Constrained Design Optimization of Rotor-Tilting Pad Bearing Systems

Costin D. Untaroiu1
e-mail: cdu4q@virginia.edu

Alexandrina Untaroiu
e-mail: au6d@virginia.edu Rotating Machinery and Controls (ROMAC) Laboratories, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, 122 Engineers Way, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4746

Design of a rotor-bearing system is a challenging task due to various conicting design requirements, which should be fullled. This study considers an automatic optimization approach for the design of a rotor supported on tilting-pad bearings. A numerical example of a rotor-bearing system is employed to demonstrate the merits of the proposed design approach. The nite element method is used to model the rotor-bearing system, and the dynamic speed-dependent coefcients of the bearing are calculated using a bulk ow code. A number of geometrical characteristics of the rotor simultaneously with the parameters dening the conguration of tilting pad bearings are considered as design variables into the automatic optimization process. The power loss in bearings, stability criteria, and unbalance responses are dened as a set of objective functions and constraints. The complex design optimization problem is solved using heuristic optimization algorithms, such as genetic, and particle-swarm optimization. Whereas both algorithms found better design solutions than the initial design, the genetic algorithms exhibited the fastest convergence. A statistical approach was used to identify the inuence of the design variables on the objective function and constraint measures. The bearing clearances, preloads and lengths showed to have the highest inuence on the power loss in the chosen design space. The high performance of the best solution obtained in the optimization design suggests that the proposed approach has good potential for improving design of rotor-bearing systems encountered in industrial applications. DOI: 10.1115/1.4001811 Keywords: rotors, vibration, optimization, bearings

Introduction

Over the years, design of rotating machineries has become more challenging due to continuous demand to increase the performance of the rotor-bearing systems. The large number of parameters having signicant inuence on the dynamics of the system, such as inertial and stiffness distribution along the rotor and bearing characteristics, opens the possibilities for application of automatic design optimization methods. Design optimization of rotor-bearing systems has been reported by several studies. A part of these studies focused the optimization process on the geometrical characteristics of the rotor 13, considering the bearing supports as idealized springs with non-speeddependent stiffness coefcients. The objective functions were dened as the rotor weight 1, linear combination of the rotor weight with natural frequency and the resonance response 2, or as a function related to the damped frequency constraints 3. Another study 4 optimized the bearing design parameters to reduce the power loss, without considering any changes in the rotor design. The optimization methods used in these studies were mainly based on heuristic algorithms, such as genetic algorithms GAs 15 and gradient algorithm 6. An linear matrix inequality LMI-based optimization of vibration and stability of the rotor system was also proposed in a more recent study 7. While LMI method guarantees nding the global minimum of the objective function, some drawbacks were observed in terms of implementation and slow convergence of the numerical routines applied.
1 Corresponding author. Contributed by the International Gas Turbine Institute IGTI of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. Manuscript received April 2, 2010; nal manuscript received April 26, 2010; published online August 25, 2010. Editor: Dilip R. Ballal.

The current study reports on a different approach to rotor design optimization, where parameters of both subsystems, rotor and bearings, are simultaneously optimized in order to obtain the optimal design. The design objective was the minimization of power loss in bearings with constraints on system stability, unbalance sensitivities, and bearing temperatures. The design variables were chosen as the journal diameters at support locations and in the middle region for the rotor, and the bearing lengths, radial clearances, preloads, and the angular length of pads for tilting pad bearings. Two heuristic optimization algorithms: GA and particleswarm optimization PSO were employed in the automatic design process. The high performance of the best design solution obtained by optimization suggests that the proposed approach has potential for improving the design of rotor-bearing systems encountered in industrial applications.

Rotor-Bearing System Modeling

The mathematical approach used to model the rotor and the bearings is described in the following sections. 2.1 Rotor Model. The centrifugal compressor Fig. 1, which is approximately 2.8 m in length and 954 kg in weight, was discretized into 34 beam elements sections with 35 nodes stations using an in-house code for rotor dynamics analyses 8. In this nite element code, a node with four degrees of freedom two displacements and rotations in the lateral plane is dened at each disk location, and the inertial properties of disks are introduced in the equations of motion of rotor lateral vibrations. The EulerBernoulli beam theory is employed to determine the mass and stiffness matrices of beam elements. Consequently, the assembled equation of motion for the rotor-bearing system is formulated as: DECEMBER 2010, Vol. 132 / 122502-1

