Shrouded Turbine Blade Cut Corner Vibration Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Turbine blades in gas turbine engines experience damaging vibration characteristics, leading to reduced lifespan and potential engine failure due to undesirable vibration modes.
Innovation Solution
A shrouded turbine blade design with strategically cut corners on the outer shroud to alter vibration mode shapes, eliminating anti-nodes that cause damage, using analytical or experimental methods to determine and modify the blade's shape to reduce vibration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If turbine blades are designed with complete outer shrouds, then structural integrity and sealing are improved, but damaging vibration characteristics and anti-node formation occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes specific portions (corners) from the outer shroud of the turbine blade to eliminate anti-nodes that cause damaging vibrations. This extraction of problematic regions maintains the overall structural integrity while eliminating the harmful vibration characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local modification by cutting corners only at specific locations where anti-nodes form, rather than modifying the entire shroud. This localized approach targets the specific vibration problem areas while preserving the structural integrity of the remaining shroud portions.
2Reliability
If turbine blade corners are cut to eliminate anti-nodes, then vibration characteristics are improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates the corner cuts as part of the initial blade manufacturing process, performing the vibration-mitigating modification beforehand rather than requiring separate post-manufacturing steps. This integrates the vibration control feature into the standard manufacturing workflow.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method includes determining a vibration characteristic of a shrouded turbine blade, which includes an airfoil attached to a shroud. A corner of the shrouded turbine blade can be removed after determining the vibration characteristic.