Final work : Aeroelastic tailoring of carbon fiber blades

Abstract

Within the frame of the NFFP7 research project VIND (“ Virtual Integrated Demonstrator for Turbomachinery”), KTH will investigate the possibility of using carbon fiber as a material for compressor rotor blades. Besides the benefits of the reduced weight, it is also set out to be investigated whether the anisotropic properties of carbon fiber composites can be utilized to improve the mechanical performance and aeroelastic behavior of the blades. A numerical prediction of the vibration behavior is necessary for the efficient use of composite materials in rotors, especially since the modal parameters such as the mode shapes and damping are influenced by the fiber orientation. A parametric study on the effect of ply orientation will be carried out allowing the tailoring of the mechanical and modal properties of the composite blade. The focus will be on obtaining a proper FE model of the carbon fiber blade. The mechanical performance of the blade concerning centrifugal and steady aerodynamic loads will be assessed. A comparison with the baseline titanium alloy blade will be made. In the second step, different stack-up configurations will be investigated concerning the blade mode shapes and further impact on the aeroelastic stability (aerodynamic damping) of the rotor blade will be assessed.