Session: 

Paper Number: 154001

A Probabilistic Rotor Design/lifing Framework for Higher Risk Tolerance Applications 

Recent years have seen a significant interest in lower cost engine technology from US military agencies, in particular the US Air Force. The drive is towards developing lower cost / lower life engine technology that can be deployed in unmanned systems. While there is some penetration of probabilistic analysis approaches in our current engine design and lifing process, predominant emphasis is on deterministic practices developed and validated over the last 25-30 years. Designing a lower cost engine using these deterministic approaches will result in higher overall life-cycle cost and make it difficult to meet program objectives. A lower cost engine design technology requires a completely new approach that is grounded on clean sheet designs, cheaper material and a probabilistic design philosophy that allows programs to manage design to a higher, but well quantified risk. This paper highlights a strategy and framework for applying such a technique to design a high pressure turbine rotor component. In addition to providing an overall probabilistic framework, this work highlights strategies for implementing a very comprehensive probabilistic approach for analyzing and designing for various turbine rotor failure modes, such as low cycle fatigue, damage tolerance, creep rupture, overspeed and burst, etc.

References

[1]  “Probabilistic Rotor Design System”,  P. Roth, AFRL Final Report, AFRL-PR-WP-TR-1999-2122, 1998

Presenting Author: Rajiv Sampath GE Aerospace

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Rajiv Sampath is a Senior Staff Engineer in the Life Management organization within GE-Aerospace’s Engineering division. Dr. Sampath works in the Life Methods team specializing in the general area of Probabilistic Design and Lifing of Nickel and Titanium components. His general areas of interest include Probabilistic fatigue and fracture mechanics, Corrosion physics, Titanium Cold Dwell Fatigue, Residual stress modeling and Nonlinear Creep/Plasticity methods, Rotor design & optimization tools for high performance computing.

Dr. Sampath completed his PhD from Cornell University and worked for 13 years at the GE Global Research prior to joining GE-Aerospace in 2013.

Authors:

Rajiv Sampath GE Aerospace
John Vandike GE Aerospace