Effect of Harmonic Components on the Resonance of Bearing Casing Structures in a Turbine Rotor System

Design aspects of a bearing casing system of a power plant are mainly focused on the strength and weight of itself to have a more stable system. Since the rotor speed often passes through the critical speed region when the operation begins, the relation between the rotating frequency of the rotor and natural frequency of the casing is very important for a prevention of resonance. However, harmonic components above the rotating frequency have often been overlooked the design for the resonance avoidance. In this paper, it is revealed that resonance vibration is generated when the natural frequency of a bearing casing is close to the one of harmonics of basic rotating frequency(1x), and as a consequence, sensing qualify of seismoprobes attached to the bearing casing structure can be seriously damaged. In order to reduce the resonance vibration, some stiffeners are added to the casing structures. Significant reduction in the magnitude of vibration corresponding to 2x harmonic of basic rotating frequency is observed from both FE analysis and experiment.