Abstract
Gearboxes are often used in the petrochemical and electrical power plants to transmit mechanical power between two branches of a machinery train rotating at different speeds. When the gearboxes are connected with rotors supported by journal bearings, bearing loads vary in magnitude and direction with rotor speed and torque transmitted by the gearboxes. In this study, dynamic characteristics of the system which consists of gearboxes and a rotor supported by journal bearings are investigated analytically and experimentally by employing the polynomial transfer matrix method and modal analysis under different speeds and torque levels. Journal bearing loads due to the transmitted torque are claculated analytically and the stiffness and damping coefficient of the journal bearings are obtained using finite element method. Comparison of the analytical and experimental results shows that the cross coupled stiffness coefficients increase with increasing rotor speed, while the cross coupled damping coefficients decrease. This generates the oil whirl instability in the journal bearings. As the transmitted torque level goes up, the stiffness coefficients of the journal bearing and the first horizontal natural frequency increase. High levels of the transmitted torque produce high bearing stiffness since the contact loads of the mating gear teeth increase. The logarithmic decrement, which is a stability indicator, is shown to decrease with increasing speed and decreasing torque. Thus, at the low torque level, the system become unstable even at the low shaft speed.
