http://www.hindawi.comThe latest articles from Hindawi Publishing Corporation© 2012, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2012/581658/Savonius turbine is simple in design and easy to fabricate at a lower cost. The drag is the basic driving force for Savonius turbine. Savonius turbines are mainly used for the small-scale electricity generation in remote areas. In real life, multiple Savonius turbines are to be arranged to form a farm to scale up the electricity generation. So, it is important to study the interaction among them to avoid the power loss due to negative interaction between turbines. The purpose of this investigation is to examine closely the effect of interaction between two Savonius turbines arranged in line. Experimental investigations are carried out to study the mutual interaction between turbines with water as the working medium at a Reynolds number of 1.2×105 based on the diameter of the turbine. Influence of separation gap between the two Savonius turbines is studied by varying the separation gap ratio (X/R) from 3 to 8. As the separation gap ratio increases from 3 to 8, becomes lesser the mutual interaction between the turbines. Results conclude that two turbines placed at a separation gap ratio of 8 performed independently without affecting the performance of each other.Kailash Golecha, T. I. Eldho, and S. V. PrabhuCopyright © 2012 Kailash Golecha et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2012/476908/Presently, there exist few numerical methods which treat the inverse problem for the determination of the geometry of wind turbine blades. In this work, authors intend to solve the inverse optimum project for horizontal axis wind turbine in which the selection of the circulation distribution is obtained by resolving two variational problems: the first consists in sorting the circulation distribution on the lifting line, which, for a given power extracted by the wind turbine, minimizes the loses due to the induced velocity. In the second, the optimal circulation distribution is selected such that the kinetic energy of the wind downstream of the rotor disc is minimum, when the energy extracted by the wind turbine for one rotating period is imposed. A code has been developed which incorporates the real pitch of the helicoidal vortex wake. Very promising results have been obtained: the circulation distribution for a given extracted power and the chord lengths distribution law along the blade span.Ali Helali, Badreddine Kamoun, David Afungchui, and Mohamed Jomaa SafiCopyright © 2012 Ali Helali et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/146969/The flow field at the rotor exit of a low aspect ratio axial flow fan for different tip geometries and for different flow coefficients is measured in the present study. The following configurations are tested: (1) rotor without partial shroud, designated as rotor (wos), (2) rotor with partial shroud, designated as rotor (ws), and (3) rotor with perforated (perforations in the shape of discrete circular holes) partial shroud, designated as rotor (wps). From steady state measurements, the performance of rotor (wps) is found to be the best. Both the rotors with partial shrouds have stalled at a higher flow coefficient compared to that of rotor (wos). From periodic flow measurements, it is concluded that the low velocity region near the tip section is considerably reduced with the use of partial shrouds with perforations. The extent of this low velocity region for both rotor (wos) and rotor (wps) increases with decreasing flow coefficient due to increased stage loading. This core of low momentum fluid has moved inwards of the annulus and towards the pressure side as the flow coefficient decreases. The extent of the low momentum fluid is smaller for rotor (wps) than that of rotor (wos) at all flow coefficients.N. Sitaram and G. Ch. V. SivakumarCopyright © 2011 N. Sitaram and G. Ch. V. Sivakumar. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/528927/This paper presents a qualitative analysis of controlling the cross-flow fan noise by using porous stabilizers. The stabilizer was originally a folded plate. It is changed into a porous structure which has a plenum chamber and vent holes on the front wall. In order to investigate the influences of using the porous stabilizers, experiments are carried out to measure the cross-flow fan aerodynamic performances and sound radiation. Meanwhile, the internal flow field of the fan is numerically simulated. The results show that the porous stabilizers have not produced considerable effect on the cross-flow fan's performance curve, but the noise radiated from the fan is strongly affected. This indicates the feasibility of controlling the cross-flow fan noise by using the porous stabilizers with selected porosity.Huanxin Lai, Meng Wang, Chuye Yun, and Jin YaoCopyright © 2011 Huanxin Lai et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/782969/Projected growth of aviation depends on fueling where specific needs must be met. Safety is paramount, and along with political, social, environmental, and legacy transport systems requirements, alternate aviation fueling becomes an opportunity of enormous