Rotor behaviour determination

A method of analysing a vibration characteristic of a rotor having a plurality of components, the method comprising:

• generating a computational model of the rotor by discretization of the rotor geometry and assigning parameter values representative of a plurality of physical characteristics of the rotor;
• applying an artificial localised parameter value to each component of the rotor;
• calculating a vibration response of the rotor for said applied artificial parameters;
• and,
• comparing the vibration response of the rotor against a predetermined vibration response so as to determine artificial parameter values for each of the components which result in a calculated vibration response which approximates or substantially matches the predetermined vibration response.

A data carrier comprising machine readable instructions for operation of one or more computer processors to:

• calculate a vibration response for a rotor comprising a plurality of components from a computational model of the rotor, said model comprising a discretization of the rotor geometry and accompanying parameter values representative of a plurality of physical characteristics of the rotor;
• wherein the model comprises an artificial localised parameter value applied to each component of the rotor;
• and,
• iteratively compare the calculated vibration response of the rotor against a predetermined vibration response and determine an artificial parameter value for each of the components which results in a calculated vibration response which approximates or substantially matches the predetermined vibration response.