A Study on the Measurement and Analysis of Whirling Vibration Behavior of Marine Propulsion Shafting System using Gap-sensors

Recently, as a result of the application of large and multi-blade propellers with high efficiency for large vessels, the vertical bending stiffness of propulsion shafting system tends to be declined. For some specific vessels, the shaft arrangement leads to the forward stern tube bearing to be omitted, decreasing vertical bending stiffness. In this respect, decreased vertical bending stiffness causes the problem which is the blade order resonance frequency to be placed within the operational rpm range of propulsion shafting system. To verify whirling vibration, the measurement should be carried out covering from operating rpm up to target rpm, however, the range is un-measurable generally. In order to resolve the measurement issue, this study shows the measuring method and the assessment method of relevant natural frequency of whiling vibration by using measured harmonic order component of whirling vibration.