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Table 1 Rotor model-nominal design L m 0.0345 0.1712 0.0381 0.0434 0.0881 0.0544 0.0897 0.0864 0.0625 0.0787 0.0625 0.0787 0.0625 0.0787 0.0625 0.1600 0.1600 0.0721 0.0909 0.0721 0.0909 0.0721 0.0909 0.1273 0.0734 0.0587 0.0902 0.0544 0.0876 0.0434 0.0381 0.1445 0.0475 0.1400 Di m 0.0699 0.1107 0.1270 0.1270 0.1651 0.1681 0.1580 0.1824 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1702 0.1778 0.1681 0.1681 0.1651 0.1270 0.1270 0.1189 0.0950 0.0935 0.0935 Ipd kg m2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 52.803 2.901 52.803 2.901 52.803 2.901 52.803 0 52.803 4.202 52.803 4.202 52.803 4.202 52.803 14.035 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Md kg 72.1 3.2 4.6 2.5 4.4 5.6 5.7 7.5 6.7 33.3 7.8 33.3 7.8 33.3 7.8 36.7 13.2 36.9 9.5 34.3 9.5 34.3 9.5 36.6 17.1 5.6 5.9 5.7 5.5 4.4 2.0 3.6 7.4 9.4 4.7

Station No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Fig. 1 The rotor model of an eight stage centrifugal compressor

+ G + Cq + Kq = f t M q

where q is the displacement vector, is the rotor angular speed, M is the inertia matrix, G is the gyroscopic matrix, C is the damping matrix, K is the stiffness matrix, and f is the external force vector. The code uses a state vector approach to transform the second order Eq. 1 into a rst order equation: = Ax + b x where A = and b = 2

0
1 1

M K M G + C

x =

q q

0 M 1 f

which can be easily solved. The dimensions of each section and the inertial properties of lumped masses at each node disks are reported in Table 1. 2.2 Tilting Pad Bearing Model. The rotor is supported on two hydrodynamic journal bearings of the tilting pad type Fig. 2 with the characteristics reported in Table 2. In the mathematical model of the rotor-bearing system, each bearing was approximated by eight stiffness and damping coefcients introduced at their locations nodes 4 and 31. Using an in-house bearing program 9, the tilting pad bearings were analyzed at different rotational speeds selected from the operational range. This program calculates iteratively the equilibrium position of the journal and the tilt angle for each pad, including a variety of thermal and deformation effects. The Reynolds equation for the circumferential pressure distribution is solved based on an assumed axial prole. Viscosity and temperature distributions are determined by the solution of a bulk ow energy equation, which also allows the circumferential and cross-lm variation. In the bearing analyses, a temperature-dependent viscosity model corresponding to ISO VG32 oil was employed. Bearing characteristics, such as position of the journal, linear stiffness and damping coefcients, power losses, and maximum pad surface temperature, were extracted from the program output les and then, were used into the rotordynamic analyses.

L, section length; Di, outer diameter; Ipd , lump polar moment of inertia; M d, lump mass.

xli xi xiu

where i = 1, n

The ranges of the design variables of the bearing-rotor system and the number of levels used by optimization algorithms are provided in Table 3. Since both journal lengths L were variable Table 3 during the optimization process, the lengths of the bearing sections 3, 4, 30, and 31, which depend on the journal, were also variable as follows: L L331 = , 2 L430 = L + L 2 6

where the offset length between the bearing and the following section with a higher diameter L = L4 L3nominal = 5.3 mm was

Rotor-Bearing Optimization Problem

A single objective optimization problem can be expressed in the following standard form: min f x s.t. a j g jx b j, with x = x1, x2, . . . , xn j = 1, m and hkx = 0, 4 k = 1, l

where f x, gix, and hkx are functions of independent variables xi design variables. The function f x known as the objective function identies the quantity to be minimized. The functions gix and hkx are used to dene the design constraints. The space, where the best design is searched, is usually an n-dimensional rectangle dened using its lower and upper limits, 122502-2 / Vol. 132, DECEMBER 2010

Fig. 2 The geometry of tilting pad bearing

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Table 2 Initial bearing design characteristics Number of pads Bearing loads WL / WR Preload Load direction Radius journal Radius clearance Length Offset factor Pad arc length 5 1123.8 N/980.1 N 0.4 On pad 63.5 mm 0.09652 mm 76.2 mm 0.5 60 deg Fig. 3 Damped natural frequency constraint for the rotorbearing system at operating speed 5000 rpm. The unfeasible regions are colored in gray.

