Computer Method for Forced Torsional Vibration of Propulsive Shafting System of Marine Engine With or Without Damping

In the preliminary design of a propulsive shafting system, the additional (vibratory) stress due to torsional vibration is one of the important factors that must be considered in addition to the mean stress induced by the steady torque. In this paper, existing information concerning shaft design is reviewed; procedures formerly performed by slide rule, diagrams, and tabulations are formulated; and, based on the induced formulas, computer programs are developed. For an engine either two cycle or four cycle, single cylinder or multicylinder, and for a shafting system either undamped or damped (inner or outer or both inner and outer), it is required only to change the input data to obtain the desired data for various order numbers of torsional vibrations due to various firing orders of the cylinders. The output data include the natural frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes of the torsional vibrations, the amplitudes of twisting angles, and the vibratory stresses of the shafts. The reliability of the induced formulas and the developed computer programs has been confirmed by agreement between the computer output and existing information.