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A Review of Morton Effect: From Theory to Industrial Practice

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A Review of Morton Effect: From Theory to

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Lili Gu

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TRIBOLOGY TRANSACTIONS
2018, VOL. 61, NO. 2, 381–391
https://doi.org/10.1080/10402004.2017.1333663

A Review of Morton Effect: From Theory to Industrial Practice

Lili Gu
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The Morton effect (ME) is known to cause spiral vibrations of rotors supported by fluid lubricant bearings Received 5 July 2016
when there is significant differential heating at rotor journals. The root cause of ME is accumulative Accepted 17 May 2017
asymmetric heating brought on by the viscous shearing effect of the bearing lubricant, mainly during KEYWORDS
synchronous vibrations. The thermal nature of the cause together with the symptoms of spiral vibrations Morton effect; thermal
make ME a thermal-induced instability. This article provides an in-depth review of the ME. It starts with a instability; thermal bow;
general introduction and assessment of the significance of ME, noting its widespread nature. Subsequently, spiral vibrations; synchronous
key findings are introduced about general ME mechanisms, including the important relationship between vibration
journal orbits and the hot spot. The circumstances and typical symptoms of ME-induced instability are
summarized and followed by a discussion of the critical issues to be tackled in both the theoretical analysis
and the experimental techniques regarding ME phenomenon. Lastly, this article includes a discussion about
the inconsistencies found in the literature regarding topics such as the excitation models for the thermal bow.

Introduction In the late 1990s, Faulkner, et al. (4) and Berot and Dourlens (5)
observed local differential heating effect on the journals orbiting
The Morton effect (ME) is a phenomenon of synchronous ther-
within fluid lubricant bearings in overhung compressors. Despite
mal instability (STI). It is most often reported in turbomachinery
the widespread nature of ME, there remains a present lack of
applications. This effect has been a latent threat to rotor stability
research about ME. This paucity might possibly mislead the
since fluid bearing–supported rotating machinery was first put in
trouble-shooting of ME-related vibrations (Berot and Dourlens
use. However, it did not come to the spotlight of turbomachinery
(5)). As an inherent nature of synchronous orbits, the differential
applications until the end of the last century, which was described
heating makes ME a ubiquitous phenomenon, as concluded by
as “a late 20th century entertainment” by Childs (p 12) (1).
Childs (1): “They keep happening …”; “Morton Effect instabil-
Unbalance had been believed to be the most likely cause of
ities were like a widely-spread but undiagnosed disease” (p 13).
synchronous vibrations. As a matter of fact, synchronous vibra-
This undiagnosed “disease” makes ME a latent threat to the
tions are always present, although the unbalance is negligible in
applications of turbomachinery due to the widespread use of
a well-balanced rotor. Synchronous orbits are prone to induce
fluid bearings/seals where viscous fluid is trapped in a small
a local differential heating effect due to the relative movement
clearance. Thus, the American Petroleum Institute added the
between the journal surface and the viscous fluid trapped in a
concern regarding rotor thermal instability, the Morton effect,
small clearance, such as in fluid bearings and seals. Figure 1a
into the rotordynamics tutorial in API 684 2015, according to
illustrates the evolution process of this differential heating.
the related citation in Panara, et al. (6).
Under circumstances of synchronous forward whirl, the outer-
Some case studies and predictive approaches have manifested
most point across the journal, also called “high spot,” is always
since the initial experimental findings reported by Morton (3).
subjected to the highest viscous shearing effect due to the thin-
A state-of-the-art review was conducted by De Jongh (2) in 2008
nest film corresponding to this point (De Jongh (2)). As a
and focused on experiment/test findings and pragmatic solutions.
result, this high spot experiences the greatest localized heating.
However, there remains a pressing need for an up-to-date com-
The point opposite to the high spot is subjected to the smallest
prehensive review due to the growing interest in ME-induced
viscous shearing and, therefore, the lowest heating effect. How-
synchronous instability (Bradley (7); Murphy and Lorenz (8);
ever, due to the heat convection of the oil film, a phase lag
Suh and Palazzolo (9)) in turbomachinery applications.
occurs between the hottest spot and the high spot, as illustrated
in Fig. 1b. Under certain circumstances, the differential heating
leads to increased thermal bending, which aggravates the syn-
History: Major findings
chronous vibration to an unacceptable level.
In 1975, Morton (3) first reported such heating effects that The earliest observations of ME reported by Morton (3) in 1975
induced abnormal vibrations of several large power generators. were associated with oil-lubricated shaft seals. Morton found

CONTACT Lili Gu liligu@mail.com

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/utrb.
Review led by Samuel Howard.
© 2018 Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
382 L. GU
Nomenclature
Cb D Bearing damping matrix
D D Bearing inner radius
e0 D Static journal eccentricity
eT D Eccentric distance vector corresponding to the
equivalent mass unbalance
F D External force vector applied to the rotor system
GR D Gyroscopic matrix
ha;C D Film thickness at the cold spot for orbit a
ha;H D Film thickness at the hot spot for orbit a
hb;C D Film thickness at the cold spot for orbit b
hb;H , D Film thickness at the hot spot for orbit b
Ij D Area moment of inertia
Kb D Bearing stiffness matrix
KR D Rotor stiffness resisting rotor deformation
L D Bearing length
MR D Rotor mass matrix
Q D Viscous shearing heat
r ¡ z ¡ ’ D Cylindrical coordinates for Eq. [3]
ra ; rb D Sizes for orbits a and b, respectively
that even a relatively small disk orbit can yield a significant dia-
metrical temperature difference in a shaft due to an asymmetri-
cal viscous fluid shearing effect. In the following year, Keogh
and Morton (10) spotted a similar temperature difference
across a journal and later identified it as the source of the spiral
vibrations for an overhung rotor.
