ZESZYTY NAUKOWE POLITECHNIKI RZESZOWSKIEJ 293, Mechanika 88

RUTMech, t. XXXIII, z. 88 (4/16), październik-grudzień 2016, s. 379-387

Lucjan WITEK1
Feliks STACHOWICZ2

THERMO-MECHANICAL STRESS ANALYSIS

OF THE TURBINE OF HELICOPTER ENGINE
In this paper the results of the numerical stress analysis of the power turbine of
helicopter engine were presented. In order to solve the problem, the nonlinear
finite element method was used. The numerical models of both the blade and the
disc segment were made using the MSC-Patran program. In the analysis the
thermal load resulting from non-uniform temperature field was defined. The
centrifugal force resulting from the rotation of the engine rotor was also consi-
dered. The cyclic symmetry boundary condition of the disc segment was used to
decrease the size of the numerical task. The model of the turbine material was
defined as linear-elastic. The modulus of elasticity and the thermal expansion
coefficient of the disc and the blade material were considered as temperature
dependent. As a result of performed computations, the stress distributions for
the turbine subjected to both the thermal and the mechanical loads were deter-
mined.

Keywords: aero-engine, turbine blade, rotor disc, thermo-mechanical stress

analysis, finite element method

1. Introduction
Gas turbine discs and blades (Figs. 1, 2a) are usually the most critical en-
gine components, which must endure substantial mechanical and thermal
loads. The turbine has three critical regions on which attention should be fo-
cused: fir tree slots, the assembly holes and the hub zone. The joint between
the turbine blade and the disc usually represents the most critical area from the
point of view of the static and fatigue strength. The loads associated with these
regions are mainly the centrifugal forces and the thermal stresses [1-3].
The stress and strain analysis of the turbine discs and blades was de-
scribed in the papers [4-5]. In many cases the complex shape of the disc-blade
connection caused that only in this region the stress concentration factor has
large values. A large centrifugal force of the blade causes that the maximum

1
Autor do korespondencji/corresponding author: Lucjan Witek, Rzeszow University of Tech-
nology, Al. Powstańców Warszawy 12, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland, e-mail: lwitek@prz.edu.pl
2
Feliks Stachowicz, Rzeszow University of Technology, e-mail: stafel@prz.edu.pl
380 L. Witek and F. Stachowicz

stress area is often located in the internal radius of the fir tree slots of the disc
and the blade [6].

Fig. 1. View of the turbine blade and the fragment of the disc with fir tree slots

The main aim of this work is determination of the stress state in the pow-
er turbine of the helicopter engine subjected to the complex thermo-
mechanical load. The thermal stress (as a result of thermal field remaining by
certain time in the turbine components) occurs after turning off the engine.
Therefore, in this work a separate thermal stress was also determined for the
turbine without the mechanical loads.

2. Numerical model of turbine

The geometrical models of the disc and the blade were made using the
MSC-Patran program (Fig. 2 b, c) [7]. The FE model of the turbine (Fig. 2d)
consists of 100280 nodes and 507836 TET-4 solid elements. In the analysis
two kinds of loads were considered: the speed of rotation of the turbine
(22490 RPM) and the non-uniform temperature field. The centrifugal forces
were computed by definition of the following parameters: the blade and disc
material density, the speed of rotation and the position of rotation axis. The
power turbine of the analyzed engine is composed of the disc and 51 blades.
In order to decrease the size of the numerical task, the segment of the disc
consisted of 1/51 part of all structure was considered with the use of the spe-
cial cyclic-symmetry boundary condition [8]. In this condition the stress and
displacement components (in the cylindrical coordinate system) defined on the
left and right (virtual) surfaces of the disc segment are the same.
The nodes on the rotation axis of the turbine disc (bottom part of the disc
presented in Fig. 2c) were partially fixed (translations Tx = 0, Ty = 0). For one
central node located on the rotation (symmetry) axis of the disc the full fixa-
tion was applied (Tx = 0, Ty = 0, Tz = 0).
Thermo-mechanical stress analysis of the turbine of helicopter engine 381

a) b) c)

d)

Fig. 2. View of the real blade - object of investigations (a). Geometrical model of the turbine
blade (b) and the disc segment (c). Finite element mesh in the vicinity of fir tree slots (d)

