Vibrations of Misaligned Rotor System with Hysteretic Friction Arising from Driveshaft–Stator Contact under Dispersed Viscous Fluid Influences

Dynamic analysis of a combination of misaligned rotors, the disturbance of the Cardan joint and the rotor–stator rubbing within a restricted clearance space in a viscous fluid is complex and can result in persistent vibration anomalies that are often misunderstood. It becomes increasingly important to gain some insights into how the transmission of coupled motion responds dynamically under a variety of conditions. This paper introduces an efficient simulation of the misaligned multi-degree-of-freedom rotor’s model, which was developed to predict the transient dynamic behaviours of a driveshaft deflection. The model accounts for tight clearance as a function of contact deformation according to nonlinear Hertzian contact theory. The paper also examines recent research by considering the influence of parameters such as eccentric masses, applied torques and flexible coupling joint perturbation introduced in the proposed rotor system. The simulation results indicated that the viscous fluid surrounding the driveshaft had sufficient torsional flexibility to dampen the rubbing impact to the driven shaft displacement. In addition, the torsional fluctuations of the flexible coupling abruptly increased, and then significantly impacted the vibration of the submerged driveshaft. Parametric studies involving the interconnected rotor models indicated that the effects of fluid on a close-bounds contact area can create partial disturbance reduction. The high rubbing contact is shown to be lost through the Hooke’s joints during power transmission. The speed-frequency spectrum maps provide valuable information on all the modelled excitations over the frequency of the twice-running speed resonance in a viscous medium. Further, nonlinear characteristics are reconstructed through orbit shapes and can be adopted in the condition monitoring of rotors in engineering practice.