proportions. Biofuels—sourced from halophytes, algae, cyanobacteria, and “weeds” using wastelands, waste water, and seawater—have the capacity to be drop-in fuel replacements for petroleum fuels. Biojet fuels from such sources solve the aviation CO2 emissions issue and do not compete with food or freshwater needs. They are not detrimental to the social or environmental fabric and use the existing fuels infrastructure. Cost and sustainable supply remain the major impediments to alternate fuels. Halophytes are the near-term solution to biomass/biofuels capacity at reasonable costs; they simply involve more farming, at usual farming costs. Biofuels represent a win-win approach, proffering as they do—at least the ones we are studying—massive capacity, climate neutral-to-some sequestration, and ultimately, reasonable costs.Robert C. Hendricks, Dennis M. Bushnell, and Dale T. ShouseCopyright © 2011 Robert C. Hendricks et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/841214/The paper refers to the numerical analysis of the internal flow in a hydraulic cross-flow turbine type Banki. A 3D-CFD steady state flow simulation has been performed using ANSYS CFX codes. The simulation includes nozzle, runner, shaft, and casing. The turbine has a specific speed of 63 (metric units), an outside runner diameter of 294 mm. Simulations were carried out using a water-air free surface model and k-ε turbulence model. The objectives of this study were to analyze the velocity and pressure fields of the cross-flow within the runner and to characterize its performance for different runner speeds. Absolute flow velocity angles are obtained at runner entrance for simulations with and without the runner. Flow recirculation in the runner interblade passages and shocks of the internal cross-flow cause considerable hydraulic losses by which the efficiency of the turbine decreases significantly. The CFD simulations results were compared with experimental data and were consistent with global performance parameters.Jesús De Andrade, Christian Curiel, Frank Kenyery, Orlando Aguillón, Auristela Vásquez, and Miguel AsuajeCopyright © 2011 Jesús De Andrade et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/537824/A method is presented for redesigning a centrifugal impeller and its inlet duct. The double-discharge volute casing is a structural constraint and is maintained for its shape. The redesign effort was geared towards meeting the design volute exit pressure while reducing the power required to operate the fan. Given the high performance of the baseline impeller, the redesign adopted a high-fidelity CFD-based computational approach capable of accounting for all aerodynamic losses. The present effort utilized a numerical optimization with experiential steering techniques to redesign the fan blades, inlet duct, and shroud of the impeller. The resulting flow path modifications not only met the pressure requirement, but also reduced the fan power by 8.8% over the baseline. A refined CFD assessment of the impeller/volute coupling and the gap between the stationary duct and the rotating shroud revealed a reduction in efficiency due to the volute and the gap. The calculations verified that the new impeller matches better with the original volute. Model-fan measured data was used to validate CFD predictions and impeller design goals. The CFD results further demonstrate a Reynolds-number effect between the model- and full-scale fans.Yu-Tai Lee, Vineet Ahuja, Ashvin Hosangadi, Michael E. Slipper, Lawrence P. Mulvihill, Roger Birkbeck, and Roderick M. ColemanCopyright © 2011 Yu-Tai Lee et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/516128/This paper describes a capacitance-based tip clearance measurement system which engineers have used in the most demanding turbine test applications. The capacitance probe has survived extended use in a major European gas turbine manufacturer's high-temperature demonstrator unit, where it functioned reliably at a turbine entry temperature in excess of 1800 degrees Kelvin. This paper explores blade by blade tip clearance measurement techniques and examines probe performance under laboratory conditions in support of high-temperature installations. The paper outlines the blade by blade tip clearance measurement technique and describes the experimental facility used to study tip clearance measurement. The paper also fully describes the method used to calibrate the measurement system in order to ascertain measurement accuracy. The paper clarifies how the practical problems were overcome associated with making blade by blade tip clearance measurements in both compressor and turbine environments. Since its initial development, gas turbine development programmes have routinely used the clearance measurement system. The inherent robustness of the system has resulted in reliable in-service measurement of clearance in real world applications.A. G. SheardCopyright © 2011 A. G. Sheard. