Experimental and Numerical Investigation of High-Temperature Multi-Axial Fatigue

Gas turbines and aircraft engines are dominated by cyclic operating modes with fatigue-related loads. This may result in the acceleration of damage development on the components. Critical components of turbine blades and discs are exposed to cyclic thermal and mechanical multi-axial fatigue. In the current work, planar-biaxial Low-Cycle-Fatigue tests are conducted using cruciform specimens at different test temperatures. The influence on the deformation and lifetime behaviour of the nickel-base disk alloy IN718 is investigated at selected cyclic proportional loading cases. The calculation of the stress and strain distribution of the cruciform specimens from the experimental data is difficult to obtain due to complex geometry and temperature gradients. Therefore, there is a need for Finite Element Simulations. A viscoplastic material model is considered to simulate the material behaviour subjected to uniaxial and the selected planar-biaxial loading conditions. At first, uniaxial simulation results are compared with the uniaxial experiment results for both batches of IN718. Then, the same material parameters are used for simulating the biaxial loading cases. The prediction of FE simulation results is in good agreement with the experimental LCF test for proportional loadings. The equivalent stress amplitude results of the biaxial simulation are compared with the uniaxial results. Furthermore, the lifetime is calculated from the simulation and by using Crossland and Sines multi-axial stress-based approaches. The Crossland model predicts fatigue life significantly better than the Sines model. Finally, the simulated lifetime results are compared with the experimental lifetime

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of High-Temperature Multi-Axial Fatigue

Gas turbines and aircraft engines are dominated by cyclic operating modes with fatigue-related loads. This may result in the acceleration of damage development on the components. Critical components of turbine blades and discs are exposed to cyclic thermal and mechanical multi-axial fatigue. In the current work, planar-biaxial Low-Cycle-Fatigue (LCF) tests are conducted using cruciform specimens at different test temperatures. The influence on the deformation and lifetime behaviour of the nickel-base disk alloy Inconel 718 is investigated at selected cyclic proportional loading cases, namely shear and equi-biaxial. The calculation of the stress and strain distribution of the cruciform specimens from the experimental data is difficult to obtain due to complex geometry and temperature gradients. Therefore, there is a need for Finite Element (FE) Simulations. A viscoplastic material model is considered to simulate the material behaviour subjected to uniaxial and the selected planar-biaxial loading conditions. At first, uniaxial simulation results are compared with the uniaxial experiment results for both batches of IN718. Then, the same material parameters are used for simulating the biaxial loading cases. The prediction of FE simulation results is in good agreement with the experimental LCF test for both shear and equi-biaxial loadings. The equivalent stress amplitude results of the biaxial simulation are compared with the uniaxial results. Furthermore, the lifetime is calculated based on the stabilized cycle from the simulation and by using Crossland and Sines multi-axial stress-based approaches. The Crossland model predicts fatigue life significantly better than the Sines model. Finally, the simulated lifetime results are compared with the experimental lifetime.

A comparison of the turbine tower damping effects of a series of back twisted active pitch-to-stall blades for a spar and a semi-submersible FOWT

Floating offshore wind turbines are subjected to higher tower fatigue loads than their fixed-to-seabed counterparts, which could lead to reductions in turbine life. The worst increases are generally seen in the tower axial fatigue, associated with the tower fore-aft bending moment. For a spar type platform this has been shown to increase by up to x2.5 and, for a semi-submersible platform, by up to x1.8. Reducing these loads would be beneficial, as the alternative of strengthening the towers leads to increases in cost. Here, two offshore floating wind turbine systems, of the spar type, are analysed and selected responses and tower fatigue compared: one incorporates a variable speed, variable pitch-to-stall blade control system and a back twisted blade, and the other a conventional pitch-to-feather control. The results are then compared to those obtained in an earlier study, where the same turbine configurations were coupled to a semi-submersible platform. A weighted wind frequency analysis at three mean turbulent wind speeds highlights that the impact of the back twist angle magnitude and initiation point on tower axial fatigue life extension was the same for both platform types. Compared to their respective feather base models, an increase in the tower axial fatigue life of 18.8% was seen with a spar platform and 10.2% with a semi-submersible platform, when a back twist angle to the tip of −6° was imposed along with the variable speed, variable pitch-to-stall control.