The maximum temperature zone (5880C) was located on the top part of
the blade (Fig. 3). In the fir tree slot of the turbine the temperature value is
about 4000C whereas in the middle part of the disc (in the vicinity of rotation
axis) the temperature is much lower (1800C). The temperature field was de-
fined for the engine power of 890 HP (horsepower) and for the work of the
engine at an altitude of 2500 m. In the fir tree surfaces of the disc and the
blade the Coulomb contact “master-slave” [8] with the friction coefficient of
0.05 was defined. The nonlinear stress analysis was performed using Abaqus
solver [8]. The disc and the blade were made of EI-437-b alloy. EI-437-b
nickel alloy has a good creep resistance and was used for rotational compo-
nents of the turbine engines operated at high temperature. Yield stress (YS)
382 L. Witek and F. Stachowicz

and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of EI-437-b alloy measured at high
temperature are presented in Figure 4 [9].

Fig. 3. Temperature field defined for turbine segment (condition of engine work: altitude of
2500 m, engine power of 890 HP), 0C

Fig. 4. Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield stress (YS) of EI-437-b alloy
as a function of temperature

The blade and disc material density is equal to 8200 kg/m3 (at room tem-
perature). The thermal expansion coefficient (α) and Young’s modulus (E) for
EI-437-b alloy were considered as a temperature dependent (Tab. 1) [9].
Table 1. Values of thermal expansion coefficient and Young’s modulus at high temperature for
EI-437-b alloy [9]
Temperature Young’s modulus Thermal expansion coefficient
0
C E × 105, MPa α ×10-5, 1/0C
200 2.00 1.27
400 1.95 1.75
600 1.66 1.14
800 1.01 1.51
Thermo-mechanical stress analysis of the turbine of helicopter engine 383

3. Results of stress analysis

The results of finite element analysis showed that during the work of the
engine (for superposition of thermal and mechanical loads), the area of maxi-
mum reduced stress in the disc (784 MPa, Fig. 5) is located in the small zone,
under the third fir tree slot. This value exceeds the yield stress of disc material
at about 184 MPa (YS of EI-437-b alloy for 400°C equals to 600 MPa, Fig. 4).
Obtained maximum stress value is smaller than UTS of the disc material at
about 170 MPa.

Fig. 5. Reduced (acc. to Huber-Mises-Hencky criterion) stress distribution in fir tree

slots of disc as a result of coupled the mechanical and the thermal load (engine work
conditions: altitude of 2500 m, engine power of 890 HP), MPa

Fig. 6. Reduced (acc. to Huber-Mises-Hencky criterion) stress distribution in cross-section of

the disc as a result of coupled the mechanical and the thermal load (engine work conditions:
altitude of 2500 m, engine power of 890 HP), MPa
384 L. Witek and F. Stachowicz

The maximum reduced stress in the blade subjected to couple the thermal
and the mechanical load achieves the value of 684 MPa. Maximum stress area
is located on the corner of second and third fir tree slot (Fig. 7a). This value
exceeds the yield stress of the blade material (for 4000C, Fig. 4) at about 84
MPa. The large stress zones (456 MPa) are also located above the first (top)
slot of the serration and in the bottom part of the airfoil section (Fig. 7). In the
central and the top part of the blade smaller values of stresses (92-223 MPa)
are observed (Fig 7b).

a) b)

Fig. 7. Reduced (acc. to Huber-Mises-Hencky criterion) stress distribution in the bottom part of
the blade (a) and in the blade airfoil section (b) (coupled mechanical and thermal load, engine
work conditions: altitude of 2500 m, engine power of 890 HP), MPa

The centrifugal (mechanical) forces disappear after turning off the engine
but the thermal field remains for a certain time. Thus, in the second load case a
separated thermal load was applied to the turbine. The results of this analysis
are interesting not only from a practical but also from a research point of view.
The analysis of separate thermal load can provide the information about the
impact of the thermal stress on the effort of material of the turbine during the
work of the engine.
In the turbine subjected to the thermal load only (the non-uniform tem-
perature field presented in Fig. 3) the reduced stress achieves the largest value
of 461 MPa on the corner of the disc, about 3 mm under the third fir tree slot.
In the central part of the disc the thermal stress achieves the values of 124-216
MPa (Fig. 8a).
A low impact of the thermal field on the stress values in the blade is
found. The maximum value of reduced stress in the central part of the blade
airfoil section is equal only to 9.8 MPa (Fig. 8b).
Thermo-mechanical stress analysis of the turbine of helicopter engine 385

a)

b)