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/817547/This work provides a detailed description of the fluid dynamic design of a low specific-speed industrial pump centrifugal impeller. The main goal is to guarantee a certain value of the specific-speed number at the design flow rate, while satisfying geometrical constraints and industrial feasibility. The design procedure relies on a modern optimization technique such as an Artificial-Neural-Network-based approach (ANN). The impeller geometry is parameterized in order to allow geometrical variations over a large design space. The computational framework suitable for pump optimization is based on a fully viscous three-dimensional numerical solver, used for the impeller analysis. The performance prediction of the pump has been obtained by coupling the CFD analysis with a 1D correlation tool, which accounts for the losses due to the other components not included in the CFD domain. Due to both manufacturing and geometrical constraints, two different optimized impellers with 3 and 5 blades have been developed, with the performance required in terms of efficiency and suction capability. The predicted performance of both configurations were compared with the measured head and efficiency characteristics.Matteo Checcucci, Federica Sazzini, Michele Marconcini, Andrea Arnone, Mario Coneri, Luigi De Franco, and Matteo ToselliCopyright © 2011 Matteo Checcucci et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/908469/A theoretical basis for static and dynamic operation of tilting pad journal bearings (TPJBs) has evolved over the last 50 years. Originally demonstrated by Lund using the pad assembly method and a classic Reynolds equation solution, the current state of the art includes full thermoelastohydrodynamic solutions of the generalized Reynolds equation that include fluid convective inertia effects, pad motions; and thermal and mechanical deformations of the pads and shaft. The development of TPJB theory is reviewed, emphasizing dynamic modeling. The paper begins with the early analyses of fixed geometry bearings and continues to modern analyses that include pad motion and stiffness and damping effects. The development of thermohydrodynamic, thermoelastohydrodynamic, and bulk-flow analyses is reviewed. The theories of TPJB dynamics, including synchronous and nonsynchronous models, are reviewed. A discussion of temporal inertia effects in tilting pad bearing is considered. Future trends are discussed, and a path for experimental verification is proposed.Timothy Dimond, Amir Younan, and Paul AllaireCopyright © 2011 Timothy Dimond et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/489150/The aerodynamic losses in gas turbines are mainly caused by profile loss secondary flow, and tip leakage loss. This study focuses on tip leakage flow of high-pressure turbine stages. An annular turbine cascade was constructed with fixed blades on the casing, and the distance between blade tip and the hub was considered as tip clearance gap. The effect of endwall movement on loss mechanism was investigated by using experimental and numerical techniques. The measurements were obtained while the hub was fixed but the numerical calculations were carried out for both stationary and moving cascades. Upstream and downstream flows were measured by using a calibrated five-hole pressure probe. The steady incompressible turbulent flow was obtained by solving Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations and by employing shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model. The total pressure loss coefficient obtained from the numerical technique was compared with the experimental measurements, and the comparison showed good agreement. Tip clearance vortices were observed in the tip clearance gap. It was found through this study that end-wall movement reduces tip leakage loss through the cascade.Hesham M. El-Batsh and Magdy Bassily HannaCopyright © 2011 Hesham M. El-Batsh and Magdy Bassily Hanna. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/182906/A challenge in civil aviation future propulsion systems is expected to be the integration with the airframe, coming as a result of increasing bypass ratio or above wing installations for noise mitigation. The resulting highly distorted inlet flows to the engine make a clear demand for advanced gas turbine performance prediction models. Since the dawn of jet engine, several models have been proposed, and the present work comes to add a model that combines two well-established compressor performance methods in order to create a quasi-three-dimensional representation of the fan of a modern turbofan. A streamline curvature model is coupled to a parallel compressor method, covering radial and circumferential directions, respectively. Model testing has shown a close agreement to experimental data, making it a good candidate for assessing the loss of surge margin on a high bypass ratio turbofan, semiembedded on the upper surface of a broad wing airframe.Georgios Doulgeris, Hossein Khaleghi, Anestis Kalfas, and Pericles PilidisCopyright © 2011 Georgios Doulgeris et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/352819/The present study attempts to reduce secondary flow losses by application of streamwise endwall fence. After comprehensive analysis on selection of objective function for secondary flow loss reduction, coefficient of secondary kinetic energy (CSKE) is selected as the objective function