Constrained Design Optimization

of Rotor-Tilting Pad Bearing

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 Engineer’s Way,
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4746
Systems
Design of a rotor-bearing system is a challenging task due to various conflicting design
requirements, which should be fulfilled. This study considers an automatic optimization
approach for the design of a rotor supported on tilting-pad bearings. A numerical ex-
ample of a rotor-bearing system is employed to demonstrate the merits of the proposed
design approach. The finite element method is used to model the rotor-bearing system,
and the dynamic speed-dependent coefficients of the bearing are calculated using a bulk
flow code. A number of geometrical characteristics of the rotor simultaneously with the
parameters defining the configuration 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 defined as a set of objective functions and con-
straints. 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 influence of the design
variables on the objective function and constraint measures. The bearing clearances,
preloads and lengths showed to have the highest influence on the power loss in the
chosen design space. The high performance of the best solution obtained in the optimi-
zation design suggests that the proposed approach has good potential for improving
design of rotor-bearing systems encountered in industrial applications.
关DOI: 10.1115/1.4001811兴

Keywords: rotors, vibration, optimization, bearings

1 Introduction The current study reports on a different approach to rotor de-

Over the years, design of rotating machineries has become
more challenging due to continuous demand to increase the per-
formance of the rotor-bearing systems. The large number of pa-
rameters having significant influence on the dynamics of the sys-
tem, 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 关1–3兴, con-
sidering the bearing supports as idealized springs with non-speed-
dependent stiffness coefficients. The objective functions were de-
fined as the rotor weight 关1兴, linear combination of the rotor
weight with natural frequency and the resonance response 关2兴, or
as a function related to the damped frequency constraints 关3兴.
Another study 关4兴 optimized the bearing design parameters to re-
duce 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
共GAs兲 关1–5兴 and gradient algorithm 关6兴. An linear matrix inequal-
ity 共LMI兲-based optimization of vibration and stability of the rotor
system was also proposed in a more recent study 关7兴. While LMI
method guarantees finding the global minimum of the objective
function, some drawbacks were observed in terms of implemen-
tation and slow convergence of the numerical routines applied.
1
Corresponding author.
Contributed by the International Gas Turbine Institute 共IGTI兲 of ASME for pub-
lication in the JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. Manuscript
received April 2, 2010; final manuscript received April 26, 2010; published online
August 25, 2010. Editor: Dilip R. Ballal.
sign optimization, where parameters of both subsystems, rotor and
bearings, are simultaneously optimized in order to obtain the op-
timal 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 clear-
ances, preloads, and the angular length of pads for tilting pad
bearings. Two heuristic optimization algorithms: GA and particle-
swarm optimization 共PSO兲 were employed in the automatic design
process. The high performance of the best design solution ob-
tained by optimization suggests that the proposed approach has
potential for improving the design of rotor-bearing systems en-
countered in industrial applications.
2 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 共Fig. 1兲, which
is approximately 2.8 m in length and 954 kg in weight, was dis-
cretized into 34 beam elements 共sections兲 with 35 nodes 共stations兲
using an in-house code for rotor dynamics analyses 关8兴. In this
finite element code, a node with four degrees of freedom 共two
displacements and rotations in the lateral plane兲 is defined at each
disk location, and the inertial properties of disks are introduced in
the equations of motion of rotor lateral vibrations.
The Euler–Bernoulli 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 for-
mulated as:

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 Table 1 Rotor model-nominal design

