2005-01-1855

SAE TECHNICAL
PAPER SERIES

Numerical and Experimental Study of

Turbine Blade Vibration in Variable
Geometry Turbochargers
Takao Yokoyama, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Katsuyuki Osako and Yoshimi Komatsu
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Reprinted From: CI and SI Power Cylinder Systems and Power Boost Technology
(SP-1964)

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Numerical and Experimental Study of Turbine Blade Vibration
in Variable Geometry Turbochargers
Takao Yokoyama, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Katsuyuki Osako and Yoshimi Komatsu
Copyright © 2005 SAE International
ABSTRACT
In this study the authors measured 4 blades vibration
stress by 4ch FM telemeter for estimating the disk
vibration and vibration stress is calculated by unsteady
CFD with interaction between nozzle vanes and blades.
The authors found 4 blades stress were different and
agreed with disk vibration mode calculated by numerical
simulation. The 4 blades simultaneous measurement
technique is confirmed useful in case of changing disk
vibration mode. The blade vibration stress obtained by
the numerical analysis shows good agreement with
measurement.
INTRODUCTION
The regulation of fuel consumption and the exhaust gas
has become strict year after year. So the efficiency
improvement and downsizing of the engines are
required. Turbochargers could enhance boost pressure
of engine inlet and become a countermeasure of these
regulations. Above all, variable geometry turbochargers
could operate wider range of engine revolution speed
compared to the conventional turbochargers and begin
to be applied the modern engines developed in the world.
Variable geometry turbocharger has some nozzle vanes
upstream of the turbine blades. The wakes of the nozzle
vanes excite the blade vibration. When the blade
passing frequency harmonize with the blade resonance
frequency, the blades resonate with high vibration stress
and burst at worst [1]. Generally, a gas turbine is
operated at constant revolution speed avoiding
resonance frequency. Whereas a turbocharger is
operated very wide range and can’t completely avoid
passing resonance frequency.
The vibration stress is usually estimated by numerical
simulation and measurement. Numerical simulation
calculates vibration stress by steady CFD and empirical
coefficient of blade excitation. Actual vibration stress is
confirmed by measurement [2]. The turbine blade
vibration is complex because of the influence of the rotor
disk vibration [3]. Each blade stresses are different and
maximum stress couldn’t be easily measured by one
blade measurement.
2005-01-1855
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
It is need to improve reliability of turbochargers that
accuracy improvement of measurement and simulation
about blade stress. Prediction of disk-coupled vibration
is important to measurement improvement. And good
prediction of exciting forces is need to improve
simulation accuracy [4].
VIBRATION CHARACTERISTIC㩷
At the beginning, Vibration characteristic of radial turbine
was investigated by measurement and calculation. The
radial turbine has 14 blades and 20 nozzle vanes
upstream of blade. Nozzle vanes could change vane
angle for changing flow rate characteristic.㩷
SHAKING TEST
Shaking test was conducted to measure natural
frequency and vibration mode of radial turbine using
scanning laser vibration measurement system. Fig. 1
shows the vibration mode of radial turbine. This figure
indicate that blade-disc coupled modes were formed,
apart from the vibration modes for each of the blades. In
the case where disc nodal ND=6, it was found that there
were six amplitude nodes and sides on the disc. In
addition, the main resonance conditions for the blade-
disc coupled modes with respect to each of the
excitation frequencies are shown below.
H r ND ON B
This formula indicates that disk nodal Nd is calculated by
the difference between number of nozzle vane H and
number of blade Nb [5]. In the case where 14 radial
turbine blades resonate with 20 nozzle wakes, it can be
seen that ND=6. From Fig. 2, presenting the measured
Campbell diagram, it is clearly revealed that resonance
points with the nozzle wake are extant through the 5th
mode in the region of operation.㩷
MODE ANALYSIS
Mode analysis was conducted by finite element method.
Model was discretized using 3D solid elements and a
vibration model was constructed. There was a cases
that calculate whole impller structure [6]. But several finit It was also apparent from the analysis undertaken that
element method code have the cyclic symmetry technic. the maximum relative stress is different for each blade in
In this study, So a blade-disc model was initially created terms of blade-disc coupled vibration as indicated in Fig.
for a single blade as the basic domain, and the cyclic 6. This means that the true maximum vibration stress
symmetry method was applied to express blade-disc cannot be ascertained by measuring the stress
coupled vibration. pertaining to a single blade in a vibration stress

