Dynamic behaviour is significantly important in the design of large rotor systems supported on water-lubricated rubber bearings. In this study, the mathematical model of elastohydrodynamic lubrication of the bearing is established based on the theory of hydrodynamic lubrication after considering the elastic deformation of rubber, and the dynamic characteristics of water-lubricated rubber bearings are analysed under small perturbation conditions according to the load increment method and the finite difference method. Next, the differential equation of rotor systems coupled with the water-lubricated rubber bearing is deduced using Lagrange's approach, and its critical speeds, stability, and unbalanced responses are analysed in detail. The numerical results show that several parameters, such as the eccentricity, lengthdiameter ratio, and clearance of bearing and the rotating speed of the rotor, have a great impact on the dynamic performance of water-lubricated rubber bearings, and this influence cannot be ignored, especially in the case of large eccentricity ratios. The dynamic characteristics of rotor systems guided by water-lubricated rubber bearings reveal that the critical speeds are much lower than the ones under the rigid supports because of the elastic deformation, and they also indicate that the rotor system supported on water-lubricated rubber bearings has a weaker stability. In addition, the steady-state responses of the rotor system are analysed when the mass unbalance of the propeller exists, and the effect of the thickness of the rubber liner is also considered.

The vibrations of parallel geared rotor—bearing system have been intensively discussed; however, little attention has been paid to the dynamic analysis of angled bevel-geared system supported on journals. In the present work, the non-linear dynamics of a bevel-geared rotor system on oil film bearings is studied. First, the dynamic model is developed under some assumptions, such as rigid rotors, short-bearings, small teeth errors, and so forth. Then, the non-linear dynamic behaviours of both the balanced and unbalanced rotor system are analysed, respectively, in which the equilibrium points, limit cycles, their stability, and bifurcations are paid more attention. Numerical results show that in the bevel-geared rotor system under the action of non-linear oil film forces there exists a series of complex non-linear dynamic phenomena of rotor orbits, such as Hopf bifurcation, torus-doubling bifurcation, and jump phenomenon. All these features can help us to understand the dynamic characteristics of bevel-geared rotor—bearing system at design stage and during running period. Finally, some concerned problems during the investigation are also present.

A mathematical model of a parallel-misaligned rotor system with mass eccentricity that is supported on journal bearings is discussed and its dynamic behaviours are analysed under the action of non-linear oil forces in the present work. First, some assumptions are introduced, such as the long bearing model, small parallel misalignment between rotors and tiny eccentricity of discs, the misaligned displacement constraint between two rotors is taken into account, and the motion equations are deduced by the Lagrange method of undetermined multiplier. Then, the rotor orbits, Poincaré maps, and bifurcation diagrams of the system are studied by a numerical method; the results show that there exists some unrevealed motions and phenomena in the parallel-misaligned and unbalanced rotor system such as period 2, 3, 6, and 7 motions besides chaotic oscillations and so on.