The phenomenon, now known as the Morton effect, was
named after P. G. Morton in honor of his pioneering work on
this phenomenon. Before Morton’s groundbreaking work,
Figure 1. Mechanism of differential heating of a journal orbiting in fluid film.
Reprinted from De Jongh (2) by permission of the Turbomachinery Symposium,
Turbomachinery Laboratory, Texas A&M University). (a) The formation of differen-
tial heating and (b) phase lag between hot and high spots.
rj D Journal radius
rT D Thermal bow
DT D Temperature difference between the hot spot
and the cold spot
VD Journal volume
vT D Thermal bending vector
x–y–o D Inertial coordinate system with origin o coincid-
ing with the bearing center
xT , x D Thermal deflection vector and shaft displace-
ment vector in Eq. [3]
aD Thermal expansion coefficient
bD Phase difference between the high spot and the
hot spot
’T D Thermal bow angle
VD Rotating speed
Subscripts
a D Journal orbit with radius ra
b D Journal orbit with radius rb
C D Cold spot
H D Hot spot
however, there was a phenomenon known as the Newkirk effect
(NE), which is similar to the Morton effect but induced by a
different source of differential heating. The heating source of
the Newkirk effect originates from rotor–stator rubbing (De
Jongh (2)) and was firstly observed by Newkirk (11) in 1926.
This phenomenon has been found in various types of rotors
associated with rubbing heating effects (Eckert, et al. (12)).
A sound theoretical analysis regarding the Newkirk effect can
be found in Dimarogonas (13). Bachschmid, et al. (14) con-
ducted a detailed case study in a real rotor covering the NE.
The differential heating evolutions of ME and NE are simi-
lar, despite their different sources of differential heating. There-
fore, knowledge accumulated from the study of the NE helps
one better understand ME. In 1926, Newkirk (11) first used the
term “hot spot,” pertaining to the NE. In 1939, Kroon and Wil-
liams offered a closer look at the NE via a qualitative analysis
(Bradley (7); Keogh and Morton (8)). Their test results revealed
a phase change over a wide range of time durations. The
recorded time for phase change varied from minutes to hours
due to the combined effect of the thermal bow and mechanical
imbalance (Bradley (7)). Kroon and Williams aspired to build
an analytical model of this particular vibration. However, they
assumed the rotor to be a thin walled cylinder of infinite length.
This assumption limited its applications to practical problems
in turbomachinery. It was not until the early 1970s that this
problem was addressed again by Dimarogonas (13), (15), (16).
His study covered analytical models of thermal bow, resulting
from a packing rub (Dimarogonas (15)); for example, rubbing
against seals. In addition, Dimarogonas (13), (16) computed
the numerical dynamic responses due to an arbitrary heat
input, albeit with the assumption of infinite rotor lengths. Via
numerical calculations, he was able to find three vibration
modes induced by asymmetrical heating: spiraling, oscillating,
and constant. The role of phase angle was highlighted as the
critical factor to determine the type of vibration mode that
would manifest during vibrations (Dimarogonas (13)). The

spiral pattern indicating the onset of NE proved undesirable.
Because both NE and ME are induced by asymmetrical heating,
it is reasonable to presume the importance of the role that
phase angle plays in the evolution of ME. In addition to the
phase angle variations, the heat input and dissipation in
the shaft proved a major factor for determining the stability of
the spiral vibrations (Kellenberger (17)).
In 1987, Schmied (18) refined Kellenberger’s (17) by
extending the sources of differential heating to broader sit-
uations. This enabled the switching of heating sources
between fluid viscous shearing and rotor–stator rubbing.
Schmied’s study prompted the awareness of differential
heating in fluid bearings among researchers, although many
years had passed since the earliest evidence was docu-
mented in 1975 (Berot and Dourlens (5)). The first compre-
hensive theoretical model on ME was not developed until
1993 by Keogh and Morton (10), (19), which took into
account the thermohydrodynamics (THD) of fluid film
bearings. Upon analysis of the gain of thermal bow,
researchers found that the rotor speed influenced stability
due to its direct impact on the net heating input (Keogh
and Morton (10), (19)). This new THD model allowed for a
more detailed analysis of differential heating across journals
and improvement in the accuracy of the phase lag between
the hot spots and high spots. An interesting finding of
Keogh and Morton (19) is the process direction of thermal
bow changes over the critical speed, from forward preces-
sion to backward precession. This change might be
accounted for by the jump of the phase between the
dynamic response and the vector of mechanical imbalance.
Keogh and Morton’s (10), (19) work offered theoretical per-
spectives about rotor vibrations when THD is involved.
However, their work neglected to consider cavitation within
the fluid film and assumed an isoviscous lubricant to sim-
plify the theoretical model. Such simplifications could
induce temperature gradients in the fluid film that deviate
considerably from the practical case.
In 1994, De Jongh and Morton (20) detailed the operating
conditions prone to induce ME. Moreover, a test rig was
designed to reproduce ME instabilities. They reported that the
experimental results agreed with those obtained from the origi-
nal compressor. In 1997, Faulkner, et al. (21) dealt with abnor-
mal vibrations of a large turbocharger with overhung wheels.
The rotordynamics analysis revealed excessive vibrations after
the radial inflow turbine wheel was upgraded while the com-
pressor remained unchanged. The cause was initially traced to
a loose connection of the turbine wheel to the shaft that
induced a significant thermal expansion (Faulkner, et al. (21)).
After modifications of the attachment to the upgraded turbine
wheel, tests indicated satisfactory vibrations at speeds within
the operating speed range (Faulkner, et al. (4)). However, the
problem arose again while operating at a steady speed close to
the operating range’s upper limit. After several tests, the cause
of the abnormal vibrations was traced to thermal bow, which
resulted from a journal hot spot. Thermal bow was more likely
to occur with low eccentricity of the journal. Recognition of the
onset of ME led to changes in the turbine end bearing to
increase its operating eccentricity. By applying a central under-
cut in the loaded bearing, the turbocharger eventually
TRIBOLOGY TRANSACTIONS 383
performed satisfactory. Based on this case study, Faulkner,
et al. (4) inferred that ME was not recognized earlier because of
its complex nature rather than its rarity.