in this study. A fence whose height varies linearly from the leading edge to the trailing edge and located in the middle of the flow passage produces least CSKE and is the optimum fence. The reduction in CSKE by the optimum fence is 27% compared to the baseline case. The geometry of the fence is new and is reported for the first time. Idea of this fence comes from the fact that the size of the passage vortex (which is the prime component of secondary flow) increases as it travels downstream, hence the height of fence should vary as the objective of fence is to block the passage vortex from crossing the passage and impinging on suction surface of the blade. Optimum fence reduced overturning and underturning of flow by more than 50% compared to the baseline case. Magnitude and spanwise penetration of the passage vortex were reduced considerably compared to the baseline case.Krishna Nandan Kumar and M. GovardhanCopyright © 2011 Krishna Nandan Kumar and M. Govardhan. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/738275/A detailed description of a new centrifugal compressor surge test rig is presented. The objective of the design and development of the rig is to study the surge phenomenon in centrifugal compression systems and to investigate a novel method of surge control by active magnetic bearing servo actuation of the impeller axial tip clearance. In this paper, we focus on the design, initial setup, and testing of the rig. The latter two include the commissioning of the rig and the experimental characterization of the compressor performance. The behavior of the compressor during surge is analyzed by driving the experimental setup into surge. Two fundamental frequencies, 21 Hz and 7 Hz, connected to the surge oscillation in the test rig are identified, and the observed instability is categorized according to the intensity of pressure fluctuations. Based on the test results, the excited pressure waves are clearly the result of surge and not stall. Also, they exhibit the characteristics of mild and classic surge instead of deep surge. Finally, the change in the compressor performance due to variation in the impeller tip clearance is experimentally examined, and the results support the potential of the tip clearance modulation for the control of compressor surge. This is the first such demonstration of the feasibility of surge control of a compressor using active magnetic bearings.Kin Tien Lim, Se Young Yoon, Christopher P. Goyne, Zongli Lin, and Paul E. AllaireCopyright © 2011 Kin Tien Lim et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/131824/An air pressure-assisted centrifugal dewatering method was developed and used for the dewatering of concentrated finesulfide particles, such as sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite. This filtration method was mainly designed to increase the filtration rate during the drainage cycle and, hence, produce drier filter cakes, which in turn could reduce the cost and emission problems/concerns of thermal dryers in the preparation plants. Several dewatering parameters, including applied pressure, centrifugal force (G-force), spin time, cake thickness, and surface hydrophobization, were tested to optimize the processing conditions. Test results showed that, at higher air pressure and centrifugal force, the cake moisture reduction was more than 70%, depending on the testing conditions. As a result, it can be-concluded that the novel filtration method effectively works on the dewatering of fine particles (–150 μm).R. AsmatuluCopyright © 2011 R. Asmatulu. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/415296/All hydrocarbon- (HC-) fueled heat engine exhaust (tailpipe) emissions (<10 to 140 nm) contribute as health hazards, including emissions from transportation vehicles (e.g., aircraft) and other HC-fueled power systems. CO2 emissions are tracked and, when mapped, show outlines of major transportation routes and cities. Particulate pollution affects living tissue and is found to be detrimental to cardiovascular and respiratory systems where ultrafine particulates directly translocate to promote vascular system diseases potentially detectable as organic vapors. This paper discusses aviation emissions, fueling, and certification issues, including heat engine emissions hazards, detection at low levels and tracking of emissions, and alternate energy sources for general aviation.Robert C. Hendricks and Dennis BushnellCopyright © 2011 Robert C. Hendricks and Dennis Bushnell. