Resonant Blade Response in Turbine Rotor Spin Tests Using a Laser-Light Probe Non-Intrusive Measurement System

Procedures to qualify turbomachinery components for a designed lifetime free of high cycle fatigue (HCF) failures have not yet evolved. As part of an initiative to address this issue, in the present study, laser-light probes were used in a Non-Intrusive Measurement System (NSMS) to measure the unsteady deflections created in the blades of a second-stage turbine rotor in an evacuated spin pit. Air-jet and eddy-current excitation (ECE) methods were used to stimulate blade resonance, The NSMS was calibrated directly to gauge measurements of strain, and testing was conducted toward three additional goals; assessing the effectiveness of an advanced internal damping system; attaining higher excitation amplitudes with ECE by silver plating blades, and improving the repeatability of resonance data by adding plastic inserts between the fir- tree blade roots and the disk, It was concluded that the ability of NSMS to record the response of all blades is key to understanding the rotor system behavior and quantifying the statistical variability between blades.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Resonant Blade Response in Turbine Rotor Spin Tests Using a Laser-Light Probe Non-Intrusive Measurement System', published 2002 under ISBN 9781423510239 and ISBN 1423510232.