In 1998, De Jongh and van der Hoeven (22) reported
another case on ME, specifically about a compressor failing to
pass a running test after being installed onsite by the manufac-
turer. The vibration at the impeller-end bearing side exhibited
a pseudo hysteresis during the coast down (De Jongh and van
de Hoeven (22)), as shown in Fig. 2a. De Jongh and Morton
(20) observed a similar hysteresis behavior, shown in Fig. 2b, in
an overhung compressor. Believing that the hysteresis-like
vibration was induced by the onset of thermal bending, De
Jongh and van der Hoeven (22) located the source of the differ-
ential heating to the journal. As a result of a trade-off between
compressor performance and synchronous stability, a heat bar-
rier sleeve was installed between the journal and fluid film. To
prevent any additional change in the bearing condition, the
journal diameter was reduced to make the sleeved journal
diameter the same as that before the heat barrier was intro-
duced. Both theoretical calculations and experimental tests
demonstrated elimination of STI upon introduction of heat
barriers.
Under specific circumstances, ME-induced STI can occur in
a series of machines. In 1999, Berot and Dourlens (5) reported
on a series of larger compressors troubled by cyclic vibrations
induced by differential heating in tilting pad bearings. It is diffi-
cult to find universal technical solutions to efficiently stabilize
such a group of rotors. First, an empirical approach to adjust
the overhung mass suggested by De Jongh and Morton (20)
was excluded because each compressor within the group was
equipped with a different impeller. Nonetheless, the masses of
overhung impellers were adjusted either separately or com-
bined with other changes; for example, bearing oil film temper-
ature, bearing preload, and clearance. None of the adjustments
suppressed the instabilities. Inspired by the fact that a more
circular orbit yielded a greater temperature difference across
Figure 2. Hysteresis behavior of synchronous (1 £) component at impeller-end
bearing. (a) Reprinted from De Jongh and van de Hoeven (22) by permission of
the Turbomachinery Symposium, Turbomachinery Laboratory, Texas A&M Univer-
sity). (b) Reprinted from De Jongh and Morton (20) by permission of ASME.
384 L. GU
the journal/shaft, Berot, et al. (5) reduced the L/D ratio
(length-to-diameter ratio) of the bearing. This was an attempt
to decrease the isotropies of the bearing dynamic properties
and hence for the journal to produce an elliptical orbit. Both
simulation results and experimental validations confirmed that
the L/D ratio played an important role in the elimination of
rotor STI.
The findings by Berot and Dourlens (5) imply that an ME
has a high tendency to occur in rotor systems supported by
fluid film bearings. Nevertheless, the differential heating can
originate from a journal/shaft orbiting within any small-
clearance viscous fluid. Recall that the first documented ME
phenomenon was induced by the oil-lubricated seals applied in
large power generators (Morton (3)). In 1998, a high-pressure
steam turbine rotor encountered a synchronous vibration insta-
bility and exhibited intermittent vibrations with large time
intervals (Haq, et al. (23)). The cause was traced to the sealing
steam system, though the problem was not solved by the time
the paper was published. The symptoms described in the paper
consisted of the typical features of ME; for example, a phase
change as large as three cycles and the vibration amplitude
increasing gradually to the tripping vibration level. It is very
likely that ME was taking place and that the differential heating
was generated in the seals (Berot and Dourlens (5)).
To better understand the complex nature of ME, researchers
have conducted various theoretical analyses. After the initial
theoretical work by Keogh and Morton (10), (19), Gomiciaga
and Keogh (24) employed computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) techniques to tackle the THD analysis involved in the
process of the thermal bow. The CFD confirmed that the differ-
ential temperature across the journal increased with rotational
speed. Furthermore, Gomiciaga and Keogh (24) conducted a
case study of the journal orbiting within a circular two-inlet
bearing. The numerical results revealed a temperature differ-
ence increase of over 1
C for orbit size at 10% of the radial
clearance. The rate of increase in the differential temperature
relative to the orbit size proved significant because the tempera-
ture difference across the journal was less than 10
C in most
situations. In the early 2000s, Balbahadur and Kirk (25) devel-
oped a simplified theoretical model for overhung rotor struc-
tures, with the temperature field calculated by the energy
transport equation alone. Although the STI speeds obtained
with their theoretical model reflected a relatively large discrep-
ancy when compared to those found in the literature (Balbaha-
dur and Kirk (26)), their work reflected an urgent need for an
efficient and reliable analysis tool, a tool able to analyze and
solve ME without being limited to overhung rotors. Toward
this end, relatively new theoretical models can be developed
and can be categorized into two types: a simplified theoretical
model combined with numerical iterations of journal orbit
with existing “in-house” code (Panara, et al. (6); Lorenz and
Murphy (27)) and computationally demanding numerical
models that deliver more accurate results (Su and Palazzolo (9);
Childs and Saha (28)). Further discussion of the models, as well
as comparisons between them, occur later.
As Childs and Saha (28) posited, no sufficient validations of
these models can be made due to a lack of in-rotor temperature
measurements. Nevertheless, the data provided by Panara, et al.
(6) in 2015 have proven an exception. To validate their newly
proposed theoretical model, Panara, et al. (6) conducted experi-
ments in a full-scale dummy rotor supported by two tilting pad
bearings. Their study revealed that an overhung mass increase
does not necessarily result in the deterioration of synchronous
thermal stability (Panara, et al. (6)). This point differs from the
conclusion made by previous studies (Morton (3); Berot and
Dourlens (5)), which recommended that a reduction of over-
hung mass helped to decrease the STI for overhung rotors.