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/137860/Volute is an important hydraulic part of centrifugal pump, hydraulic loss within pump volute takes up a large part of total hydraulic loss within pump, thus appropriate design of pump volute has significant meaning to centrifugal pump performance. In this paper, numerical method was adopted to investigate volute main geometric parameters, including volute throat area, volute cross-section shape, design rule of spiral development area, and radial gap between impeller and volute tongue to pump performance. A design method of high-efficiency pump volute is developed through the influence of volute main geometric parameters to pump performance. This paper could provide theoretical guidance to high-efficiency pump volute design.Sunsheng Yang, Fanyu Kong, and Bin ChenCopyright © 2011 Sunsheng Yang et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/143523/This paper addresses the development of an elastodynamic model of a motorcycle engine cranktrain aimed at accurately evaluating the interactions between the crankshaft and the engine block, thus allowing an improved structural design. A rigid multibody model is first implemented and simulated; only kinematic joints are involved at this stage, leading to a statically determinate assembly of the mechanism. Such a modelling approach prevents the loads at certain interface locations to be evaluated; furthermore, high-frequency dynamic effects cannot be predicted. These drawbacks can be removed by introducing bushing-like elements and/or modelling component flexibility. In this paper, this latter aspect is the objective of the investigation; in particular, a finite element model of the crankshaft is implemented as a replacement for the corresponding rigid member. The well-established Craig-Bampton model reduction technique is used to represent the elastodynamic behaviour of the component with a limited number of coordinates. The mode selection procedure is emphasized here: a measure of modal dynamic importance, namely the effective interface mass fraction, is used to rank fixed-interface normal modes based upon their contribution to loads at the substructure interface; choosing the modal base according to such ranking leads to a minimal yet accurate representation.Stefano Ricci, Marco Troncossi, and Alessandro RivolaCopyright © 2011 Stefano Ricci et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/942576/The goal of module performance analysis is to reliably assess the health of the main components of an aircraft engine. A predictive maintenance strategy can leverage this information to increase operability and safety as well as to reduce costs. Degradation undergone by an engine can be divided into gradual deterioration and accidental events. Kalman filters have proven very efficient at tracking progressive deterioration but are poor performers in the face of abrupt events. Adaptive estimation is considered as an appropriate solution to this deficiency. This paper reports the evaluation of the detection capability of an adaptive diagnosis tool on the basis of simulated scenarios that may be encountered during the operation of a commercial turbofan engine. The diagnosis tool combines a Kalman filter and a secondary system that monitors the residuals. This auxiliary component implements a generalised likelihood ratio test in order to detect abrupt events.Sebastien Borguet and Olivier LéonardCopyright © 2011 Sebastien Borguet and Olivier Léonard. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2010/273716/The focus of this literature survey and review is model reduction methods and their application to rotor dynamic systems. Rotor dynamic systems require careful consideration in their dynamic models as they include unsymmetric stiffness, localized nonproportional damping, and frequency-dependent gyroscopic effects. The literature reviewed originates from both controls and mechanical systems analysis and has been previously applied to rotor systems. This survey discusses the previous literature reviews on model reduction, reduction methods applied to rotor systems, the current state of these reduction methods in rotor dynamics, and the ability of the literature to reduce the complexities of large order rotor dynamic systems but allow accurate solutions.Matthew B. Wagner, Amir Younan, Paul Allaire, and Randy CogillCopyright © 2010 Matthew B. Wagner et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2011/952869/The high-speed diesel engine turbocharger is known to have subsynchronous vibrations for a wide speed range. The bearing fluid-film instability is the main source of the vibration. The nonlinear forces inside the bearings are causing the rotor to whirl in a limit cycle. This study presents a new method for improving the dynamic stability by inducing the turbocharger rotor unbalance in order to suppress the subsynchronous vibration. The finite-element model of the turbocharger with floating-ring bearings is numerically solved for the nonlinear time-transient response. Both compressor and turbine added unbalance are induced and the dynamic stability is computed. The turbocharger model with linearized floating-ring bearings is also solved for eigenvalues to predict the modes of instability. The linear analysis demonstrates that the forward whirling mode of the floating-ring at the compressor end also becomes unstable at the higher turbocharger speeds, in addition to the unstable forward conical and cylindrical modes. The numerical predictions are also compared to the former experimental results of a similar turbocharger. The results of the study show that the subsynchronous frequency amplitude of the dominant first mode is reduced when inducing either the compressor or the turbine unbalance at a certain level.R. Gordon Kirk and Ali A. AlsaeedCopyright © 2011 R. Gordon Kirk and Ali A. Alsaeed. