Diagnostics of the presence of a fatigue crack in the compressor blade using the spectrum of vibration amplitudes at the superharmonic resonance

In this study, the solution of the forced vibration response of a structural element with a fatigue crack was carried out using the finite element method to determine the influence of its presence on the flexural forced vibration behaviour of the compressor blade airfoil at the superharmonic resonance of the order 1/2. The blade airfoil with a low twisted angle was used as an object of investigation to perform the computational analysis. Its vibrations in the plane of minimum stiffness were excited by the kinematic displacement of root edge elements. The fatigue crack was modelled as a mathematical cut. Two locations of the crack were investigated – on the leading edge and convex side of the blade airfoil. The nonlinearity due to the intermittent contact of the crack surfaces, which is caused by the opening and closing of the crack during each vibration cycle, was taken into account by solving the contact problem. To quantify this kind of nonlinear dynamic behaviour, the vibration diagnostic parameter was defined as the displacement amplitude ratio of the dominant harmonics at the superharmonic resonance of the order 1/2. Based on the results of the calculations it has been found that regardless of the crack location, the ratio nature is the same for all vibration axes. However, with vibrations in the plane of minimum stiffness, the crack on the convex side of the airfoil has an opening mode propagation, which makes it possible to fix its location due to a sharp change in the ratio of the amplitudes of the dominant harmonics along the corresponding axis.

How intrusive are accelerometers for measuring nonlinear vibrations? A case study on a compressor blade subjected to vibro-impact dynamics

A characteristic feature of nonlinear vibrations is the energy transfer among different parts or modes of a mechanical system. Moreover, nonlinear vibrations are often non-periodic, even at steady state. To analyze these phenomena experimentally, the vibration response must be measured at multiple locations in a time-synchronous way. For this task, piezoelectric accelerometers are by far the most popular technology. While the effect of attached sensors on linear vibration properties is well-known (mass loading in particular), the purpose of the present work is to assess their intrusiveness on nonlinear vibrations. To this end, we consider a compressor blade that undergoes impacts near the tip for sufficiently large vibrations. We consider two configurations, one in which five triaxial piezoelectric accelerometers are glued to the blade surface and one without sensors attached. In both configurations, the vibration response is measured using a multi-point laser Doppler vibrometer. In the linear case without impacts, the lowest-frequency bending mode merely sees the expected slight frequency shift due to mass loading. In the nonlinear vibro-impact case, unexpectedly, the near-resonant response to harmonic base excitation changes severely both quantitatively and qualitatively. In particular, pronounced strongly modulated responses and period doubling are observed only in the case without attached sensors. We conjecture that this is due to a considerable increase of damping, caused by the sensor cables, affecting mainly the higher-frequency modes.

Fatigue Damage Evaluation of Compressor Blade Based on Nonlinear Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing

Nonlinear ultrasonic testing is highly sensitive to micro-defects and can be used to detect hidden damage and defects inside materials. At present, most tests are carried out on specimens, and there are few nonlinear ultrasonic tests for fatigue damage of compressor blades. A vibration fatigue test was carried out on compressor blade steel KMN, and blade specimens with different damage degrees were obtained. Then, the nonlinear coefficients of blade specimens were obtained by nonlinear ultrasonic testing. The results showed that the nonlinear coefficient increased with the increase in the number of fatigue cycles in the early stage of fatigue, and then the nonlinear coefficient decreased. The microstructures were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was proven that the nonlinear ultrasonic testing can be used for the detection of micro-cracks in the early stage of fatigue. Through the statistical analysis of the size of the micro-cracks inside the material, the empirical formula of the nonlinear coefficient β and the equivalent crack size were obtained. Combined with the β–S–N three-dimensional model, an evaluation method based on the nonlinear ultrasonic testing for the early fatigue damage of the blade was proposed.