Fig. 3 shows a comparison of the analysis and

measurement results for blade natural frequency. The
maximum error between analysis and measurement was
4%, serving to confirm good agreement. Fig. 4 presents
the blade vibration mode for ND=6 in the 5th mode, while
Fig. 5 shows the relative stress distribution. This mode
corresponds to the primary risk resonance mode. and,
because the amplitude is substantial at the blade inlet,
resonance stress is a cause for concern. These findings 㪈㪏㪇㪇㪇

agree well with the measured results in Fig. 1. 㪈㪍㪇㪇㪇

Measurement [Hz]
㪥㪸㫋㫌㫉㪸㫃㩷㪽㫉㪼㫈㫌㪼㫅㪺㫐㩷㩿㪤㪼㪸㫊㫌㫉㪼㪻㩷㪀㩷㪲㪟㫑㪴
㪈㪋㪇㪇㪇
㪈㫊㫋
㪉㫅㪻
㪈㪉㪇㪇㪇
㪊㫉㪻
㪋㫋㪿
㪈㪇㪇㪇㪇
㪌㫋㪿
㪍㫋㪿
㪏㪇㪇㪇 㪎㫋㪿
㪏㫋㪿
㪍㪇㪇㪇 ♽೉㪋

㪋㪇㪇㪇

㪉㪇㪇㪇

㪇
㪇 㪉㪇㪇㪇 㪋㪇㪇㪇 㪍㪇㪇㪇 㪏㪇㪇㪇 㪈㪇㪇㪇㪇 㪈㪉㪇㪇㪇 㪈㪋㪇㪇㪇 㪈㪍㪇㪇㪇 㪈㪏㪇㪇㪇
Simulation [Hz]
㪥㪸㫋㫌㫉㪸㫃㩷㪽㫉㪼㫈㫌㪼㫅㪺㫐㩷㩿㪝㪜㪤㪀㩷㪲㪟㫑㪴

Fig.3 Natural frequency

(a) Blade vibratory mode

(b) Disk vibratory mode

Fig.1 Vibratory mode㩷 䋨Blade 5th mode, Disk 䋶ND䋩
Maximum rotational speed Fig.4 Relative displacement
㪈㪌㪇㪇㪇
(Blade 5th mode, Disk nodal 6(no-rotating))
㪉㪌㪟
㪈㪋㪇㪇㪇
20H
㪉㪇㪟
䊉䉵 䊦
㪈㪊㪇㪇㪇
㪍 㫋㪿 㩿㪍 㪥 㪛 㪀 ᨎᢙ

㪈㪉㪇㪇㪇

㪈㪈㪇㪇㪇
㪌 㫋㪿 㩿㪍 㪥 㪛 㪀
[Hz]

