Modeling of Shaft Couplings for Alignment and Vibration Calculations

Shaft alignment and vibration calculations must account for the inertial, flexibility and damping Proper ties of the couplings used to connect components in the propulsion train. After a brief description of the most common mechanical fluid and electric couplings, the paper outlines the basic requirement s of the numerical methods used to analyze linear and nonlinear shaft systems. Lumped parameter models are then proposed to account for the role of rigid, dental disk, diaphragm and fluid couplings. Numerical examples and user guidance are provided with desire to three specific ship designs. Recommendations are included for further research along analytical and numerical lines.