Even with the conflicting view about the impact of overhung
mass, both points are reasonable due to the finding from Cor-
coran, et al. (29), which suggests that either significantly
increasing or decreasing the overhung mass helped to bring
down the “unacceptable vibration levels” (pp 75–77) for an
overhung compressor. Although not recognized as a case of
ME, the vibration symptoms and the theoretical confirmations
by Corcoran, et al. (29) indicate an onset of ME. Kocur and De
Jongh (30) concurred. Another interesting point by Panara,
et al. (6) is that the predictions of rotor thermal gradient phase
remain a problem in simplified linear models due to its com-
plex nature lying within THD.
General mechanism of ME
Although it remains unclear so far as to how the phase lag of the
hot spot evolves with rotor orbiting in the fluid film, the root
cause of ME is believed to be differential heating, as has been
recognized and confirmed in the literature. The role of differen-
tial heating in the rotor vibrations may be clearly illustrated with
the help of the control loop in Fig. 3, where O1 denotes the out-
put of rotor vibrations and O2 denotes the differential tempera-
ture. The idea of a control loop has been previously utilized by
Gomiciaga and Keogh (24) in the study of orbit-induced journal
temperature variation in fluid-film bearings. A simplified version
was adopted by Keogh and Morton (19) and Morton (31) to reveal
the influence of thermal bending moment on rotor vibrations. The
differential heating generated via viscous shearing of the fluid
results in thermal bow of the journal, which eventually acts as a
source of excitation to the rotor–bearing system. The plus–minus
sign of I2 determines whether the thermal bow results in a positive
or negative feedback to the system.
Distribution of the film thickness has been long understood
to play an important role in differential heating as illustrated in
Fig. 1a. The thinner the film, the greater the heat input due to
viscous fluid shearing, for the same surface speed of the journal
(or of the shaft portion where the fluid sealing system is
applied). Because the film thickness is a function of shaft orbits,
the following explores how the orbit influences the differential
heating. There are three major elements to define an orbit; that
is, its size, direction and its shape.
Figure 3. Feedback loop of rotor–bearing system subject to ME.

Figure 4. Hot and cold spots induced by forward circular orbits with radii.
The orbit size influences how film thickness varies circum-
ferentially. Take the circular orbit, for example, as illustrated in
Fig. 4, where the phase lag between the hot spot and the high
spot is neglected. Figures 4a and 4b show hot spots and cold
spots induced by circular orbits of radius ra and radius rb ,
respectively, where ra is smaller than rb . The following relation-
ships hold:
rj C e0 C ra C ha;H D rj ¡ e0 ¡ ra C ha;C
rj C e0 C rb C hb;H D rj ¡ e0 ¡ rb C hb;C ;
where ha;H and ha;C represent the film thickness at the hot spot
and cold spot, respectively; e0 is the static eccentricity; and rj is
the journal radius. From Eq. [1], the differential temperature
amplitudes induced by the two orbits hold the following rela-
tionship (see Appendix for derivation).
DTa D Ta;H ¡ Ta;C < Tb;H ¡ Tb;C D DTb :
Therefore, the larger the orbit size, the higher the differential
temperature between the two points, as concluded in Bradley
(7), Murphy and Lorenz (8), and Gomiciaga and Keogh (24).
Gomiciaga and Keogh (24) found a similar trend via a CFD
study, in which a general elliptic orbit was decomposed into a
forward circular orbit and a backward circular orbit. Their
results, well noted in the literature, revealed a nonlinear rela-
tionship, with a decreasing slope along the curve of DT versus
orbit sizes (Gomiciaga and Keogh (24)).
An orbit direction can be either forward or backward,
depending on system dynamic behaviors. Under the assump-
tion of no phase lag, the hot spot due to the forward synchro-
nous orbiting remains at the same location, as shown in Fig. 5a.
Therefore, the differential heating is enhanced by the forward
Figure 5. Illustrations of hot and cold spots with various orbits.
TRIBOLOGY TRANSACTIONS 385
orbit. On the contrary, the hot and cold spots for the backward
orbit migrate in a backward direction as shown in Fig. 5b. The
migration behavior alternates the two key points during the
backward whirling, which theoretically weakens the overall dif-
ferential heating. Moreover, the convection by the lubricant
could introduce a phase difference between the hot spot and
the thinnest film (De Jongh (2); Bradley (7)). Numerical investi-
gations by Gomiciaga and Keogh (24) and Childs and Saha (28)
revealed that the phase lag generated by the forward orbit is dif-
ferent from that generated by the backward whirl. Therefore,
the final differential heating is a combined consequence of the
cumulative heating effect and the heat dissipations by
convections.
Orbit shape also matters. Most of the time, a rotor–bearing
system exhibits an elliptic orbit that can be decomposed into
forward and backward orbits (De Jongh and Morton (20);
Gomiciaga and Keogh (24)). Therefore, the viscous shearing
heating effect induced by the elliptic orbit can be divided in the
same fashion, as illustrated by Fig. 5. As a result of the opposite
migrating direction of the differential heating in backward cir-
cular orbits, the resulting differential heating generated by the
[1]
synchronous elliptical orbit is smaller than a forward one.
The foregoing discussions utilized simplified orbits for a bet-
ter illustration of the mechanism. However, the orbits produced
by real rotors vary with specific duty cycles and running condi-
tions. Moreover, in reality, the hot and cold spots shift from the
idealized positions because of cavitation, differential heating,
and convection of the fluid film. Therefore, a detailed descrip-
tion would require a comprehensive analysis to reflect specific
[2] rotor conditions.
The circumstances of ME-induced instability
Aware of the general mechanism of ME-induced instability, it is
possible to understand the frequently reported occurrences of
ME. Categorizing the occurrences may help the industry to
diagnose ME in the first place. According to the literature, ME
phenomena usually take place when certain changes were made
to the rotor system and more likely occur in some specific types
of machine sets.