㪈㪇㪇㪇㪇 㪈㪌㪟

㪐㪇㪇㪇 㪋 㫋㪿
Frequency
ᝄേᢙ㪲㪟㫑㪴

㪏㪇㪇㪇
㪊 㫉㪻 㩿 㪍 㪥 㪛 㪀
㪎㪇㪇㪇
㪈㪇㪟
㪍㪇㪇㪇
㪉㫅㪻

㪌㪇㪇㪇

㪋㪇㪇㪇
㪈㫊㫋
㪌㪟
㪊㪇㪇㪇

㪉㪇㪇㪇

㪈㪇㪇㪇

㪇
㪇 㪌㪇㪇㪇 㪈㪇㪇㪇㪇 㪈㪌㪇㪇㪇 㪉㪇㪇㪇㪇 㪉㪌㪇㪇㪇 㪊㪇㪇㪇㪇 㪊㪌㪇㪇㪇 㪋㪇㪇㪇㪇

Rotational
䉨
speed
࿁ ォ ᢙ 㪲 㫉㫇 㫄 㪴
䊔
[rpm]
✢ ࿑ 㩿㕒 ᱛ ᤨ ታ ᷹ 㪀 Fig.5 Relative stress
Fig.2 Campbell diagram (no rotating) (Blade 5th mode, Disk nodal 6(no-rotating))
 㪈㪅㪇
MEASUREMENT RESULTS
㪇㪅㪐

㪇㪅㪏
The results for the blade 2nd mode with maximum
ᱜⷙൻ䈚䈢⋧ኻᔕജ䈱ᦨᄢ୯

㪇㪅㪎
nozzle angle, as indicated in Fig. 9, show that the disc
㪪㫋㫉㪼㫊㫊㩷

㪇㪅㪍
coupled vibration mode has an influence on the
㪇㪅㪌
measured stress. Given that the relationship between
㪇㪅㪋
the blade geometrical arrangement and the disc mode
㪇㪅㪊
arrangement changed over the course of two
measurements. No.6 blade has maximum stress at 1st
㪇㪅㪉

㪇㪅㪈
measurement, but No.2 blade has maximum stress at
2nd measurement. This means that a shift of disc
㪇㪅㪇
㪇 㪈 㪉 㪊 㪋 㪌 㪍 㪎 㪏 㪐 㪈㪇 㪈㪈 㪈㪉 㪈㪊 㪈㪋 㪈㪌
㪙㫃㪸㪻㪼㩷㪥㫆㪅㩷
⠢⇟ภ
vibratory mode arrangement occurred during the
Fig.6 Relative stress with disk coupling measurements. In light of this possibility that the disc
measurement test.㩷㩷 coupled vibration mode is rearranged with each
measurement, the necessity for simultaneous
measurement at multiple points becomes apparent. It
MEASUREMENT
should be noted, however, that there were cases in
which rearrangement did not occur, such as in the 3rd
MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
mode.
Vibration stress measurements were carried out for the
Fig. 10(a) presents the changes in stress with vibration
above-noted radial turbine. Blade strain was measured
mode. As a general trend, vibration stress increases
using a sprayed strain gauge so as to withstand high
with the mode number for the blade. This indicates that
temperatures and the high centrifugal field. We
stresses corresponding to turbine load. Looking at
estimated the stress from measured strain. In this paper,
changes in stress with nozzle angle, as indicated in Fig.
the stresses were normalized by a reference value. In
10(b), reduced nozzle angle leads to higher vibration
considering the case of ND=6 disc coupling, it is
stress in 4th and 5th modes, and substantial influence is
necessary to simultaneously measure blade stress for
considered to be sustained from the nozzle wake. On
four blades. Accordingly, a four point simultaneous
telemeter system with an induction power supply was
utilized for measurement, with the gauge attachment 1 4
positions as indicated in Fig. 7. In order to facilitate 8
accurate measurement of the stress generated in the 䌎䌯.4
vibration modes being observed, the attachment
positions were determined from the results of analysis Splayed
and scanning measurement. Strain gauge signals were strain gage No.1
transmitted via a lead through a hole along the rotational
axis, connected to a non-contact transmitter (Fig. 8) on
the low-temperature compressor side.

OPERATING METHOD
No.8
The turbine was driven by compressed air at
temperature of 420K. In the case of a VG turbo, the No.11
nozzle angle is variable and vibration differs according to
the nozzle angle. The VG nozzle angle was given three Fig.7 Measured blades and gage positions
settings in terms of the nozzle o/p angle: 9.3, 12.3, and
18.2 degrees. Vibration stress was measured at the
resonance points between 1st and 5th modes extant in
the operating range.

