The Influence of the Mesh Element Size on Critical Bending Speeds of a Rotor in the Finite Element Analysis

All software used in mechanical engineering such as ANSYS, CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, and others contain modules for designing different components, as well as modules for dynamic behavior analysis. Determining the natural modes and the critical bending speeds of a rotor can be quite complicated by an analytical approach, but relatively simple if numerical analysis methods are used. Numerical analysis based on the finite element method (FEM) is the most commonly used in the modal analysis of a mechanical structure. Choosing a larger or smaller mesh size can increase the working time without affecting the accuracy required. In this paper, we are looking at the effect of the dimension of the finite element mesh size on the critical speeds of a rotor. The numerical results obtained by modal analysis are compared with the experimental results obtained by analyzing a vibroacoustic signal given by applying a mechanical impulse.