Gas Turbine Airfoil Platform Bowed Sidewall Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional airfoil platforms in gas turbine engines face challenges with high inter-laminar stresses and fragile geometry due to high tensile loading, which can lead to increased costs and size issues, particularly when reducing platform size and attaching separate fan blade platforms to the rotor disk.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates bowed sidewalls with curved arms extending from the top wall to connectors, reducing tensile loads and inter-laminar stresses, and may include a blend radius and stiffeners for enhanced structural integrity, manufactured using additive processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If straight sidewalls with fillets are used to connect the top wall to connectors, then the platform can be attached to the rotor disk, but high inter-laminar stresses occur due to high tensile loading through the fillets
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature by replacing straight sidewalls with bowed (curved) sidewalls that extend from the top wall to the connectors. This curvature eliminates the need for fillets at the connections, thereby reducing inter-laminar stresses while maintaining structural integrity under centrifugal loading.
2Volume of moving object
If the platform size is reduced to decrease rotor blade size and cost, then material costs are reduced, but the geometry becomes thin and fragile
Solution Approach 1:
The bowed sidewalls provide inherent structural strength through their curved geometry, allowing the platform to maintain robustness even with reduced overall size. The curvature distributes stresses more effectively than straight walls, preventing fragility in smaller platforms.
3Ease of manufacture
If straight sidewalls are used in the platform design, then manufacturing is simpler, but high tensile loading through fillets creates high inter-laminar stresses
Solution Approach 1:
The bowed sidewall design eliminates the need for separate fillet features, simplifying the manufacturing process by reducing the number of geometric features that must be precisely formed. The continuous curved geometry can be more easily manufactured as a single integrated feature.
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 2~3
Figure 4A~4B
AI summary
A platform (410) for an airfoil in a gas turbine engine is provided. The platform includes a top wall (411) configured to connect to an airfoil of the gas turbine engine, a connector (422) configured to receive a pin and secure the platform to a rotor of the gas turbine engine, and a sidewall (434) extending from the top wall to the connector, the sidewall having a first arm (434a) and a second arm (434b), wherein the first arm and the second arm are curved such at a bowed sidewall extends from the top wall to the connector.