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2010/302360/Distribution of the blade load is one of the design parameters for a cavitating inducer. For experimental investigation of the thermodynamic effect on the blade load, we conducted experiments in both cold water and liquid nitrogen. The thermodynamic effect on cavitation notably appears in this cryogenic fluid although it can be disregarded in cold water. In these experiments, the pressure rise along the blade tip was measured. In water, the pressure increased almost linearly from the leading edge to the trailing edge at higher cavitation number. After that, with a decrease of cavitation number, pressure rise occurred only near the trailing edge. On the other hand, in liquid nitrogen, the pressure distribution was similar to that in water at a higher cavitation number, even if the cavitation number as a cavitation parameter decreased. Because the cavitation growth is suppressed by the thermodynamic effect, the distribution of the blade load does not change even at lower cavitation number. By contrast, the pressure distribution in liquid nitrogen has the same tendency as that in water if the cavity length at the blade tip is taken as a cavitation indication. From these results, it was found that the shift of the blade load to the trailing edge depended on the increase of cavity length, and that the distribution of blade load was indicated only by the cavity length independent of the thermodynamic effect.Kengo Kikuta, Noriyuki Shimiya, Tomoyuki Hashimoto, Mitsuru Shimagaki, Hideaki Nanri, and Yoshiki YoshidaCopyright © 2010 Kengo Kikuta et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2010/717013/In a liquid rocket engine, cavitation in an inducer of a turbopump sometimes causes instability phenomena when the inducer is operated at low inlet pressure. Cavitation surge (auto-oscillation), one such instability phenomenon, has been discussed mainly based on an inertia model assuming incompressible flow. When this model is used, the frequency of the cavitation surge decreases continuously as the inlet pressure of the turbopump decreases. However, we obtained an interesting experimental result in which the frequency of cavitation surge varied discontinuously. Therefore, we employed one-dimensional analysis based on an acoustic model in which the fluid is assumed to be compressible. The analytical result qualitatively corresponded with the experimental result.Hideaki Nanri, Hiroki Kannan, Naoki Tani, and Yoshiki YoshidaCopyright © 2010 Hideaki Nanri et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2010/706043/The paper refers to the analysis of interactions between the impeller and the vaned diffuser on the air model of a radial flow pump. The study deals with a numerical simulation of the flow for a full 360° entire impeller and diffuser. The task is carried out close to design operating conditions and for one particular position of the impeller blade with respect to diffuser frame. Among all the results, it has been decided to mainly focus on the flow pattern at the exit part inside the impeller coming from the diffuser vanes interactions. The results are compared to the available PIV measurements.Abdelmadjid Atif, Saad Benmansour, and Gerard BoisCopyright © 2010 Abdelmadjid Atif et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2010/385947/This paper shows the results of the analysis of the dynamic behaviour of a power unit, whose shaft-train alignment was significantly influenced by the machine thermal state, that was affected in operating condition by high subsynchronous vibrations caused by oil-whip instability phenomena. The dynamic stiffness coefficients of the oil-film journal bearings of the generator were evaluated considering the critical average journal positions that caused the instability onsets. By including these bearing coefficients in a mathematical model of the fully assembled machine, the real part of the eigenvalue associated with the first balance resonance of the generator rotor became positive. This paper shows the successful results obtained by combining diagnostic techniques based on mathematical models of journal bearings and shaft train with detailed analyses of monitoring data aimed to investigate the effects of the hot alignment of rotating machines on the occurrence of oil-whip instability onsets.A. Vania and P. PennacchiCopyright © 2010 A. Vania and P. Pennacchi. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2010/962804/Mechanical malfunctions such as, rotor unbalance and shaft misalignment are the most common causes of vibration in rotating machineries. Vibration is the most widely used parameter to monitor and asses the machine health condition. In this work, the Coast Down Time (CDT), which is an indicator of faults, is used to assess the condition of the rotating machine as a condition monitoring parameter. CDT is the total time taken by the system to dissipate the momentum acquired during sustained operation. Extensive experiments were conducted on Forward Curved Centrifugal Blower Test Rig at selected cutoff speeds for several combinations of combined horizontal and vertical parallel misalignment, combined parallel and angular misalignment, as well