Engineering Failure Analysis 18 (2011) 914923

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Engineering Failure Analysis

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal

Fracture analysis of a turbine casing

Lucjan Witek a,, Marek Orkisz a, Piotr Wygonik a, Daniel N. Musili b, Tadeusz Kowalski b
a cow Department of Aircraft and Aero Engines, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszw University of Technology, Powstan Warszawy Ave. 8, 35-959 Rzeszw, Poland b ska 120, 35-078 Rzeszw, Poland WSK PZL Rzeszw S.A. Hetman

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
This paper describes the fracture problem of the turbine casing of helicopter engine. Visual inspection of the defected component was incomplete because of the fact that the fracture was repaired by welding during technical inspection of engine. In this work, authors try to explain the reasons of damage of the turbine casing with the help of the numerical stress analysis. In order to solve the problem, a geometrically complicated numerical model was created. The nite element method (FEM) was used in the computations. As a result of nonlinear static analyses performed for both mechanical and thermal load occurring during operating condition, the stress and deformation contours were generated. High thermal stress gradients were found at the region of casing where cracks were detected in engine operation. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 11 May 2010 Received in revised form 16 November 2010 Accepted 28 November 2010 Available online 13 December 2010 Keywords: Turbine engine Turbine casing Thermal fatigue Failure analysis FEM

1. Introduction The turbine casing, which joins the power turbine section with an exhaust manifold and a transmission box (Fig. 1), is a component of engine in which the complex thermal and mechanical loads occur. On the internal part of casing, the bearing of power turbine is mounted. In this area of the casing, the dynamic forces derived from turbine shaft are imposed. The second mechanical load is the elevated pressure of the combustion gases acting on the internal surface of the casing. Additionally, the non-uniform temperature eld contributes to high stress gradient appearing in turbine casing. A high temperature reduces casing material strength. Moreover, a corrosion environment of hot exhaust gases has also a negative inuence on casing longevity. This paper describes the failure problem of the aero-engine turbine casing. The critical component in which the cracks were detected is located between the power turbine section and the exhaust manifold (Fig. 1). The failure analysis of the turbine engine components has received the attention of several investigations [17]. The attention of this work is mainly given to explain the reasons of fracture of the turbine casing.

2. Visual inspection The cracks presented in Figs. 2 and 3 [1] were detected under obligatory technical inspection of engine after 1500 ight of hours operation. The time when the crack was initiated is unknown. As seen in Fig. 2, cracks are located in the zone of turbine casing where the radial deectors are connected to the inner cylindrical surface. A nomenclature of the casing components is described in the next chapter of this work (see Fig. 4).
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lwitek@prz.edu.pl (L. Witek). 1350-6307/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2010.11.005

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Fig. 1. Cross-section of engine with marked analysed component turbine casing [1].

Fig. 2. View of a turbine casing for helicopter turbo-engine [1].

Fig. 3 is a magnied view of the critical part of casing, where the cracks were detected. The welds visible in Fig. 3 were made using the TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) technique. Crack numbered as A (Fig. 3a) is located on the inner cylindrical part of casing. Its direction is perpendicular to the welds. This crack is about 21 mm long. Probably the A crack was initiated on (or near) the weld. The longest B crack (Fig. 3b) is located on the llet between the deector and the inner cylindrical surface. This crack not penetrates into the weld. The direction of crack B is parallel to the adjacent weld. The distance between the crack and the weld is about 2 mm. The length of B crack is about 45 mm. Crack C is located on the weld. This weld connects the llet and the radial deector. The length of C crack is 30 mm. During the technical inspection of engine, the cracks were repaired by welding. For this reason, the detailed investigations (i.e. scanning or optical microscopic inspection of the fracture) were not performed. In this case, the determination of failure real reasons is very difcult. In this work, authors try to explain the reasons of turbine casing damage with the help of numerical stress analysis. 3. Description of the numerical model Parametric geometry model of turbine casing was made using the MSC-Patran program [8]. The nite element (FE) model of blade presented in Fig. 4 consists of 12,889 nodes, 12,690 shell elements, 28 bar elements and 20 multipoint constraints (MPC) elements. Most surfaces of the numerical model of casing were dened as four nodes shell elements (QUAD-4) [8], whereas the Cardan joint and screws were modeled with the use of linear bar elements (BAR-2). The turbine casing consists of following parts (Fig. 4a): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Radial deector. Cylindrical inner casing. Inner conical casing. Outer casing and ange. Rear conical casing.