System changes
Recall that ME is an inherent feature of a rotor with a fluid
bearing/seal system. In most cases, the rotors are well balanced
and thus exhibit satisfactory vibration levels. The satisfactory
386 L. GU
level can be maintained as long as the factors that influence the
differential heating remain the same. However, the incubation
time of ME will come to an end under certain circumstances;
for example, relocations (De Jongh and van de Hoeven (22)) or
upgrades of rotor systems (Faulkner, et al. (4)).
Machine types
Most often, overhung rotors have a high tendency to exhibit
STI. As illustrated in Fig. 6, the thermal bend of the journal
induces the impeller center to shift significantly from the bear-
ing centerline. The shaft length L has a magnifying effect on
the impeller thermal bow rT because of the relation rT D L’T .
Therefore, the machine types that have been reported to
encounter ME usually have overhung structures; for example,
turbochargers (Faulkner, et al. (4), (21)), single-stage compres-
sors (De Jongh and van de Hoeven (22); Morton (31)), and
double-overhung compressors (Marscher and McGinley (32)).
Nonetheless, Larsson (33), (34) used a mid-span rotor sup-
ported by tilting pad bearings as an example to illustrate asym-
metric heating effect on journal thermal bow and its influence
on rotor vibrations. His theoretical results suggested that a few
degrees of temperature difference along the journal surface can
alter rotor vibrations significantly. Inspired by this, Guo and
Kirk (35), (36) explored ME-induced instability conditions for
a mid-span rotor supported by two identical hydrodynamic
bearings that are assumed to have linear and isotropic dynamic
characteristics. Their findings revealed that mid-span rotor sys-
tems, although less sensitive than overhung rotors to ME, may
also experience instability under certain circumstances such as
changing bearing length.
Fluid–bearing conditions
It is difficult to provide specific fluid–bearing conditions
that can trigger ME induced instability. In general, any
bearing conditions that tend to produce significant differen-
tial heating are prone to aggravate ME. Such bearing condi-
tions can occur in plain sleeve bearings (Murphy and
Lorenz (8); De Jongh and Morton (20)), axial groove bear-
ings (Faulkner, et al. (4), (21)), tilting pad bearings (Berot
and Dourlens (5); Schmied (18); De Jongh and Morton
(20); Schmied, et al. (37)), bearings with a tapered dam or
offset half fixed geometry (Bradley (7)), and partial arc
Figure 6. Thermal bow in overhung structures.
bearings (De Jongh and Morton (20)). ME-induced instabil-
ity can also be initiated during variations of bearing clear-
ance (De Jongh and Morton (20)) or quick changes in
bearing oil temperature (Berot and Dourlens (5)). In addi-
tion, bearing load, L/D ratio (Berot and Dourlens (5)), and
oil inlet temperature (Marscher and Illis (38)) are critical
factors determining bearing conditions and therefore can
either aggravate or eliminate ME-induced instability.
Other factors
In addition to those factors mentioned above, other factors
have been reported to influence ME; for example, the length
and mass of overhung impellers (Berot and Dourlens (5)) and
the rotor system start-up speed rate (De Jongh and Morton
(20)). However, no quantitative results have been presented
corresponding to these two factors.
Typical symptoms of ME
Slow process
An interesting description was made by Berot and Dourlens
(5): “The fact that it did not appear immediately and did not
disappear once initiated. …” (p 3).
The mysterious cause of the phenomenon described by
Berot and Dourlens (5) is due to the relatively large thermal
inertia. As a result, ME usually maintains a high level of vibra-
tions for a relatively long time without causing a catastrophic
disaster. The long manifestation time may vary from around
10 min to quite a few hours (Bradley (7)) due to large thermal
inertia.
Spiral vibrations and phase lags
On a polar plot, ME-induced vibrations exhibit in a spiral
manner, although not in a perfect spiral shape most of the
time. The outward spiral curve implies an increasing ampli-
tude that originates from a cumulative differential heating
and the consequential thermal bow. The phase varies with
time, as revealed by the spiral curve. The phase change can
reach many times 360
if no upper vibration limit is given
(Berot and Dourlens (5)). The root cause of the phase
change is due to a lubricant convection effect, which indu-
ces the phase difference between the shaft response and the
ME-induced thermal bow (in other words, between the high
and hot spots). This phase difference has not only been
observed experimentally (De Jongh and Morton (20); Phut-
tipongsit (39)) but has also been validated theoretically
(Panara, et al. (6); Keogh and Morton (19); Gomiciaga and
Keogh (24)).
Pseudohysteresis
The slow process of thermal evolution results in a hysteresis
behavior of thermal bow. The thermal bow continues impact-
ing the rotor vibrations even during coast down (De Jongh and
Morton (20); De Jongh and van de Hoeven (22)). The hysteresis
behavior influences both the vibration amplitude and the corre-
sponding phase angle (Bradley (7)).

There are other symptoms of the ME occurrence induced by
thermal properties. Notably, there is usually more than one
speed range of instability (Berot and Dourlens (5)). In addition,
ME-induced instability can occur not only at transient speeds
but also at steady speeds (Berot and Dourlens (5)).
Critical issues in ME study
Theoretical analysis
As depicted in Fig. 3, the prediction of ME involves rotordy-
namics, heat transfer, and THD related to the bearing perfor-
mance. In short, the predictions of ME require a
comprehensive understanding of broad topics related to turbo-
machinery performance. The early theoretical work focused
more on the aspect of rotordynamics, with many simplifica-
tions on the thermal aspects. The work carried out by Schmied
(18) and Schmied et al. (37) assumed a linear model: the chang-
ing rate of thermal deflection is a linear function of the net heat
input, which resembles the following form:
x_ T D pVx ¡ qxT ; [3]
where p and q are constants determined by the rotor systems.
The model neglected heat transfer and the THD behavior. In
addition, Eq. [3] did not account for the phase lag between xT
and x.
