Application of the numerical continuation method in the prediction of nonlinear behavior of journal bearings

Abstract

Numerical continuation as a tool for analyzing nonlinear differential equations has proven to be very useful especially for the interactive numerical investigation. This paper examines the nonlinear behavior of a rigid rotor symmetrically supported by two identical short journal bearings. Within this contribution, bifurcation analyses and nonlinear phenomena of this rotor bearing system are investigated using MATCONT which is a numerical continuation package for the study of dynamical systems and their bifurcations.