Flutter of Fan Blades in the Aircraft Engine in the Three-Dimensional Subsonic Gas Flow

Aeroelasticity problems arise in the different fields of technology. The accident-free operation of the airborne machines is one of the most important factors that should be taken into account during their designing and upgrading. The solution of this problem involves the implementation of many measures to provide the system reliability on the whole, including its individual elements, in particular aircraft engine, its fan whose wide-chord blades can be exposed to the wreckage due to different reasons including the aeroelastic effects, i.e. self-excited vibrations. As a result, the origination of the aeroelastic phenomenon (flutter) in design and off-design modes should be eliminated at the stage of the design and operational development of the rotor wheel that would result in a considerable increase of the level of reliability of the aircraft engine. Based on the analysis of the available methods used for the flutter prediction we can draw a conclusion that the most promising approach to the analysis of the aeroelastic behavior of the blade ring of fan is the use of the method based on the three-dimensional model of the aerodynamics and dynamics (the method used for the solution of the coupled aeroelastic problem). By solving the coupled aeroelastic problem of the nonstationary aerodynamics and elastic vibrations of the blades we can get the amplitude –frequency blade vibration spectrum for the three-dimensional gas flow, including forced vibrations and self-excided vibrations in order to increase the reliability of the blade row of turbine machines. The developed numerical method was used for the analysis of the aeroelastic behavior of the blade ring of the fan mounted in the airborne engine for the operation mode of 3520 rmp with appropriate boundary conditions at the inlet and outlet behind the ring. The computation data confirmed the origination of self-vibrations for the given fan operation mode.

Numerical investigations on non-synchronous vibration and frequency lock-in of low-pressure steam turbine last stage

The flow phenomenon of rotating instability (RI) and its induced non-synchronous vibrations (NSV) in the last stage have gradually become a security problem that restricts the long-term flexible operations of modern large-scaled low-pressure steam turbines. Especially, if one structural mode of the last stage moving blade (LSMB) is excited, significant blade vibrations may potentially lead to high-cycle fatigue failure. A loosely coupled computational fluid dynamics reduced model with prescribed blade vibrations has been established to investigate NSV of the LSMB and the potential lock-in phenomenon under low-load conditions. Firstly, calculations with reduced multi-passage domain have been verified by comparing with the results of the full-annulus one, and an appropriate reduced domain is determined. Secondly, a set of calculations by controlling blade vibration parameters indicate that lock-in phenomenon between RI frequency and blade vibration frequency may occur when nodal diameters of cascade vibrations is coincident with the wave number of RI. Furthermore, dynamic modal decomposition technology has been employed to identify the unsteady pressure field around the blade surface and to reveal the interaction relationship between the flow modes of RI and vibration-induced pressure disturbance. Finally, the blade response evaluation based on harmonic analysis shows that in NSV, the global maximum dynamic response level of locked-in case is nearly 20 times than that of unlocked one.

An Improved Blade Vibration Parameter Identification Method considering Tip Clearance Variation

Blade tip timing (BTT) technology is the most effective means for real-time monitoring of blade vibration. Accurately extracting the time of blade tip reaching the sensors is the key to ensure the accuracy of the BTT system. The tip clearance changes due to various complex forces during high-speed rotation. The traditional BTT signal extraction method does not consider the influence of tip clearance change on timing accuracy and introduces large timing errors. To solve this problem, a quadratic curve fitting timing method was proposed. In addition, based on the measurement principle of the eddy current sensors, the relationship among the output voltage of the eddy current sensor, tip clearance, and the blade cutting magnetic line angle was calibrated. A multisensor vibration parameter identification algorithm based on arbitrary angular distribution was introduced. Finally, the experiments were conducted to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that in the range of 0.4 to 1.05 mm tip clearance change, the maximum absolute error of the timing values calculated by the proposed method is 26.0359 us, which is much lower than the calculated error of 203.7459 us when using the traditional timing method. When the tip clearance changed, the constant speed synchronous vibration parameters of No. 0 blade were identified. The average value of the vibration amplitude is 1.0881 mm. Compared with the identification results without changing tip clearance, the average value error of the vibration amplitude is 0.0017 mm. It is proved that within the blade tip clearance variation of 0.4 to 0.9 mm, the timing values obtained by the proposed timing method can accurately identify the vibration parameters of the blade.

Dynamic Stall Characteristics of the Bionic Airfoil with Different Waviness Ratios

A dynamic stall will cause dramatic changes in the aerodynamic performance of the blade, resulting in a sharp increase in the blade vibration load. The bionic leading-edge airfoil with different waviness ratios, inspired by the humpback whales flipper, is adopted to solve this problem. In this study, based on the NACA0015 airfoil, the three-dimensional unsteady numerical simulation and sliding mesh technique are used to reveal the flow control mechanism on the dynamic stall of the bionic wavy leading edge. The effects of the waviness ratio on the dynamic stall characteristics of the airfoil are also investigated. The results show that the peak drag coefficient is dramatically reduced when a sinusoidal leading edge is applied to the airfoil. Although the peak lift coefficient is also reduced, the reduction is much smaller. When the waviness ratio R is 0.8, the peak drag coefficient of the airfoil is reduced by 17.14% and the peak lift coefficient of the airfoil is reduced by 9.20%. The dynamic hysteresis effect is improved gradually with an increasing waviness ratio. For the bionic airfoil with R = 1.0, the area of the hysteresis loop is the smallest.

