Patent ID: 7630869

Claim:
A method for improving the vibrational characteristics of a device having a rotating element, the method comprising: (a) in a computer, generating a finite element model of a rotating element of a first version of a device while the rotating element is stationary, the rotating element having arbitrary geometry; (b) selecting and calculating from said finite element model a set of independent vibration shape functions, each of the independent vibration shape functions being defined over the entire geometry for the rotating element while the rotating element is stationary; (c) calculating the stationary natural frequencies of the rotating element corresponding to the independent vibration shape functions using the finite element model; (d) calculating gyroscopic and stiffness coefficients of the rotating element from the independent vibration shape functions while the rotating element is rotating at a specified rotational speed; (e) solving gyroscopic equations of motion that include the gyroscopic and stiffness coefficients in terms of generalized coordinates to obtain vibrational characteristics of the rotating element corresponding to the independent vibration shape functions; (f) transforming the obtained vibrational characteristics from generalized coordinates into three-dimensional physical space; and (g) modifying the first version of the device using the transformed vibrational characteristics.