Turbine Blades

Terry Andersen Nathan Stastny

ME 372 Brigham Young University Fall 2001

Overview
Applications Design Considerations Material Considerations Manufacturing Processes Review Questions

Applications
Gas Turbine Generators Jet Engines

Rolls Royce

Turbine Blades

Rolls Royce Trent

Design Considerations
Geometry Cooling Vanes Attachment Interface Safety Factors

Geometry
Strength / Fatigue Life Each row will be different Air Flow (CFD Package) Machineability

General Turbine Blade Shape

Cooling Vanes
Blades must be kept cool Often operate near the metal melting point An increase of only 17 C can decrease the engine life by half Cool (300 C ) air is run out of the blades through small holes (vanes), keeping the blades from melting.

Pic

Attachment
Keep Stress Concentrations Low Fir Tree Attachment
Reduced stress concentrations Easy replacement Also known as the Christmas Tree

Safety Factors
Higher S.F. is usually the best. But what if the engine runs out of control at speeds higher than intended? The energy of the rotating blades goes up with 2 What happens if the blades brake at 10% overload? 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% ? Too much energy and the blades might break through the engine shroud and into the fuselage.

Quick Video
Boeing 777 Engine Test

Material Considerations
Environment Creep Current Materials Used Materials In Research

Environment
Air Temperature: Between 850 and 1600 C Melting Temperature:
Steel:1400C Nickel Alloy: 1200C Titanium:1650C

Turbine RPM: Appx. 20,000 rpm

Creep
Turbine blades elongate during their life Tip clearance Result of environment and grain structure Soft abradable lining Directional solidification (cooling) Single crystal structure

Current Materials Used

Initially Steel Nickel Alloys Most common material is Titanium Laser peening Ceramic Coatings

Material In Research
Ceramic blades

Carbon composite blades

Noise reduction Light weight

Manufacturing Processes
Machining (not too common) Investment Casting
Secondary machining

Electro-Chemical Machining
Single operation

Design Sites
1. www.pccsmp.com (manufacturing) 2. www.turboblades.com (manufacturing) 3. www.giverin.demon.co.uk/NewFiles/HT WTurbines.html (information) 4. www.gas-turbines.com/begin (information) 5. www.pratt-whitney.com (engine manufacturer)

Review
Applications:
Jet Engines Gas Turbine Generators

Design Factors:
Geometry S.F.

Materials:
Very high temperatures Titanium

Manufacturing:

Questions

Dr. Chase
Squadron Commander

Nathan

Terry

Special thanks to all those who didnt believe in us, but whom weve proved wrong.