Abstract
In rotodynamic systems, the rotor is spooled up from zero speed to its operating speed during the engine start. One of the considerations in design of rotating systems is the placement of rotor critical speed. It is vital to ensure that the rotor critical speeds are not close to the engine operating speed. However, it is not always possible to isolate all the frequencies above the operating speed. So, during the engine start to full speed, rotor system does travel through the mode. Therefore, to avoid a large system response, the rotor is spooled up quickly through the critical speed. In addition to the rotor critical speeds, the natural frequencies of the static structures may also get excited during the rotor spool up and spool down. The static structure response is one of the important considerations in designing a system for dynamic loading condition. It has been observed that the rotor spool rate affects the static structure response. This paper focuses on effect on system’s response under various spool rate. It has also been shown that the natural frequency of the system and damping in the system are two of the major factors towards sensitivity of system response with spool rate. Additionally, it has been observed that the presence of non-linearities shifts the peak response away from the natural frequency depending on the spool rate and spool direction.
