Design Related Issues

ERA Technology Ltd

Examples to be Covered
Shortfall in coating life Multiple factors in Row 1 blade failure Creep related deformation because of temperature issues Disc rim
Vibration Cracking Post Failure

Combustion
Liner collapse and flashback Burner tube detachment

Compressor blade failure Blade cracking because of excessive temperature gradients

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Page 1

Hot Section Coating Shortfall in Life

ERA Technology Ltd

Turbine Durability Shortfall

GE 9FA Row 1 turbine blade
230 MW gas turbine base loaded unit

Nominal recommended life: 48,000 h Nominal life to overhaul: 24,000 h Supplied with standard bill of material CoCrAlY + Al coating
inadequate oxidation resistance

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Row 1 Blade at 24,000 h

ERA Technology Ltd

Environmental Attack
Loss of material/load bearing section
oxidation/corrosion of uncoated substrate failure of coating attack from internal cooling surfaces
see case study later

pitting in compressor blades

A major factor in governing duration between outages

very coating life dependent

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Metallic Coating Degradation

Loss of aluminium/chromium at outer surface
to form protective oxide

Loss of aluminium diffusing into the substrate The reservoir of protective elements is reduced, leading eventually to failure Rate of degradation/attack depends on
metal temperature nature of the environment (species present) mode of operation
cyclic/continuous

type of coating!
Standard of deposition

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Coating Degradation: General Oxidation

Oxide scale Cr, Al region depleted of Al,Cr RESIDUAL COATING interdiffusion zone Ni, Co

Cr, Al

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Coating Depletion from Service: Moderate

Total thickness of coating

200 m
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Coating Depletion from Service: Heavy Depletion

Total thickness of coating

Loss of Al rich phases Residual Al reservoir

200 m
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End of Life?
Even when coating failed, substrate has its own level of environmental resistance.
Failure of coating does not equal failure of blade!

Up to the point when the coating is breached, it does protect the substrate.
Cracking can by pass this!

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Coating Depletion from Service: Failed

residual coating

interface
attack of substrate

200 m
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Blade Tip Overheating

Leading edge not the only region of distress
Much of tip running too hot as well

Modification with tip cooling holes on pressure surface

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ERA Technology Ltd

Outcome

A design issue
Either blade temperatures incorrectly calculated
Especially at the tip

And/or oxidation data for GT29+ was incomplete or incorrect

All row 1 blades scrapped off at 24,000 h

discounted price for replacement set

New blades with different CoNiCrAlY

Higher Aluminium content NiCo based not Co based
Aimed at oxidation resistance rather than corrosion resistance

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Increased Sensitivity to Environmental Attack

Some low Cr content DS blading alloy (~6% Cr)
If coating lost/damaged then potential for more rapid attack of the blade alloy

Some unusual forms of crack initiation and growth in low temperature regimes have been encountered (in another OEMs blades)
Blade failures have resulted from this form of cracking Growth from inside blade shanks Not covered by standard design approach

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ERA Technology Ltd

Multiple Causes for Row 1 Blade Failures

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Case Study: 40 MW Heavy Industrial Gas Turbine

To illustrate complexity of some routes to failure
Adequacy of design Creep Oxidation and local embrittlement Effect of coatings

To illustrate that even competent OEM's make design mistakes The users are the first one to accumulate significant operating hours on new or redesigned components

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ERA Technology Ltd

Blade/Operating Details
Row 1 blading Equiaxed proprietary superalloy 11 camberline cooling holes Overaluminised CoCrAlY external coating No coating in cooling holes Base loaded unit In 1992 blades replaced at 21,000 h and 25 cycles after recommendation from manufacturer

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Background
Late 1980s: Blade cooling and alloy altered by the OEM
Problems in-service (including failures) led to modification of the external coating to an overaluminised CoCrAlY No internal coating used This is the blade examined here (in 1992)

1992: As a result of further in-service failures of blade with no internal coating

