Nonlinear dynamics of a flexible rotor supported by turbulent journal bearings with couple stress fluid

This study presents a dynamic analysis of a rotor supported by two turbulent flow model journal bearings and lubricated with couple stress fluid under nonlinear suspension. The dynamics of the rotor center and bearing center is studied. The dynamic equations are solved using the Runge–Kutta method. The analysis methods employed in this study is inclusive of the dynamic trajectories of the rotor center and bearing center, power spectra, Poincaré maps and bifurcation diagrams. The maximum Lyapunov exponent analysis is also used to identify the onset of chaotic motion. The results show that the values of dimensionless parameters l* strongly influence dynamic motions of bearing and rotor centre. It is found that couple stress fluid improve the stability of the system when l* > 0.4 even if the flow of this system is turbulent. We also demonstrated that the dimensionless rotational speed ratios s and the dimensionless unbalance parameter β are also significant system parameters. The modeling results thus obtained by using the method proposed in this paper can be employed to predict the stability of the rotor-bearing system and the undesirable behavior of the rotor and bearing center can be avoided.