Auto-balancing of a rotor with an orthotropic elastic shaft

The self-balancing of a statically unbalanced orthotropic elastic rotor equipped with a ball auto-balancing device is investigated. Equations of motion in fixed and rotating systems of coordinates, as well as equations describing steady motions of the regular precession type, are derived using a simple model of a Jeffcott rotor. Formulae for calculating the amplitude-frequency and phase-frequency characteristics of the precessional motion of the rotor are obtained. It is established that the conditions for a steady balanced mode of motion for an orthotropic rotor to exist have the same form as for an isotropic rotor, but the stability region of such a mode for an orthotropic rotor is narrower than the stability region for an isotropic rotor. The unsteady modes of motion of the rotor in the case of rotation with constant angular velocity and in the case of passage through critical velocities with constant angular acceleration is investigated numerically. It is established that the mode of slow passage through the critical region for an orthotropic rotor is far more dangerous than the similar mode for an isotropic rotor.