SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “BLADE”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 217 records · Page 12

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2015

Materials, Manufacturing, and Test Development of a Composite Fan Blade Leading Edge Subcomponent for Improved Impact Resistance

Application of polymer matrix composite materials for jet engine fan blades is becoming attractive as an alternative to metallic blades; particularly for large engines where significant weight savings are recognized on moving to a composite structure. However, the weight benefit of the composite is offset by a reduction of aerodynamic efficiency resulting from a necessary increase in blade thickness; relative to the titanium blades. Blade dimensions are largely driven by resistance to damage on bird strike. Further development of the composite material is necessary to allow composite blade designs to approximate the dimensions of a metallic fan blade. The reduction in thickness over the state of the art composite blades is expected to translate into structural weight reduction, improved aerodynamic efficiency, and therefore reduced fuel consumption. This paper presents test article design, subcomponent blade leading edge fabrication, test method development, and initial results from ballistic impact of a gelatin projectile on the leading edge of composite fan blades. The simplified test article geometry was developed to realistically simulate a blade leading edge while decreasing fabrication complexity. Impact data is presented on baseline composite blades and toughened blades; where a considerable improvement to impact resistance was recorded.

Materials↗

NASA NTRS2018

Shrouded CMC Rotor Blades for High Pressure Turbine Applications

The density of Ceramic Matrix Compos-ite(CMC) materials is approximately 1/3 the density of metals currently used for High Pressure Turbine(HPT) blades. A lower density, and consequently lower centrifugal stresses, increases the feasibility of shrouding HPT blades. Shrouding HPT blades improves aerodynamic eciency, especially for low aspect ratio turbine blades. This paper explores aerodynamic and structural issues associated with shrouding HPT rotor blades. Detailed Navier-Stokes analysis of a rotor blade showed that shrouding improved blade row aerodynamic eciency by 1.3%, when the clearance was 2% of the blade span. Recessed casings were used. Without a shroud the depth of the recess equaled the clearance. With a shroud the recess depth increased by the shroud thickness, which included a knife seal. There was good agreement between the predicted stage eciency for the unshrouded blades and the experimentally measured efficiency. Structural analysis showed a strong interaction between stresses in the shroud and peak stresses at the hub of the blade. A thin shroud of uniform thickness only moderately increased maximum blade stress, but there were very high stresses in the shroud itself. Increasing shroud thickness reduced stresses in the shroud, but increased blade stresses near the hub. A single knife seal added to the thin shroud noticeably decreased maximum shroud stress, without increasing maximum blade stress. Maximum stresses due to pressure loads and combined pressure and centrifugal loads were nearly the same as the maximum stresses for individual pressure or cen-trifugal loads. Stresses due to a 100K temperature

Ceramic Matrix Composite↗

DOE OSTI2024

Structural Characterization of Deployed Thermoplastic and Thermoset Composite Tidal Turbine Blades

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory worked with Verdant Power to manufacture, and characterize, novel thermoplastic composite blades on their Gen5d 5 m diameter turbines at the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) site in the East River in N.Y. to demonstrate a low-cost manufacturing process for marine energy structures. Verdant had designed, manufactured, and deployed epoxy thermoset composite blades on three Gen5d turbines in October 2020. At a maintenance cycle in May 2021, a Gen5d turbine equipped with the NREL thermoplastic blades was deployed and retrieved in October 2021. Modal, static and fatigue structural characterization was performed on both blade types before and after the deployment. The static and modal test results showed that the thermoplastic blades were slightly stiffer than the epoxy blades both dry and after the deployment. The epoxy blades had about 8% increase in strain at the applied load after the deployment, whereas the thermoplastic blade strains were not changed significantly. Ultimately the thermoplastic blade failed during fatigue testing due to a crack which is thought to have initiated between the internal foam and the laminate at the location of the internal instrumentation. The Verdant Power Gen5d epoxy blades did not have this internal instrumentation and did not have this failure, performing adequately through the operational period. A lack of design information and fatigue data for both the thermoplastic laminates and the adhesive used means that further work is needed to fully understand his failure and the root cause analysis is ongoing. This paper provides details on the thermoplastic blade manufacturing, materials, test methodology and results.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS1971

