Improvement of rotor performance under rubbing conditions through active auxiliary bearings

This paper develops a new concept to enhance the adaptive capability of rotating machinery to the rubbing conditions through active auxiliary bearings. To demonstrate the feasibility of this idea, a model with a Jeffcott rotor and an active auxiliary bearing, which accounts for both the dynamics of the auxiliary bearing and the deformation on the contact surface, is investigated. The dynamics and the stability of the non-linear piecewise-smooth passive rotor/stator (auxiliary bearing) system are first studied. Then, two control approaches are proposed with the aim to reduce the rubbing severity during the rotor/stator rubbing. It is shown that by using an optimal controller, the harmful heavy rubbing between the rotor and the stator can be well stabilized to the mild light rub through the active auxiliary bearing, and the already established rotor-to-stator rubbing can even be released by using PD-controllers.