School of Engineering

Department of Power and Propulsion

MSc. in Thermal Power

MECHANICAL DESIGN OF
TURBOMACHINERY

Instructions
All questions carry equal marks
Candidates should answer no more than THREE questions
All working is to be shown
This examination paper contains a cover sheet plus 6 pages of questions.
An Examination Data Sheet is provided.

Closed Book Duration: 3 Hours

Duration: 3 hours
Date: January 2014
Time: 09:30 12:30
Venue:

Question 1
Part A (10 Marks)
a. Draw the Mohrs Circle for the following loading conditions (2 Marks):
-

Simple Tension
Pure Shear

b. What will be the maximum shear stress acting on a cylinder that contains
gas under pressure so that the walls are subjected to a longitudinal and
hoop stress as shown in the diagram below

pd
2t

pd
4t

Explain clearly any assumption made (4 Marks)

c. Why single crystal materials have better resistance to creep? (1 Marks)

d. Draw a general creep curve and explain the shape of the curve and the
different regions. Why does the rate of creed reduce at the primary region?
( 3 Marks)

Part B (10 Marks)

You are asked to determine the creep life of a turbine blade that is uncooled,
shrouded and manufactured from the nickel alloy, Nimonic 115. The machine of
which the turbine blade is a component, is used for a whole range of operating

conditions. However, to simplify the analysis, these conditions have been

grouped under three main headings: A,B and C. Condition A is at the maximum
operating speed, while conditions B and C are respectively at 95% and 90% of
the maximum operating speed. The sketch below is a simple, one-dimensional,
representation of the stress and temperature variation along the blade at
condition A. You can assume that the temperature is directly proportional to the
speed of the turbomachine and that the stress arises solely from the rotational
inertia of the shaft (ie from centrifugal action).
TDS

3/4

A
Mid

1/4

100

200

300

400

500

900

1000

Stress Mpa

1100

1200

Temp (K)

It is assessed that the machine will spend 10% of its life at condition A, 30% at
condition B and the balance (60%) at condition C.
Determine the creep life of the blade and calculate where along the blade will the
minimum life occur. You can reasonably assume that this minimum life will occur at
a position between 50% blade height and the blade tip.
Quite often, the industry will use Larson-Miller data in the form of the coefficients of a
polynomial which fits the curve reasonably well. It is therefore required that you use
the following polynomial to find the required Larson-Miller parameters
LMP = a0(log)0 + a1(log)1 + a2(log)2 + a3(log)3
The coefficients a0,a1,a2 and a3 can be found by assuming the following values of the
LMP at particular values of stress:

Stress (MPa)
LMP

100
28

300
25.1

400
24.2

500
23.3

What are the coefficients of the LMP? (3 Marks)

How long would you be prepared to allow the blade to remain in service (4)
Marks) ?

Is this an acceptable life for (a) an industrial gas turbine (b) an aero gas
turbine (1 Marks)?
How could the creep life of the blade be improved (2 Marks)?

Question 2
Part A (10 Marks)
a. A rotating shaft is subject to pure shear. Under what type of loading you
expect the shaft to fail if it is made from
-

A ductile material
A brittle material

Draw a diagram showing the plane of failure in the two cases (4 Marks)
b. Explain briefly the types of stress that will be applied on a shaft that is
connected to an axial turbine. (2 Marks)
c. Explain briefly what are the stresses on the root of a turbomachine blade (2
Marks)
d. What is the ratio of stress in the case of a rotating bending fatigue test? What
are the limitations of test data that are derived from a rotating bending test? (1
Marks)
e. How can the surface finish of the material affect its fatigue characteristics? (1
Mark)

Part B (10 Marks)

As a preliminary design exercise you are asked to carry out a simple cumulative
fatigue analysis on a compressor rotor blade. The LCF cycle arises from centrifugal
(rotary inertial) action and leads to a direct stress, the maximum value of which
exists in the blade root with a magnitude of 220MPa. The HCF minor cycles arise
from the passing frequency of the rotor blades relative to the stator blades. The gasbending stress that, of course, varies as the blade passes behind a stator, has a
maximum value of 120MPa also in the blade root.
The blades are to be designed for 30000 major (start-stop) cycles with an average
duration of 4 hours.
If the compressor shaft rotates at 10000 rpm and there are 107 stator blades in the
row just upstream of the rotor blades being investigated, justify the use of the
endurance limit data for this exercise. Do we need to consider modifying these data?
The stress concentration effect of the radius between the blade and the root platform
is contained in the factor Kt = 1.25 and the notch sensitivity for the same radius in
the blade material is given in the Sines and Waisman report as q = 0.78.