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Fig. 3. Fatigue cracks detected under obligatory inspection of engine [1].

Fig. 4. Longitudinal cross-section of the turbine casing (a) and materials used in different parts of the numerical model (b).

Table 1 Thermal and mechanical properties for alloys used in turbine casing. 1H18N10TA Yield stress, 20 C (MPa) Ultimate tens. strength, 20 C, (MPa) Young modulus, 20 C, 105 (MPa) Yield stress, 300 C (MPa) Ultimate tens. strength, 300 C (MPa) Young modulus, 300 C, 105 (MPa) Poissons ratio () Density, 109 (N s2/mm4) Thermal exp. coefcient, 105 (1/K) 240 610 2 219 360 1.79 0.3 7.9 1.7 EI-268U 960 1100 1.96 890 1000 1.77 0.3 7.9 1 EI-962 950 1000 2 860 930 1.8 0.3 7.9 1.2 XCrNiTi 18-10 920 1050 2 850 940 1.79 0.3 7.9 1.2

6. Cardan joint. 7. Bearing casing. The turbine casing was made of four different types of austenitic steel (Fig. 4b) [9]. Material properties of these alloys were presented in Table 1. In the numerical analysis, Young modulus in the function of temperature was dened. All materials are modeled as linear-elastic.

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4. Mechanical loads The stresses occurring in the turbine casing arise as the result of both mechanical and thermal load. From the mechanical loads, the following forces can be distinguished: weight force (RC), force related with bearing clearance (RL), force related with gyroscopic moment (RZ), longitudinal force (RW) and imbalance force (RN). The values of these forces used in computations (Table 1) were dened based on the technical project of the engine. The mechanical forces were dened as a continuous load to the surface of model where the bearings are located. The forces transferred from shaft (presented in Table 2) were dened in different directions. These directions are related with different factors, i.e. position of helicopter in space (different direction of the gravity and centrifugal acceleration vectors under operation or aerobatics). In study [1], four load conditions were dened to the model of the few basic cases of engine work. In order to limit the size of this paper, results for only one load condition are presented. For this load case (Fig. 5), a maximum stress values were observed.

Table 2 Mechanical forces acting on the turbine casing (transferred from shaft) [1]. Force Weight, RC Bearing clearance, RL Gyroscopic, RZ Longitudinal, RW Imbalance/geometrical irregularity, RN RIV (N) 98.2 982 491 687.4 RV (N) 49.1 982 491 1178.4 196.4

Fig. 5. Location of the bearings inside the casing (a) and forces acting from shaft on the turbine casing for one load condition (b).

Fig. 6. Loads, boundary conditions and multipoint constraints elements used for modeling interaction of an adjacent parts of engine on the model of turbine casing.

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During modeling of engine separated components, appropriate boundary condition to modeling interaction of the adjacent parts must be dened. In the presented analysis, all forces were transferred from shaft on the surface of casing (where the bearings were mounted) with the use of multipoint constraints (MPC) elements. By the use of MPC elements, complete force can be transferred from one point (i.e. center of shaft rotation) to many nodes of the model. The MPC elements were also used to create connection between elements of Cardan joint located in the rear part of casing. On the ange of the outer casing, the boundary condition (nr A in Fig. 6) was dened using the cylindrical coordinate system. The displacements on the X direction were blocked, but on the radial and circumferential direction, the displacements of the ange were unbounded. The second boundary condition was dened in the rear part of model (boundary condition nr B). In the rear ange, displacements on the longitudinal (X) and radial directions were unblocked but displacement on the circumferential direction was blocked. 5. Thermal load In this analysis, the thermal load was also considered. The temperature eld used in computations was dened based on an experimental investigation results. In the test (performed by the producer of engine), temperature for 23 points located on the surface of deector was monitored during engine operation. Based on these results, the numerical temperature eld was dened as two parametric function in the cylindrical coordinates (Fig. 7). Values of temperature in specied points of the numerical model are presented in Table 3.