A fully qualitative analysis made by Keogh and Morton (10),
(19) was based on THD. Using the short bearing assumption,
they calculated the velocity and pressure fields about the fluid
lubricant. The temperature field was calculated with energy
equations and heat transfer models. Applying the bend angle
solution derived by Dimoragonas (15), the bend angle for the
asymmetric field was then given as follows (Keogh and Morton
(19); Childs and Saha (28)):
Z Z Z
a general cases. Moreover, the concern regarding efficiency in
bT D ¡ j DT ðr; z; ’Þrj2 ej’ dV; [4]
Ij
V computationally demanding methods for ME analysis. Lorenz
where j is the imaginary unit; a, Ij denote the thermal expan-
sion coefficient and the area moment of inertia of the journal; D
T represents the temperature difference between the hot spot
and the cold spot; r ¡ z ¡ ’ denotes the cylinder coordinates;
and rj , V correspond to the journal radius and the journal vol-
ume, respectively. In Eq. [4], the temperature field was solved
considering cavitation effects using short bearing theory. The
fractional film width was utilized to scale the temperature gra-
dient, which improved the temperature accuracy. To capture
more details about the fluid film with cavitations, in 1996,
Tucker and Keogh (40) included the time-dependent property
of fractional film and then used the theory of mass conservation
to average the fluid properties. However, this work only studied
the temperature field produced by a forward circular orbit. In
1999, Gomiciaga and Keogh (24) extended the study to a more
general journal orbit that was decomposed into forward and
backward circular orbits. It has been well recognized that simu-
lation of thermal development is very time consuming due to
the large time-constant difference between the rotor and the
TRIBOLOGY TRANSACTIONS 387
lubricant. To attain an efficient CFD calculation, Gomiciaga
and Keogh (24) applied a quasi-steady method to solve the
thermo-fluid transiently. The heat fluxes from the lubricant
into structures were averaged over one orbit period. Gomiciaga
and Keogh (24) showed an efficient model that tackled THD
problems with perturbations from the journal orbit. However,
the study had a major limitation related to presetting the orbit
during calculations.
To overcome this deficiency of prescribed orbit, Childs and
Saha (28) developed an algorithm to generate converged orbits
for a journal in plain journal bearings, during which the THD
and rotordynamics were analyzed numerically. However, the
accuracy of their algorithm remains debatable considering that
the author assumed constant viscosity and neglected cavitation
effect. Later, Lee and Palazzolo (41) developed finite element
numerical models that integrated temperature-dependent vis-
cosity and corrected the dissipation terms at cavitation regions.
The employment of a 2D model for tilting pad bearings and
insulated boundary conditions at the bearing side of the film
reduced the computational complexity. However, it induces
deviation of the simulation results from the literature results.
A subsequent study by Suh and Palazzolo (9), (42) improved
the finite element model by utilizing a 3D bearing model and
by applying a heat flux boundary at the interface between the
bearing pads and fluid film. Inspired by the work in Gomiciaga
and Keogh (24), Suh and Palazzolo’s work (9), (42) employed
time-averaged heat flux to reduce the calculation of the temper-
ature field in the both fluid film and spinning shaft. Their work
further revealed that the 2D energy equation is insufficient for
predicting ME due to its inaccurate calculation of the hot spot
phase. Following that, Tong and Palazzolo (43) extended the
study from a single overhung structure to a double overhung
structure using a nonlinear transient method.
A typical feature of numerical simulations is that the
dynamic models are built per a specific case, which might
induce oblivion of important mechanisms of ME exhibited in
industry sheds light on the justification for development of less
and Murphy (27) and Panara, et al. (6) utilized a linear model
for both shearing viscous heating and thermal bow. However,
the pursuit of simplicity is at the cost of accuracy, especially
that of the thermal model. The comparisons between the mea-
surement and the theoretical models (Panara, et al. (6))
revealed that their linearized model was not accurate enough to
predict the differential temperature within the range of operat-
ing speed.
As a matter of fact, the best accuracy and efficiency trade-
offs remain unclear. Good accuracy requires more precise
modeling that results in an increase in time-consuming compu-
tations. Conversely, efficiency limits accuracy. Therefore, it is
imperative to find a better blending of accuracy and efficiency
via a combination of theoretical analyses and experiment vali-
dations. A possible solution could be a combination of simpli-
fied analytical models and CFD analysis. For instance, CFD
techniques could be used instead of analytical formulae to cal-
culate the two thermal factors, heating and dissipation, before
integration into a simplified rotordynamics model to assess
ME-induced stability (44). The combination of CFD analysis is
388 L. GU
capable of considering bearing geometries, journal transient
motion, temperature distribution, and other important factors
that determine the accuracy of the ME prediction.
Experimental techniques
The temperature measurement for a high-speed journal
remains a major experimental concern. The selections and dis-
tributions of temperature probes should be capable of capturing
the temperature difference circumferentially. In this regard,
thermocouples and resistant thermal detectors (RTDs) are
widely used. Due to its advantage of accuracy and repeatability,
RTDs are gradually replacing thermocouples in many indus-
trial applications. The mounting of temperature probes proves
another key concern in temperature measurement. Most ME
phenomena occur in rotor systems at high operating speed.
Hence, it is a crucial task to transmit temperature data to acqui-
sition systems with an acceptable precision. During the mount-
ing process, special attention should center on good thermal
contact between the probes and the journal (De Jongh and
Morton (20)). Moreover, the disturbance to rotordynamics
caused by the mounting of probes should be minimal. Usually,
temperature probes are installed at the journal close to over-
hung impellers/disks (Bradley (7); De Jongh and Morton (20)).
Moreover, it is important to retain the original heat conduction
path in the journal as much as possible. More information
regarding temperature measurement can be found in Bradley
(7) and Panara, et al. (6).
In 1996, De Jongh and Morton (20) published the first open
experimental data on ME. To replicate the phenomenon of STI
occurring in a compressor, they designed a scaled-down test
rotor based on an existing R&D test compressor. The process
necessitated many adjustments during the design phase to cre-
ate dynamic characteristics identical to those of the original
machine. Four PT-100 RTDs were uniformly placed peripher-
ally and embedded in holes 1.3 mm below the journal surface.
