THERMAL-MECHANICAL ANALYSIS AND DYNAMIC MODELING OF HOLLOW ROTORS IN TWIN-SCREW COMPRESSORS

Abstract

The ever-growing progress in energy-driven industries has increasingly highlighted the critical demand for high-performance equipment with long-term operational reliability. Twin-screw compressors, by virtue of their inherent operating principles, are persistently subjected to coupled thermal and mechanical stresses, which may lead to rotor fatigue, diminished efficiency, and elevated maintenance costs. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of thermal and mechanical stresses on hollow rotors employed in twin-screw compressors and to compare their performance with that of conventional solid rotors. To this end, a dynamic modeling approach combined with numerical analysis based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) was utilized to simulate the thermal and mechanical behavior of the rotors under various loading conditions. The obtained results indicate that hollow rotors exhibit up to 20% superior temperature distribution compared to solid rotors, a feature that substantially mitigates the concentration of localized thermal stresses. Furthermore, the alleviation of thermal stress gradients through the hollow structural design enhances the fatigue life of the rotors by as much as 25% and reduces the mechanical failure rate by 18.4%. The heat transfer efficiency of hollow rotors was also found to be, on average, 18.4% higher than that of their solid counterparts. Overall, the implementation of hollow rotors in twin-screw compressors can be regarded as a promising and effective strategy for performance optimization, extending the service life of the equipment, and significantly reducing operational expenditures in energy-intensive industries