Coating system modified again Internal aluminide coating introduced Recommended 'Life' of previous design reduced from 48,000 h to 20,000 h

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Row 1 Blade: 20,000 h

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Deep Zone of Internal Oxidation/ Nitridation of Trailing Edge Holes

200 m
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Extensive Voiding and Crack Formation Around Trailing Edge Cooling Hole

500 m
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Spanwise Variation of Internal Attack in Cooling Channels

300

Amount of internal attack (m)

2/3 span
200

1/3 span Above Platform

100

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Hole Position (11 = trailing edge)

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ERA Technology Ltd

Estimated Blade Temperatures from Interdiffusion Measurements

950

Temperature (C)

3/4 Span 900

850
PRESSURE SURFACE

SUCTION SURFACE

800 -1 -1 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Position by cooling hole (1 = leading edge hole)

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Other Points
Microstructure considerably coarsened
inferred local metal temperatures 900-950C

Stress rupture (at low stress)

below - 4 very low ductilities

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ERA Technology Ltd

Balance of Considerations
OEM
oxidation of cooling hole surface reduction in cooling flow
increase in metal temperature

loss of load bearing wall section

Therefore OEM solution

coat the cooling holes

However
superalloy creep behaviour not that sensitive to condition of surface
coated/uncoated can have very similar deformation behaviour

Crept material will form oxidised surface cracks Indication of creep elsewhere in the blade where cooler Indications that root of problem is high metal temperatures
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Further Developments (1)

ERA's conclusion in 1992
Absolutely correct to have followed the OEMs recommendation internal coatings not necessarily an adequate answer re-evaluate after ~16,000 h operation

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ERA Technology Ltd

Further Developments (2)

In 1994/5
OEM withdrew the internally coated 11 hole blade design because of failures at ~15-20,000 h accelerated introduction of new cooling design (12 holes) originally introduced in 1991 recommended use of directional solidification
but initially could only supply equiaxed with some sets of directional solidification

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ERA Technology Ltd

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OEM Reappraisal
OEM carried out instrumented field trial of unit Also examined many ex-service blades Reversed their earlier conclusions
material issues secondary primary reason was that blade ran hotter than expected
ie design had never been fully validated (not OEM statement)

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ERA Technology Ltd

Further Developments (3)

In 1996
OEM limited recommended life of 12 hole equiaxed blade to 24,000 h uprated design and introduced new cooling configuration

Overall the process of rectifying the problem of the initial upgrade

took ~6 years involved ~10 unit failures involved ~3 sets of premature replacement programs

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Creep Related Failures

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Gross Deformation (Creep)

creep of aerofoils
not common in large units
however, creep is the basis for nominal lives

axial deflection of nozzles deflection of shrouds distortion of combustion cans or hot gas path seals/joints

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Creep Deformation: Shrouds

Shrouds can be susceptible as they are hard to cool
Depends on details of the radial temperature distribution of the gas

Alstom 13E2 row 2 and 3 blades Ballooning (see picture) or tip deflection of the knife edges/shroud Shroud ballooning

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ERA Technology Ltd

Alstoms Modification: 1
Initial assessment: Knife edge wear (see below) allowing extra hot gas to flow over shroud
Shrouds then creep from higher temperatures So: Add a hard facing to tips of knife edge to reduce wear

General configuration
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ERA Technology Ltd

Excessive wear

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Imposed Temperature/Heat Flux

The radial/circumferential outlet temperature affects
exact metal temperatures for each nozzle
static component in outlet

temperature distribution on blades

averaged as blades rotate

This distribution affected by

burner type/standard/condition fuel type flow through transition piece

What level of verification of the design/design assumptions has been carried out?