A Torsional Vibration Measurement Method for Rotating Blades Based on Blade Tip Timing

During the working process of the turbine, some types of faults can cause changes in the vibration characteristics of the blades. The real-time vibration monitoring of the blades is of great significance to the stable operation and state-based maintenance. Torsional vibration is a kind of blade vibration modes and results in failures such as cracks easily. Thus, it is important to measure it due to the harmfulness of torsional vibration. Firstly, the principle of blade tip timing (BTT) is introduced, and the models of the blade are built to analyze the characteristics of torsional vibration. Then, the compressed sensing theory is introduced, and its related parameters are determined according to the measurement requirements. Next, based on the condition that the blade rigidity axis is not bent and bent, respectively, the layout method of sensors is proposed and the numerical simulation of the measurement process is performed. The results of the above two types of numerical simulation verify the proposed measurement method. Finally, by analyzing the influencing factors of measurement uncertainty, the optimization method of sensors’ layout is further proposed. This study can provide important theoretical guidance for the measurement of blade torsional vibration.

High Temperature Magnetic Sensors for the Hot Section of Aeroengines

Magnetic sensors are widely used in aeroengines and their health management systems, but they are rarely installed in the engine hot section due to the loss of magnetic properties by permanent magnets with increasing temperature. The paper presents and verifies models and design solutions aimed at improving the performance of an inductive sensor for measuring the motion of blades operated at elevated temperatures (200–1000 °C) in high pressure compressors and turbines. The interaction of blades with the sensor was studied. A prototype of the sensor was made, and its tests were carried out on the RK-4 rotor rig for the speed of 7000 rpm, in which the temperature of the sensor head was gradually increased to 1100 °C. The sensor signal level was compared to that of an identical sensor operating at room temperature. The heated sensor works continuously producing the output signal whose level does not change significantly. Moreover, a set of six probes passed an initial engine test in an SO-3 turbojet. It was confirmed that the proposed design of the inductive sensor is suitable for blade health monitoring (BHM) of the last stages of compressors and gas turbines operating below 1000 °C, even without a dedicated cooling system. In real-engine applications, sensor performance will depend on how the sensor is installed and the available heat dissipation capability. The presented technology extends the operating temperature of permanent magnets and is not specific for blade vibration but can be adapted to other magnetic measurements in the hot section of the aircraft engine.

Дослідження напруженого стану міжпазових виступів диска робочого колеса компресора з урахуванням впливу відцентрових сил та розладу частот коливань лопаток

The authors present the results of the numerical experiments on the determination of the effect of compressor blade mistuning on the stress state of a blade-disk joint under the action of the centrifugal forces and their comparison with results of full-scale experiments. The analysis of the results of the previously performed experimental and numerical experiments on the determination of the possible sources of blade-disk joints failure shows their stress state strongly depends on the disk rim thickness and the blade vibration mode and their mistuning. It indicates the need for further studies to determine the causes of cracks and possible fracture of blade-disk joints in the compressor of a gas-turbine engine. The task is solved in the variation of the dovetail-rim region thickness of the disk of the 1st stage of the low-pressure compressor of the gas-turbine engine D-36, which has blades without shrouds. The finite element models of the blade assembly, are used to perform the investigation. Obtained results of the vibration stress analysis of blade-disk joints in the compressor both modifications under the action of the centrifugal forces have good agreement with the data of full-scale experiments and numerical data using rod models. The presented results of the numerical experiments indicate the possibility of reducing vibration stresses by analyzing and choosing parameters that affect the rigidity of the coupling of the blades, which is of practical importance for increasing the vibration reliability of the compressors of gas-turbine engines.

Effect of Shock Wave Behavior On Unsteady Aerodynamic Characteristics of Oscillating Transonic Compressor Cascade

The unsteady behavior of the shock wave was studied in an oscillating transonic compressor cascade. The experimental measurement and corresponding numerical simulation were conducted on the cascade with different shock patterns based on influence coefficient method. The unsteady pressure distribution on blade surface was measured with fast-response pressuresensitive paint (PSP) to capture the unsteady aerodynamic force as well as the shock wave movement. It was found that the movement of shock waves in the neighboring flow passages of the oscillating blade was almost anti-phase between the two shock patterns, namely, the double shocks pattern and the merged shock pattern. It was also found that the amplitude of the unsteady pressure caused by the passage shock wave was very large under the merged shock pattern compared with the double shocks pattern. The stability of blade vibration was also analyzed for both shock patterns including 3-D flow effect. These findings were thought to shed light on the fundamental understanding of the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of oscillating cascade caused by the shock wave behavior.