Simplification of 3d cooled turbine blade models for efficient dynamic analyses

Abstract: In gas turbines, the temperature behind the combustors is the highest, meaning that the blades in the first stage of the turbine require cooling air. This makes the structural blade model very detailed due to the presence of the cooling pattern. For aeromechanical design, one of the first steps is to perform a modal frequency check by using 3d Finite Element models and the Campbell diagram to establish if the design is acceptable with respect to resonance margins. If the 3d detailed geometry (including all the cooling details) is used the model becomes extremely large. In order to perform various loops between structural dynamics and aerodynamics in an early stage, the dynamic model of cooled blades should be simplified. The simplified model should be accurate enough in terms of predicting correct frequencies but much lighter in size.   The objective of this thesis is to perform parametric studies of different 3d simplified cooled turbine blade models. Various models with different geometrical features are created from the history of the CAD software (NX). Different FE meshes are produced in the Hypermesh software and the modal analyses are solved in Abaqus. The results are compared with the fully detailed model. The influence of the cooling features for each test case is summarized and this will be useful for creating reduced order models. Explanation and guidelines with respect to the mesh generation and loading conditions in Hypermesh software are also included in the appendix section.    For quick frequency checks during the intial stages of the design, the solid blade model can be used which has the modal frequencies within 10 percent range from the fully detailed model. The cooling core features that are important with respect to dynamics are cooling matrix, the ribs and the trailing edge cutback which contribute to the stiffness of the blade.