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ERA Technology Ltd

Turbine Inlet Temperature Distribution

cooler

isotherms

Hottest Picture window

View upstream from turbine

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Turbine Radial Inlet Temperature Distribution

Outer (tip)
Diffusion flame profile DLN type profile

Radial position across combustor outlet

Radial distribution affects component temperatures

Inner (platform) Temperature

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ERA Technology Ltd

Alstoms Modification: 2
Still ballooning found in service so re-assessed by Alstom
Knife edge geometry altered
Profile plus thinned edges

Shroud edges reinforced Shroud surface cooling i.e. reduced bending load and reduced temperatures

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Outcome
Alstom resolved a design issue
Temperature distribution not as they expected
Shroud running hotter than intended

It took several redesigns It took ~4 years

Extra inspection and monitoring required (boroscope)

Premature replacement required for some units

The blade design is now obsolete

Completely new unshrouded design now used

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ERA Technology Ltd

Further Shroud Deformation and Oxidation: 1

GE Frame 6B Second stage blade with Z lock shroud

4 STEM drilled cooling holes

Non uniform creep of the upper aerofoil/shroud

progressive shroud disengagement as shroud tilts over eventual loss of interlock, then vibration failure

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Further Shroud Deformation and Oxidation: 2

Examination of most and least deformed blades
by direct measurement of shroud tilt

Different amount of oxidation and aerofoil on worst/ best blades

this correlated with difference in size of cooling holes
~25% difference in total hole flow area (best/worst blades)

ie correlated with differences in blade temperature

To rationalise overall shroud behaviour

as a creep problem, also need to consider differences in properties of each blade (as from different casts) once this is done
consistent rationale of overall behaviour of engine set of blades

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ERA Technology Ltd

Use of Oxidation Behaviour to Compare Blade Temperatures

0.25

Total oxide zone (mm)

0.2

Suction Surface

Blade with small holes Blade with large holes

0.15

Pressure Surface

0.1

0.05

Leading Edge

0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15

Position on aerofoil

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Outcome
A design problem
Temperature distribution not as expected
Shroud running slightly hotter than expected

Extra inspection and boroscope monitoring required Premature replacement for some units

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ERA Technology Ltd

Disc Vibration Issues

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Resonance Issues
Resonance
intrinsic
design missed them, or considered the excitation to be acceptable (low amplitude)

brought about by other changes eg reduced blade damping through degraded shroud interlocking.
Faster degradation as ran hotter than expected

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ERA Technology Ltd

Disc Rim Cracking

Rolls Royce Olympus Peaking unit in paired coupling
2 gas turbines driving common power turbine

Operation in certain speed/power band

blade/disc coupling resonance leading to cracking

Cracking found at a routine inspection A known problem for this design of unit

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Cracked Disc Rim

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ERA Technology Ltd

Approach
Fractography:
High cycle fatigue No defect at initiation site

Metallography
Material to specification

Engineering
In line with known engine behaviour

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Outcome
Fundamentally a design issue May have to manage it as an operational issue
Stay out of certain speed bands

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ERA Technology Ltd

Disc Rim Cracking

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Design Related Damage (3)

Disc serrations in F technology machines using IN 706 as disc alloy
SAGBO
Stress assisted grain boundary oxidation A low ductility intergranular crack growth process Also called hold time cracking

Crack

Known about in aeroengine discs

At high temperature

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ERA Technology Ltd

GEs Actions
Initial:
Field blend of the edge of the slot Peening to induce compressive residual stress

Result
Not a robust/reliable process Much tighter control required over the field process
Better procedures

If crack found
Scrap off the disc

For new discs

Redesign the slot profile
To reduce stresses

Plus peening in the machine shop

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Outcome
This is a design issue
Even if it one which may not have been covered in the standard design procedures

Additional inspections required at hot gas path inspection (24,000 h)

Tailored eddy current technique

The problem is not unique to GE

Another OEM has had similar problem ~10 y ago
Result: disk failure and redesign

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ERA Technology Ltd

Disc Post Failure

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Disc Rim Failure

Fiat TG20 ~80,000 hours and ~800 starts Inspection 1500 h before failure Variable load pattern from 25% to 100% of base load rating Row 2 turbine disc post failure
Low alloy steel (3NiCrMo)