Fig. 8. Reduced (acc. to Huber-Mises-Hencky criterion) stress distribution in the disc (a)
and the blade (b) as a result of thermal load only, MPa

4. Conclusions

In this work the results of numerical stress analysis of the power turbine
of helicopter engine were presented. In order to decrease the size of the nu-
merical task, the special cyclic-symmetry boundary condition was defined.
The disc segment and the blade were subjected to the complex thermo-
mechanical load. From the simulation results, conclusions can be drawn as
follows:
1. The value of maximum reduced stress (784 MPa) in the disc subjected to
couple the thermal and the mechanical loads exceeds (locally) the yield
stress of the disc material at about 184 MPa. Computed stress value is
386 L. Witek and F. Stachowicz

smaller than UTS of the disc material at 170 MPa. The results of stress
analysis performed for another engines showed that the local stress in the
turbine fir tree slots can be higher than YS of the material [2, 10].
2. The large values of stresses (478-529 MPa) are also observed in the vicini-
ty of the disc rotation axis.
3. The maximum stress in the blade subjected to thermal and mechanical
load achieves (in the fir tree slot area) the value of 684 MPa. This value
exceeds YS of the blade material at 84 MPa. The high stress area is often
observed in the fir tree region of the blade and the disc of aero-engines
[11-13].
4. It was assumed that during the first work of the engine, the zones of fir
tree slots (in which the stress exceeds YS) can be locally plastified. After
that the distance between the slots fir tree slots are different and during
next acceleration of the engine the stresses could be lower.
5. During the thermal load only the reduced stress achieves the value of
461 MPa in the bottom region of fir tree slot of the disc.
6. The maximum value of thermal stress in the blade equals only to 9.8 MPa.
7. Tetrahedral TET-4 finite elements are not good choice for modelling the
disc and the blades of aero-engines. The results of the work [2] showed
that better efficiency in modelling of the fir tree slots (smooth mesh at
much smaller number of nodes and elements) can be obtained using hex-
agonal HEX-20 second order finite elements.

Acknowledgement
The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme
(Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange) of the European Union's Seventh
Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant: PIRSES-GA-2013-
610547.

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ANALIZA NAPRĘŻEŃ TERMO-MECHANICZNYCH TURBINY

SILNIKA ŚMIGŁOWCOWEGO

Streszczenie
Praca przedstawia wyniki numerycznej analizy naprężeń turbiny napędowej silnika śmi-
głowcowego. Do rozwiązania problemu wykorzystano metodę elementów skończonych. Mode-
le numeryczne łopatki oraz segmentu tarczy wykonano korzystając z programu MSC-Patran.
W analizie zdefiniowano obciążenie cieplne wynikające z niejednorodnego rozkładu temperatu-
ry. Dodatkowo zdefiniowano siłę odśrodkową elementów wynikającą z obrotu wirnika silnika.
W celu ograniczenia wymiaru zadania numerycznego do segmentu tarczy zastosowano warunek
brzegowy w postaci symetrii cyklicznej. Model materiału turbiny zdefiniowano jako liniowo-
sprężysty. W analizie uwzględniono dodatkowo zmianę wartości modułu Younga oraz współ-
czynnika rozszerzalności termicznej materiału w funkcji temperatury. W rezultacie przeprowa-
dzonych obliczeń określono rozkład naprężeń turbiny poddanej działaniu złożonego obciążenia
termo-mechanicznego.

Słowa kluczowe: silnik lotniczy, łopatka turbiny, tarcza wirnika, analiza naprężeń termo-
mechanicznych, metoda elementów skończonych

DOI: 10.7862/rm.2016.31

Otrzymano/received: 11.10.2016 r.
Zaakceptowano/accepted: 28.11.2016 r.