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Undetected bearing wear leads to

catastrophic compressor failure
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Posted: Sunday, December 1, 2013 12:00 am

Undetected bearing wear leads to catastrophic compressor failure By Patrick J. Smith

Preventing machinery failures requires a good machinery condition monitoring program, a good machinery protection
system and good maintenance practices. However, sometimes the signs of progressive damage are very subtle and
difficult to detect. In these cases, a machine might fail without warning. The compressor that is the subject of this
article ran reliably for many years before it failed suddenly on a normal start-up. There were no obvious signs of an
impending failure leading up to the incident.

Introduction

This case study pertains to a centrifugal compressor train consisting of a 1,490 rpm, 4,500 hp induction motor,
gearbox, high pressure compressor and low pressure compressor. The gearbox drives the high pressure and low
pressure compressors, which operate at 15,186 rpm. This basic train arrangement is shown in Figure 1.

The high pressure compressor rotor consists of 3 closed impellers in between two radial bearings on a single shaft
with rotating labyrinth gas seals and stationary labyrinth oil seals at each end. The low speed compressor rotor
consists of 5 closed impellers in between two radial bearings, also fitted with rotating labyrinth gas seals and
stationary oil seals at each end. The impellers in both compressors are fitted with rotating labyrinth eye seals and
rotating labyrinth seals at the backside of impellers. The gas seals and impeller seals run against stationary bushings
that are coated with a soft metal in the bores to allow for some minor contact with the rotating seal teeth. The gearbox
includes a helical type bullgear and pinion. The pinion has thrust collars that transmit the combined compressor and
gear axial forces to the bullgear. The only thrust bearings in the machinery train are on the low speed bullgear rotor.

The compressor shaft end gas seals are a 3-port design. Nitrogen seal gas is injected into the atmospheric end of the
seal, followed by a vent port and then a process seal gas port. A minimum differential pressure between the nitrogen
injection port and the vent port prevents process gas from leaking to the atmosphere, and a minimum differential
pressure between the process seal port and the vent port prevents process side contamination.

The compressor and gearbox pinion utilize tilting pad type journal bearings. The instrumentation includes a single,
non-contacting proximity type shaft vibration probe adjacent to each compressor and pinion radial bearing. Each
compressor and pinion radial bearing also is fitted with a temperature probe. The gearbox thrust bearings are fitted
with temperature probes and there is an axial position probe that is used to monitor shaft position. There are alarms
and shutdowns associated with high vibration, high bearing temperature and shaft position.

History

The compressor was in clean, dry process gas service and was commissioned in the late 1990s. It was initially in
continuous service, but due to a change in the customer demand, the compressor was changed to time of day
operation a couple of years later. During the next 12 years the compressor was started and stopped almost 3,000
times.

After about 7 years of service, there was a modest increase in the gearbox pinion bearing temperatures. Some minor
damage was discovered and these radial bearings were eventually replaced with a higher capacity, upgraded design.
The compressor was never disassembled for inspection prior to the failure. The compressor mechanical and
thermodynamic performance was reviewed monthly and the efficiency, rotor vibrations and bearing temperatures
appeared stable.

The failure occurred on a normal machine start-up. The machine ran for 10 seconds and then the control system
automatically shut down the compressor due to low seal gas differential pressure.

Prior to this there were no issues maintaining the required seal gas differential pressures.

Discussion

The damage to the compressor and gearbox was extensive. The labyrinth seals and seal bushings in both
compressors were badly rubbed and had to be replaced. The bullgear and pinion teeth had also failed. See Figure 2.
And the couplings between the gearbox and high pressure compressor and between the high pressure compressor
and low pressure compressor were twisted and bent.

One of the most interesting finds was with the compressor bearings. These are 4-pad tilting pad type bearings. The
pads are made from steel with a thin Babbitt layer on the inside diameter. The bearing Babbitt surfaces were found to
be in good condition, especially considering the years in service. There were no indications of Babbitt fatigue, scoring
or wiping and no signs of oil varnishing or problems associated with oil contamination, oil oxidation or excessive heat.
However, heavy wear and contact damage was noted on the oil retaining rings (oil dams). This was rather surprising
given that the oil retaining ring clearances by design are greater than journal clearances. From these inspections it
was clear that the shaft had come into hard contact with the oil dams, despite no significant wear of the Babbitted
surfaces. When the bearings were disassembled, severe wear and fretting damage was found on the back of the
pads at the pivot points and on the corresponding bearing housing bore surfaces. See Figure 3. This extreme wear
and fretting damage caused flat spots at the pivot locations, which inhibited the rocking action of the pads. The wear
also resulted in significant increases in bearing clearances. For example, the as found low pressure compressor non-
drive end (NDE) bearing clearance was 0.025″ vs. a design maximum of 0.007″. It is unlikely that the wear occurred
at the time of the failure. The damage was more consistent with long-term, progressive wear. What was really
surprising was that despite the bearing damage, there was no significant increase in compressor vibrations during
steady state operation.
 The compressor bearings are lightly loaded, and one possibility is that the pads might be more susceptible to
fluttering, especially during start-up and shutdown. This could cause excessive movement, which could cause wear
on the back of pad and bearing housing pivot points. Therefore, the high number of stops and starts might have
contributed to the wear. Whether the wear was due to this or something else, it is still surprising that the machine
vibration levels remained stable and within normal operating limits. This is very unusual based on the author’s
experience with similar compressors. In addition, no deviations occurred with other related compressor monitoring
parameters, including bearing temperatures, shaft position or seal gas differential pressures.