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ERA Technology Ltd

Approach
Site examination of the failed unit Selection of parts for more detailed examination Fractography and metallography Fracture mechanics
Crack initiation and growth

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Failed Posts
Other disc posts cracked Crack growing away from lowest serration
Crack initiating at several positions along the serration

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ERA Technology Ltd

More Detailed View

Fatigue type process
Crack growing away from the bottom serration Covered 75% of post width However, too oxidised to see details of crack growth

Disc serrations

Back cut area

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Microstructural

Alloy microstructure as expected Tensile and impact properties as expected Cracks heavily oxidised
Based on estimated temperature these had possibly been there for 10-50,000 h

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ERA Technology Ltd

Fracture Mechanics
Assessed residual load bearing area and stress intensity (K1) at tip of crack
These consistent with final fast fracture at the observed crack size

However, unclear why the cracks had initiated in the first place
Design? Dimensional error in disc fixing? Operating cycle?

Also another unit on site had apparently failed in a similar manner

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Outcome
Technically not conclusive
Scope of work did not require ultimate answer Possibly design issue

For the operator

Programme of inspection on other units
Unclear what disc inspection (if any) had been done in the past

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ERA Technology Ltd

Combustion Related Failures

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ERA Technology Ltd

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Design "Related" Damage (4)

Control over DLN/combustion system
Pressure pulsations/dynamics
Acoustic noise vibrating the components damage to tiles or liners/seals/combustor

Trips (flameout) Flashbacks

When the flame front moves upstream and attaches itself to some stabilising geometric feature (e.g. shedding vortexes). This overheat the local structure as it is not meant to be that hot

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ERA Technology Ltd

A Combustion Case Study: 1

Consequence of Lean Burn Combustion System Behaviour
GE Frame 9FA 250 MW unit at base load Lean burn combustion system (DLN) To illustrate Sensitivity of system to damaging events/loading Design/monitoring system and operation interactions need for higher levels of awareness/in depth ` monitoring by plant operators

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Page 32

Background
Design of liner prone to cracking in normal operation at weld/change in section
can lead to collapse of the liner these had occurred without other damage to unit

Problems with flashbacks in the fuel nozzles

flame front moves upstream of normal position and overheats part of the combustion system these had occurred previously with only minor damage to turbine

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Damage to Liner

Cracks around liner

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Flashback Damage to Burner

Local burn through

Local burn through

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ERA Technology Ltd

Failure Event
Sequence of events
over a couple of weeks - slow change in some specific exhaust temperature thermocouples
but max min spreads unchanged

Finally, more rapid change over ~15 minutes unit tripped on high EGT

On opening unit
head of one combustion can disintegrated extensive turbine damage from entrained material

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Trend in One Specific Exhaust Gas Thermocouple

20 15 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25

Day

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ERA Technology Ltd

Change in EGT Spreads

80

60

40

20

0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25

Day
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Page 35

New Head of Combustion Can

Before
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ERA Technology Ltd

After

Assessment
Collapse of liner and subsequent flashback Response of system an intrinsic feature of the design
under certain circumstances

Severity of the event influenced by the actions of the operator

Machine restarted, but after discussions with the OEM

Immediate availability of information to the operator

limited by nature of the control/logging system
i.e. on the spot information versus what can be seen retrospectively during analysis

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Page 36

Outcome
A design issue Actions from the OEM
design change to liner design change to burners instigation of 24 h/day monitoring of all plant plus tighter limits

Actions for the operator

Increased monitoring A number of operators run their own Monitoring Centre separate from the control room and the OEM
Write their own software for monitoring

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ERA Technology Ltd

A Combustion Case Study: 2

Combustion dynamics are a function of:
Ambient conditions
e.g. temperature

Load
e.g. when under frequency response or running at part load

Fuel calorific value (Wobbe index)

A range of different modes/frequencies setup, depending on the conditions:

High frequency found to be damaging

Requires installation of online monitoring equipment for the operator to be able to manage the issues

