(output power < 100 MW) operate at a higher speed
range than the medium size turbines presented in
the previous sections. The speed range for small tur-
bines may be defined from 5000 r/min or lower to
10,000 r/min or higher. Stability concerns are raised
in the design of small steam turbines. The bearing
design should be such that the rotor-bearing system
16 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Figure 16. Representation of the turbine-generator shaft line layout at rated speed after alignment and correction of the distortion
of casing centreline. Distorted casing centreline does pass through the centre of bearings #2 and #3 after the adjustment of bearings
#2 and #3 centre. Operating position of bearings #2 and #3 (if not of all bearings) appears shifted to a slightly different eccentricity.

Figure 17. Representation of the turbine rotor-bearing-support system used in this example and its discretization for the imple-
mentation of TTMM. Additional masses have been incorporated to implement the rotating blades. Foundation is assumed rigid without
permitting any motion. Bearing pad at each bearing is assumed to implement the total support mass (pedestal mass) and to perform
motion, see Figure 7. Approximate slenderness ratio is L=D  7:3. Unbalance is applied within one case of single unbalance.

is well stable as the rotor may be slender and the
journal bearings lightly loaded. Usually, tilting pad
bearings are implemented in such applications.
However, bearings of other ‘stable’ profile, like
lemon bore bearings, do also apply for heavier (and
slower in speed) machines from the small steam tur-
bine family, ensuring stable operation in rated speed
higher than 1st or even 2nd critical speed. A small
steam turbine is coupled to the generator rotor
through flexible couplings and a gearbox, transmitting
the turbine power output from the high-speed shaft
line (turbine), to the low speed shaft line (generator)
that operates in synchronous grid frequency, e.g.
3000 r/min/3600 r/min (or 1500 r/min/1800 r/min).
Bearing characteristics should combine features
like stability, load capacity, power loss, and stiffness
and damping characteristics so as the turbine rotor to
comply to the lateral vibrations standards regarding
critical speed separation margins, amplitudes, and
other standards defined.38,39 It is quite usual that a
bearing configuration cannot combine all the operat-
ing demands mentioned above as the machine changes
operating conditions. There are two main events that
change the operating conditions of the rotor-bearing
system in such applications, and bearing design
should be able to compensate for them:
1. Partial arc steam admission
2. Distortion of Gearbox (or other component) due
to temperature rise.
Case 2 is very like the case analysed in the medium
size turbine, section Distortion of pedestal or casing.
Therefore, similar corrective action is supposed to be
taken from the adjustable journal bearing by displa-
cing its equilibrium position. Furthermore, the flexible
Chasalevris and Guignier 17

Table 7. Basic geometrical and physical properties of the turbine rotor-bearing system; coordinate system for bearing support
properties is the same as in Figure 7.

Bearings

Rotor Bearing #1 Bearing #2

a
Total rotor mass M Type Lemon bore Lemon borea
Load F1 ¼ 0:4 Mg F1 ¼ 0:6 Mg
Equivalent diameter D Diameter D1 ¼ 0:36D D2 ¼ 0:41D
Mass polar moment of J ¼ MðD=2Þ2 Length L1 ¼ 0:68D1 L2 ¼ 0:69D2
inertia of the rotor
Bearing span L  7:3D Diametric clearance 2cb,1 ¼ 1:1% D1 2cb,2 ¼ 1:1% D2
(assembled bearing)
Diametric clearance 2cp,1 ¼ 2:2% D1 2cp,2 ¼ 2:2% D2
(machined pad)
Preload m1 ¼ 0:5 m2 ¼ 0:5
Young’s modulus E ¼ 210GPa Lubricant viscosity  ¼ 0:03 Pa  s  ¼ 0:03 Pa  s
Rotor equivalent bending stiffness K ¼ 3ED4 =4L3 Supports #1 #2
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Reference natural frequency in bending 0 ¼ K=M Mass mpy , mpx 4:4M, 2:3M 0:3M, 3:4M
StiffnessKpy , Kpx 8:7K, 1:2K 2:3K, 2:3K
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
0:4 Kpy mpy , 0:7 Kpy mpy ,
DampingCpy , Cpx pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
0:3 Kpx mpx 0:3 Kpx mpx
a
Lemon bore configuration corresponds to the adjustment shown in Figure 3 and this is supposed to be a reference bearing configuration in this
example.

