Session: 25-07 Bearings and Dampers

Paper Number: 81990

81990 - A Model and Experimental Validation for a Piston Rings - Squeeze Film Damper: A Step Toward Quantifying Air Ingestion 

Rotor-bearing systems often rely on squeeze film dampers (SFDs) to increase the dynamic stability and reduce rotor motion amplitudes while traversing critical speeds. In aircraft engines, to increase the damping capacity within a limited physical space, piston rings (PR) seal the axial ends of a squeeze film land. Alas, lubricant still leaks through the slit in the PR abutted ends, and air enters into the film to make a bubbly oil mixture with a much reduced damping capability. This paper presents a volume of fluid (VOF) model for a PR sealed ends SFD facing  ambient air (not submerged in lubricant and prone to air entrainment) and delivers predictions benchmarked against experimental results obtained in a dedicated test rig. A lubricant feed pressure and flow large enough to prevent air ingestion vary with the damper geometry, the lubricant inlet and outlet conditions, and the kinematics of the journal. A parametric study for a typical SFD shows the period-averaged gas volume fraction (GVF) increases as the journal squeeze film velocity (v_s) increases and as the film clearance decreases. Most importantly, the location of the PR slit relative to the feedhole affects the amount of air drawn into the film. When the PR slit faces a feedhole, the film land is mostly filled with a pure lubricant. The GVF increases as the arc distance from the PR slit to the feedhole increases. The physical model, anchored by the test data, effectively addresses a fundamental challenge in SFD design and operation; namely, to quantify the amount of air ingested and its effect on the damper forced performance.

Presenting Author: Bonjin Koo Daikin Applied

Presenting Author Biography: Bonjin Koo is a development engineer in the centrifugal compressor group at Advanced technology Center in Daikin Applied. Bonjin performs R&D in the fields of lubrication and rotordynamics, having advanced the technologies of oiled and oil free bearings for centrifugal compressors. Bonjin earned BS and MS in ME from Hanyang University and a PhD in ME from Texas A&M University. Bonjin has published papers in various journals including ASME Journal of Gas Turbines and Power.

Authors:

Bonjin Koo Daikin Applied
Luis San Andres Texas A&M University