maintained constant. The changes in the diameters of bearings and middle shaft and the bearing lengths induced modications in the mass distribution along the rotor and in the bearing loads. Therefore, the bearing loads were calculated for each rotor design, and corresponding values were used in the bearing analyses. A feasible design of a rotor-bearing system should satisfy a signicant number of requirements, which are usually dened as constraints or objectives in the optimization problem Eq. 4. These practical requirements and their implementation into the design optimization problem of the compressor are discussed in the following sections. 3.1 Tilting Pad Bearing Design. The efciency of rotating machinery depends substantially on the power losses in the bearings, which are caused by the friction in the oil lm separating bearing surfaces and the shaft. Therefore, in this study, the sum of the power losses calculated in both bearings at the operating speed 5000 rpm was dened as the objective function and minimized during optimization process. The babbitt temperatures of the pads are an important indicator of the bearing reliability. The fatigue strength of the babbitt material is signicantly reduced at elevated temperatures 10; therefore, the temperatures of both bearings calculated at the operating speed 5000 rpm of the rotating machine were constrained by a maximum pad surface temperature of 90 C. 3.2 Stability: Damping Ratios and Damped Critical Speeds. A necessary condition for the rotor-bearing system is to be stable in the operational range. An unstable system would certainly generate a high level of vibrations, which may severely damage the system. The stability of the rotor-bearing system is checked using the RouthHurwitz stability criterion 11,12. This criterion requires the calculation of the complex eigenvalues of the real square matrix A Eq. 3, i = i ii 7 where i is the damped natural frequency and i is the growth factor for the ith vibration mode. In practical applications, the system stability is usually expressed by the modal damping ratio,

constraint was dened for the damped natural frequencies calculated at the operating speed Fig. 3. No modes were allowed in a speed range around the operation speed no = 5000 rpm unless these modes were highly damped i u = 20% 4. The lower limit of the damping ratio for modes with frequencies outside this region and lower than nup = 6000 rpm was dened at a lower value l = 2%. Since the stability of the system cannot be veried for all running up or slightly above nominal speed conditions, discrete cases were considered at the following speeds close to the operating speed: 3000 rpm, 4000 rpm, and 6000 rpm. A minimum damping ratio of 2% for the modes with frequencies below 6000 rpm was imposed. While the operational speed is located between the rst and the second bending modes forward and backward, the stability requirements generated 16 constraints i.e., 4 4 for the modal damping ratios. 3.3 Damped Unbalance Responses. The unbalance response of a rotor-bearing system is difcult to predict accurately because the distribution of unbalance mass along the rotor is usually unknown. A procedure currently applied in rotor design and analysis is to check the sensitivity of the rotor at the modes below or close to the operating speed. A certain set of unbalance masses is attached to the rotor in order to excite a mode shape, and the unbalance response is calculated in the operating regime. In this study, the rst bending modes were excited by an unbalance of 2.42 kg mm calculated according to API requirements 13,14 applied at station 17 Fig. 4. Similarly, the second bending modes were excited by two equal unbalance masses shifted 180 deg in phase and applied at stations 11 and 24, respectively Fig. 4. The damped unbalance responses at twenty-one equal spaced speeds in a range from 1000 rpm to 6000 rpm were evaluated using corresponding speed-dependent bearing coefcients. Upper limit constraints were dened for the maximum amplitudes of the major elliptical whirling orbits, calculated at the bearing locations 20 m and mass unbalance locations 40 m. As a result, the unbalance requirements generated seven constraints i.e., three for the rst unbalance case and four for the second unbalance case, and the whole design optimization problem had 25 constraints.

i =

i2 + i2

which should be positive for a stable behavior. To ensure that any design changes in the system maintain a reasonable stability margin from the operating speed to surrounding natural frequencies, a

Table 3 Design variables and their ranges Variable Unit Nominal Minimum Maximum No. of levels
a

D mm 122.5 120 125 30

L/D 0.6 0.5 0.8 30

cp / D 104 7.6 5 12.5 30

m 0.5 0 0.5 30

Ds mm 170 160 185 30

deg 60 55 65 30

The offset was considered 0.5 in all designs.