Goy et al 2005
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ERA Technology Ltd

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A Combustion Case Study: 2

Data from 9FA unit during a 24h period

Relationship seen between periods of high dynamics and load/ambient temperature

Goy et al 2005
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ERA Technology Ltd

Failure of Premix Burner Tubes

Crack

Missing tube

Crack in the attachment weld

NB: these pictures are not from the machines referred to in Goy et al 2005
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ERA Technology Ltd

Page 38

Failure Process
High cycle fatigue Growth from hidden surface
Not visible until break surface

Crack start at geometric notch where burner tubes welded to the end cap

Attachment weld

Burner tube

Weld

End cap body

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ERA Technology Ltd

End cap

Weld Configuration
Weld thickness variable at joint
Uninspectable

Weld configuration then changed

Initially in a recess (see previous slide) Now a straight weld onto a flat surface

The new weld configuration also can crack in service

Same geometric/stress concentration type issues

Weld

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ERA Technology Ltd

Page 39

Assessment
The process is driven by the presence of large high cycle fatigue loads
i.e. from periods of high combustion dynamics

Weld configuration issues are secondary

But the stress concentration effect of configurations exacerbates the problem

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ERA Technology Ltd

Consequences
Best case: burner tube/tubes detach and enter turbine
Some damage to turbine blades

Worst case: burner tube detaches and jams in the Stage 1 nozzle
Row 1 blade high cycle fatigue failure in a few hours

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Page 40

Outcome
A design issues
The design is not sufficiently tolerant to ranges of fuel encountered in service

The OEM may not agree with this perspective

meets design criteria

Modification to weld design

Secondary issue

Addition of Helmholtz type resonators in the combustors

A route which has been used by other OEMs for many years

Operator
Increase in targeted monitoring
Combustion dynamic probes Continuous monitoring Possibly also writing own software to automatically alter operating condition when high dynamics encountered 81
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Compressor Blading Failures

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Extreme Consequence of Failure

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ERA Technology Ltd

Compressor Blade Tip Rubbing

Some rubbing against the casing is almost inevitable
trend towards tighter clearances for efficiency more stop/start operation

What is the effect of tip rub

should be benign (ie not damaging)
Generally so in older design (lower stresses)

However
Can alter the mechanical properties of the tip
If tip temperature >~1000C
Untempered martensite forms on cooling Hard if 12Cr steel Soft if GTD 450 type alloys

Also stress concentrating effect of the burr

A notch

Overall, higher stresses and lower fatigue properties

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Tip Rubbing: 2
Whilst the vibratory stress levels at the tip may be acceptable
for normal material

May not be acceptable when tip damage present

crack initiation at tip
Near leading or trailing edge Size of lost material ~30 mm square

growth down into aerofoil

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ERA Technology Ltd

Tip Rubbing: 3
Liberated corner can move upstream
eg impact trailing edge of upstream stator
high cycle fatigue of stator (see right)

Impact damage on downstream aerofoils

Consequence depending in size, shape and position, can act as site for high cycle fatigue crack

If found during an inspection

may be acceptable to blend them out

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ERA Technology Ltd

Page 43

Tip Rub: Consideration

This has been a serious problem for some designs
many incidents in GE F technology compressors, especially in early rows

Factors which affect its occurrence

tip clearances starts
casing ovalisation during start up because of different thermal response at thick flange

design margins on vibratory stress poorly controlled on line washing

Rapid cooling of casing

ngv schedule during overspeed tests

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ERA Technology Ltd

Overall Design
Overall compressor design driven by performance needs
Mass flow, number of stages etc

However must also consider mechanical integrity

Main consideration is high cycle fatigue Blades will not tolerate running at or near resonance because of the high number of cycles that will be accumulated when running at a fixed frequency (eg synchronous machines)

Also a target durability

Often given as 100,000 h
Semiarbitrary value

Also a degree of damage tolerance

Small scale impact damage
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ERA Technology Ltd

