Application of laser doppler velocimetry to rotor vibration measurement

Vibration measurement is of fundamental importance in many machinery applications including for the development and monitoring of rotating machinery. In such applications, measurement of the vibration transmitted from the rotor into a non-rotating part of the structure is the most common arrangement but this cannot always be relied upon because vibration transmission may be low. In such cases, the use of a non-contacting vibration transducer capable of measuring vibration directly from the rotor itself is desirable. Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) is a non-contacting vibration technique capable of such measurements but vibration measurements on rotating structures using LDV have been shown to be ambiguous. The sensitivity of the measured velocity to other rotor vibration components can be significant enough to mask the intended vibration measurement entirely. This thesis examines the use of LDV for vibration measurements on rotating structures more comprehensively than in any previous study. A new and completely general theory is developed to allow the velocity sensitivity of LDV measurements taken from rotating structures to be described for laser beam incidence in an arbitrary direction on a target element requiring 6 degrees of freedom to define its vibratory motion fully. Extension of the' theory to optical configurations incorporating multiple laser beams is also included with a number of useful instrument configurations established. The theory enables some fundamental questions regarding the use of LDV on rotating structures to be answered. Of particular importance is the confirmation that direct measurement of radial or pitch and yaw vibration is not possible because the measurements will always be unavoidably cross-sensitive to other motion components. Resolution of these components is possible, however and a new method of resolving steady state, non-synchronous radial, pitch and yaw vibrations is presented enabling a range of measurements to be made for the first time using LDV. Several of these measurements were made on a running IC engine and of special note are the angular vibration measurements made using a novel instrument incorporating 3 beams, the laser angular vibrometer, designed specifically for the task. Errors within the resolution technique are considered in detail and, looking forward, a number of promising means by which to reduce error magnitudes are introduced and recommended for further investigation. LDV has great potential for rotating machinery diagnostics and such developments are key to achieving this potential.