Innovative Design, Structural Optimization and Additive Manufacturing of New-Generation Turbine Blades

TitleInnovative Design, Structural Optimization and Additive Manufacturing of New-Generation Turbine Blades
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2022
AuthorsPinelli L, Amedei A, Meli E, Vanti F, Romani B, Benvenuti G, Fabbrini M, Morganti N, Rindi A, Arnone A
JournalASME J. Turbomach.
Volume144
Issue1
Pagination011006
Date Published09/2021
ISSN Number0889-504X
Accession NumberWOS:000724144000007
Other NumbersScopus 2-s2.0-85114891675
KeywordsAeromechanical instabilities, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Turbomachinery blading design
Abstract

The need for high performances is pushing the complexity of mechanical design at very high levels, especially for turbomachinery components. Structural topology optimization methods together with additive manufacturing techniques for high resistant alloys are considered very promising tools, but their potentialities have not been deeply investigated yet for critical rotating components like new-generation turbine blades. This research work proposes a methodology for the design, the optimization and the additive manufacturing of extremely stressed turbomachinery components like turbine blade-rows. The presented procedure pays particular attention to important aspects of the problems as fluid-structure interactions and fatigue of materials, going beyond the standard structural optimization approaches found in the literature. The numerical procedure shows robustness and efficiency, making the proposed methodology a good tool for rapid design and prototyping, and for reducing the design costs and the time-to-market typical of these mechanical elements. The procedure has been applied to a low-pressure turbine rotor to improve the aeromechanical behavior while keeping the aerodynamic performance. From the original geometry, mode-shapes, forcing functions and aerodynamic damping have been numerically evaluated and are used as input data for the following topological optimization. Finally, the optimized geometry has been verified in order to confirm the improved aeromechanical design. After the structural topology optimization, the final geometries provided by the procedure have been then properly rendered to make them suitable for additive manufacturing. Some prototypes of the new optimized turbine blade have been manufactured to be tested in terms of fatigue.

URLhttps://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/turbomachinery/article-abstract/144/1/011006/1115179/Innovative-Design-Structural-Optimization-and
DOI10.1115/1.4051936
Refereed DesignationRefereed