Fig. 7. Temperature eld dened for the numerical model of the casing (Celsius scale).

Table 3 Values of temperature in specied points of the numerical model. Units (mm) R1 = 44 R2 = 103 R3 = 170 Z1 = 73 200 C 300 C 120 C Z2 = 45 200 C 300 C 170 C Z3 = 342 120 C 120 C 120 C

R1 is the outer radius of the bearing casing. R2 is the inner radius of the cylindrical casing. R3 is the radius of the ange on the outer conical casing. Z1 is the coordinate of the ange at the entrance of the turbine housing. Z2 is the coordinate of the ange in the rear conical housing. Z3 is the coordinate of the rear part of component where the turbine casing is connected to the transmission box.

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6. Results of the numerical calculations The MSC-MARC 2006 [10] program was used for stress analysis of engine casing. The nonlinear (incremental), Newton Raphson method was applied. For all results, Megapascal (MPa) units were used to describe the elds of stress. The Von Mises stress distribution does not show whether the material is tensioned or compressed. Because of this fact, in this paper also the maximum principal stress distributions were analysed. This stress is particularly interesting from the point of view of the fatigue strength because just the tensile stresses contribute the most to the fatigue crack initiation and next to crack propagation. Figs. 8 and 9a present the Von Mises stress distribution for casing. As seen from this gures, the maximum reduced stress area (211 MPa) is located in the corner, where the radial collector is connected to the cylindrical inner casing (see Fig. 4a). Value of this stress is close to the yield stress of material (alloy 1H18N10TA has the yield stress of 219 MPa at 300 C). Fig. 9b shows that the tensile stress in the critical region where the cracks appeared (outer cylindrical casing, zone near the radial deector (Fig. 10)) achieves 142 MPa. In the zone where the maximum Von Mises stress was observed, the tensile stress is about 66 MPa. Fig. 11 shows view of the deformed model subjected to thermal and mechanical loads. As seen from this gure, mainly the outer cylindrical part of casing is deformed on the radial direction. By specifying two load components (mechanical and thermal), it was possible to estimate which load has more impact on the premature fracture of casing. During thermal loading, the maximum Von Mises stress zone (189 MPa) is located on the surface of the inner cylindrical casing near connection with the deectors (Point A in Fig. 12). On the circumference of the cylindrical inner casing (Point B in Fig. 12), the stress is about 126 MPa. The thermal load appears under every start of the engine. When the engine is running, the temperature eld is stabilized. Because of relatively small number of thermal cycles during engine life, the thermal load causes a low cycle fatigue (LCF) of turbine casing. Fig. 13 presents Von Mises stress distribution resulting from mechanical loads. The maximum stress area (75 MPa) is located in the zone where inner cylindrical casing is connected to the deector. Variable mechanical loads (dynamic forces derived from turbine shaft and the forces resulting from combustions gases acting on the internal surface of the casing) cause a high cycle fatigue (HCF) of the turbine casing components. As seen in Figs. 12 and 13, the thermal stresses in the turbine casing are more than two times larger than the mechanical stresses.

Fig. 8. Von Mises stress distribution for the casing subjected to both thermal and mechanical loads.

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Fig. 9. Von Mises (a) and maximum principal (b) stress distribution in the critical region of casing.

7. Conclusions In this work, an attempt of explanation of the turbine casing fracture was made. The visual inspection was incomplete because of fact that the damaged part was repaired by welding. Based on limited information (a few photos of damaged area of casing), it is difcult to determine whether the fracture was a fatigue character. However, the probability that the crack was formed under one static loading is low. In presented case, the nite element numerical stress analysis for the turbine casing was performed. During analysis of the numerical model, loads and complicated boundary conditions were dened. By specication of two load components (thermal and mechanical) and analysis of the results obtained for separated loads, the failure process of turbine casing can be better understood.

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Fig. 10. Location of tensile and reduced maximum stress areas on the surface of casing.

Fig. 11. Visualization of the casing deformation (front view, scale of deformation 150:1).

