Dynamic response analysis of an overhung rotor with interval uncertainties

Rotor system is an important part in rotating machineries. As a matter of fact, rotors are subject to uncertainties inevitably due to occasions such as assembling errors, material properties dispersion and variable working conditions. In order to obtain more reasonable evaluations of dynamic response of rotor systems, uncertainties are recommended to be taken into consideration. In this paper, the dynamic responses of an elastically supported uncertain overhung rotor are studied in which uncertain parameters are treated as unknown-but-bounded interval variables. The finite element method is used to derive the deterministic analysis model. A non-intrusive interval method based on Chebyshev polynomial approximation is proposed to evaluate the uncertain dynamic response of the rotor system. Comparative study of the interval method, the scanning method and the Monte Carlo simulation is carried out to illustrate the effectiveness and accuracy. Deflection upper bounds and lower bounds of the disc are obtained with respect to rotating speed in several typical uncertain cases. Results show that the uncertainties have significant effects on the dynamic behaviours of the rotor system and multiple source small uncertainties can lead to large fluctuations in the dynamic responses.