Gas Turbine Aero Engine Rotor Balance and Vibration

Abstract

A Description of the Early Problems Encountered by Rolls‐Royce Ltd., which Led to the Appointment of a Specialist ‘Rotor Balance’ Engineer, and a Review of the Company's Current Balancing Techniques. THE advent of the gas turbine aero engine brought a state of passenger comfort, never before experienced, into the field of civil air transport; this was possible because the unbalanced forces due to reciprocating masses are entirely absent and the purely rotating masses of a turbine engine can, theoretically, be brought into perfect balance. The resulting smooth running engines produce lower levels of passenger fatigue due both to physical effects (i.e. a reduced feeling of ‘pins and needles’ in those parts of the anatomy touching the cabin floor or scat) and to aural effects (i.e. a lower noise level from engine buzz or cabin panels and fittings resonances).

Citation

Hodgkinson, K.S. (1964), "Gas Turbine Aero Engine Rotor Balance and Vibration", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 36 No. 7, pp. 218-220. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb033899