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Fig. 4 Unbalance cases

Optimization Algorithms

Finding the best solution of the optimization problem Eq. 4 in the design space requires global optimization algorithms. However, the applicability of these algorithms in complex optimization problems is limited due to several shortcomings: 1 the requirement of a huge computational effort to make a complete search of the design space, 2 the difculties for some algorithms to identify when the global minimum was achieved in order to stop searching 15, and 3 the specic format of the optimization problem required to be numerically implemented see the semidenite programming techniques noted in Refs. 7,16. Therefore, engineering optimization problems having complex mathematical models, such as rotor-bearing systems 16, are usually solved using heuristic algorithms. While these algorithms cannot guarantee reaching the optimal solution, they often nd a good solution close to the global optimum by examining a large discrete conguration space in a reasonable amount of time. In this study, two heuristic algorithms have been used for the design optimization of the centrifugal compressor: the GA, and the PSO algorithms implemented in a software package 17. Both iterative algorithms start with a preliminary exploration of the design space by evaluating design points of an initial design of experiments DOE sequence. After several iterations, the process moves from a rough optimization phase to a rened optimization phase based on the values of objective function evaluated at previous design points. While short descriptions of optimization algorithms used in this study are briey outlined below, the reader is referred to Rayward-Smith et al. 18 or Chong and Zak 19 for a more detailed treatment of optimization theory. A GA is a probabilistic search technique that has its root in the evolutionary concepts of natural selection and genetics 19. First, an initial DOE covering the entire range of possible solutions is randomly generated to form an initial population. Then, the design points of the initial population are selected through a tness-based process based on the values of the objective function evaluated at each point of the initial population. Next, a new population is created from those selected through specic genetic operators, such as crossover and mutation. A special operator that gives efciency to this algorithm is the directional crossover operator. This operator assumes that a direction of improvement can be detected comparing the tness values of the design points. While high values of this operator increase the convergence of the search, the algorithm robustness may decrease. Therefore, in highly nonlinear problems, small values of this operator are recommended to avoid convergence at local minimum. In the current study, the probabilities of directional crossover, selection, and mutation used by GA optimization were 0.5, 0.05, and 0.1, respectively. PSO is a population-based search algorithm based on the simulation of the social behavior of birds within a ock. If one member sees a desirable path to go, the rest of this swarm will follow quickly 20. This behavior of animals is imitated in the PSO by 122502-4 / Vol. 132, DECEMBER 2010

particles with certain positions and velocities. During the optimization process, each particle in PSO ies through the searching space and remembers the best position it has seen. The population of particles is called swarm. Members of a swarm communicate good positions to each other and dynamically adjust their own position and velocity based on this information. In this way, the particles tend to y toward better and better searching areas over the optimization process. An operator called turbulence similar to mutation in GA acts on the velocity value used by the PSO algorithm and reects the change in a particles ight, which is out of its control. A turbulence value of 0.3 was used in the PSO simulation. While different versions of PSO algorithms have been proposed in the past years 21, the PSO version proposed by Mostaghim 22 was used in the current study. A Sobolev sequence having 40 points was used as the initial DOE space to cover the entire discrete design space 729 106 design points, and GA and PSO optimizations were stopped after 800 simulations. To better understand the effects of the design variables inputs on the objective function and the measures used in the constraints outputs, a statistical analysis of the results of all 1600 simulations was performed. For each design variable v input, the simulations were divided in two categories: 1 the simulations with the input in its lower part of the domain vmin , vmin + vmax / 2 and 2 the simulations with the input in the upper part of domain vmin + vmax / 2 , vmax. Then, the effect size was calculated as the difference between the averages of outputs corresponding to the populations belonging to lower level inputs M and upper level inputs M +. An effect size positive suggests a direct relationship between the output and the input, whereas a negative value of effect size indicates an inverse relationship. A low value of the effect size indicates that the input has an insignicant inuence on the output. A t-test was used to assess whether the averages of two groups M and M + are statistically different. The null hypothesis of no statistical differences between lower and upper parts of the domain was formulated. The t-value for the input parameter was calculated as 23 t= SGn + n+/nn+ M M + 9

2 2 2 where SG = n 1S + n+ 1S+ / n+ + n 2 is the general variance, and the variances of lower and upper domains are

2 = S

x
i=1

n 1

2 = S+

x
i=1

n+

M + 2 10

n+ 1

n and n+ are the numbers of input values in the lower and upper domain, respectively. The p-value of each input-output pair was calculated based on the t-value and the degrees of freedom given by the WelchSatterthwatte equation that is commonly used for unequal sizes with unequal variance. A low value of the p-value e.g., under 0.05 rejects the null hypothesis, consequently indicating that the difference between both averages effect size data is reliable.