Oil supply and drain temperatures were measured with ther-
mocouples. Measurement data revealed that the test rig was
completely stable at a differential temperature of 3
C. However,
this value increased significantly upon acceleration toward the
upper limit of the operating speed range. Therefore, eventually,
instability occurred. The test rig was successful because the var-
iations in differential temperature coincided with the occur-
rence of vibration instability.
In 2015, Panara, et al. (6) conducted another experiment
worthy of mention. The experimental setup was equipped with
eight thermocouples at the journal close to the non-drive end.
It proved able to detect high orders of circumferential tempera-
ture variations. The temperature data were transmitted electri-
cally via wires connected to a ring placed at the rotor end. In
addition, two bearing pads were selected and PT-100 RTDs
were installed. Moreover, the overhung load was adjustable and
was varied via various idling adaptors hydraulically mounted
on the shaft. This device enabled the influence of the overhung
weight to be investigated.
As to the acquisition of the ME vibration signal, ordinary
sensors for general rotor vibrations can be applied. However, if
vibrations are obtained at rotor locations other than bearings
where the significant differential heating occurs, they should be
corrected by referring to the data obtained at non-drive end
(NDE) bearings. For this purpose, De Jongh and Morton (20)
distributed three noncontacting eddy-current displacement
probes at the NDE bearing (three clearances between pads) in
addition to applying 2 £ 6 others along the test rotor.
To replicate ME proves difficult because the system might
not be able to maintain a sustainable differential temperature
across the journal (Bradley (7)). The management of speed and
other conditions may be crucial to successfully replicate ME-
induced instability.
Extended discussions
Excitation mechanism—equivalent imbalance versus rotor
bow/bending
As discussed earlier, though differential heating is the root
cause of the ME, ME-induced instability is a direct consequence
of rotor thermal bending because it alters the orbit size by
changing the resultant vibration vector. Therefore, it is impera-
tive to properly incorporate the effect of thermal bending into
the equation of motion (De Jongh (2); Koegh and Morton (10);
Larsson (34)). To date there are two approaches to model the
influence of thermal bow in the governing equation. The first
approach is to use the shaft bow theory to incorporate the ther-
mal bending effect, as presented in Keogh and Morton (10),
(19), Larsson (34), Eckert, et al. (12), and Schmied, et al. (37).
Larsson (33), (34) used the term “geometrical unbalance” to dif-
ferentiate the thermal bending from mass unbalance. The sec-
ond method is to treat the thermal bending as an addition to
the existing mass imbalance (Murphy and Lorenz (8); Balbaha-
dur and Kirk (25); Lee and Palazzolo (41)); that is, modeling
the geometrical unbalance as an equivalent mass unbalance.
The simplified equation of motion corresponding to the first
approach—that is, the shaft bow theory—is given by Keogh
and Morton (10), (19), Schmied, et al. (37), and Grigor’ev, et al.
(45) as
MR €v C ðCb C GR Þv_ C ðKR C Kb Þv D F C KR v T .t/; [5]
where the term KR v T .t/ represents the excitation due to a bow
vector, which is consistent with bow theory (Chen (46); Childs
(47)). The matrix KR represents the rotor stiffness resisting
rotor deformation, and MR and GR denote the rotor mass and
gyroscopic matrices, respectively. The bearing damping and
stiffness matrices are represented by Cb and Kb . The vector F
models external forces exerted on the rotor system. The ther-
mal bending vector v T .t/ is expressed as
v T .t/ D ½vT;1 .t/ vT;2 .t/ . . . vT;n .t/T ; [6]
with the subscript T referring to the thermal effect and n denot-
ing the vector dimension. It is worth noting that v T .t/ varies
with time during the development of ME, which implies that
the thermal bow excitation KR v T .t/ has a time-varying ampli-
tude and phase. The thermal bending arising from ME is natu-
rally a function of the factors that can cause ME-induced
instability (discussed in The Circumstances of ME-Induced
Instability section). Those factors include the rotational speed,

critical speeds, rotor/bearing geometry, oil properties, etc. (De
Jongh (2); Faulkner, et al. (4); Bradley (7)). Gu and Chu (48)
established analytical models to define the thermal bow excita-
tion for a generalized thermal field that is applicable to both
ME and NE problems.
The second method—that is, the theory of equivalent mass
unbalance—adopts an equivalent mass unbalance to account
for the thermal bending effect. The equation of motion employ-
ing the equivalent mass unbalance theory has the following
general form (Guo and Kirk (36); Lee and Palazzolo (41); Tong
and Palazzolo (43)):
MR €v C ðCb C GR Þv_ C ðKR C Kb Þv D F C MR eT V2 eiVt C b ; [7]
where eT;i D 1;2;...;n corresponds to the magnitude of time-depen-
dent variable vT;i D 1;2;...;n .t/ at time t and, therefore, eT denotes
the eccentric distance vector for the equivalent mass unbalance.
The term V is the rotational speed, and b denotes the phase dif-
ference between the high spot and the hot spot. This method
requires an iterative computation between the vibration vector
and the thermal field, because eT is the number taken from a
time instant t or an average value over a short period (Murphy
and Lorenz (8); Tong and Palazzolo (43)). The equivalent mass
imbalance approach provides a simple method to model ME
instability—for example, setting a threshold of mass imbalance
as proposed by Balbahadur and Kirk (25) and Kirk, et al. (49)—
but the results may differ from those obtained using the geo-
metrical unbalance method. From a physics standpoint, the
excitation mechanism of the equivalent mass unbalance is dif-
ferent from that of a shaft thermal bow (or “geometrical unbal-
ance”). Larsson (34) provided an easily understood example to
state the difference between the two mechanisms, which is
quoted here as “… as can easily be understood if one thinks of
a rotor at low speed. The mass unbalances will produce only
small vibrations as the unbalance forces are small. However,
geometric unbalances can give large vibrations even at low
speed” (p 164). The comparison given by Larsson (34) is made
at low speed.
