Empirical and Numerical Study of Gas Turbine Disks under Mechanical Stress and Temperature Gradient

Gas turbine disks usually operate at very high temperatures and rotate at very high angular velocities under normal working conditions. High temperature in turbine disks causes changes in their properties. High angular velocity creates a large centrifugal force in the disk and high temperature reduces the strength of the material and causes deformation. Complexity of these parameters has turned the determination of stress distribution in gas turbine disks to one of the bottlenecks in the analysis, design and manufacturing of turbine engines. Therefore, using an applicable method for stress analysis is essential in order to better determine stress distribution in turbine disks. In this study, the finite element method (FEA) is used for predicting the behavior of rotating disks under mechanical and thermal stresses. In order to increase the certainty of simulation, gas turbine disk is first simulated and analyzed based on dimensions and loading conditions extracted from previous studies. Then, the results are compared with previous studies in order to determine the accuracy of analysis method applied in ANAQUS software. Afterwards, gas turbine disks are evaluated under both rotational movement and temperature gradient. The results show that the presence of angular velocity and centrifugal force cause expansion to the disk radius. Finally, the conditions of the disk under the same rotational speed and temperature gradient applied for experiments are simulated and modeled in ABAQUS. The results show an acceptable correlation between the results of empirical and numerical studies. High angular velocity causes high centrifugal force in the component and increases stress especially at weak points. An increase in temperature also reduces the strength of the disk material and increases its deformation. According to the results, the approach proposed in this study is a suitable method for analysis of the stress, temperature and displacement in turbine disks and other components with similar functions.