The Crack Growth in the Imitation Model of a GTE Turbine Disk under Operating Loading Conditions

The paper presents the experimental results of growing surface cracks in the turbine disk of a gas turbine engine (GTE) under cyclic tension at room and elevated temperatures. The geometry of the imitation model of the GTE turbine disk with a stress concentration zone in the form of a bolt hole was justified. In order to ensure the similarity of the initial damage of the imitation model and the GTE turbine disc in the plane of symmetry of the stress concentration zone, a semi-elliptical notch was made. The loading conditions of the imitation model were developed based on results of a comparative stress-strain state (SSS) analysis of the stress concentration zone of the imitation model and the GTE turbine disc. As a result of the fatigue test of the imitation model at room and elevated temperatures, the experimental positions and sizes of the crack fronts with respect to the drop potential signal on the crack edges were obtained. The fixed positions and sizes of the crack fronts were used as the basis for the numerical calculation of the fracture resistance parameters. For the numerical studies, ten three-dimensional finite element models with different positions and sizes of the crack fronts were considered. The numerical calculation results based on the finite element method were used to determine the distributions of the elastic stress intensity factors along each crack front. The crack growth rate characteristics both on the free surface and at the deepest point of the crack front were obtained at room and elevated temperature conditions. A technique for the automation tests that simulate the block-type loading of the disk material at elevated temperatures was proposed.