There are, of course, several methods for determining the cumulative damage
arising from amplitudes such as those given above. However, it is suggested that
you consider the technique where the damage caused by one stress amplitude is
transferred from one RM Diagram (Goodman Diagram) to another, where the
damage produced by the second stress amplitude is introduced, sometimes known
as the Double Goodman Diagram Technique.
Do you think that this is an adequate preliminary design? (7 Marks)
Does it satisfy monotonic and cyclic criteria? (2 Marks)
If not, what would you suggest should be done? (1 Mark)
Material Properties.

IMI 318A (Ti 6/4) Titanium.

Ultimate Tensile Strength

0.2% Proof Strength
Density
Elastic (Youngs) Modulus
Poissons Ratio
Endurance (Fatigue) Limit (107) cycles
Fracture Toughness
Walker Constant m

=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=

950Mpa.
700Mpa.
4440kg/m3
113Gpa.
0.28
410MPa.
121.4 Mpa.m0.5
0.5

Question 3
As a simple model, a turbomachine blade can be considered to be a rectangular
cantilever 5 mm thick, 40 mm wide (chord) and 200 mm long. It is one of 67
blades of a particular rotor stage and is manufactured by a material which has the
properties given below at this operating condition. The blade is set on a disc of 500
mm diameter with a stagger angle of 300. Assume that this stagger angle is
constant and that there is no blade pre-twist.
The turbomachine has a maximum speed of 7000 rpm and the mass flow rate is 35
kg/s.
The average fluid properties at the maximum speed are as follows:
Rotor inlet axial fluid velocity
Rotor inlet tangential fluid velocity
Rotor inlet static fluid pressure
Rotor exit axial fluid velocity
Rotor exit tangential fluid velocity
Rotor exit static fluid pressure

300 m/s
450 m/s
150 kPa
320 m/s
-220 m/s
100 kPa

a. Is the blade part of the compressor or the turbine assembly?

b. Determine the centrifugal and gas bending stresses in the blade.
c. Combine the centrifugal and gas bending stresses to indicate which are the
critical points on the blade.
d. At what angle would it be necessary to lean the blade to counteract the
maximum gas bending stress in the tangential direction?
e. Are the stress values acceptable for this particular blade material?
f. If you were asked to carry a fatigue analysis which stress you would consider
as the mean stress on the blade and which as the alternating?
Note: In normal circumstances, the blade would be sub-divided into four or
more sections. In this question, treat the blade as a whole, that is, as a single
section.
Material Properties:
Density
Elastic (Youngs) Modulus
Ultimate Tensile Strength
0.2% Proof Strength

8030 kg/m3
206 GPa
1090 MPa
720 MPa

Question 4
Part A (7 Marks)
a. Explain the concept of the free hoop radius (5 Marks)
b. Draw the stress distribution for a rotating constant thickness disc (no blades
attached) (1 Mark)
c. Draw the stress distribution for a rotating hollow constant thickness Disc with
no blades attached (1Mark)
Part B (13 Marks)
The shape of a gas turbine compressor disc is approximated by the two ring
elements shown in the diagram below (where all dimensions are in metres):

Blade
0.03

B
0.4

A
0.2
0.05
0.1
Engine Centre-Line

The disc is manufactured from titanium which has the following material properties:
Elastic Modulus
Poissons Ratio
Density
0.1% Proof Stress

0.1%

109 GPa
0.3
4540 kg/m3
600 MPa

The hoop stress (h) at the bore of the disc is known to be 400 MPa. The centre of
gravity of the blade is known to be at a radius of 0.45 m and there are 71 blades
each of mass 0.15kg on the rim of the disc. Use the Discretised Ring Sum and
Difference technique to estimate the rotational speed of the disc.

There is no need to account for the thermal load in the disc (ie the operating
temperature of all parts of the disc is constant).
Sketch the stress distribution in the disc (10 Marks).
How would you expect this stress to be modified if the disk was subjected to a
temperature distributing with the highest temperature being at the rim. You dont
need to carry any calculations just comment on the diagram of the stress distribution.
(3 Marks)

Question 1
Solution
Part A.
a
Tension

Shear

b. Maximum shear will be equal to half the max principal minus the minimum
principal that is equal to 0 because the thickness of the cylinder is assumed to be
veru small: 0.5 (hoop stress 0)

c. at low temperatures the boundaries of a crystal are stronger than the body of the
crystal. At high temperatures the boundaries lose their strength.
f. There is an elastic deformation, followed by the primary region where the
dislocations move freely but then their movement is restricted by other
dislocations, foreign atoms and the edges if the crystals. Then is the
secondary creep region with the minimum creep rate that is constant followed
by the tertiary creep region and fracture.