DATA PROCESSING METHOD

Vibration data measured by the strain gauge was

tracked across 20 harmonics for the number of nozzles. Receiver
And gauge position vibration stress was calculated for
each blade. Then, the blade with the greatest generated
stress was estimated based on the disc coupled mode Transmitter
obtained by mode analysis and the measurement values
for the four blades. The maximum stress was calculated Fig.8 FM telemeter
using the amplification ratio obtained from mode
analysis.
 Disk vibratory mode
Gage stress Nozzle vane angle [deg]
4.0
Max gage stress Max
3.5 18.2
3.0 12.3

Vibratory Stress䇭[-]
2.5 9.3
Stress

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
㪇 㪈 㪉 㪊 㪋 㪌 㪍 㪎 㪏 㪐 㪈㪇 㪈㪈 㪈㪉 㪈㪊 㪈㪋 㪈㪌 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Blade No. Mode
(a) Vibratory mode difference
(a) First measurement Blade vibratory mode
4.0
1st
3.5 2nd
3.0 3rd

Vibratory stress䇭[-]
2.5 4th
5th
Stress

2.0

1.5

1.0
0.5

㪇 㪈 㪉 㪊 㪋 㪌 㪍 㪎 㪏 㪐 㪈㪇 㪈㪈 㪈㪉 㪈㪊 㪈㪋 㪈㪌
Blade No.
(b) Second measurement
Fig.9 Prediction of disk vibration mode
the other hand, while the stress values are high for the
unreduced maximum nozzle angle, this is due to the fact
that the nozzle trailing edge and the blade approach
each other and the wake diffusion distance becomes
shorter when the nozzle has a wide angle.
BLADE ANALYSIS
EXCITATION FORCE ANALYSIS
Unsteady numerical simulation of internal flow of nozzles
and blades was conducted, and excitation force was
calculated from the static pressure distribution on the
blade surface [7]. In order to reduce simulation cost, the
analysis domain was not whole of turbine. A total of five
cases were analyzed for nozzle angle, so as to verify the
stress estimation accuracy with respect to the blade
vibration mode. The analysis domain was set for three
nozzle pitches and two blade pitches in order to make
the width of analysis closer together. Also, so as to avoid
the influence of the cyclic boundaries, the vibration
analysis data was assembled from the center of the flow
path.
In the conditions used for the present analysis, the
rotational component at the outlet is large due to the
high U/C0. Problems such as reverse flow occur when
rotation largely remains through the outlet boundary,
making the calculations unstable. The outlet boundary
0.0
Max 18.2 12.3 9.3
Nozzle vane angle [deg]
(b) Nozzle vane angle difference
Fig.10 Measurement result of Blade
vibratory stress
was set three times of blade axis length to stabilize the
calculations.
Because nozzle wake diffusion depends substantially on
the grid, identical topology was used for each nozzle
angle to reduce grid influence. Also, the density of the
time series analysis data used for vibration analysis was
set at 30 points per pitch.
FLOW FORCE COMPARISON
The blade inlet flow force ( U Wu Cr), calculated from the
flow analysis results, is shown in Fig. 11. The time-
averaged value of fluctuation and the amplitude were
calculated from the time series data. From Fig. 11(a), it
can be seen that the average value increases as the
blade vibration mode becomes higher. This is due to the
fact that rotational speed increases with higher modes,
and the blade load becomes greater. In lower modes,
the fact that the value of the suction surface is inverted
is because the flow at the blade inlet tends toward the
pressure surface, and in this case it can be observed
that the mode of excitation differs from other modes.
Also, from Figs. 11(b) and (c), the amplitude increases
as the mode becomes higher, and it was found that the
absolute value of the amplitude increases roughly
exponentially.
Fig. 12 indicates the results for varied nozzle angle in
blade 3rd mode. When the angle is small, the flow force
of the suction surface reverses, and the absolute value
increases. As with the case of lower modes as noted
above, the cause of this is the tendency of the flow
towards the pressure surface side. Thus, when the
nozzle angle is small, only the suction surface side is
strongly excited. Because the canceling force from the
opposite direction is weak when only one side is excited,
the excitation force is considered to increase. The
results obtained from flow analysis (Large fluctuation of
flow force in high mode, Large fluctuation of flow force
with a small nozzle angle) were found to agree with the
stress tendencies as actually measured. Vibration
analysis is conducted from the flow analysis results, with
quantitative evaluation.
Fig. 13 presents the nozzle wake frequency composition
amplitude and phase differential as derived from the
pressure distribution on the blade surface. The
amplitude recedes from the leading edge towards the
trailing edge, indicating that the leading edge side is
strongly excited. Also, given that the amplitude first
recedes but then increases in the vicinity of 1/3 of the
flow direction from the inlet, it is considered that the
pressure fluctuation has a nodal in the direction of flow.
ANALYSIS RESULTS
Fig. 14 shows a comparison of simulated stress V x
with measurement. Good results are obtained for blade
3rd mode and a nozzle angle of 12.3 degrees, with error
of 4.3%. However, the error became quite large at
83.6% for 5th mode and an angle of 12.3 degrees. Fig.
14 has also a comparison of V mises, for a nozzle angle
of 12.3 degrees. The simulated stress of 5th mode is
near V mises of measurement. As the stress direction on
the blade surface became complex in the 5th mode, it is

