How to calculate vibrations on a rotating shaft?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating vibrations on a rotating shaft, specifically in the context of a spindle designed for milling operating at 8000 RPM. Participants explore various types of vibrations, simulation methods, and the complexities involved in accurately modeling the system.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about methods to calculate vibrations on a rotating shaft and the possibility of accurate simulation.
  • Another participant requests clarification on the type of vibration of interest, mentioning axial, bending, bearing housing, and torsional vibrations, and emphasizes the need for a clear definition of the problem.
  • A participant describes their specific scenario involving a milling spindle and mentions calculating resonance frequencies with multiple mode shapes, expressing uncertainty about bending vibration analysis.
  • Discussion includes the complexity of machine tool spindle vibrations due to bearing stiffness and the suggestion that simple hand calculations may not suffice for such systems.
  • One participant references a resource for equations related to natural frequency calculations but notes that the specific case of a machine tool spindle is more complex and may require Finite Element Analysis (FEA).
  • Another participant points out that the cutting tool itself can also vibrate, introducing the concept of "chatter."

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying levels of familiarity with vibration theory and methods, indicating that there is no consensus on the best approach to analyze the spindle vibrations. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the specific methods and equations to apply.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight the limitations of hand calculations for complex systems like machine tool spindles, noting the importance of accurately modeling bearing stiffness and the challenges of using FEA.

friscoboya
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Is there a way to calculate the vibrations on a shaft rotating at a certain rpm? Is there a way to accurately simulate this?
 
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Yes, but we need more detail. Are you interested in:
Axial vibration?
Bending vibration? Which modes?
Bearing housing vibration?
Torsional vibration?

The frequency of all of these can be calculated, or at least estimated. But you first need to fully define what you are looking for. If you are interested in the vibration amplitude at a critical speed or natural frequency, that is a function of damping and the forcing function. Have you had the Theory of Vibration class yet?
 
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I haven’t taken a vibrations class sadly. So the shaft is for a spindle designed for milling which is rotating at 8000 RPM. There is a force on one end of the spindle which makes contact with the material. What I have done so far in simulation software is calculate the resonance frequencies with 6 different mode shapes. The first mode had a frequency equating 180000 RPM which is pretty high. Ideally I would want to measure how the shaft vibrates at the point of contact and I assume this involves the bending of the shaft. So a bending vibration would be ideal right? Sorry I am not too familiar on what the correct bending analysis is. Could you point me in the right direction? Appropriate equations would be helpful.

Thank you
 
Machine tool spindles are supported by several bearings. The spindle itself is short and stiff. The natural frequencies of the spindle / bearing system are strongly affected by the bearing stiffness. The result is a system that is too complex for simple hand calculations. There may well be one or more rigid body modes of vibration.

My 5th Edition of Formulas for Stress and Strain, by Roark has several pages of equations for calculating the natural frequency of beams with various support conditions, but nothing that would work for a machine tool spindle. But the 5th edition has only 624 pages, while the latest 8th edition has 1072 pages, so might be worth a look.

The short, stiff shaft with complex geometry and multiple bearings of a machine tool spindle is best analyzed using FEA. Even that is a challenge because it is difficult to properly model the stiffness of the various bearings. Note that both the radial and axial stiffness of each bearing must be specified.

If you still want to try hand calculations, this is a good place to start: https://scholarworks.rit.edu/cgi/vi...com/&httpsredir=1&article=8204&context=theses.
 
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Often it is the cutting tool itself that vibrates or "chatters."
 

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