Part B.
Use the given LMPs to set up 4 simultaneous equations:
a0 +2a1 +4a2+8a3 = 28
a0+2.477a1+6.136a2+15.2a3=25.1
a0+2.602a1+6.771a2+17.618a3=24.2
a0+2.699a1+7.284a2+19.66a3=23.3

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Solution of these equations yields:

a0 = 169.625, a1 = -176.393, a2 = 74.313 and a3= -10.762
Hence:

LMP = 169.625 176.393(log)1+ 74.313(log)2 10.762(log)3

The investigation is restricted to positions on the blade between 50% and 100% of
the blade height.
Temperature is directly proportional to speed and
Stress is proportional to speed2
For condition A, the stresses and temperatures can be extrapolated from the graphs
using similar triangles. For example, at 60% blade height:
(400 A60)/(60 50) = 100/25 hence A60 = 360 MPa
and

B60 = 360 x (0.95)2 = 324.9 MPa and C60 = 360 x (0.9)2 = 291.6 MPa

Also

(TA60 -950)/60 = (1150 950)/100 hence TA60 = 1070K

and

TB60 = 1070 x 0.95 = 1016.5K and TC60 = 1070 x 0.9 = 963K

Therefore the following table of results can be drawn:

Ht%
50
60
70
80
90
100

400
360
320
260
180
100

A
T
1050
1070
1090
1110
1130
1150

P
24.20
24.56
24.92
25.47
26.34
28.00

361
324.9
288.8
234.7
162.5
90.3

B
T
997.5
1016.5
1035.5
1054.5
1073.5
1092.5

P
24.55
24.87
25.20
25.72
26.59
28.39

C
T
945
963
981
999
1017
1035

324
291.6
259.2
210.6
145.8
81

P
24.88
25.18
25.48
25.98
26.86
28.85

The life to rupture time is calculated for each blade height using the LMP and
Miners Law. Thus for the 50% blade height:
Condition A: 1050/1000(logtr + 20) = 24.20, hence tr = 1116 hours
Condition B: 997.5/1000(logtr +20) = 24.55, hence tr = 40796.8 hours
Condition C: 945/1000(logtr + 20) = 24.88, hence tr = 2137701 hours
Using Miners Law: 1/tr50 = 0.1/1116 + 0.3/40796.8 + 0.6/2137701
Hence tr50 = 10284 hours
Spreadsheet calculations yield the following results for all blade heights:
Ht%
50
60
70
80
90
100

trA
1116
895.33
726.06
891.25
2054.41
22288.81

trB
40797
29538.09
21853.41
24821.61
58573.02
967587.09

trC
2137701
1396624.54
945644.43
1009964.54
2569998.5
74494063.51

trTotal
10284
8178
6575
8007.5
18507.9
208131.3

65
75

804.69
658.63

25317.26
19035.83

1142873.58
793335.98

7318.2
5940

Initially, it was found that the minimum life occurred at around 70% of blade height.
Blade height positions at 65% and 75% heights were also checked and it was found
that the minimum life occurred at approximately 75% of the blade height. This life
was 5940 hours which is a time to rupture.
Applying a factor of safety of 0.67, the allowable life would be about 3960 hours.
This would be far too short for an industrial gas turbine where lives of the order of
50000 to 100000 hours are not uncommon. The best of the civil aero gas turbines
are obtaining high pressure turbine lives of the order of 10000 to 20000 hours and
therefore our blade would also fall short of this expectation. However, for a military
training aircraft, the life would certainly be adequate and would be excellent for a fast
jet engine where life expectancy is of the order of 1000 hours.

There are various ways in which the creep life of the blade could be improved. The
easiest and the cheapest way would be to employ a material with better creep
properties. However, you could also consider the following:
1. Introduce blade cooling to reduce the metal temperature. This would be a very
expensive option and would entail considerable re-design effort. Certainly, blade
cooling should have been considered at the early design stages and not as a
retrospective repair scheme.
2. Reduce blade stresses and temperatures. This option would certainly improve
the creep life but would reduce the overall performance of the machine and therefore
probably increase the life cycle costs.
3. Change the operating regime of the engine so that it spends more time at
conditions B and C and less at condition A which is the most life consuming. This
may not be possible since the requirement for the machine is generally dictated by
the operating conditions.