Page 44

Sources of Excitation
The aerodynamic design of the blades and vanes must avoid:
Stall
Detachment of flow over the aerofoil At steady state conditions
Some stall during run up almost inevitable

Rotating Stall
Stall cells between blades Except as a stop/start transient effect
But see GEs experience with R0 blades

Flutter
Self excitation due to flow characteristics

Running near resonance

Excitation by wakes from other components

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ERA Technology Ltd

Material Property Considerations

Tensile strength
Not directly important except as an indicator of fatigue strength
Increased strength gives better high cycle fatigue properties

Corrosion/pitting resistance
Of considerable importance because of effect on high cycle fatigue strength

Toughness
Tolerance to some small scale impacts

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ERA Technology Ltd

Page 45

Blade Natural Frequencies: 1

Blades are cantilevers
Infinite number of vibration modes But magnitude of stress generally decreases with increasing mode number

Lowest modes (lowest vibration frequencies) eg

1st flap/bending 1st torsion 2nd flap/bending

Then increasing frequency, moving to combined flex-torsion modes, eg

3rd flap/bending Tip modes

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ERA Technology Ltd

Blade Natural Frequencies: 2

Calculate the frequencies
Finite element models Modelling issues around how to deal with the blade-disc interface
Type/level of friction damping

Usually model freestanding blade

ie rotor infinitely stiff

However may have to also model the disc head

Can alter blade natural frequency

Verification of calculated results

Direct vibration testing of blades

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Blade Testing
Blade natural frequencies determined to verify calculated frequencies from FE model
Blade Jig

1 0 0

1 0 Acceleration (m/s^2)

Table

0 .1

F re q u e n c y ra n g e w h e rejig e x h ib its e re s o n a n c 0 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 3 0 0 0

A p p lie de xcita tio n T o ple ft co rn e r b o tto mrig h t co rn e r

Accelerometers

0 .0 1 3 5 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 5 0 0 F rq u e n c y(H z)

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First Flap/Bending Mode

Maximum stress in the fillet radii

Displacements

Stress

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A Mode 8 Distortion
Maximum stress in the upper aerofoil

Displacements

Stress

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Tip Modes
Maximum stresses at/near the blade tip Relevance to cracks growing down off a tip rubbed blade

Displacements

Stress

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Page 48

Sources of Excitation
Nozzle passing frequency
Each time blades passes behind a nozzle
Change in incident flow angle and pressure (a wake) This is a fatigue cycle

How many to consider?

OEMs differ slightly

Can include
Immediate upstream row Next upstream row Immediate downstream row
Bow wave (as opposed to a wake)

Difference between upstream and downstream row

Other potential flow inhomogeneities

Inlet struts in bell mouth Half joint (x2 per revolution) Inlet duct (x1 per revolution) Off taken/blow off valves

Some OEMs cover

1x, 2x, 6z per revolution without specific attribution to specific components

This information is combined in a Campbell diagram 97

ERA Technology Ltd

Campbell Diagram

Campbell Diagram: A Row 4 Blade

4000

Mode 1 Mode 2
3500

Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7

3000

2500 Frequency (Hz)

Mode 8 Mode 9 Stator 2 Stator 3 Stator 4 Stator 3-S4 Struts

2000

1500

1000

500

0 0 10 20 30 Rotation Speed (Hz) 40 50 60

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Points About Campbell Diagram

Close proximity between natural frequency and excitation frequency (Interference)
Possible excitation of the blade It does not indicate anything about the size of the excitation

How many blade modes to consider?

Often used to be first 6-8 modes Now often first 10 modes Sometimes up to the first occurrence of each family of important modes
Flap, torsion, axial, tip

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ERA Technology Ltd

Points About Campbell Diagram (contd)

Initial Assessment Criteria?
ie how close can the frequencies be?