L Di Ipd Md
Station No. 共m兲 共m兲 共kg m2兲 共kg兲

1 0.0345 0.0699 0 72.1

Fig. 1 The rotor model of an eight stage centrifugal 2 0.1712 0.1107 0 3.2
compressor 3 0.0381 0.1270 0 4.6
4 0.0434 0.1270 0 2.5
5 0.0881 0.1651 0 4.4
6 0.0544 0.1681 0 5.6
7 0.0897 0.1580 0 5.7
关M兴兵q̈其 + 共⍀关G兴 + 关C兴兲兵q̇其 + 关K兴兵q其 = 兵f共t兲其 共1兲 8 0.0864 0.1824 0 7.5
9 0.0625 0.1702 0 6.7
where 兵q其 is the displacement vector, ⍀ is the rotor angular speed, 10 0.0787 0.1702 52.803 33.3
关M兴 is the inertia matrix, 关G兴 is the gyroscopic matrix, 关C兴 is the 11 0.0625 0.1702 2.901 7.8
damping matrix, 关K兴 is the stiffness matrix, and 兵f其 is the external 12 0.0787 0.1702 52.803 33.3
force vector. The code uses a state vector approach to transform 13 0.0625 0.1702 2.901 7.8
the second order Eq. 共1兲 into a first order equation: 14 0.0787 0.1702 52.803 33.3
15 0.0625 0.1702 2.901 7.8
兵ẋ其 = 关A兴兵x其 + 兵b其 共2兲 16 0.1600 0.1702 52.803 36.7
17 0.1600 0.1702 0 13.2
where

再冎
18 0.0721 0.1702 52.803 36.9

关A兴 = 冋 0
− M K − M 共⍀G + C兲
−1 −1
I
册 , 兵x其 =
q
q̇
共3兲
19
20
21
22
0.0909
0.0721
0.0909
0.0721
0.1702
0.1702
0.1702
0.1702
4.202
52.803
4.202
52.803
9.5
34.3
9.5
34.3
and

再 冎
23 0.0909 0.1702 4.202 9.5
24 0.1273 0.1702 52.803 36.6
0 25 0.0734 0.1702 14.035 17.1
兵b其 =
M −1 f 26 0.0587 0.1778 0 5.6
27 0.0902 0.1681 0 5.9
which can be easily solved. 28 0.0544 0.1681 0 5.7
The dimensions of each section and the inertial properties of 29 0.0876 0.1651 0 5.5
lumped masses at each node 共disks兲 are reported in Table 1. 30 0.0434 0.1270 0 4.4
31 0.0381 0.1270 0 2.0
2.2 Tilting Pad Bearing Model. The rotor is supported on 32 0.1445 0.1189 0 3.6
two hydrodynamic journal bearings of the tilting pad type 共Fig. 2兲 33 0.0475 0.0950 0 7.4
with the characteristics reported in Table 2. In the mathematical 34 0.1400 0.0935 0 9.4
model of the rotor-bearing system, each bearing was approxi- 35 – 0.0935 0 4.7
mated by eight stiffness and damping coefficients introduced at
their locations 共nodes 4 and 31兲. Using an in-house bearing pro- L, section length; Di, outer diameter; Ipd , lump polar moment of inertia; M d, lump
gram 关9兴, the tilting pad bearings were analyzed at different rota- mass.
tional 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 xli ⱕ xi ⱕ xiu where i = 1,n 共5兲
deformation effects. The Reynolds equation for the circumferen- The ranges of the design variables of the bearing-rotor system and
tial pressure distribution is solved based on an assumed axial pro- the number of levels used by optimization algorithms are provided
file. Viscosity and temperature distributions are determined by the in Table 3.
solution of a bulk flow energy equation, which also allows the Since both journal lengths 共L兲 were variable 共Table 3兲 during
circumferential and cross-film variation. In the bearing analyses, a the optimization process, the lengths of the bearing sections 共3, 4,
temperature-dependent viscosity model corresponding to ISO 30, and 31兲, which depend on the journal, were also variable as
VG32 oil was employed. Bearing characteristics, such as position follows:
of the journal, linear stiffness and damping coefficients, power
losses, and maximum pad surface temperature, were extracted L L
L3共31兲 = , L4共30兲 = + ⌬L 共6兲
from the program output files and then, were used into the rotor- 2 2
dynamic analyses.
where the offset length between the bearing and the following
section with a higher diameter ⌬L = 共L4 − L3兲nominal = 5.3 mm was