㪍㪇㪇㪇
㪈㪍㪇㪇㪇 Pres. Pres.
㪋㪇㪇㪇
Average䇭[N/m2]

Mid. Mid.

Average [N/m2]
㪈㪉㪇㪇㪇
Suc. 㪉㪇㪇㪇 Suc.
㪏㪇㪇㪇

㪋㪇㪇㪇 㪇

㪇 㪄㪉㪇㪇㪇

㪄㪋㪇㪇㪇 㪄㪋㪇㪇㪇
㪇 㪈 㪉 㪊 㪋 㪌 㪍 㪍 㪏 㪈㪇 㪈㪉 㪈㪋 㪈㪍
Mode Nozzle vane angle䇭[deg]
(a) Time average (a) Time average
㪇㪅㪊㪇 㪇㪅㪌㪇
Pres. 㪧㫉㪼㫊㪅
㪇㪅㪉㪌 㪇㪅㪋㪇 㪤㫀㪻㪅
Mid.
Amplitude [-]
Amplitude [-]

㪇㪅㪉㪇 Suc. 㪪㫌㪺㪅

㪇㪅㪊㪇
㪇㪅㪈㪌
㪇㪅㪉㪇
㪇㪅㪈㪇
㪇㪅㪇㪌 㪇㪅㪈㪇

㪇㪅㪇㪇 㪇㪅㪇㪇
㪇 㪈 㪉 㪊 㪋 㪌 㪍 㪍 㪏 㪈㪇 㪈㪉 㪈㪋 㪈㪍
㪤㫆㪻㪼 Nozzle vane angle䇭[deg]
(b) Relative amplitude
DRelativeCORNKVWFG
㪈㪋㪇㪇 㪈㪍㪇
Pres. Pres.
㪈㪉㪇㪇
Mid. Mid.
Amplitude [N/m2]

Amplitude[N/m2]

㪈㪇㪇㪇 㪈㪉㪇
Suc. Suc.
㪏㪇㪇
㪏㪇
㪍㪇㪇
㪋㪇㪇
㪋㪇
㪉㪇㪇
㪇 㪇
㪇 㪈 㪉 㪊 㪋 㪌 㪍 㪍 㪏 㪈㪇 㪈㪉 㪈㪋 㪈㪍
㪤㫆㪻㪼 Nozzle vane angle䇭 [deg]
(c) Amplitude (c) Amplitude
Fig.11 Numerical simulation results Fig.12 Numerical simulation results
with mode difference with nozzle vane angle difference
 Shroud Shroud

