A new method for Fourier series expansions: Applications in rotor-seal systems

Complex nonlinearities of rotor-seal systems make it difficult to implement some widely used techniques for nonlinear vibrations. This is partly due to the fact that it is rather cumbersome to expand the nonlinear terms into Fourier series. In this paper, a novel Fourier series expansion method is proposed to circumvent this difficulty. The incremental harmonic balance method is utilized to obtain the solutions of a rotor-seal system, where the complicated nonlinearities are handled by the expansion method. Periodic, double-periodic and triple-periodic solutions are obtained in excellent agreement with numerical results, which shows the validity and efficacy of the proposed solution procedures.

► We present a simple yet efficient approach for Fourier series expansion of complex nonlinearities.
► This approach is illustrated by applying the incremental harmonic balance method to solve a nonlinear rotor-seal system.
► Periodic, double-periodic and triple-periodic solutions are obtained successfully.