Numerical Study on Vibration Response and Fatigue Damage of Axial Compressor Blade Considering Aerodynamic Excitation

Axial compressor blades with a deformed initial torsion angle caused by aerodynamic excitation resonated at the working speed and changed the rule of fatigue damage accumulation. The fatigue life of a blade has a prediction error, even causing serious flight accidents if the effect of torque causing damage deterioration of the blade fatigue life is neglected. Therefore, in this paper, a uniaxial non-linear fatigue damage model was modified using the equivalent stress with torsional shear stress, and the proposed fatigue model including the torsional moment was used to study the compressor blade fatigue life. Then, the blade numerical simulation model was established to calculate the vibration characteristics under complex loads of airflow excitation and a rotating centrifugal force. Finally, the blade fatigue life under actual working conditions was predicted using the modified fatigue model. The results show that the interaction between centrifugal and aerodynamic loads affects the natural frequency, as the frequencies in modes dominated by bending deformation decreased whereas those dominated by torsional deformation increased. Furthermore, the blade root of the suction surface showed stress concentration, but there is an obvious difference of stress distribution and amplitude between the normal stress and the equivalent stress including torsional shear stress. The additional consideration of the torsional shear stress decreased the predicted fatigue life by 4.5%. The damage accumulation rate changes with the loading cycle, and it accelerates fast for the last 25% of the cycle, when the blade fracture may occur at any time. Thus, the aerodynamic excitation increased the safety factor of blade fatigue life prediction.

Effects of Specimen Size and Welded Joints on the Very High Cycle Fatigue Properties of Compressor Blade Steel KMN-I

The effects of specimen size and welded joints on the very high cycle fatigue properties of compressor blade steel KMN-I were studied by ultrasonic fatigue testing. It was found that the S-N curve of large specimens had a slow decline above 107 cycles, and fatigue failure still occurred in the very high cycle regime (>107 cycles), while the very high cycle fatigue characteristics of welded specimens was less obvious, and the fatigue limit was observed. Metallographic observation and SEM analysis were carried out on the fracture of the specimens. The results showed that surface fractures were mostly observed in the large specimens, and only a small number of cracks initiated from non-metallic inclusions above 107 cycles. The cracks of welded specimens initiated from the surface below 107 cycles and initiated from the internal matrix above 107 cycles. In addition, the formation mechanism of GBF (granular bright facet) was analyzed by the “dispersive decohesion of spherical carbide” theory, and the fatigue strength and fatigue life were predicted, which was consistent with the experimental results.

Effect Of Manufacturing Tolerance In Flow Past A Compressor Blade

This paper presents the effect of manufacturing tolerance on performance and stability boundaries of a transonic fan using a RANS simulation. The effect of tip gap and stagger angle was analysed through a series of single passage and double passage simulation; based on which an optimal arrangement was proposed for random tip gap and random stagger angle in case of a whole annulus rotor. All simulations were carried out using NASA rotor 67 as a test case and AU3D an in-house CFD solver. Results illustrate that the stagger angle mainly affects efficiency and hence its circumferential variation must be as smooth as possible. Furthermore, the tip gap affects the stability boundaries, pressure ratio and efficiency. Hence its optimal configuration mandates that the blades be configured in a zigzag arrangement around the annulus i.e. larger tip gap between two smaller ones.

A Parametric Blade Design Method for High-Speed Axial Compressor

The blade geometry design method is an important tool to design high performance axial compressors, expected to have large design space while limiting the quantity of design variables to a suitable level for usability. However, the large design space tends to increase the quantity of the design variables. To solve this problem, this paper utilizes the normalization and subsection techniques to develop a geometry design method featuring flexibility and local adjustability with limited design variables for usability. Firstly, the blade geometry parameters are defined by using the normalization technique. Then, the normalized camber angle f1(x) and thickness f2(x) functions are proposed with subsection techniques used to improve the design flexibility. The setting of adjustable coefficients acquires the local adjustability of blade geometry. Considering the usability, most of the design parameters have clear, intuitive meanings to make the method easy to use. To test this developed geometry design method, it is applied in the design of a transonic, two flow-path axial fan component for an aero engine. Numerical simulations indicate that the designed transonic axial fan system achieves good efficiency above 0.90 for the entire main-flow characteristic and above 0.865 for the bypass flow characteristic, while possessing a sufficiently stable operation range. This indicates that the developed design method has a large design space for containing the good performance compressor blade of different inflow Mach numbers, which is a useful platform for axial-flow compressor blade design.