Turbine Blade Cooling Conduit Layout for Creep and Fatigue Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engines experience significant thermal and mechanical stresses, particularly in high-pressure turbine blades, leading to premature part failure due to creep and fatigue, which limits the engine's operational time.
Innovation Solution
The blade assembly incorporates a specific design of cooling conduits and inlet passages that redistribute stress and provide adequate cooling, with geometry adjustments to enhance durability and resistance to creep and fatigue, using materials like steel, titanium, and superalloys, and manufacturing methods such as additive manufacturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional blade design is used, then manufacturing is simpler, but durability and resistance to creep and fatigue are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The blade assembly is segmented into multiple functional zones with different cooling conduit configurations. The blade includes a root portion, airfoil portion, and tip portion, each with specifically designed cooling passages to address local thermal and mechanical stress conditions, thereby improving overall durability without uniformly increasing complexity throughout the entire blade structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the blade are provided with tailored cooling conduit designs matched to their specific operational requirements. The root portion receives cooling through inlet passages, while the airfoil and tip portions have dedicated cooling conduits, ensuring that each local area has the appropriate cooling capacity to resist creep and fatigue without over-engineering the entire blade.
2Temperature
If cooling conduits are added to manage thermal stresses, then temperature control improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple cooling functions are merged into an integrated blade assembly design where the cooling conduits are built as integral features during manufacturing. The root inlet passages, airfoil cooling conduits, and tip cooling conduits form a unified thermal management system that controls temperatures across different blade regions without requiring separate external cooling components, thus managing thermal stress while limiting complexity growth.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling conduit geometry parameters are optimized to achieve effective thermal stress management. The conduits have specific cross-sectional areas, lengths, and orientations tailored to the thermal conditions of each blade region, allowing precise temperature control through parameter optimization rather than through adding numerous separate cooling systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The redesigned blade assembly improves durability and extends the engine's operational time by effectively managing thermal and mechanical stresses, reducing creep and fatigue, and ensuring reliable performance under high-temperature and high-speed conditions.
Implementation Method 1
The blade assembly incorporates a specific design of cooling conduits and inlet passages that redistribute stress and provide adequate cooling
Implementation Method 2
The blade assembly incorporates a specific design of cooling conduits and inlet passages that redistribute stress and provide adequate cooling
Data Source
AI summary
A gas turbine engine having a blade assembly with a platform, an airfoil, and a shank. The airfoil has a plurality of cooling conduits, and the shank has a plurality of inlet passages to provide cooling fluid to the cooling conduits in the airfoil. The cooling fluid is vented through a plurality of cooling holes along the airfoil. The blade assembly has specific geometries that improve durability.