Hoop Snap Spacer Radial Load Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engine components, such as rotor flanges, experience high radial loads leading to undesirable stress concentrations and premature wear due to the tight fit between bolts and fastener holes, necessitating a mount interface that can accommodate radial loading while allowing for tolerance between the bolt and hole.
Innovation Solution
A rigid ring made from materials like metal, polymer, or ceramic matrix composite surrounds the rotor flanges, providing radial deflection restraint and incorporating cooling holes, anti-rotation features, and axial retaining slots to manage radial loads and reduce wear at the fastener interface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a tight fit arrangement is used between the bolt center body portion and the fastener hole, then the rotor flanges are securely attached together, but stress concentrations occur and premature wear results from radial loading
Solution Approach 1:
A rigid ring intermediary component is introduced between the bolt center body portion and the fastener hole. This ring acts as a mediator that distributes the radial loads across a larger area, preventing stress concentrations at the bolt-hole interface while maintaining secure attachment of the rotor flanges. The ring transforms the localized tight-fit stress concentration into a distributed load path.
2Reliability
If tolerance is increased between the bolt center body portion and the fastener hole, then wear is reduced, but the structural integrity to accommodate radial loading is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid ring serves as a structural intermediary that bridges the gap created by increased tolerance between the bolt and fastener hole. It transfers and distributes radial loads across the rotor flange interface, maintaining load-bearing capacity even when the bolt-hole fit is loosened to reduce wear.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution moves the load-bearing function from the radial dimension (bolt-hole interface) to a circumferential dimension (rigid ring surrounding the interface). By distributing loads around the entire circumference of the ring rather than concentrating them at a single bolt location, the system maintains radial load capacity while allowing clearance at the bolt-hole interface.
Data Source
AI summary
A mount interface between two rotating gas turbine engine components includes a rigid ring to provide radial deflection restraint. In one example, the rigid ring is comprised of a metal matrix composite material.