On the transonic aerodynamics of a compressor blade row

Linearized analyses have been carried out for the induced velocity and pressure fields within a compressor blade row operating in an infinite annulus at transonic Mach numbers of the flow relative to the blades. In addition, the relationship between the induced velocity and the shape of the mean blade surface has been determined. A computational scheme has been developed for evaluating the blade mean surface ordinates and surface pressure distributions. The separation of the effects of a specified blade thickness distribution from the effects of a specified distribution of the blade lift has been established. In this way, blade mean surface shapes that are necessary for the blades to be locally nonlifting have been computed and are presented for two examples of blades with biconvex parabolic arc sections of radially tapering thickness. Blade shapes that are required to achieve a zero thickness, uniform chordwise loading, constant work spanwise loading are also presented for two examples. In addition, corresponding surface pressure distributions are given. The flow relative to the blade tips has a high subsonic Mach number in the examples that have been computed. The results suggest that at near-sonic relative tip speeds the effective blade shape is dominated by the thickness distribution, with the lift distribution playing only a minor role.

Erickson, J. C., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Friction damping studies in multiple turbine blade systems by lumped mass method

Analytical studies were conducted on multiple turbine blade systems using the lumped mass method. Each blade was idealized by a two mass-two spring model whose modal values were determined from the known frequencies corresponding to the first two bending modes and the frequency corresponding to the platform lockup condition. Two friction damping models were considered namely, the blade-to-blade and the blade-damper-blade. The equations of motion derived on the basis of these models were solved by a method of harmonic balance, assuming, in effect, that under cyclic excitation the blades will exhibit cyclic response at the same frequency. The solutions for 8 blade, 16 blade, and 4 blade systems were obtained using the computer program BLADE. The levels of damping produced by the two friction damping models were compared and evaluated. The optimal values of the friction force, for which the tip amplitude of the blades had a minimum value, were determined.

Raju, B. B.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Examination, evaluation and repair of laminated wood blades after service on the Mod-OA wind turbine

Laminated wood blades were designed, fabricated, and installed on a 200-KW wind turbine (Mod-OA). The machine uses a two-blade rotor with a diameter of 38.1 m (125 ft). Each blade weights less than 1361 kg (3000 lb). After operating in the field, two blade sets were returned for inspection. One set had been in Hawaii for 17 months (7844 hr of operation) and the other had been at Block Island, Rhode Island, for 26 months (22 months operating - 7564 hr). The Hawaii set was returned because of one of the studs that holds the blade to the hub had failed. This was found to be caused by a combination of improper installation and inadequate corrosion protection. No other problems were found. The broken stud (along with four others that were badly corroded) was replaced and the blades are now in storage. The Block Island set of blades was returned at the completion of the test program, but one blade was found to have developed a crack in the leading edge along the entire span. This crack was found to be the result of a manufacturing process problem but was not structurally critical. When a load-deflection test was conducted on the cracked blade, the response was identical to that measured before installation. In general, the laminate quality of both blade sets was excellent. No significant internal delamination or structural defects were found in any blade. The stud bonding process requires close tolerance control and adequate corrosion protection, but studs can be removed and replaced without major problems. Moisture content stabilization does not appear to be a problem, and laminated wood blades are satisfactory for long-term operation on Mod-OA wind turbines.

Faddoul, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Helicopter rotor blade design for minimum vibration

The importance of blade design parameters in rotor vibratory response and the design of a minimum vibration blade based upon this understanding are examined. Various design approaches are examined for a 4 bladed articulated rotor operating at a high speed flight condition. Blade modal shaping, frequency placement, structural and aerodynamic coupling, and intermodal cancellation are investigated to systematically identify and evaluate blade design parameters that influence blade airloads, blade modal response, hub loads, and fuselage vibration. The relative contributions of the various components of blade force excitation and response to the vibratory hub loads transmitted to the fuselage are determined in order to isolate primary candidates for vibration alleviation. A blade design is achieved which reduces the predicted fuselage vibration from the baseline blade by approximately one half. Blade designs are developed that offer significant reductions in vibration (and fatigue stresses) without resorting to special vibration alleviation devices, radical blade geometries, or weight penalties.

