Highlights:
- Learn how advanced symbolic and numeric techniques can be used to diagnose and solve a wide variety of vibration issues early in the development process
- Discover how you can use MapleSim to develop a highly refined, realistic vibration analysis environment
The operational reliability of a rotary equipment train is dependent on the vibration of its components. All rotating machines experience some degree of vibration during all phases of operation. Often, the only evidence of this vibration is gear noise or coupling wear. However, these early indicators of vibration might eventually develop into high-amplitude vibration, resulting in gear wear, gear tooth failures, or broken shafts. The torsional response characteristics of rotating and reciprocating equipment should therefore be analyzed and evaluated to ensure system reliability.

In vibration analysis of mechanical structures, it has become increasingly common to use lumped mass models combined with experimental measurements for vibration analysis. This approach can be expanded to develop more sophisticated models to allow the creation of a highly refined, realistic vibration analysis environment. This article illustrates the latter approach, using the advanced system-level modeling and simulation platform MapleSim™, from Maplesoft, as the modeling and analysis tool.