3 Rotor-Bearing Optimization Problem

A single objective optimization problem can be expressed in the
following standard form:
min f共x兲 with x = 兵x1,x2, . . . ,xn其
共4兲
s.t. a j ⱕ g j共x兲 ⱕ b j, j = 1,m and hk共x兲 = 0, k = 1,l
where f共x兲, gi共x兲, and hk共x兲 are functions of independent variables
xi 共design variables兲. The function f共x兲 known as the objective
function identifies the quantity to be minimized. The functions
gi共x兲 and hk共x兲 are used to define the design constraints. The
space, where the best design is searched, is usually an
n-dimensional rectangle defined using its lower and upper limits, Fig. 2 The geometry of tilting pad bearing

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 Table 2 Initial bearing design characteristics
Number of pads 5
Bearing loads 共WL / WR兲 1123.8 N/980.1 N
Preload 0.4
Load direction On pad
Radius journal 63.5 mm
Radius clearance 0.09652 mm
Length 76.2 mm
Offset factor 0.5
Pad arc length 60 deg
maintained constant. The changes in the diameters of bearings and
middle shaft and the bearing lengths induced modifications in the
mass distribution along the rotor and in the bearing loads. There-
fore, 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
significant number of requirements, which are usually defined as
constraints or objectives in the optimization problem 共Eq. 共4兲兲.
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 efficiency of rotating
machinery depends substantially on the power losses in the bear-
ings, which are caused by the friction in the oil film separating
bearing surfaces and the shaft. Therefore, in this study, the sum of
the power losses calculated in both bearings at the operating speed
共5000 rpm兲 was defined 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 ma-
terial is significantly reduced at elevated temperatures 关10兴; there-
fore, the temperatures of both bearings calculated at the operating
speed 共5000 rpm兲 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 cer-
tainly generate a high level of vibrations, which may severely
damage the system. The stability of the rotor-bearing system is
checked using the Routh–Hurwitz stability criterion 关11,12兴. This
criterion requires the calculation of the complex eigenvalues of
the real square matrix A 共Eq. 共3兲兲,
␭i = ␣i ⫾ i␻i
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,
␣i
␨i = −
冑␣i2 + ␻i2
which should be positive for a stable behavior. To ensure that any
design changes in the system maintain a reasonable stability mar-
gin from the operating speed to surrounding natural frequencies, a
Table 3 Design variables and their ranges
Variable D L/D
Unit mm
Nominal 122.5
Minimum 120
Maximum 125
No. of levels 30
a
The offset was considered 0.5 in all designs.
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Fig. 3 Damped natural frequency constraint for the rotor-
bearing system at operating speed „5000 rpm…. The unfeasible
regions are colored in gray.
constraint was defined for the damped natural frequencies calcu-
lated at the operating speed 共Fig. 3兲. No modes were allowed in a
speed range around the operation speed 共no = 5000 rpm兲 unless
these modes were highly damped 共␨i ⬎ ␨u = 20%兲 关4兴. The lower
limit of the damping ratio for modes with frequencies outside this
region and lower than nup = 6000 rpm was defined at a lower
value 共␨l = 2%兲. Since the stability of the system cannot be verified
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 first and the
second bending modes 共forward and backward兲, the stability re-
quirements generated 16 constraints 共i.e., 4 ⫻ 4兲 for the modal
damping ratios.
3.3 Damped Unbalance Responses. The unbalance response
of a rotor-bearing system is difficult to predict accurately because
the distribution of unbalance mass along the rotor is usually un-
known. 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 at-
tached to the rotor in order to excite a mode shape, and the un-
balance response is calculated in the operating regime. In this
study, the first bending modes were excited by an unbalance of
2.42 kg mm 共calculated according to API requirements 关13,14兴兲
applied at station 17 共Fig. 4兲. Similarly, the second bending modes
共7兲 were excited by two equal unbalance masses shifted 180 deg in
phase and applied at stations 11 and 24, respectively 共Fig. 4兲.
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 coefficients. Upper
limit constraints were defined for the maximum amplitudes of the
共8兲
major elliptical whirling orbits, calculated at the bearing locations
共20 ␮m兲 and mass unbalance locations 共40 ␮m兲. As a result, the
unbalance requirements generated seven constraints 共i.e., three for
the first unbalance case and four for the second unbalance case兲,
and the whole design optimization problem had 25 constraints.
cp / D ␺ a
m Ds
– ⫻10−4 deg – mm
0.6 7.6 60 0.5 170
0.5 5 55 0 160
0.8 12.5 65 0.5 185
30 30 30 30 30
DECEMBER 2010, Vol. 132 / 122502-3