Taylor, R. B.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The turbomachine blading design using S2-S1 approach

The boundary conditions corresponding to the design problem when the blades being simulated by the bound vorticity distribution are presented. The 3D flow is analyzed by the two steps S2 - S1 approach. In the first step, the number of blades is supposed to be infinite, the vortex distribution is transformed into an axisymmetric one, so that the flow field can be analyzed in a meridional plane. The thickness distribution of the blade producing the flow channel striction is taken into account by the modification of metric tensor in the continuity equation. Using the meridional stream function to define the flow field, the mass conservation is satisfied automatically. The governing equation is deduced from the relation between the azimuthal component of the vorticity and the meridional velocity. The value of the azimuthal component of the vorticity is provided by the hub to shroud equilibrium condition. This step leads to the determination of the axisymmetric stream sheets as well as the approximate camber surface of the blade. In the second step, the finite number of blades is taken into account, the inverse problem corresponding to the blade to blade flow confined in each stream sheet is analyzed. The momentum equation implies that the free vortex of the absolute velocity must be tangential to the stream sheet. The governing equation for the blade to blade flow stream function is deduced from this condition. At the beginning, the upper and the lower surfaces of the blades are created from the camber surface obtained from the first step with the assigned thickness distribution. The bound vorticity distribution and the penetrating flux conservation applied on the presumed blade surface constitute the boundary conditions of the inverse problem. The detection of this flux leads to the rectification of the geometry of the blades.

Luu, T. S.↗

NASA NTRS1992

A demonstration of passive blade twist control using extension-twist coupling

The results from a study aimed at improving the dynamic and aerodynamic characteristics of composite rotor blades through the use of extension-twist coupling are presented. A set of low twist model-scale helicopter rotor blades was manufactured with a view towards demonstrating the passive blade twist control concept. Hover testing of the blades was conducted to measure the change in blade twist as a function of rotor speed. The blades were spun through the 0-800 rpm range, with a corresponding sweep of collective pitch to determine the effect on the blade elastic twist. Hover data were obtained for both a ballasted and unballasted blade configuration in atmospheric conditions, where maximum twist changes of 2.54 and 5.24 degrees were respectively observed. These results compared well with those from a finite element analysis of the blade, which yielded maximum twists of 3.01 and 5.61 degrees for the unballasted and ballasted blade configurations, respectively. The aerodynamic-induced effects on the blade elastic twist, determined by testing a ballasted blade configuration in a near-vacuum condition, were found to be minimal with a maximum twist difference of 0.17 degrees observed between the two test environments. The effect of collective pitch sweep on the elastic twist was minimal.

Lake, Renee C.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Blade row interaction effects on flutter and forced response

In the flutter or forced response analysis of a turbomachine blade row, the blade row in question is commonly treated as if it is isolated from the neighboring blade rows. Disturbances created by vibrating blades are then free to propagate away from this blade row without being disturbed. In reality, neighboring blade rows will reflect some portion of this wave energy back toward the vibrating blades, causing additional unsteady forces on them. It is of fundamental importance to determine whether or not these reflected waves can have a significant effect on the aeroelastic stability or forced response of a blade row. Therefore, a procedure to calculate intra-blade-row unsteady aerodynamic interactions has been developed which relies upon results available from isolated blade row unsteady aerodynamic analyses. In addition, an unsteady aerodynamic influence coefficient technique is used to obtain a model for the vibratory response in which the neighboring blade rows are also flexible. The flutter analysis shows that interaction effects can be destabilizing, and the forced response analysis shows that interaction effects can result in a significant increase in the resonant response of a blade row.

Buffum, Daniel H.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Blade row interaction effects on flutter and forced response

In the flutter or forced response analysis of a turbomachine blade row, the blade row in question is commonly treated as if it is isolated from the neigboring blade rows. Disturbances created by vibrating blades are then free to propagate away from this blade row without being disturbed. In reality, neighboring blade rows will reflect some portion of this wave energy back toward the vibrating blades, causing additional unsteady forces on them. It is of fundamental importance to determine whether or not these reflected waves can have a significant effect on the aeroelastic stability or forced response of a blade row. Therefore, a procedure to calculate intra-blade-row unsteady aerodynamic interactions was developed which relies upon results available from isolated blade row unsteady aerodynamic analyses. In addition, an unsteady aerodynamic influence coefficient technique is used to obtain a model for the vibratory response in which the neighboring blade rows are also flexible. The flutter analysis shows that interaction effects can be destabilizing, and the forced response analysis shows that interaction effects can result in a significant increase in the resonant response of a blade row.