as for various unbalance conditions. As mechanical faults increase, a drastic decrease in CDT is found and this is represented as CDT reduction percentage. A specific correlation between the CDT reduction percentage, level of mechanical faults, and rotational cutoff speeds is observed. The results are analyzed and compared with vibration analysis for potential use of CDT as one of the condition monitoring parameter.G. R. Rameshkumar, B. V. A. Rao, and K. P. RamachandranCopyright © 2010 G. R. Rameshkumar et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2010/502064/Gear fault detection based on Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) and Teager Kaiser Energy Operator (TKEO) technique is presented. This novel method is named as Teager-Huang transform (THT). EMD can adaptively decompose the vibration signal into a series of zero mean Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). TKEO can track the instantaneous amplitude and instantaneous frequency of the Intrinsic Mode Functions at any instant. The experimental results provide effective evidence that Teager-Huang transform has better resolution than that of Hilbert-Huang transform. The Teager-Huang transform can effectively diagnose the fault of the gear, thus providing a viable processing tool for gearbox defect detection and diagnosis.Hui Li, Haiqi Zheng, and Liwei TangCopyright © 2010 Hui Li et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2010/491413/This article presents the detailed study of rotor tip leakage related phenomena in a low speed axial compressor rotor passages for three sweep configurations [Unswept (UNS), Tip Chordline Swept (TCS) and Axially Swept (AXS)]. Fifteen domains are numerically studied with 5 sweep configurations (0°, 20° TCS, 30° TCS, 20° AXS, and 30° AXS) and for 3 tip clearances (0.0%, 0.7% and 2.7% of the blade chord). Results were well validated with experimental data. Observations near the tip reveal that UNS rotor shows high sensitivity than the swept rotors in the blade pressure distribution with change in tip clearance. AXS rotor has high loading capability and less tip clearance effect on blade loading at the near stall mass flow. Downstream shift of the vortex rollup along the chord is observed with increased flow coefficient and increment in the tip gap height. In particular, the effect of flow coefficient is more predominant on this effect. Tip vortex-related flow blockage is less with the swept rotors. Among the rotors, the AXS rotor is found to incur low total pressure losses attributable to tip leakage. Effect of incidence is observed on the flow leakage direction.P. V. Ramakrishna and M. GovardhanCopyright © 2010 P. V. Ramakrishna and M. Govardhan. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2010/540101/Many kinds of rotating machinery are supported by bearings with clearance, which are further clamped in a supporting structure. When designing such machinery it is important to be able to predict dynamics and hence valid models are needed. Due to gravity, the shaft often vibrates close to a static equilibrium position leading to a possibility to linearise the equation of motion. Although several studies on bearings with clearance exist, there are still no reports on how such clearances affects the stiffness coefficients close to a static equilibrium position. Therefore, analytical expressions for such approximated pedestal stiffness coefficients have been derived in this paper. By using such approximated pedestals in simple rotordynamical models, it was found that the eigenfrequencies decrease significantly with clearance. It is further shown that the approximated pedestal stiffness coefficients only will be valid for vibrations close to the static equilibrium position.Magnus KarlbergCopyright © 2010 Magnus Karlberg. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2009/247613/This paper proposes the use of plasma actuator to suppress boundary layer separation on a compressor blade suction side to increase axial compressor performance. Plasma actuators are a new type of electrical flow control device that imparts momentum to the air when submitted to a high AC voltage at high frequency. The concept presented in this paper consists in the positioning of a plasma actuator near the separation point on a compressor rotor suction side to increase flow turning. In this computational study, three parameters have been studied to evaluate the effectiveness of plasma actuator: actuator strength, position and actuation method (steady versus unsteady). Results show that plasma actuator operated in steady mode can increase the pressure ratio, efficiency, and power imparted by the rotor to the air and that the pressure ratio, efficiency and rotor power increase almost linearly with actuator strength. On the other hand, the actuator's position has limited effect on the performance increase. Finally, the results from unsteady simulations show a limited performance increase but are not fully conclusive, due possibly to the chosen pulsing frequencies of the actuator and/or to limitations of the CFD code.Sebastien Lemire, Huu Duc Vo, and Michael W. BennerCopyright © 2009 Sebastien Lemire et al. All rights reserved.