Different OEMs have different criteria

Not within a box at 10% of natural frequency at running speed
MIL-HDBK-1783B

To allow for spread in blade frequencies due to manufacturing tolerances

Some OEMs allow a closer interference as they tune each blade; so less spread in set Not within a box at 1% of running speed
Grid range To allow for calculated errors 100

ERA Technology Ltd

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Vibratory Stress Levels

Difficult to calculate reliable values
Even OEMs find it difficult Complex variables and unknowns

Calibrate models against engine data

Instrumented components

Acceptance criteria
Usually expressed via Goodman diagram

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Goodman Diagram: 1
Shows allowable alternating stress range for a 107 cyclic life as a function of the mean stress
Goodman Diagram
500

450

-3 standard deviation laboratory data. 25% limit

400

50% of limit
350 Stress Amplitude ( MPa)

300

250

200

150

100

50

0 0 100 200 300 400 500 Mean stress (MPa) 600 700 800 900 1000

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Goodman Diagram: 2
Some corrosion/pitting and surface degradation is inevitable in service
Significant effect on high cycle fatigue properties

OEMs differ in how much allowance they make:

OEM-1: use a property line at 25% of -3 standard deviation laboratory data
They used to use 33%

OEM-2: have used property line at 50% of -3 deviation USAF ENSIP (MIL-HDBK-1783B-2002)
Almost the only public domain document on this subject Use 60% of -3 standard deviation at 109 cycles

Irrespective of specific approach

Have to put in a large design margin for surface degradation

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Goodman Diagram: 3
Design objective
Actual vibratory stresses must lie below the design line Under steady state operating conditions Are these satisfactory margins?
Debate in the industry!

What about transitory conditions, ie stop/start?

Until recent years generally ignored
Low mass flow (vigvs shut) so low excitation of components Even though various rows would be going through stall on run up

Because of R0 issues, OEM-1 now includes an additional criteria

Transient stresses below 50% of design line

Damage tolerance (eg against nicks/impacts/tip rubs) may not explicitly incorporated into the design
Covered by the general design margin
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Design Review Issues

Interference too close
Review whether actual stress levels are acceptable
If so can allow it: OEMs do use this approach

Stresses too high

Alter blade design to shift problematic natural frequency
Experience has forced OEMs such as GE and Siemens to do this

Alter strength of stimulus

Non uniform vane spacing
eg 26 in bottom half and 27 in top half Siemens have used this approach for years GE now employ it (NUVS) for F technology machines to reduce tip excitation in the early rows of blades

Alter surface condition of blade

Peening for compressive stresses Laser peening for deeper compressive stresses
Used in USAF military aircraft to produce impact damage tolerance

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Stator Vanes
Vanes also subjected to vibration
Passage of blades upstream/downstream of them produce similar flow/pressure fluctuations Similar analysis needs to be carried out

GE vanes are freestanding

Just like blades

Siemens often uses shrouded vanes/diaphragms

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Cracking from Excessive Temperature Gradients

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Alstom 13E2 Row 1 Blade

Trailing edge ejection cooling slot with bridges Thermal barrier coated
Potentially different thickness on pressure and suction surface

Trailing edge cooling slot

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Cracking
Cracks grew away from trailing edge bridge
Growth related to number of stop/start cycles
Thermal fatigue with bending stresses

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Thickness of TBC Cracking

Cracking confined to blades with thickness profile 2
May have been within Alstom specification
TBC thickness specifications are often written fairly broadly

Created excessive local stresses on stop/start cycle

Crowther 2004
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Outcome
Principally a design issues
As manifested by a (probable) TBC thickness specification

Coating thickness requirement altered R1 blade design altered some years later as part of general design of the turbine Operator
Additional inspections between scheduled ones to monitor crack growth (if cracks present)
Critical length considered to be ~30 mm

High scrap off rate at first overhaul

Commercial negotiations!

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Overall: Design Related Issues

Design related issues
More prevalent in new designs
As designs being pushed harder

May not act in isolation from other influencing factors May take OEM many years to identify, redesign, verify and field test a modification The operators have to find ways to deal with the consequences
i.e. how to monitor the situation to minimise the risk of failures

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