Time average [Pa]

Middle Middle
Hub Hub

Amplitude[Pa]
Phase [deg]

(a) Pressure surface (b) Suction surface

Fig.13 Pressure fluctuation on blade surface

2.5 z Four points blade stress measurement was carried

㱟mises Measurement out considering disc coupling. For the four blades
Simulation measured, blade stress corresponded well with the
2.0 㱟㫏 blade-disc coupling mode obtained from mode
analysis. It was also found that the respective
Gage stress [-]

1.5 stresses for the four blades differed even when

operating conditions were the same, indicating the
possibility of disc coupling rearrangement.
1.0
z Vibration stress in high vibration modes becomes
0.5 greater. Because the turbine pressure ratio rises.
Furthermore, even in the same vibration mode,
reduction of the nozzle angle was found to increase
0.0
vibration stress.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Vibratory mode
Fig.14 Simulation results z Unsteady numerical simulation of internal flow of
nozzles and blades was conducted, and the
considered that the isostress is a value in the V vicinity influence of the nozzle wake acting upon the blades
of the V mises. It is considered appropriate to use was investigated. It was found that respective
isostress for safety evaluation from the perspective of fluctuations increase when the nozzle angle is
fatigue strength, and it is especially necessary to take reduced, and that the vicinity of the leading edge is
this into account for higher modes. strongly excited.

CONCLUSION z In comparison with blade stress analysis

Measurement and analysis were conducted for blade
stress during nozzle wake resonance, with the objective
of improving the reliability of radial turbines. The results
are summarized below.
undertaken using the pressure fluctuation obtained
from flow analysis, it was found that measurement
results agreed well for lower modes. Although
divergence was seen against measurement results
for higher modes, the stress orientation became
complex, and it is considered that values near the
mises stress were measured.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to express our thanks to Mr. Sumida,
Mr. Komori and other people in our experimental section
who kindly assisted us by conducting the measurements
for this research work.
REFERENCES
1. McDonnell,G.T. and Roberts,Q.D.H., “Design of a
turbine rotor for a high-vane count variable geometry
turbocharger”, IMechE Paper No.C602/012, 2002.
2. Hasemann,H., Hagelstein,D. and Rautenberg,M.,
“Coupled Vibration of Unshrouded Centrifugal
Compressor Impellers. Part1: Experimental
Investigation”, International Journal of Rotating
Machinery, Vol.6, No.2, pp.101-113, 2000.
3. Kreuz-Ihli,T., Filsinger,D., Schulz,A. and Wittig,S.,
“Numerical and Experimental Study of Unsteady
Flow Field and Vibration in Radial Inflow Turbines”,
ASME Journal of Turbomachinery Vol.122, April
2000.
4. Filsinger,D., Sekavcnik,M., Ihli,T., Schulz,A. and
Wittig,S. “Vibration characteristics of a radial
turbocharger impeller”, IMechE Paper No.C602/002,
2002.
5. Wilson,A. and Utengen,T., “Turbine Blade Dynamics
and Blade-Vane Interaction in a Radial Inflow
Turbine”, an AGARD Meeting on ‘Technology
Requirement for Small Gas Turbines’, Paper No.35,
1993.
6. Hagelstein,D., Hasemann,H. and Rautenberg,M.,
“Coupled Vibration of Unshrouded Centrifugal
Compressor Impellers. Part2: Computation of
Vibration Behavior”, International Journal of Rotating
Machinery, Vol.6, No.2, pp.115-128, 2000.
7. Kreuz-Ihli,T., Schulz,A. and Wittig,S., “Aerodynamic
Excitation and Vibration in Radial Inflow Turbines”,
Proceedings of the International Gas Turbine
Congress, Paper OS-602, 1999.
ABBREVIATIONS
ND Nodal diameter
H Harmonics
NB Number of Blade
˨ Positive integer
U Density
Wu Tangential relative velocity
Cr Radial Velocity