Turbomachine Guide Vane Platform Contouring for Stress Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Guide vane arrangements in turbomachines face high mechanical stresses due to thermal gradients and stiffness jumps, leading to reduced service life, and existing optimizations conflict with aerodynamic efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The guide vane arrangement features a contoured platform with varying thickness in the direction of rotation, incorporating elevations and depressions on the side away from the gas channel, decoupling aerodynamic and structural mechanical considerations, allowing for optimization of the side facing the gas channel without complementary contouring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the transition area between guide vane and platform is thickened to reduce mechanical stresses, then the service life is improved, but the aerodynamic efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention moves the stress reduction measures from the aerodynamically critical gas duct side to the opposite side of the platform. By contouring the side facing away from the gas channel with elevations and depressions, the solution operates in a different spatial dimension that does not interfere with aerodynamic flow, thus resolving the contradiction between structural reliability and aerodynamic performance
Solution Approach 2:
The platform is segmented into distinct functional zones: the gas duct side maintains smooth aerodynamic contours, while the opposite side incorporates elevations and depressions for stress management. This segmentation allows each side to be optimized independently for its specific function without compromising the other
2Reliability
If the platform thickness is increased to reduce mechanical stresses, then the service life is improved, but the weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly increasing platform thickness, the invention applies localized thickness variations only where needed for stress reduction. The platform thickness is adapted locally in the contoured region on the non-aerodynamic side, maintaining minimal thickness elsewhere to preserve overall weight efficiency while achieving the required structural performance
3Strength
If the transition area is optimized structurally, then the mechanical stress is reduced, but the aerodynamic performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the structural optimization measures from the aerodynamic region and places them on the opposite side of the platform. By taking out the elevations and depressions from the gas duct side and relocating them to the non-aerodynamic side, the solution achieves structural strength improvement without extracting performance from the aerodynamic function
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a guide blade arrangement (20) for a turbomachine (1), having a guide blade aerofoil (22), and having a platform (21), wherein the guide blade aerofoil (22) is arranged on a side (21.1), which faces a gas channel, of the platform (21), wherein an opposite side (21.2), which is averted from the gas channel, of the platform (21) is contoured at least in one region (30.1, 30.2) with elevations (25) and depressions (26) which follow one another in a circumferential direction (23) in relation to a longitudinal axis (2) of the turbomachine (1), and wherein the elevations (25) and depressions (26) on the side (21.2) averted from the gas channel are implemented by means of a respectively radially measured platform thickness (3) which varies in the circumferential direction (23) and which repeatedly increases and decreases with a continuous profile.