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

Rolls Royce Trent

Turbine Blades

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.