Modal analysis of jet engine hardware is a critical analytical tool utilized by engineers to understand and predict the vibrational risks to the system. Whereas blades and disks are critically analyzed due to their significant failure modes and effects, turbine vanes also need to be evaluated with respect to their design modal criteria to minimize potential risks to the engine system. Although full hoop models of the entire system are most accurate, the time required for modeling and solution processing is inhibitive. Through cyclic symmetry and the use of commercial contact techniques, an analytical model is created that provides the behavior of the entire system with a fraction of the computing time. However, subsequent simplification to a vane-only model has not been addressed and the potential for this model type to accurately predict system modes is of interest. This paper studies the finite element modeling procedures for turbine vane modal analysis using multiple contact methods and cyclic symmetry. An emphasis is placed on vane-only modeling techniques with a correlation to assembly model results for finite element model solution efficiency. Formal recommendations are offered for structural modeling of turbine vanes, including assessments of accuracy, loss in frequency prediction, and computational efficiency gain.

 

This document has been publicly released.


Consideration of Simplified Structural Models for Turbine Vane Modal Analysis

Division / Sponsor:
International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/GT/GT2020/volume/84058

Turbo Expo - Virtual Conference

Supporting the need among researchers worldwide for additional online and multimedia content, ASME now offers the ASME Conference Video Collection. This platform will collect and provide long-term access to conference presentation videos, encompassing all technology areas within ASME's technical conference and events program. About 30,000-40,000 engineers across all mechanical engineering and related disciplines participate in ASME conferences each year. This includes authors of approximately 6,000 to 8,000 technical papers published by ASME, the majority of whom also submit video presentations for our virtual conferences. The video collection will be available as an add-on to existing product packages or as a separate subscription.