Multibody Dynamics Module

New App: Centrifugal Governor Simulator

Centrifugal governors, a specific type of governor, control the speed of an engine by regulating the amount of admitted fuel. In order to maintain a near-constant speed, regardless of the load or fuel supply conditions, centrifugal governors use the principle of proportional control. While the governor is in operation, it is critical that it quickly reaches a new steady-state configuration. Hence, the spring and damper design is important.

In the Centrifugal Governor Simulator app, you can perform a rigid body analysis of a spring-loaded centrifugal governor in order to find the sleeve motion, sleeve equilibrium position, and the natural frequency of the system. You can do this by performing a transient analysis to compute the sleeve motion and trajectory of the flyballs, a stationary analysis to compute the equilibrium configuration of the governor, or an eigenfrequency analysis to compute the mode shape of the governor and its damping characteristics.

Many of the geometric parameters can be changed, as well as the spring constant and damping coefficient, and the density of the flyballs and their linkages.

User interface of the Centrifugal Governor Simulator app, showing the results from a transient simulation of a centrifugal governor reaching steady state. User interface of the Centrifugal Governor Simulator app, showing the results from a transient simulation of a centrifugal governor reaching steady state.

User interface of the Centrifugal Governor Simulator app, showing the results from a transient simulation of a centrifugal governor reaching steady state.