EXPERIMENTAL-VERIFICATION OF CRITICAL SPEED RANGES FOR ELASTIC CLOSED-LOOP LINKAGE SYSTEMS

In this work critical speed ranges are determined and verified for an elastic four bar crank rocker mechanism where all links are modeled as elastic members. The procedure used for the dynamic stability analysis is described in Nagarajan and Turcic (1991). The speed range of interest where the stability analysis is performed is 195-390 rpm. The values of the critical speeds obtained in the above speed range are then verified using independent theoretical and experimental methods of analysis. The steady state strain response is obtained both theoretically and experimentally for a number of speeds in the speed range of 195-390 rpm. From these responses plots different strain characteristics versus operating speeds are obtained. These plots exhibit peaks in the response at certain speeds indicating that the dynamic response at these speeds reaches a local maximum value. The critical speed ranges determined are found to correspond quite closely to the speeds where the peaks occur. This indicates that the critical speed ranges are indeed speeds where the response of the system is larger when compared to neighboring speeds and that the methods of determining them are accurate for the application considered.