Fig. 4 Unbalance cases
4 Optimization Algorithms
Finding the best solution of the optimization problem 共Eq. 共4兲兲
in the design space requires global optimization algorithms. How-
ever, the applicability of these algorithms in complex optimization
problems is limited due to several shortcomings: 共1兲 the require-
ment of a huge computational effort to make a complete search of
the design space, 共2兲 the difficulties for some algorithms to iden-
tify when the global minimum was achieved in order to stop
searching 关15兴, and 共3兲 the specific format of the optimization
problem required to be numerically implemented 共see the
semidefinite programming techniques noted in Refs. 关7,16兴兲.
Therefore, engineering optimization problems having complex
mathematical models, such as rotor-bearing systems 关1–6兴, are
usually solved using heuristic algorithms. While these algorithms
cannot guarantee reaching the optimal solution, they often find a
good solution close to the global optimum by examining a large
discrete configuration 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 关17兴. Both iterative
algorithms start with a preliminary exploration of the design space
by evaluating design points of an initial design of experiments
共DOE兲 sequence. After several iterations, the process moves from
a “rough” optimization phase to a “refined” 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 briefly outlined below, the reader is referred
to Rayward-Smith et al. 关18兴 or Chong and Zak 关19兴 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 关19兴. 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 fitness-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 specific genetic operators,
such as crossover and mutation. A special operator that gives ef-
ficiency to this algorithm is the directional crossover operator.
This operator assumes that a direction of improvement can be
detected comparing the fitness 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 rec-
ommended to avoid convergence at local minimum. In the current
study, the probabilities of directional crossover, selection, and mu-
tation used by GA optimization were 0.5, 0.05, and 0.1, respec-
tively.
PSO is a population-based search algorithm based on the simu-
lation of the social behavior of birds within a flock. If one member
sees a desirable path to go, the rest of this swarm will follow
quickly 关20兴. This behavior of animals is imitated in the PSO by
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particles with certain positions and velocities. During the optimi-
zation process, each particle in PSO flies 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 fly toward better and better searching areas over
the optimization process. An operator called turbulence 共similar to
mutation in GA兲 acts on the velocity value used by the PSO al-
gorithm and reflects the change in a particle’s flight, 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 关21兴, the PSO version proposed by
Mostaghim 关22兴 was used in the current study. A Sobolev se-
quence having 40 points was used as the initial DOE space to
cover the entire discrete design space 共729⫻ 106 design points兲,
and GA and PSO optimizations were stopped after 800 simula-
tions.
To better understand the effects of the design variables 共inputs兲
on the objective function and the measures used in the constraints
共outputs兲, a statistical analysis of the results of all 1600 simula-
tions was performed. For each design variable v 共input兲, the simu-
lations were divided in two categories: 共1兲 the simulations with
the input in its lower part of the domain 共vmin , vmin + vmax / 2兲 and
共2兲 the simulations with the input in the upper part of domain
共vmin + vmax / 2 , vmax兲. 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 insignificant influence 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 do-
main was formulated. The t-value for the input parameter was
calculated as 关23兴
兩M − − M +兩
t= 共9兲
SG冑共n− + n+兲/n−n+
where SG2
= 共n− − 1兲S−2 + 共n+ − 1兲S+2 / 共n+ + n− − 2兲 is the general vari-
ance, and the variances of lower and upper domains are
n− n+
兺 共x
i=1
− − M −兲 2
