Multi-probe linear fitting and time of arrival linear correction method to analyze blade vibration based on blade tip timing without once-per-revolution

Blade vibration monitoring can ensure the safe operation of aeroengine rotor blades.Among the methods of blade vibration monitoring,Blade Tip Timing(BTT)method has attracted more and more attention because of its advantages of non-contact measurement.However,it is difficult to install the Once-Per-Revolution(OPR)probe in the confined space of aeroengine,and the failure and instability of the OPR signal will reduce the reliability of the blade vibration analysis results,which directly affects the accuracy of the blade vibration parameters identification.The Multi-Probe linear fitting and Time of Arrival(ToA)Linear Correction method based on the BTT(MP-LC-BTT)without OPR is proposed to reduce the errors of single probe linear fitting method for blade vibration displacement analysis.The proposed method can also correct the calculation error of blade vibration displacement due to the nonlinear change of rotation speed,which can improve the analysis accuracy of the blade vibration displacement.A new blade vibration model conforming to the actual vibration characteristics is established,and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by numerical simulation.Finally,the reliability and accuracy of the MP-LC-BTT method have been verified by the experiments which include two high-speed blade test-benches and an industrial axial fan.This method can be used in the actual aero-engine monitoring instead of the BTT method with OPR.

Improved minimum variance distortionless response spectrum method for efficient and robust non-uniform undersampled frequency identification in blade tip timing

The noncontact blade tip timing(BTT)measurement has been an attractive technology for blade health monitoring(BHM).However,the severe undersampled BTT signal causes a significant challenge for blade vibration parameter identification and fault feature extraction.This study proposes a novel method based on the minimum variance distortionless response(MVDR)of the direction of arrival(DoA)estimation for blade natural frequency estimation from the non-uniformly undersampled BTT signals.First,based on the similarity between the general data acquisition model for BTT and the antenna array model in DoA estimation,the circumferentially arranged probes on the casing can be regarded as a non-uniform linear array.Thus,BTT signal reconstruction is converted into the DoA estimation problem of the non-uniform linear array signal.Second,MVDR is employed to address the severe undersampling issue and recover the BTT undersampled signal.In particular,spatial smoothing is innovatively utilized to enhance the estimation of covariance matrix of the BTT signal to avoid ill-condition or singularity,while improving efficiency and robustness.Lastly,numerical simulation and experimental testing are employed to verify the validity of the proposed method.Monte Carlo simulation results suggest that the proposed method behaves better than conventional methods,especially under a lower signal-to-noise ratio condition.Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can effectively overcome the severe undersampling problem of BTT signal induced by physical limitations,and has a strong potential in the field of BHM.

A novel none once per revolution blade tip timing based blade vibration parameters identification method

The vibration caused blade High Cycle Fatigue(HCF)is seriously affects the safety operation of turbomachinery especially for aero-engine.Thus,it is crucial important to identify the blade vibration parameters and then evaluate the dynamic stress amplitude.Blade Tip Timing(BTT)method is one of the promising method to solve these problems.While,it need a high resolution Once Per Revolution(OPR)signal which is difficult to get for the aero-engine.Here,a Coupled Vibration Analysis(CVA)method for identifying blade vibration parameters by a none OPR BTT is proposed.The method assumes that every real blade has its own vibration performance at a given speed.Whereby,it can take any blade as the reference blade,and the other blades using the reference blade as the OPR for vibration displacement calculating and further parameter identifying.The proposed method is validated by numerical model.Also,experimental studies are carried out on a straight blade and a twisted three dimensional blade test rig as well as a large industrial axial compressor respectively.The results show that the proposed method can accurately identify the blade synchronous vibration parameters and quantitatively evaluate the mistuning in bladed disks,which lays a foundation for the reliability improvement of aero-engine.

Vibrations measurements for shrouded blades of steam turbines based oneddy current sensors with high frequency response

With the development of power plants towards high power and intelligent operation direction,the vibrations or failures of blades,especially the last stage blades in steam turbines,happen more frequently due to the unstable operating conditions brought by flexible operation.A vibration measuring method for the shrouded blades of a steam turbine based on eddy current sensors with high frequency response is proposed,meeting the requirements of non-contact heath monitoring.The eddy current sensors produce the signals which are related to the area changing of every blade’s shroud resulting from the rotation of stator.Then an improved blade tip timing(BTT)technique is proposed to detect the vibrations of shrouded blades by measuring the arrival time of each area changing signal.A structure of eddy current sensors is developed in steam turbines and an amplitude modulation/demodulation circuit is designed to improve the response bandwidth up to 250 kHz.Vibration tests for the last stage blades of a steam turbine were carried out and the results validate the efficiency of the improved BTT technique and the high frequency response of the eddy current sensors presented.