Bently Nevada - BRDRC

BRDRC

In 1981, Bently branched out from his instrumentation manufacturing activities and established a pure research organization called Bently Rotordynamics Research Corporation (BRDRC or "Birdrock"). Its objective was to conduct rotordynamic research, furthering the knowledge of rotating machinery behavior, modeling techniques, and malfunction diagnostic methodologies. Its mission was considered complementary to Bently Nevada, with BRDRC focused on understanding how machinery behaved, and Bently Nevada focused on understanding and building instrumentation to measure machinery behavior.

BRDRC made a number of important contributions to the field of rotordynamics such as a better understanding of fluid-induced instabilities, advanced models for understanding shaft crack behavior, insight into rubbing malfunctions between stationary and rotating parts, and enhancement of the rotordynamic equations with a new variable lambda (λ) which denoted "the fluid circumferential average velocity ratio".

BRDRC also introduced several new data presentation formats, such as so-called "full" spectrum plots and "acceptance region" trend plots. Its research findings were published extensively in relevant technical journals, and the research that had practical commercial applications found its way into the Bently Nevada product line.

Rotodynamic and machinery diagnostic expertise remains a core part of the Bently Nevada product line through its machinery diagnostics services organization.