Question 2
Solution
Part A
a. The ductile material will fail under shear and the fracture will be parallel to the
direction of shear i.e on a plane that cuts at 90 degrees through the shaft. The
brittle material will fail under direct stress and the fracture will be at 90
degrees to the maximum direct stress therefore on a plane that cuts at 45
degrees through the shaft.
b. There will be an axial stress applied on the shaft because of the pressure
difference across the turbine. This load will push the turbine in the direction of
the flow, there will be a direct stress associated with the bending resulting
from the weight of the turbine and will have its maximum value aon the
surface of the shaft at the position of the bearing that holds the shaft in place,
there will be torsion associated with the transmission of power that will result
in a shear stress.
c. A stress associated to the centrifugal load, a bending moment associated to
the pressure difference across the blade a bending moment associated to the
change in axial and tangential velocity of the gas.
d. R=-1. Needs to be corrected for mean stress, temperature, stress
concentration, type of load, corrosion, size, surface finish.
e. Failures originate at the outer surface and a smooth surface would mean
reduction in irregularities/defects and stress concentrations
Part B
The combined cycle is as follows:
Stress Mpa

B = 120MPa
cyclic = 60MPa

CF = 220MPaMean = 280MPa

Time
Basic assumptions are that the flight cycle can be broken down into major cycles
with superimposed fluctuations (minor cycles); that the gas bending stress does
actually reduce to zero when the flow is obscured by a stator blade (unlikely but most

severe, ie conservative) and probably most important that stresses are all elastic
otherwise they cannot be added linearly.
For the endurance limit data:
Number of HCF cycles = 30000x4x60x10000x107 = 77.04 x 1010 cycles
This is obviously well above the endurance level of 107 cycles and justifies using the
endurance limit. In fact it is so far above 107 that we must consider using a factor. If
we were dealing with a ferritic material, we could probably assume the S-N curve
was asymptotic to the 107 value, but this is not the case for titanium. In fact, some
companies require their designers to use only half of the endurance limit value in
such situations.
For the cyclic strength at 30,000 cycles:

Log (0.9x950) = 2.932

Log 30000

Log410 =2.6128

Log 30,000 = 4.4771

Log 30, 000 2.6128 2.932 2.6128

0.0798
7 4.4771
7 3
Log + 30,000 = 2.8141
+ 30,000 = 652 Mpa (3)
For the fatigue concentration factor at 30,000 cycles:
Kt at 107 cycles = 1.25

7 Log N

Since

K f 1
K t 1

K f (107 ) 1 q K t 1 1 0.78 x 0.25 1.195

0.78,

Kf
1.195

Kf(30,000)
1.0

4
5
6
Log 30,000 = 4.4771

7
Log N

K f (30,000 ) 1 1.195 1

4.4771
73
K f (30, 000 ) 1

1.4771 x 0.19
1.072
4

(2)

The major (LCF) R-M Diagram:

652 Mpa (30,000 cycles)

+ cyc

1.072 x 280
2

Design Point
(a)

1 140 950

150.1 650

140

1 140

The combined Goodman Diagram:

410 (107 cycles)

150.1 x 950
359 MPa
652

950 Mpa

(2)

205 (0.5x107 value)

B
B
1.195x60 = 71.7Mpa

359 Mpa

950

Plotted on graph paper, the safety factor for the reduced endurance limit (ie 410/2) is
1.39 and for the full endurance limit is 1.82. Equivalent monotonic safety factor =
700/359 = 1.95 which is satisfactory. (2)
Conclusions
Obviously, the design point A lies within both the Goodman Diagram, for which the
technique was originally devised, and for the reduced diagram which takes account
of the fact that the component suffers considerably more than 107 cycles. For the
former, from a plot on graph paper, I get a safety factor of 1.82, and for the latter
case the SF = 1.39. Since we have agreed that there should be a limiting safety
factor of 1.5 for flying components, the design is a satisfactory one if we take the full
value of the endurance limit but must be considered a failure if apply a factor (say
0.5) to the fatigue (endurance) limit, which we should. Hence, we must consider
some alteration in the design, for example, a stronger material (perhaps best) or
some improvement in the design of the blade so as to reduce the stress
concentration factor. (2)

