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.

Experimental Study on FGH95 Superalloy Turbine Disk Joint Material by Oblique Laser Shock Processing

The FGH95 superalloy used for turbine disk manufacturing was strengthened by the oblique laser shock processing (OLSP). The laser energy, beam diameter, and number of impacts were selected as the test factors, and the three-factor three-level oblique laser shock processing orthogonal test was carried out. Based on the analysis of variance and range of the surface residual stress, microhardness, roughness, tensile strength, and yield strength of FGH95 superalloy after LSP, the factor level combination of relative best comprehensive performance was obtained. The results showed that, within the 10% confidence level, the order of influencing factors with significant difference is: laser energy > number of impacts > beam diameter. Compared with the unimpacted sample, the microhardness of the material surface was increased by about 25% after OLSP. With the increase of laser energy, the dimple distribution of the sample was more uniform, smaller in size, and shallower in depth. However, the thickness of the affected layer was very low, and there was no significant effect on the tensile properties. In general, and under the test conditions selected in this study, the combination of 8 Joule laser energy, 3 mm beam diameter, and three impacts can be selected to obtain the best comprehensive performance. The results of this paper provide a reference for the OLSP of the FGH95 superalloy turbine disk and other aero engine parts.

Effect of Pin Fins on Jet Impingement Heat Transfer on A Rotating Disk

Heat transfer on rotating surfaces is a predominant phenomenon in rotating machinery as in the case of the gas turbine disk. The gas turbine disk needs to be cooled as well as protected from the ingress of hot turbine gases in the stator-rotor cavity. In the current study, an experimental investigation of the heat transfer of an impinging air jet on a surface rotating at low rotational Reynolds number has been carried out. Addition of pin-fins on the disk surface is an effective way to enhance the heat transfer between the disk and the jet of cooling air. The effect of addition of an inline array of square pin fins on the rotating disk heat transfer has been investigated in this study. Steady state measurements have been carried out using thermocouples embedded at different locations in an aluminum disk with an array of square pin-fins rotating in a large space. Experiments have been conducted at rotational Reynolds numbers (ReR) of 5,487–12,803 based on the disk diameter (D) and jet Reynolds numbers (Re) of 5,000–18,000 based on the jet diameter (d). Two different ratios of jet to nozzle spacing and jet diameter (z/d) of 2 and 4 and three different impingement locations – at eccentricities (ε) – 0, 0.33 and 0.67 have been considered. The diameter of the impinging jet has been kept constant in order to maintain an equal jet footprint across all the cases. The area averaged Nusselt number over the surface with pin fins has been compared with a smooth rotating disk of equal diameter. Results indicate that for the smooth surface, ε and ReR have negligible effect on Nu. However, addition of pin fins enhance Nu by a factor between 1.5 and 3.9 in the present study. Qualitative visualization of flow field has been performed using the commercial simulation package Ansys Fluent to further understand the heat transfer trends.