coupling introduces tolerance in lateral and angular
misalignment between turbine and gearbox or
between gearbox and generator. However, rigid cou-
plings are intended to substitute flexible couplings in
some of such applications. A less loaded bearing may
be also appeared in the gearbox or in the rotor
coupled to the gearbox when transmitting torque
changes (as turbines do not always operate at full
power). Regarding the case 1, this is the case in
which the output power of the steam turbine is
required to be lower (at least not full) and at this
case the steam is not admitted at a symmetric inlet
layout (using all nozzles/valves), but it is admitted
from only one or two nozzles, yielding a non-sym-
metric distribution of the thrust forces of the steam
hitting the first stage blades. In such a case, the
thermodynamic efficiency of the machine is getting
slightly (but still considerably) improved, but a result-
ing tangential force loads the turbine rotor laterally,
and in a direction, that can be upward or downward,
depending to the partial arc open/closed. Therefore,
the resulting bearing static load do considerably
decrease, meaning that even half specific load may
be applied to a bearing compared to the full arc sym-
metric steam admission. The risk of instability is high
in such cases as the machine is supposed to retain its
high rated speed, but with one (or both) bearing(s) to
be lightly loaded. This is an excellent case to demon-
strate how the adjustable bearing transforms its lemon
bore configuration, into an offset halves configur-
ation, ensuring the stability when partial arc steam
admission occurs (yielding light bearing load), and
offering the demanded design characteristics when
normal operation is taking place (lemon bore
configuration).
In the following example, a small steam turbine,
presented in Figure 17 and Table 7 with relative prop-
erties, performs a virtual run up in the time duration
of 75 s from 0 to the rated speed of 7000 r/min and
then it continuous for further 15 s at a constant rotat-
ing speed (rated speed) achieving a steady-state
response where it is supposed to experience normal
operation at full load, producing its rated power
output. Then, at 90 s, the virtual partial arc steam
admission occurs and a transient load is applied in
the bearing #1 so as the resulting load to
become 40% less than this of normal operating con-
dition, while the turbine retains its rated speed of
7000 r/min. Consequently, the light loaded bearing
in combination of high speed, triggers instability and
the bearing experiences sub-synchronous whirling of
increasing amplitude, as shown in Figure 18, demon-
strating the well-known oil-whirl phenomenon. As the
high bearing amplitude influences the entire turbine
rotor, bearing #2 will be entering unstable regimes
at the similar moment (estimated approximately at
98.7 s) and in a real situation the turbine operation
will be tripped with an emergency shutdown to follow.
As mentioned in the beginning of the section,
lemon bore configuration may ensure stable bearing
operation up to high speeds (e.g. two or even three
times the 1st critical speed) for nominal bearing loads.
As presented in Figure 18, the lemon bore bearing
configuration will not retain stable operation when
18 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Figure 18. Journal displacement at bearing #1 as a function of time t during a transient run up and steady-state operation. Lighter
load of 40% is applied in bearing #1 at 90 s to trigger oil-whirl instability. Conventional lemon bore bearings are implemented at this
example.

Figure 19. Journal displacement at bearing #1 as a function of time t during a transient run up and steady-state operation. Lighter
load of 40% is applied in bearing #1 at 90 s to trigger oil-whirl instability. The conventional lemon bore bearing #1 is transformed to
offset halves bearing of preload 0.3 (see section Offset bore (offset halves) adjustment), at the 90 s, to avoid instability and the machine
to continue operate at stable operation.

the bearing load gets 40% lower. To prevent unstable of the same preload m and of the same clearances as
whirling, the adjustable bearing will transform its con- the lemon bore configuration, see Table 7. However,
figuration from the lemon bore to the offset halves, the offset halves configuration is proved to be of
shown in Figure 4. The offset halves configuration is higher efficiency regarding stability as the effective
Chasalevris and Guignier 19

Figure 20. Journal displacement at bearing #1 as a function of time t during a transient run up and steady-state operation. Lighter
load of 40% is applied in bearing #1 at 90 s to trigger oil-whirl instability. The conventional lemon bore bearing #1 is transformed to
offset halves bearing of preload 0.2 (see section Offset bore (offset halves) adjustment), at the 90 s, to avoid instability but preload
value 0.2 is proved not enough to retain stable operation; the system develops subsynchronous response towards oil-whirl instability.

eccentricity of the bearing is increased considerably in
the key area of the circumference regarding the cur-
rent application, see Figure 19. The key area would be
defined as the area on the sides of the minimum fluid
film thickness location (for the offset halves configur-
ation). A preload m ¼ 0:3 in the offset halves config-
uration, see Figure 19 is proved able to establish
stable regime at the new operating condition of lighter
load and the machine is supposed to continue operat-
ing at rated speed. However, a smaller preload of e.g.
m ¼ 0:2 would not have been able to establish stable
operation, see Figure 20. Although the bearing does
not enter intensive oil whirl shortly after the applica-
tion of lighter load (as shown Figure 18), it tends to
develop sub-synchronous response as it is clearly seen
in Figure 20, and soon after it may be turned to oil-
whirl instability with the result to trip the operation of
the machine.
Conclusions
In this study, an innovative adjustable bearing was
presented, implemented in medium and small tur-
bine-generator shaft trains, and investigated regarding
the possibility to offer an identical operating condi-
tion of the rotor-bearing system in industrial turbines.
The contribution of the proposed adjustable bear-
ing to industrial turbine rotordynamics should be
found on the following points:
1. The avoidance of rotor–stator contact risk by
keeping rotor and casing concentric to each
other considering the static deformations of
rotor and casing across the shaft line or other par-
ameters that influence the elastic line of the rotor.
2. The possibility to suppress higher amplitudes of
rotor/journal whirling than those expected in
design, due to numerous reasons that influence
the rotor-bearing system’s stability, and the char-
acteristics of damping.
3. The ability to compensate the structural distor-
tions of the machine due to structural or thermal
loads that influence the efficiency and integrity of
the turbine-generator shaft line.
4. The establishment of identical operating charac-
teristics of the bearings that were not achieved
due to manufacturing or other reasons related to
engineering design.
5. The extraction of the optimum operating efficiency
regarding power losses of a given shaft line that
for obvious reasons cannot be modified after the
delivery of the machine on site.
6. The establishment of a communication channel
between engineer and machine to modify proper-
ties and configuration of the shaft line in real time
operation.
It is known that the design of industrial turbines
should always concern conservative values for the
rotordynamic performance of the machine, meaning
that the on-site rotordynamic performance should be
inside the acceptable design limits (amplitudes, critical
speeds, power losses, instability thresholds, etc.).
Through the nonlinear bearing models and the
20
nonlinear transient and steady-state response analysis,
it was demonstrated that various common issues of
structural distortion, non-optimum design/manufac-
turing may considerably influence the rotordynamic
performance of the shaft line.
The adjustable bearing can establish new bound-
aries in the rotordynamic design evaluation,
towards more tight clearances between rotating and
stationary components, offering simultaneously
the possibility/flexibility to adapt an optimized
rotordynamic performance of the machine that will
always appear on-site with some divergence from
the design.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Athanasios Chasalevris http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6891-
439X
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