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An experimental and theoretical investigation was conducted to evaluate the effects seen in axial-flow compressors when the centerline of the rotor becomes displaced from the centerline of the static structure of the engine, thus creating circumferentially nonuniform rotor-tip clearances. This displacement produces unsteady flow and creates a system of destabilizing forces, which contribute significantly to rotor whirl instability in turbomachinery. These forces were first identified by Thomas (1958. Bull. AIM, 71, No. 11/12, pp. 1039-1063 for turbines and by Alford (1965. J. Eng. Power, Oct., pp. 333-334)

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SUMMARYActive magnetic bearings provide revolutionary advantages for gas turbine engine rotor support. These advantages include tremendously improved vibration and stability characteristics, reduced power loss, improved reliability, faulttolerance, and greatly extended bearing service life. The marriage of these advantages with innovative structural network design and advanced materials utilization will permit major increases in thrust to weight performance and structural efficiency for future gas turbine engines.However, obtaining the maximum payoff requires two key ingredients. The first key ingredient is the use of modem magnetic bearing technologies such as innovative digital control techniques, high-density power electronics, highdensity magnetic actuators, fault-tolerant system architecture, and electronic (sensorless) position estimation. This paper describes these technologies. The second key ingredient is to go beyond the simple replacement of rolling element bearings with magnetic bearings by incorporating magnetic bearings as an integral part of the overall engine design. This is analogous to the proper approach to designing with composites, whereby the designer tailors the geometry and load carrying function of the structural system or component for the composite instead of simply substituting composites in a design originally intended for metal material. This paper describes methodologies for the design integration of magnetic bearings in gas turbine engines.

A gas-operated bearing damper for turbomachinery has been designed, analyzed, and experimentally investigated in the laboratory. The damper utilizes air bled off from the compressor to power an actuator through orifices with area modulated by the vibratory displacement at the bearing support. The design objective for this passive device is to make the actuating dynamic gas pressure phase lead the vibratory displacement by 90 deg. Several variations of the basic concept have been tested. An analysis was performed to guide the experiments. All of the designs tested to date can produce positive damping, and one particular design has produced a damping coefficient of 8756 N-s/m (50 lb-sec/in.) with a power penalty of 5.2 kW (7 hp) at 310 KPa (45 psi). This design was installed on a laboratory rotor with flexibly supported ball bearings, and significant damping of the critical speed response was demonstrated. The experimental results to date suggest that further research can produce significant improvements in performance, and the device appears to be especially adaptable to high-temperature applications for aircraft engines.