Influence of lubricant film cavitation on the rotor dynamic system behaviour of an exhaust gas turbocharger rotor

Abstract

The vibration behaviour of fast rotating rotors is significantly influenced by the bearing properties. Lubricant film induced excitations can cause sub-synchronous rotor oscillations known as oil-whirl and oil-whip phenomena. The non-linear bearing properties depend primarily on the lubricant properties, kinematics of bearing partners and especially on the occurrence of cavitation. Outgassing processes lead to a two-phase flow consisting of gas and oil, which can influence the bearing stiffness and damping respectively and consequently the rotor response behaviour. In this contribution, the oscillations of a semifloating ring supported turbocharger rotor are investigated under the influence of lubricant film cavitation. For this purpose, run-up simulations are carried out under the assumption of mass-conserving cavitation according to the two-phase model and compared with measurements. In order to illustrate the influence of outgassing processes, a comparison is made with non-mass-conserving cavitation theory according to the assumptions of Half-Sommerfeld.