On the dynamic analysis of rotating shafts using nonlinear superelement and absolute nodal coordinate formulations

Abstract

In this article, a superelement formulation and a quadratic beam element based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation are applied to the simulation of high-speed rotating structures. To this end, these formulations are briefly reviewed by highlighting their distinctive features. The performance of the studied formulations is examined using two numerical examples. The first test is a spinning beam example in which the transient response is examined. An unbalanced rotating shaft is studied in the second example, in which both transient and modal analyses are performed. The results produced using both formulations are compared against those produced in the commercial finite element software ANSYS and those available in literature. The article tests in a rotating machine dynamics context two element types which have not been formulated primarily with rotating applications in mind. This is useful in investigating the versatility of these elements.