Modeling of a rotor of an electrical machine using composite beam elements

The vibrations of a rotor in an electrical machine are investigated with one-dimensional finite elements. The elements have six degrees of freedom and are described by Timoshenko´s beam theory. The shear correction factors are computed from a separate finite element problem for each cross section. Composite elements balance the heterogeneous structure of the rotor. The results of a modal analysis are compared to experimental data in order to validate the rotor model. Finally, the rotating system is analyzed including the gyroscopic effect and spin softening.