Affiliations: Mechanical Engineering Department, International
Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Jalan Gombak, 53100, KL, Malaysia | Mechatronics Engineering Department, International
Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Jalan Gombak, 53100, KL, Malaysia
Abstract: This work is devoted to the fabrication and investigation of the
Squeeze Film Dampers (SFDs) which are widely used in many applications. This
include the fabrication of a test rig and several dampers with different sizes
and two different materials which composite and non-composite. Composite
dampers (Glass/epoxy), each consists of 30 layers, were fabricated by hand
lay-up method. Outer and inner diameters of all the fabricated dampers were
maintained as 60 and 40 mm respectively. Non-composite dampers (Steel) were
fabricated and tested using turning machine. Three dampers of different lengths
were examined for both materials. A rotor-bearing system for the analysis has
been designed and fabricated. The test rig consists of mild steel shaft, two
supports, oil pressure system, and two self-alignment ball bearings were fixed
on each end support. Two squeeze film dampers were used for the two support
ends. Vibration amplitude has been examined for all the fabricated dampers at
different shaft rotational speeds. The first resonance speed was examined for
all the dampers tested. Results show that the vibration amplitude of the steel
damper was lower than Glass/epoxy dampers with the same L/D ratio. On the other
hand, a considerable weight saving has been achieved by using Glass/epoxy
composite dampers. It has been found that the performance of squeeze film
damper improved with increasing length/diameter ratio (L/D) within the range
tested.
Keywords: Squeeze film dampers, bearings, vibration, composite materials