It is believed that this bearing wear eventually led to very hard seal rubs, which opened up the seal clearances
sufficiently to cause a low seal gas differential pressure condition. It also could have caused a high torque condition
that overloaded and failed the gear teeth and caused the coupling damage. So, how could this have been detected in
order to avoid all the consequential damage?

Condition monitoring

Condition monitoring involves regularly assessing the machine condition and taking action only if a potential problem
is identified. Specific data is collected and analyzed to achieve this goal.

The scope of a machinery condition monitoring program typically includes the following checks.

 Scheduled visual inspection

 Vibration monitoring and analysis
 Lube oil analysis
 Thermodynamic performance monitoring and analysis

For this compressor, the periodic visual inspections during normal operation did not reveal any unusual noise or
vibrations, leaks, loose or broken bolts, foundation cracks or other problems that would have signaled a mechanical
issue with the compressor prior to the failure. Periodic lube oil analyses were also performed and were normal, which
indicated the oil had not degraded and was not contaminated.

As mentioned previously, the compressor mechanical and thermodynamic performance was reviewed monthly and
the efficiency, rotor vibrations and bearing temperatures were stable. A plot of 18 months of vibration data leading up
to the failure is shown in Figure 4. The low pressure compressor NDE vibration was somewhat high, but it appeared
stable and was below the alarm point. A more detailed review showed that this vibration had slowly gone up almost 1
mil in vibration since commissioning. And although the vibration appeared stable, it had been approaching the alarm
limit. Other than this vibration point, all other compressor and gearbox vibrations were significantly lower than the
alarm set points.

On this machine the vibration protection is bypassed for 30 seconds during start-up. The vibration bypass allows for
the rotors to accelerate through the shaft critical speeds without shutting down on high vibration. After the failure, the
start-up vibration trends from some of the recent successful start-ups were reviewed. Other than moderately higher
pinion non-drive end (NDE) bearing vibration, none of the other compressor or gearbox vibration trends were different
than previous start-ups. However, start-up trends were not saved or reviewed and only recent start-up data could be
obtained. It’s not certain if the start-up vibration levels changed significantly with time.

After the repair, the steady state vibration levels and start-up vibration peaks were much lower than the values before
the failure. A couple of changes could be made to improve the probability of identifying the degraded bearing
condition in the future, and should be considered for other compressors.
Setting the vibration alarm points closer to the operating values. In this case, the low pressure compressor NDE
vibration might have gone into alarm and triggered action before the failure. Some compressor suppliers recommend
vibration alarm and trip set points based on allowable vibration levels. If the operating values are much lower, there
can be a large margin between the actual operating value and the alarm point. An increase in vibration is a sign of
progressive wear, damage, fouling, etc. Setting the alarm points closer to the steady state vibration values could
provide earlier indication of an impending problem.

Rather than bypassing vibration on start-up, higher vibration trip values can be applied during start-up. These higher
trip values would only be in effect during the start-up. More information on start-up trip multipliers is described in API-
670. However, start-up vibration peak vibrations can vary a little if parameters such as oil temperature, oil pressure or
small changes in load occur. This can create a false indication of a problem, so it needs to be taken into
consideration if reviewing start-up trends as part of machinery condition monitoring.

Preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance involves tasks that should be performed to ensure the safe, reliable and cost-effective
operation of the equipment. Some maintenance tasks can be performed while the larger equipment system remains
in its normal process operating mode. For centrifugal compressors these tasks are normally included in the condition
monitoring program. Downtime maintenance tasks can only be performed when the larger equipment system is either
taken out of its normal process operating mode or shut down. In this case, a major inspection might be considered at
some interval. However, disassembling and reassembling a compressor costs time and money and is not risk free.
The value of an internal inspection needs to be evaluated against the risk and cost of doing the work. It also depends
on the confidence that the machinery condition monitoring data is sufficient to determine the mechanical and
performance health of the machine. This could be done on a machine-by-machine basis, rather than implementing
this broadly. In the case of the compressor that is the subject of this article, an internal inspection will be considered
in the future.

Conclusions

Centrifugal compressors can run reliably and catastrophic failures can be prevented if there is a good machinery
protection system in place and the machinery condition monitoring strategy is sufficient to access the mechanical and
thermodynamic health of the machine. Setting the vibration alarm values closer to the steady stage vibration values
and using vibration trip multipliers for start-up rather than bypassing vibration might be simple techniques that could
improve the machinery protection system and machinery condition monitoring program.

Also, recognize that a change in operation might necessitate a change in the machinery condition monitoring and/or
maintenance strategy. In the case of the compressor that is the subject of this article, the change from continuous
service to intermittent duty is a fairly significant change. In these cases a more proactive preventative maintenance
strategy, such as disassembling and inspecting the machine at some frequency, might be considered. The key is
having a machinery condition monitoring program, machinery protection strategy and maintenance strategy that fit
the machine design and operational demands.

Patrick J. Smith is lead machinery engineer at Air Products & Chemicals in Allentown, Pa., where he provides
technical machinery support to the company’s operating air separation, hydrogen processing and cogeneration
plants. You may contact him by e-mailing editorial@woodwardbizmedia.com.

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