Results

The GA algorithm used to solve the optimization problem corresponding to the compressor design components showed a relatively fast convergence Fig. 5 and good percentage 77% of feasible solutions solutions which satises the constraints of the optimization problem. Even though the PSO algorithm found a design point with a better performance than the nominal design Fig. 6, its convergence was slower and only about 33% of the design points evaluated were feasible. The design parameters of the best solution Table 4, except the shaft diameter, were driven by the GA optimization algorithm to Transactions of the ASME

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Fig. 5 Optimization results: GA-only feasible designs

Fig. 7 The effect sizes of design variables on the power loss all p-values under 0.003

Fig. 6 Optimization results: PSO algorithm-only feasible designs

the values near the upper or lower level of the design domain. According to the statistical analysis, the bearing diameters, pad arc lengths , and L / D ratios have signicant direct effects on the power loss Fig. 7. This explains the values of these parameters at their lower range limits when the minimization of power loss is the objective function. On the contrary, signicant inverse effects Fig. 7 on power loss were shown by the ratios c p / D and the preloads m, which lead their optimized values to their upper limits. The lowest effect size direct was recorded by the shaft diameter, whose value slightly decreased from the nominal value. While the optimized design solution should satisfy a number of constraints, it is interesting to investigate the effect of the design variables on the measures included in the constraints as well. Even though all design variables have direct effect on the value of minimum damping ratio, the optimal rotor design with lower diameter values for journals and shaft provides a minimum damping ratio 3.7% above the constraint limit and the corresponding value of the nominal design 1.3%. The bearing preloads are the design variables with the highest inverse effect on the maximum unbalance amplitudes at both bearing and unbalance mass locations corresponding to rst unbalance mode Table 5. While the maximum amplitude at bearing locations predicted by the optimum design increased slightly than the corresponding values of the nominal design Fig. 8, they were maintained under the bearing constraint 20 m. In addition, the

maximum amplitude at the unbalance location corresponding to the rst unbalance mode has been decreased under the constraint limit 40 m. The diameter of shaft, the preload of right bearing, and the pad clearance ratio c p / D of the left bearing have the highest inverse inuence on the maximum unbalance amplitudes at both bearing and unbalance mass locations for the second unbalance mode Table 5. As in the rst unbalance case, the maximum amplitudes corresponding to the second mode increased at the bearing location under the constraint limit but decreased at unbalance mass locations under its limit Fig. 8. The pad clearance ratios c p / D and the preloads proved to have the highest effect inverse on the babbitt temperature of both bearings Table 5. The optimal design, with these parameters at the highest level allowed, decreased the babbitt temperature from 91 C and 93 C in the left bearing and the right bearing, respectively nominal design to about 86 C in both bearings.

Discussion

Design in rotor dynamics, as in other engineering elds 2427, is a challenging task due to various conicting design requirements that should be satised by the rotor-bearing system. This study showed that optimization algorithms coupled with bearing and rotor dynamics codes have the potential to assist in designing high-performance systems or improving the current designs. Even though the rotor-bearing system is assumed as a linear system, the complex equations of tilting pad bearings and their corresponding speed-dependent stiffness and damping coefcients make it difcult to set the optimization problem in an appropriate form for the global optimization algorithms e.g., LMI formulation. However, two heuristic algorithms, especially the genetic algorithm, show good performance in nding better design solutions than the nominal design.

Table 4 Design variablesoptimal design Variable Unit Nominal GA opt. L/R D mm 127 124.6/124.5 L/D 0.6/0.6 0.5/0.5 cp / D 104 7.6 12.5/12.5

deg 60 55.3/55.3

m 0.5 0.5/0.48

ds mm 170 166.2

L, left bearing station 4; R, right bearing station 31.

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Table 5 The effect sizes of design variables on the outputs

m %
D bR D bL C pR / D bR C pL / D bL L bR / D bR L bL / D bL mL mR R 0.42 0.33 0.96 1.25 0.37 0.45 1.71 1.69 0.03 0.39 0.50 0.002 1.30

A b1 m 0.73 0.183 1.29 0.043 2.69 0.112 2.82 0.003 2.44 0.002 1.03 0.091 6.87 0.002 5.92 0.06 0.474 2.70 0.132 0.38 0.308

A m1 m 0.98 0.42 0.206 9.36 0.352 11.80 0.04 0.484 1.25 0.136 13.49 17.72 2.98 0.013 5.81 0.022 2.39 0.013

A b2 m 0.33 0.302 0.83 0.081 2.64 0.01 2.79 0.016 0.84 0.028 1.18 0.087 5.73 0.046 1.79 0.68 0.164 0.89 0.273 7.52

A m2 m 4.59 0.143 7.89 0.023 18.96 21.96 0.029 3.07 0.223 2.86 0.243 16.88 0.222 4.03 1.62 0.364 11.00 0.124 20.15

TL C 0.38 0.002 0.77 1.26 5.17 0.88 0.29 0.011 1.75 3.32 1.54 0.95 0.20 0.056

TR C 0.20 0.044 0.86 5.11 1.52 0.59 0.63 1.97 1.25 0.78 0.95 0.11 0.18

L
Ds

p-value bigger than 0.001 are provided in parentheses.

