Dynamic Control of a Flexible Shaft Mounted in Adaptive or Active Bearing

The dynamic behavior of rotors is highly influenced by bearing characteristics. In previous works, the authors have shown that it may be beneficial to adapt the bearing behavior to the shaft behavior. Several adaptive and active components will be developed in this paper in order to control the shaft dynamical amplitude. Different models of hydrodynamic bearings behavior are described. The Reynolds equation resolution may be done by numerical or analytical solutions. A physical analysis of the equation of thin films will identify the most sensitive parameters. The shaft flexibility is taking into account by a modal approach. The fluid-structure coupling process is a simulation, step by step, of the rotor behavior. At each step, the nonlinear fluid force is numerically calculated to obtain the unbalanced shaft response. The results, presented in this paper, concern the dynamic response of unbalanced shaft mounted in adaptive or active bearings： bearings with variable clearance, variable viscosity or variable housing speed. It is shown that the fluid bearing parameters must be adapted to the rotor speed （in particular near or far a critical speed）. Then, the paper presents a new kind of active bearing. It works with a mechanical control of the housing position. Several parameters are tested and compared. The robustness of the dynamic control parameters is presented. In conclusion, the bearing adaptation could be very useful to control the shaft dynamic. This limits the effect of the critical speed, in particular by diminishing the shaft amplitude and the dynamic forces transmitted to the housing.

Thermal cycling creep properties of a directionally solidified superalloy DZ125

Aero-engine turbine blades may suffer overheating during service,which can result in severe microstructural and mechanical degradation within tens of seconds.In this study,the thermal cycling creep under(950℃/15 min+1100℃/1 min)-100 MPa was performed on a directionally solidified superalloy,DZ125.The effects of overheating and thermal cycling on the creep properties were evaluated in terms of creep behavior and microstructural evolution against isothermally crept specimens under 950℃/100 MPa,950℃/270 MPa,and 1100℃/100 MPa.The results indicated that the thermal cycling creep life was reduced dramatically compared to the isothermal creep under 950℃/100 MPa.The plastic creep deformation mainly occurred during the overheating stage during the thermal cycling creep.The thermal cycling creep curve exhibited three stages,similar to the 1100℃isothermal creep,but its minimum creep rate occurred at a lower creep strain.The overheating events caused severe microstructural degradation,such as substantial dissolution ofγ'phase,earlier formation of raftedγ'microstructure,widening of theγchannels,and instability of the interfacial dislocation networks.This microstructural degradation was the main reason for the dramatic decrease in thermal cycling creep life,as the thermal cycling promoted more dislocations to cut intoγ'phase and more cracks to initiate at grain boundaries,carbides,and residual eutectic pools.This study underlines the importance of evaluating the thermal cycling creep properties of superalloys to be used as turbine blades and provides insights into the effect of thermal cycling on directionally solidified superalloys for component design.

Simulation of Compressible Two-Phase Flows Using a Void Ratio Transport Equation

A compressible and multiphase flows solver has been developed for the study of liquid/gas flows involving shock waves and strong expansion waves leading to cavitation.This solver has a structure similar to those of the one-fluid Euler solvers,differing from them by the presence of a void ratio transport-equation.The model and the system of equations to be simulated are presented.Results are displayed for shock and expansion tube problems,shock-bubble interaction and underwater explosion.Close agreement with reference solutions,obtained from explicit finite volume approaches,is demonstrated.Different numerical methods are additionally displayed to provide comparable and improved computational efficiency to the model and the system of equations.The overall procedure is therefore very well suited for use in general two-phase fluid flow simulations.