Author(s)

F. Gálvez, D. A. Cendón, A. Enfedaque & V. Sánchez-Galvez

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact phenomenon of a failed blade against the containment inside a turbine (called \“blade off”) by using the Finite Element Method. In addition, the research has also focused on the secondary damage, which is the damage induced by the debris of the lost blade on the adjacent blades of the turbine. The paper shows how the model has been arranged from the beginning, pointing out aspects concerning the materials, initial and boundary conditions. The study shows the importance of having well known characterization of the materials involved, including the effects of high strain rate and high temperature. The results show how both blade off and secondary damage phenomena can be accurately modelled by FEM and provides useful information for the entire process. Keywords: high strain rate, impact, numerical simulation. 1 Introduction In the rare but possible event of a turbine blade or fan blade failure, the engine must ensure the containment of it. In other case the blade becomes a projectile which can seriously damage the aircraft, causing occupants injuries and eventually leading the airplane to crash. Because this reason, the fan and turbine containments are usually the heaviest parts of the engines and during the engine design process, the containment must somehow be ensured. Up to date, the containment was designed by using certain kind of abacuses from some experimental tests and more or less documented blade failure real cases. Despite this can be a quite sure designing tool, it also has some disadvantages: for example it is not possible to know which would be the critical thickness of the

Keywords

high strain rate, impact, numerical simulation.