兺 共x
i=1
+ − M +兲 2
S−2 = , S+2 = 共10兲
n− − 1 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 Welch–Satterthwatte equation that is commonly used for
unequal sizes with unequal variance. A low value of the p-value
共e.g., under 0.05兲 rejects the null hypothesis, consequently indi-
cating that the difference between both averages 共effect size data兲
is reliable.
5 Results
The GA algorithm used to solve the optimization problem cor-
responding to the compressor design components showed a rela-
tively fast convergence 共Fig. 5兲 and good percentage 共77%兲 of
feasible solutions 共solutions which satisfies the constraints of the
optimization problem兲. Even though the PSO algorithm found a
design point with a better performance than the nominal design
共Fig. 6兲, its convergence was slower and only about 33% of the
design points evaluated were feasible.
The design parameters of the best solution 共Table 4兲, except the
shaft diameter, were driven by the GA optimization algorithm to
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 5 Optimization results: GA-only feasible designs
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 significant direct effects on the
power loss 共Fig. 7兲. 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, significant inverse effects
共Fig. 7兲 on power loss were shown by the ratios c p / D and the
preloads m, which lead their optimized values to their upper lim-
its. The lowest effect size 共direct兲 was recorded by the shaft di-
ameter, 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 di-
ameter values for journals and shaft provides a minimum damping
ratio 共3.7%兲 above the constraint limit and the corresponding
value of the nominal design 共1.3%兲.
The bearing preloads are the design variables with the highest
共inverse兲 effect on the maximum unbalance amplitudes at both
bearing and unbalance mass locations corresponding to first un-
balance mode 共Table 5兲. While the maximum amplitude at bearing
locations predicted by the optimum design increased slightly than
the corresponding values of the nominal design 共Fig. 8兲, they were
maintained under the bearing constraint 共20 ␮m兲. In addition, the
Table 4 Design variables—optimal design
Variable D L/D
Unit mm – ⫻10−4
Nominal 127 0.6/0.6
GA opt. 共L/R兲 124.6/124.5 0.5/0.5
L, left bearing 共station 4兲; R, right bearing 共station 31兲.
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Fig. 7 The effect sizes of design variables on the power loss
„all p-values under 0.003…
maximum amplitude at the unbalance location corresponding to
the first unbalance mode has been decreased under the constraint
limit 共40 ␮m兲.
The diameter of shaft, the preload of right bearing, and the pad
clearance ratio c p / D of the left bearing have the highest 共inverse兲
influence on the maximum unbalance amplitudes at both bearing
and unbalance mass locations for the second unbalance mode
共Table 5兲. As in the first unbalance case, the maximum amplitudes
corresponding to the second mode increased at the bearing loca-
tion under the constraint limit but decreased at unbalance mass
locations under its limit 共Fig. 8兲.
The pad clearance ratios c p / D and the preloads proved to have
the highest effect 共inverse兲 on the babbitt temperature of both
bearings 共Table 5兲. 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, respec-
tively 共nominal design兲 to about 86° C in both bearings.
6 Discussion
Design in rotor dynamics, as in other engineering fields
关24–27兴, is a challenging task due to various conflicting design
requirements that should be satisfied 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 de-
signs. 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 coefficients
make it difficult to set the optimization problem in an appropriate
form for the global optimization algorithms 共e.g., LMI formula-
tion兲. However, two heuristic algorithms, especially the genetic
algorithm, show good performance in finding better design solu-
tions than the nominal design.
cp / D ␺ m ds
deg – mm
7.6 60 0.5 170
12.5/12.5 55.3/55.3 0.5/0.48 166.2
DECEMBER 2010, Vol. 132 / 122502-5
 Table 5 The effect sizes of design variables on the outputs

