ROSS — The Complete Guide: Rotordynamics in Python for Pumps, Compressors and Turbines
ROSS is an open-source (Apache-2.0) Python library for the dynamic analysis of rotors, developed at the Brazilian energy company Petrobras. In code you define the shaft as elements, add disks and bearings with stiffness and damping, and get the behaviour of the rotating machine across its speed range.
ROSS
Petrobras
A Python rotordynamics library: critical speeds, Campbell diagrams, unbalance response and stability, for pumps, compressors and turbines.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Critical speeds — spotting dangerous running speeds before the machine is built.
- Campbell diagram — natural frequencies as a function of rotational speed.
- Unbalance response — vibration amplitude at bearings and disks.
- Mode shapes — visualising how the rotor deforms in each mode.
- Stability — checking modal damping and the influence of the bearings.
Who it suits
Rotating-machinery engineers, predictive-maintenance specialists, researchers and students in vibration courses. The advantage is that everything is code: you can run a series of designs, change a shaft diameter or bearing stiffness and compare. The drawback — there is no graphical interface, so basic comfort with Python and Jupyter notebooks is needed.
Related tools
For interactive work with the library — JupyterLab. For multibody system simulation — Exudyn. For uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of model parameters — OpenTURNS.
Python
Python Software Foundation
The language behind most modern engineering computation, and its full ecosystem.
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JupyterLab
Project Jupyter
Interactive computing notebooks — code, results, plots and explanations in one shareable document.
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Exudyn
Johannes Gerstmayr (University of Innsbruck)
Flexible multibody dynamics simulation — rigid and flexible bodies, reduced finite element models and robotics, in Python.
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OpenTURNS
OpenTURNS consortium
A Python and C++ library for uncertainty treatment — probabilistic modelling, reliability, sensitivity and metamodels for engineering risk.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
ROSS brings rotordynamics tools, usually found only in expensive software, into an open Python environment. Completely free, including for commercial use.