Buffum, Daniel H.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Forward sweep, low noise rotor blade

A forward-swept, low-noise rotor blade includes an inboard section, an aft-swept section and a forward-swept outboard section. The rotor blade reduces the noise of rotorcraft, including both standard helicopters and advanced systems such as tiltrotors. The primary noise reduction feature is the forward sweep of the planform over a large portion of the outer blade radius. The rotor blade also includes an aft-swept section. The purpose of the aft-swept region is to provide a partial balance to pitching moments produced by the outboard forward-swept portion of the blade. The rotor blade has a constant chord width; or has a chord width which decreases linearly along the entire blade span; or combines constant and decreasing chord widths, wherein the blade is of constant chord width from the blade root to a certain location on the rotor blade, then decreases linearly to the blade tip thereafter. The noise source showing maximum noise reduction is blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise. Also reduced are thickness, noise, high speed impulsive noise, cabin vibration and loading noise.

Brooks, Thomas F.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Active Piezoelectric Vibration Control of Subscale Composite Fan Blades

As part of the Fundamental Aeronautics program, researchers at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) are investigating new technologies supporting the development of lighter, quieter, and more efficient fans for turbomachinery applications. High performance fan blades designed to achieve such goals will be subjected to higher levels of aerodynamic excitations which could lead to more serious and complex vibration problems. Piezoelectric materials have been proposed as a means of decreasing engine blade vibration either through a passive damping scheme, or as part of an active vibration control system. For polymer matrix fiber composite blades, the piezoelectric elements could be embedded within the blade material, protecting the brittle piezoceramic material from the airflow and from debris. To investigate this idea, spin testing was performed on two General Electric Aviation (GE) subscale composite fan blades in the NASA GRC Dynamic Spin Rig Facility. The first bending mode (1B) was targeted for vibration control. Because these subscale blades are very thin, the piezoelectric material was surface-mounted on the blades. Three thin piezoelectric patches were applied to each blade two actuator patches and one small sensor patch. These flexible macro-fiber-composite patches were placed in a location of high resonant strain for the 1B mode. The blades were tested up to 5000 rpm, with patches used as sensors, as excitation for the blade, and as part of open- and closed-loop vibration control. Results show that with a single actuator patch, active vibration control causes the damping ratio to increase from a baseline of 0.3% critical damping to about 1.0% damping at 0 RPM. As the rotor speed approaches 5000 RPM, the actively controlled blade damping ratio decreases to about 0.5% damping. This occurs primarily because of centrifugal blade stiffening, and can be observed by the decrease in the generalized electromechanical coupling with rotor speed.

Duffy, Kirsten P.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Examination of the collision force method for analyzing the responses of simple containment/deflection structures to impact by one engine rotor blade fragment

An approximate collision analysis, termed the collision-force method, was developed for studying impact-interaction of an engine rotor blade fragment with an initially circular containment ring. This collision analysis utilizes basic mass, material property, geometry, and pre-impact velocity information for the fragment, together with any one of three postulated patterns of blade deformation behavior: (1) the elastic straight blade model, (2) the elastic-plastic straight shortening blade model, and (3) the elastic-plastic curling blade model. The collision-induced forces are used to predict the resulting motions of both the blade fragment and the containment ring. Containment ring transient responses are predicted by a finite element computer code which accommodates the large deformation, elastic-plastic planar deformation behavior of simple structures such as beams and/or rings. The effects of varying the values of certain parameters in each blade-behavior model were studied. Comparisons of predictions with experimental data indicate that of the three postulated blade-behavior models, the elastic-plastic curling blade model appears to be the most plausible and satisfactory for predicting the impact-induced motions of a ductile engine rotor blade and a containment ring against which the blade impacts.