Solution
Question 3
The pressure falls and the blade is a turbine blade
CF load at RDS = mr2 = 0.005 x 0.04 x 0.2 x 8030 x 0.35 x (7000/60 x2 x )2
= 60408.3 N
CF stress at RDS = 302 MPa
Bending moment from pressure gradient = Aann x dp/N x rmom
= 50 x 1000 x (0.452 0.252)/67 x 0.1 = 32.8 Nm
Bending moment from axial velocity component = mblade x dvaxial x rmom
= 35/67 x 20 x 0.1 = 1.045 Nm
Bending moment from tangential velocity component = mblade x dvtang x rmom
= 35/67 x 670 x 0.1 = 35 Nm
Bending moments acting at RDS:
Axial: 32.8 1.045 = 31.76 Nm (fore to aft)
Tangential: 35 Nm

(10)

X
C

31.76 Nm

A
X
B
Myy

Y MXX
35 Nm

MYY = MAcos - MTsin = 31.76 x 0.8660 35 x 0.5 = 10.0 Nm

MXX = MAsin + MTcos = 31.76 x 0.5 + 35 x 0.8660 = 46.2 Nm
IYY =

0.005 x 0.043
2.6667 x 10 8 m 4
12

0.04 x 0.0053
IXX =
4.1667 x 1010 m 4
12

Converting bending moments into stresses by means of bending theory:

The stresses due to MYY (10 Nm) will be:

BYY

10 x 0.02
7.49 MPa
2.6667 x108

The stresses due to MXX will be:

BXX

46.2 x 0.0025
277.2 MPa
4.1667 x1010

Considering the four corners of the blade at the RDS:

CF
302.0
302.0
302.0
302.0

A
B
C
D

XX
277.2
-277.2
277.2
-277.2

YY
7.49
7.49
-7.49
-7.49

Total
586.7
32.3
571.7
17.3

Blade leaning:
CF

CF x 0.1 sin = MT
or sin = 35/(60408.3 x 0.1) = 0.0058

MT

= 0.330
0.1

Conclusions:
The safety factor for the blade = 720/587 = 1.23 which is too low. The blade is
therefore a failed design. The CF stress is within reasonable limits but the gas
bending stress takes the total beyond the required 65% of the proof stress.
Solutions to the problem are to use an improved material or to lean the blade/
The major cycle should include the centrifugal stress plus half the gas bending
stress, the minor cycle should consider the equivalent stress of the major cycle and
half the gas bending stress

Question 4
Solution
Part A

a. The free hoop radius is the position on the disc at which a thin ring of equal
radius would exhibit the same strain as the disc material at the same
rotational speed. This is a useful position to make attachments to the disc
since there would be no conflicting strain between the disc and the
attachment if both were made from the same material
b.

c.

Part B Solution
Using the formulae given for the discretised ring technique:
SiA = 400 MPa

DiA = 400 MPa

(1)

SOA = 400x106 1.3/2 x 45402(0.22-0.12) = 400x106 88.532

(2)

DOA= 400x106x0.25 0.7x4540/4x2x[0.14/0.22-0.22] = 100x106+29.7942

(2)
Hence

hOA = (SOA + DOA)/2 = 250x10 -29.368

(1)
rOA = (SOA DOA)/2 = 150x10 -59.162

(1)
6

Also r = (150x10 -59.162 )x[0.05/0.03-1] = 100x10 -39.44

and h = 30x106-11.8322

(2)
Hence: hiB = 280x106-41.22 and riB = 250x106-98.6022
(2)
Therefore: SiB = 530x106-139.8022 and DiB = 30x106+57.4022
(2)
Using the discretised ring formulae again gives:
SOB = 530x106-139.8022-1.3/2x45402[0.42-0.22]=530x106-493.9222
(2)
6

DOB = 7.5x10 +14.3505 +0.7x4540/4 [0.15] = 7.5x10 +133.5255

(2)

hOB = 268.75x106-180.198252

Hence:

rOB = 261.25x106-313.723752
(2)
Since there are 71 blades on the disc, then:
rOB

= 71x0.15x0.45x2/(x0.8x0.03)= 63.5632
= 261.25x106-313.723752

(1)

Hence = 832.1 rads/sec = 132.4revs/sec = 7946 rpm

(1)

However: hiB = 280x106-41.22 and riB = 250x106-98.6022

Hence: hiB = 251.5 MPa riB = 181.7 MPa

(1)

and: hOB = 268.75x106-180.198252 = 143.97 MPa

rOB = 71x0.15x0.45x2 = 44.01 MPa

(1)

Stress distribution is therefore as follows:

400

251.5
181.7

143.97

44.01
Bore

0.2

Rim

(1)
The temperature profile would introduce compressive stresses in the hoop direction
at the rim