A statistical analysis of all simulation results helps to better understand the inuence of design variables on the objective function and the measures included in the constraints. However, it should be mentioned that the results of this analysis depend also on the range dened for each variable. A large range for a certain design variable may consequently increase its inuence on the outputs. For example, the bearing preloads showed to have signicant effect sizes on many outputs Table 5 due to its inuence on the bearing coefcients 28 and due to its large design range. In addition, the preloads were the only variables that had no conicting requirements; its increased values improve all system requirements. In fact, the advantages of an increased preload of tilting pad bearings are well-known e.g., signicant improvements in rotor stability 29, which justies the high values of preload in both nominal and optimized designs. Another variable with signicant inuence on the system performance is the pad clearance versus journal diameter ratios. Its increase improved all system requirements except the unbalance response in the right bearing on the second mode. The diameter of the shaft, the variable that has no direct relationship with the bearing design, showed signicant inverse inuence only on the balancing response e.g., second mode. However, its inuence on other system measures e.g., power loss was negligible, suggesting that the redesign of the bearings has the highest potential for the improvement of the system.

In this study, the optimization problem of the rotor-bearing system was formulated with one objective function, the power loss, whereas the rest of the system requirements selected were included in the constraints. If the designer is interested in the Pareto optimal tradeoff surfaces between multiple objectives, the same search algorithms can be extended to a multi-objective optimization problem. However, the computational effort will increase signicantly if the dimension of the objective space is increased 3. While the results of the optimization process may depend on the accuracy of bearing codes used, it is believed that implementation of more complex methods e.g., computational uid dynamics CFD method 30,31 in the calculation of bearing coefcients has a potential to improve the reliability of the rotor dynamic predictions and, implicitly, the optimization process.

Conclusion

The main goal of this paper was to investigate the application of an automatic design approach for improving the efciency and rotor dynamic performance of a rotating machinery supported on tilting pad bearings. It was shown that a genetic algorithm and a particle-swarm optimization algorithm combined with rotor and bearing analysis codes have the capability to identify better designs in terms of bearing efciency, stability, and unbalance sensitivity. While both heuristic algorithms found design solutions with better performance than the nominal design, the genetic algorithm exhibited the fastest convergence. The high performance of the best design solution obtained in the optimization and the insightful results provided by the statistical analysis suggest that the proposed design approach has a very good potential for improving the design of rotor-bearing systems encountered in industrial applications.

Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Prof. Paul Allaire and Mr. Amir Younan of the University of Virginia for helpful feedback and suggestions.

Nomenclature
Fig. 8 The maximum unbalance amplitude along the major axis of elliptical orbits at bearing and unbalance mass locations unbalance cases 1 and 2

Ab1, Ab2 the maximum amplitude of major elliptical orbits at bearing locations unbalance cases 1 and 2 Transactions of the ASME

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Am1, Am2 the maximum amplitude of major elliptical orbits at mass unbalance locations unbalance cases 1 and 2 C damping matrix Cb = Rb R radial bearing clearance C p = R p R radial pad clearance D = 2R journal diameter Di outer diameter Ds diameter of midshaft rotor DbL, DbR journal diameter at left/right bearing location f external force vector G gyroscopic matrix Ipd lump polar moment of inertia L section length L bL / D bL, LbR / DbR journal length versus journal diameter ratios at left and right bearing locations m = 1 Cb / C p bearing preload mu unbalance mass mL, mR preload at left; right bearing location M inertia mass matrix M d lump mass q displacement vector Rb radius to pivot R p pad radius of curvature W bearing load i growth factor of the ith vibration mode i modal damping ratio of the ith vibration mode l , u modal damping ratiolower and upper limit pad arc length L, R pad arc length at left; right bearing locations p pivot arc p / offset i damped natural frequency of the ith vibration mode rotor angular speed

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

References
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