During the work preparation, the following conclusions can be formulated: 1. The reduced stress in the critical zone where the B crack (see Fig. 3) occurs is at about 211 MPa (Figs. 8, 9a). This value is close to the yield stress of the material (219 MPa for temperature 300 C). Tensile stress in the region of outer cylindrical casing (near connection to the radial deector) achieves 142 MPa. The maximum stress areas overlap the zones on the casing where the cracks were detected. Stress analysis of casing model for separated loads shows that the thermal stresses arising in casing were about two times larger than the mechanical stresses (Figs. 12 and 13). The cyclic variation of thermal stress (known as low cycle thermal fatigue (LCTF)) in the critical zone of casing was probably reason for fatigue cracks arising. 2. It can also be concluded that the additional stresses as a result of vibrations of the engine were the reason for decreasing the fatigue life of the casing. However, the dynamic analysis was not performed in this work. 3. The inuence of the mesh size on the convergence of FEM solution (sensitivity study) was not performed. After creation of the concentrated mesh, the stress levels probably will be lower. The concentrated mesh allows better lling of a radius zone between collector and the cylindrical inner casing. The size of model in this work was limited by computational power of the machine at which the FE simulations were performed.

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Fig. 12. Von Mises stress resulting from only thermal load (non-uniform temperature eld).

Fig. 13. Von Mises stress as a result of the mechanical load.

The following recommendations to avoid the appearing of early fatigue cracks can be formulated: (a) Increasing the radius between the deector and the casing in the critical region. (b) Alloy 1H18N10TA used for critical part has a yield stress of 240 MPa. It was proposed that the 1H18N10TA could be replaced by different alloy, which has higher yield stress.

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(c) Weld residual stresses may occur after welding and heat treatment. Different welding or heat treatment method can be used in order to reduce the residual stresses.

References
[1] Daniel N. Musili, Stress and strain analysis of the PZL-10W turbine casing, Rzeszw University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszw; 2007. [2] Hakl J et al. Residual life assessment of steam turbine casing containing crack defect. Int J Pres Ves Pip 2001;78:97784. [3] Price John WH. The failure of the Dartmouth turbine casing. Int J Pres Ves Pip 1998;75:55966. [4] Witek L. Failure analysis of turbine disc of an aero engine. Eng Fail Anal 2006;13(1). [5] Witek L, Kowalski T, Mamrowicz J. Numerical stress and fatigue analysis of the rst stage of turbine for helicopter engine. In: Proceedings of international conference on aeronautical fatigue, Napoli; 2007. ska A, Wierzbin ska M. Fracture analysis of a compressor blade of a helicopter engine. Eng Fail Anal 2009;16:161622. [6] Witek L, Poznan [7] Witek L. Experimental crack propagation and failure analysis of the rst stage compressor blade subjected to vibration. Eng Fail Anal 2009;16(7):216370. [8] MSC-PATRAN User_s Manual, ver. 2006, MSC Corporation, Los Angeles; 2006. [9] Michailov PB. Sprawocznik po Metaliczeskim Matierialam Turbino-i Motorostroenija, Petersburg; 1961. [10] MARC-2006 User_s Manual; 2007. Lucjan Witek, Ph.D. Graduated in 1997 with M.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering (specialization: aerospace), Ph.D. degree in 2002 (discipline: mechanics), both from the Rzeszow University of Technology (RUT), Poland. Currently is working in Department of Aircraft and Aero Engines at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, RUT. His research focuses on the non-linear stress, strain and fatigue analysis of mechanical structures, analysis of stability of thin-walled structures, fracture studies of the aircraft structures, crack propagation analysis of the turbine engine components. Marek Orkisz, Professor. Currently is the vice-rector of the Rzeszow University of Technology and also the head of Department of Aircraft and Aero Engines at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, RUT. His research focuses on the construction of the aircraft engines and stability analysis of the turbine-compressor set, design and investigation of unmanned aerial vehicles. Piotr Wygonik, Ph.D. Currently is working in Department of Aircraft and Aero Engines at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszow University of Technology. His research focuses on the construction of the aircraft engines and criteria of aircraft engine parameters evaluation for multipurpose aircraft. Tadeusz Kowalski. Eng. works as a senior engineer at WSK PZL Rzeszow Company, in Department of R&D. Daniel N. Musili Graduate of Rzeszow University of Technology. Studied on Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics RUT in 20022007. Specialization: aircraft engines. In 2007 he was at professional training at WSK PZL Rzeszow Company.