romac

University of Virginia

Rotating Machinery and Controls Laboratory

P.O. Box 400746

122 Engineer’s Way

Charlottesville, VA 22904

(434)924-3292

(434)982-2246(fax)

Rotating Machinery and Controls Laboratory

ROTORDYNAMICS

 

     

ROMAC has built a rich history of developments in rotor dynamics, going back to 1972 and the resulting technology has been embedded in the software available to the ROMAC members. This history includes the development of analytical and computational methods, software implementations, and perhaps most importantly experiences with the correlations between the field tests and the model analyses and the ongoing process of continuous improvements resulting from these experiences.

 

Our highest priority efforts are directed towards upgrades of existing software and fixing any bugs or needs for improvements as reported by ROMAC members. We invite comments and feedback from ROMAC members on their experiences in utilizing our Rotor Dynamics software so that a continuous improvement process can be carried out at ROMAC.

 

Associated with the upgrades of existing software and fixing any bugs, we are working on incremental developments of existing software. For example, in the process of investigating TORTRAN3, Hunter and Minhui discovered that it is important to rationalize the full model versus the reduced model, and the selection of number of modes in the reduced model including the choice of master coordinates can have a significant influence on the accuracy of the results. Clearly, all of these issues should remain as transparent to the User as possible to minimize the need for the User’s involvement and decisions in these issues while keeping the focus of the User on the actual results of the analysis. We are, therefore, investigating the processes of model reduction and their applications to nonlinear, time-history solutions. The development of ROTORLAB as a unified platform for User Interactions with ROMAC software is another example of incremental developments for existing software

 

 

The third activity is somewhat longer range, and can be classified as new developments and “research”. This activity is being shaped by active feedback from ROMAC members and their preferences for any new directions our Rotor Dynamics efforts should embark on. Development of new computational tools for Rotor Dynamics is an area which we are carefully investigating, because (i) Rotor Dynamics is mature field, and therefore (ii) we must avoid any activities and investment of resources which can lead to a "reinventing the wheel" situation.