Practical Solutions to Machinery and Maintenance Vibration Problems

Chapter 8, Vibration in Bearings

Section 12, Vibration Due to Oil Whirl (in Plain or Sleeve Bearings)

Oil whirl (sometimes called "oil whip") is one of the easiest vibrations to recognize as it
is one of those rare vibrations with a frequency of well below 1 x rpm running speed. Its
frequency has been reported to be anywhere from approximately 45 to almost 50 percent
of rpm. Simply view oil whirl vibration frequency as "slightly less than ½ x rpm.

Referring to the diagram showing the normal running conditions between a shaft and a
plain bearing, notice that the shaft is very rarely operating and running with its own
centerline coincident with the bearing's centerline. Therefore, there is a section wherein
the clearance for lubricant would be less than in other areas. This could be the normal
result of the weight of the rotor, the always present partial coupling and shaft
misalignment, and so on. The narrow gap area acts to build up the pressure of the rotating
oil, forming a higher pressure point between the shaft and bearing. As the speeds
increase, pressure increases, thereby pushing the shaft and rotor further upward (in most
cases), and/or toward one side. This allows the gap to widen at the pressure point and
move the new pressure point to a position closer to the shaft's bottom. All described so far
apply to rotors without oil whirl and are considered normal.

However, if the load is too light (rare), the clearance too great (also rare), or if there is
any other reason why the pressure point proceeds to a place whereby the higher pressure
can lift the shaft high enough so that the higher pressure section can "escape," then oil
whirl results. The shaft that is lifted high enough to allow the escape of the higher
pressure section is now no longer supported in this position. The shaft suddenly drops --
the gap narrows again -- and the higher pressure again develops. The process repeats
itself cyclically; pressure lifting the shaft -- escape of pressure -- dropping of shaft --
pressure buildup -- lifting of shaft -- escape of pressure -- dropping of shaft -- pressure
buildup -- lifting of shaft -- and so on. The cyclical frequency of all this is the average oil
velocity. The oil's velocity right on the shaft's surface is equal to that of the shaft's surface
speed. The oil's velocity right on the bearing's surface is zero. The average velocity is 50
percent of the rotor's rpm. With a little slippage, the actual velocity is slightly less than ½
x rpm. Do not confuse it with vibration at exactly ½ x rpm, which does not originate with
oil whirl but instead is most often associated with bearing looseness or a rub.

The most common published reason for oil whirl is that the bearing loads are too light,
relative to the oil pressures built up by higher speeds. Yet in maintenance work of already
built machinery with more established design, it has been found that this is the least
probable source. (Yet, it is a common source for newly designed machinery that hasn't
been de-bugged.)

Another reason given is bearings that have too much clearance. Again, with established
designs, it is doubted this is very common. An approach used by Update is to first
remember that when rotors vibrate for any reason, the centerline of the shaft will be
tracing an orbit around the actual axis of rotation. Visualizing the shaft's surface relative
to the bearing's inside diameter, the distance between the two will be changing at a rate
equal to the vibration frequency. When shaft vibration reaches several mils, the opening
and closing of the oil gap for the film will also be equal to several mils.

The orbit that seems to create oil whirl most often is from large coupling or shaft
misalignment. The misalignment, for example, can position the shaft at a location so as to
more easily lift the shaft and thereby allow escape . Misalignment can cause bearings and
shafts that do not normally result in oil whirl to be in a threshold position for it.

The solution is not to change the bearing, decrease the clearance, or increase the load
(although each of these could work), but to first analyze the vibration at the lower end of
the frequency range, such as at 1 x and 2 x rpm and so on, so as to determine if there is a
large unbalance or large misalignment. If there is, the unbalance or misalignment can
usually be corrected more easily than making bearing alternations.

For most process plant machinery that can't readily be shut down for bearing changes,
rebalancing or realignment, there are some relatively successful methods for curing oil
whirl temporarily until permanent changes can be made. The most common successful
method reported is to increase the oil's temperature, usually by approximately 10 percent.
Although this seems to work more frequently than cooling the oil, there are cases
reported whereby the oil whirl problem worsened with increased oil temperature, instead
cooling the oil eliminated the oil whirl.

Some have accomplished the desired results by decreasing the oil's viscosity (most
common success), whereas certain situations required raising the viscosity to eliminate
the oil whirl.

For altering the bearing itself, several methods have been reported. One is to make the
bearing ID egg-shaped, usually scraping material away in the 9:00 and 3:00 o'clock
positions. Another way is to form a dam or step on the top of the bearing's ID so that the
oil will produce a back pressure -- and therefore higher pressure on the top of the shaft --
preventing it from lifting enough to cause the previously described oil pressure section
escape. Another has been to reduce the surface area with grooves, especially at the
bottom half, so as to increase the bearing load.

This section is not complete. Bearing and rotating machinery manufacturers have much
more experience and knowledgeable details on the subject. Considering the high cost of
shutdown and the high cost of a mistake, it is suggested that such sources be consulted in
the event bearings are to be altered as a solution.