Multiple solutions in an amplitude limited Jeffcott rotor including rubbing and stick-slip effect

The non-linear behaviour of rub-impact rotors have been studied in several papers. In such systems rich dynamics have been found together with the coexistence of solutions within some specific parameter ranges. In this paper an attempt is made to find all stable solutions for an amplitude limited Jeffcott rotor including rubbing and stick-slip effect. The recently suggested "multi bifurcation diagram method" is used to find and extract stable sets of bifurcation diagrams. A system is chosen where the linear stationary amplitude only exceeds the clearance in a narrow region near the natural frequency. Therefore large regions in frequency are expected to have only the linear stationary response. The results show that it is only for very low frequencies that one single solution exists. Even though periodic motions are dominant, there exist large ranges in frequency with quasi-periodic or chaotic motions. For the studied cases, three coexisting stable solutions are most common. In one case as many as four stable solutions was found to coexist. For rotors with large clearances (no impacts necessary) it is still possible to find several coexisting motions. For all cases the stick motion is the most severe one with large amplitudes and high back-ward whirl frequencies. In real situations the consequence of this stick motion is machine failure. These high amplitude motions were found to be stable over large frequency ranges. From the stability analysis it was found that this rolling motion can be avoided by low spin speed, low contact stiffness, low coefficient of friction, small ratio of disc radius/clearance or high damping ratio. In a design situation the parameters are seldom known with high accuracy. Therefore, it is of interest to know all solutions for parameter intervals. The multi-bifurcation diagram can be used in such situations to design a robust machine or at least be prepared for unwanted dynamics.