␨m Ab1 Am1 Ab2 Am2 TL TR

共%兲 共␮m兲 共␮m兲 共␮m兲 共␮m兲 共°C兲 共°C兲

DbR 0.42 ⫺0.73 ⫺0.98 ⫺0.33 ⫺4.59 0.38 ⫺0.20

共0.183兲 共0.302兲 共0.143兲 共0.002兲 共0.044兲
DbL 0.33 1.29 0.42 ⫺0.83 7.89 0.77 0.86
共0.043兲 共0.206兲 共0.081兲 共0.023兲
C pR / DbR 0.96 ⫺2.69 ⫺9.36 2.64 ⫺18.96 ⫺1.26 ⫺5.11
共0.112兲 共0.352兲 共0.01兲
C pL / DbL 1.25 ⫺2.82 ⫺11.80 ⫺2.79 ⫺21.96 ⫺5.17 ⫺1.52
共0.003兲 共0.016兲 共0.029兲
LbR / DbR 0.37 2.44 0.04 ⫺0.84 3.07 0.88 0.59
共0.002兲 共0.484兲 共0.028兲 共0.223兲
LbL / DbL 0.45 1.03 ⫺1.25 ⫺1.18 2.86 0.29 0.63
共0.091兲 共0.136兲 共0.087兲 共0.243兲 共0.011兲
mL 1.71 ⫺6.87 ⫺13.49 ⫺5.73 ⫺16.88 ⫺1.75 ⫺1.97
共0.002兲 共0.046兲 共0.222兲
mR 1.69 ⫺5.92 ⫺17.72 ⫺1.79 ⫺4.03 ⫺3.32 ⫺1.25
␺R 0.03 ⫺0.06 2.98 ⫺0.68 ⫺1.62 1.54 0.78
共0.39兲 共0.474兲 共0.013兲 共0.164兲 共0.364兲
␺L 0.50 2.70 5.81 0.89 11.00 0.95 0.95
共0.002兲 共0.132兲 共0.022兲 共0.273兲 共0.124兲
Ds 1.30 ⫺0.38 ⫺2.39 ⫺7.52 ⫺20.15 ⫺0.20 ⫺0.11
共0.308兲 共0.013兲 共0.056兲 共0.18兲

p-value bigger than 0.001 are provided in parentheses.

A statistical analysis of all simulation results helps to better
understand the influence of design variables on the objective func-
tion and the measures included in the constraints. However, it
should be mentioned that the results of this analysis depend also
on the range defined for each variable. A large range for a certain
design variable may consequently increase its influence on the
outputs. For example, the bearing preloads showed to have sig-
nificant effect sizes on many outputs 共Table 5兲 due to its influence
on the bearing coefficients 关28兴 and due to its large design range.
In addition, the preloads were the only variables that had no con-
flicting requirements; its increased values improve all system re-
quirements. In fact, the advantages of an increased preload of
tilting pad bearings are well-known 共e.g., significant improve-
ments in rotor stability 关29兴兲, which justifies the high values of
preload in both nominal and optimized designs. Another variable
with significant influence 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 vari-
able that has no direct relationship with the bearing design,
showed significant inverse influence only on the balancing re-
sponse 共e.g., second mode兲. However, its influence on other sys-
tem measures 共e.g., power loss兲 was negligible, suggesting that
the redesign of the bearings has the highest potential for the im-
provement of the system.
In this study, the optimization problem of the rotor-bearing sys-
tem was formulated with one objective function, the power loss,
whereas the rest of the system requirements selected were in-
cluded 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 optimiza-
tion problem. However, the computational effort will increase sig-
nificantly if the dimension of the objective space is increased 关3兴.
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 共e.g., computational fluid dynamics
共CFD兲 method 关30,31兴兲 in the calculation of bearing coefficients
has a potential to improve the reliability of the rotor dynamic
predictions and, implicitly, the optimization process.
7 Conclusion
The main goal of this paper was to investigate the application
of an automatic design approach for improving the efficiency 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 de-
signs in terms of bearing efficiency, stability, and unbalance sen-
sitivity. While both heuristic algorithms found design solutions
with better performance than the nominal design, the genetic al-
gorithm 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 im-
proving the design of rotor-bearing systems encountered in indus-
trial 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 Ab1, Ab2 ⫽ the maximum amplitude of major elliptical
axis of elliptical orbits at bearing and unbalance mass loca- orbits at bearing locations 共unbalance cases
tions „unbalance cases 1 and 2… 1 and 2兲

122502-6 / Vol. 132, DECEMBER 2010 Transactions of the ASME

Downloaded 23 Dec 2010 to 128.143.22.132. Redistribution subject to ASME license or copyright; see http://www.asme.org/terms/Terms_Use.cfm
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