Zirin, R. M.↗

NASA NTRS1948

Investigation of Effectiveness of Air-Heating a Hollow Steel Propeller for Protection Against Icing. 2: 50% Impartitioned Blades

The icing protection afforded an internal air-heated propeller blade by radial partitioning at 50-percent chord to confine the heated air to the forward half of the blade was determined in the NACA Cleveland icing research tunnel. A modified production-model hollow steel propeller, was used for the investigation. Temperatures of the blade surfaces for several heating rates were measured under various tunnel Icing' conditions. Photographic observations of ice formations on blade surfaces and blade heat-exchanger effectiveness were obtained. With 50-percent partitioning of the blades, adequate icing protection at 1050 rpm was obtained with a heating rate of 26,000 Btu per hour per blade at the blade shank using an air temperature of 400 F with a flow rate of 280 pounds per hour per blade, which is one-third less heat than was found necessary for similar Ice protection with unpartitioned blades. The chordwise distribution of the applied heat, as determined by surface temperature measurements, was considered unsatisfactory with much of the heat dissipated well back of the leading edge. Heat-exchanger effectiveness of approximately 56 percent also Indicated poor utilization of available heat. This effectiveness was, however, 9 percent greater than that obtained from unpartitioned blades.

Perkins, Porter J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Design, evaluation, and fabrication of low-cost composite blades for intermediate-size wind turbines

Low cost approaches for production of 60 ft long glass fiber/resin composite rotor blades for the MOD-OA wind turbine were identified and evaluated. The most cost-effective configuration was selected for detailed design. Subelement and subscale specimens were fabricated for testing to confirm physical and mechanical properties of the composite blade materials, to develop and evaluate blade fabrication techniques and processes, and to confirm the structural adequacy of the root end joint. Full-scale blade tooling was constructed and a partial blade for tool and process tryout was built. Then two full scale blades were fabricated and delivered to NASA-LeRC for installation on a MOD-OA wind turbine at Clayton, New Mexico for operational testing. Each blade was 60 ft. long with 4.5 ft. chord at root end and 2575 lbs weight including metal hub adapter. The selected blade configuration was a three cell design constructed using a resin impregnated glass fiber tape winding process that allows rapid wrapping of primarily axially oriented fibers onto a tapered mandrel, with tapered wall thickness. The ring winder/transverse filament tape process combination was used for the first time on this program to produce entire rotor blade structures. This approach permitted the complete blade to be wound on stationary mandrels, an improvement which alleviated some of the tooling and process problems encountered on previous composite blade programs.

Weingart, O.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Rub energetics of compressor blade tip seals

The rub mechanics of aircraft gas turbine engine compressor abradable blade tip seals was studied at simulated engine conditions. In 12 statistically planned, instrumented rub tests using single titanium blades and fiber-metal rubstrips the rub velocity, incursion rate, incursion depth, blade thickness, and abradable strength were varied to determine the effects on rub energy, heat split between the blade, rubstrip surface and rub debris, and blade and seal wear. The rub energies were found to be most significantly affected by the incursion rate while rub velocity and blade thickness were of secondary importance. In five additional rub tests using single nickel alloy blades and multiple titanium alloy blades, rub energy and wear effects were found to be similar for titanium and nickel alloy blades while rub energies increased for multiple blades relative to single blade test results.

Laverty, W. F.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Vibration and flutter of mistuned bladed-disk assemblies

An analytical model for investigating vibration and flutter of mistuned bladed disk assemblies is presented. This model accounts for elastic, inertial and aerodynamic coupling between bending and torsional motions of each individual blade, elastic and inertial couplings between the blades and the disk, and aerodynamic coupling among the blades. The disk was modeled as a circular plate with constant thickness and each blade was represented by a twisted, slender, straight, nonuniform, elastic beam with a symmetric cross section. The elastic axis, inertia axis, and the tension axis were taken to be noncoincident and the structural warping of the section was explicitly considered. The blade aerodynamic loading in the subsonic and supersonic flow regimes was obtained from two-dimensional unsteady, cascade theories. All the possible standing wave modes of the disk and traveling wave modes of the blades were included. The equations of motion were derived by using the energy method in conjunction with the assumed mode shapes for the disk and the blades. Continuities of displacement and slope at the blade-disk junction were maintained. The equations were solved to investigate the effects of blade-disk coupling and blade frequency mistuning on vibration and flutter. Results showed that the flexibility of practical disks such as those used for current generation turbofans did not have a significant influence on either the tuned or mistuned flutter characteristics. However, the disk flexibility may have a strong influence on some of the system frequencies and on forced response.

Kaza, K. R. V.↗