Recently, Tong, et al. (50) compared the equivalent mass
imbalance method with the thermal bow theory for an over-
hung rotor supported by tilting pad bearings. Their study
showed that the two methods led to significantly different
vibrations at the rotor overhung end and shaft temperature at
the running speed of 8,500 rpm, about 500 rpm higher than the
second critical speed. In particular, the equivalent mass unbal-
ance method predicted a synchronous instability, whereas the
thermal bow method showed no occurrence of rubbing (i.e.,
stable operation). From these comparisons against experimen-
tal data from De Jongh and van der Hoeven (22), Tong, et al.
(50) concluded that the thermal bow model might be more
accurate than the equivalent mass unbalance model.
Temperature differences by orbiting: Forward versus
backward
It was discussed in the General Mechanism section that the dif-
ferential heating is a combined consequence of the accumula-
tive heating effect and heat convections. In this respect, it
TRIBOLOGY TRANSACTIONS 389
leaves an open conclusion regarding the differences between
temperature fields generated by synchronous forward and
backward whirl. The fact that the differential heating is weaker
in the backward orbit than in the forward orbit can be misused
sometimes. De Jongh and Morton (20) concluded that the heat
input to the journal was always smaller by the backward orbit.
However, Gomiciaga and Keogh (24) showed that the tempera-
ture difference induced by backward whirl was larger than that
induced by forward whirl based on CFD calculations. The
inconsistency between the two works regarding this aspect
implies that the forward orbit does not necessarily lead to a
larger DT than the backward orbit in the presence of heat con-
vection. The ultimate results depend on specific situations such
as orbit shapes, running speeds, and lubricant properties.
Pressing need for theoretical guidance
Almost all of the case studies (or troubleshooting) reviewed
previously attempted to solve ME-induced problems by reduc-
ing the differential heating of journals. The sole exception is the
work by De Jongh and van der Hoeven (22). They utilized a
heat barrier to isolate the journal from the differential heating
generated in the fluid (De Jongh and van de Hoeven (22)). Little
evidence of theoretical guidance could be traced during those
case studies. This lack of theoretical guidance might sometimes
have resulted in failure to eliminate ME-induced instability
(Berot and Dourlens (5)). The theory-guided solutions greatly
rely on the development of a more complete theory that can
reflect the relationship between rotordynamics and the thermal
field. Pragmatic guidance for field operators can be to provide a
series of maps, tables, or plots that indicate the range of differ-
ential temperature for the most common rotor systems.
Toward this end, various rotor systems—for example, with sin-
gle or double overhung masses—of single or multiple stages,
supported by plain journal bearings or tilting pad bearings,
require intensive quantitative studies.
Conclusions
This article provides a detailed review of the ME rotor instabil-
ity phenomenon. Earlier studies have revealed many important
features of ME, such as spiral vibration curves, the slow insta-
bility evolution process, phase lags between the hot and high
spots, and the pseudohysteresis behavior of the vibration. These
features help not only to detect the onset of ME, but also to
improve understanding of its underlying mechanisms.
The involvement of the bearing THD would result in a high
level of complexity of the theoretical models developed in the
literature. Therefore, it is relatively challenging to achieve high
accuracy for the prediction of phase lag between the hot and
high spots. Moreover, the difficulty in maintaining the differen-
tial heating in a certain way may induces failure to replicate
ME experimentally. The aforementioned two problems indicate
that to fully understand ME necessitates further study.
Some important findings obtained from computationally
demanding analysis and time-consuming experimental investi-
gation can be explained in simplified theoretical analytical
models in a fundamental fashion. A good example is the
390 L. GU
influence of orbit size on the temperature difference at the jour-
nal, as covered in the General Mechanism section.
Finally, the article discusses two inconsistencies found in the
literature. The first is found between the two methods that are
used to incorporate the thermal bow into the governing equa-
tions. A comparison study suggests that the shaft thermal bow
theory might be more accurate than the equivalent mass unbal-
ance approach. The second inconsistency is related to the com-
parisons of journal differential temperatures between the
forward orbit and the backward orbit. The combination of vis-
cous shear heating and heat convection made the differential
temperature generated by the forward orbit unnecessarily larger
than that generated by the backward orbit. Eventually, it is
implied that there is a need to carry out intensive quantitative
studies to provide practical guidance for turbomachinery
applications.
Acknowledgment
The author owes many thanks to Dr. Dara Childs and Dr. Luis San Andres
for many fruitful discussions and sharing of their perspectives on the Mor-
ton effect. Finally, a special thanks is extended to Dr. Adolfo Delgado for
his insightful discussion on the comparisons of the excitation models
between the thermal bow and the equivalent mass unbalance.
Funding
The author acknowledges the Texas A&M University Turbomachinery
Research Consortium for financial support.
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Appendix: Temperature differences for synchronous
circular orbit
Equation [1] can give
ha;C ¡ ha;H D 2e0 C 2ra
[A1]
hb;C ¡ hb;H D 2e0 C 2rb :
Under the condition of ra < rb , the following relationship
can be obtained by algebraic manipulations of Eq. [A1]:
ha;H ¡ ha;C > hb;H ¡ hb;C :
For the same rotating speed and lubricant condition, the
amount of shearing heat generated by a journal surface point
decreases with the film thickness at this point. Denoting the
function for the viscous shearing heat as Q, therefore, the rela-
tionship for the heat generated by the two orbit sizes is
   
Q ha;H ¡ ha;C < Q hb;H ¡ hb;C :
For the same rotor with the same heat conduction proper-
ties, the temperature differences between the hot spot and the
cold spot hold the following relationship for the two orbits:
DTa D Ta;H ¡ Ta;C < Tb;H ¡ Tb;C D DTb : [A2]