Vibration control of a rotor-bearing system using shape memory alloy: I. Theory

In this paper, to make a rotor-bearing system pass through the critical speed safely and control its vibration, a self-optimizing support system is proposed, based on shape memory alloy (SMA). In this self-optimizing support system, the SMA springs are used to construct the pedestal bearing for the rotor-bearing system. The principle of the dynamic absorber is utilized to calculate and change the stiffness of the SMA pedestal bearing in order for the rotor shaft to be usually situated near anti-resonance with changes of the rotating speed, and its vibration can be controlled. Numerical experiments suggest that the vibration of the rotor-bearing system can be controlled efficiently by a SMA spring bearing and the proposed method is feasible. The study also indicates that the proposed method has potential for solving a wide range of active vibration control problems. The results are also verified by an experimental investigation on a rotor-bearing system presented in a companion paper, II. © IOP Publishing Ltd.