Dr. Alan Palazzolo and Dr. Junho Suh’s research paper, “Three-Dimensional Thermodynamic Morton Effect Simulation Part I & Part II,” won the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Journal of Tribology’s 2014 Best Paper Award. Suh and Palazzolo were presented with award plaques at the Frontier of Tribology Conference held in Chicago in October.
Palazzolo is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University and an ASME Fellow, while Suh completed his Ph.D. at Texas A&M and is a senior researcher at the Korea Railroad Research Institute.
The paper develops modeling and simulation methodology for preventing the Morton Effect (ME). The ME is increasingly observed on high performance turbomachinery operating in petrochemical and power plants. The ME originates in fluid film bearings, which support the high rpm shaft of a turbomachine. Under appropriate conditions the ME gives rise to increasing mass unbalance, causing large centrifugal forces and ensuing vibration of the shaft. Industry standards highly discourage operation when vibration levels exceed allowable values, thus the machine and its accompanying manufacturing process are shut down. This may result in the loss of millions of dollars of product and in related lawsuits.
The methodology is multi-physics based, combining intricate thermal and flow simulation of the bearing's lubricant oil film coupled with elastic deformation, conduction- convection thermal simulations of the bearings, and vibration simulations of the shaft. The presence of very long and very short time constant phenomena in the ME presents a formidable computational challenge that is treated in an efficient and effective manner. This research is funded by the Turbomachinery Research Consortium of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Turbomachinery Laboratory.