Insight Into Vibration Sources in Turbines

Despite of nearly 100 years of turbine engine development and design, blade vibrations remain a great engineering challenge. The rotating turbine blades’ vibrations lead to cyclic oscillations, which result in alternating stress and strain in harsh environments of high temperature and pressure. In modern aeroengines, high hot flow velocities might generate erosion and corrosion pitting on the metal surfaces, that leverage remarkably mean stresses. The combination of both mean and alternating stresses can lead to unexpected engine failures, especially under resonance conditions. Then, alternating stress amplitudes can exceed the safety endurance limit, what accelerates the high cyclic fatigue leading quickly to catastrophic failure of the blade. Concerning the existing state-of-the-art and new market demands, this paper revises forced vibrations with respect to excitation mechanisms related to three design levels: (i) a component like the blade design, (ii) turbine stage design consisting of vanes and blades and (iii) a system design of a combustor and turbine. This work reviews the best practices for preventing the crotating turbine and compressor blades from High Cyclic Fatigue in the design process. Finally, an engine commissioning is briefly weighed up all the pros and cons to the experimental validations and needed measuring equipment.