Failure investigation of a Kaplan turbine blade

In this paper, an uncommon failure of a Kaplan turbine blade has been analyzed. After the monitoring system detected a sudden increase in vibration levels, the turbine was inspected. The inspection showed that a large crack occurred on one blade starting from the leading-edge side root hole. Moreove...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Zhang, Ming, Valentín Ruiz, David|||0000-0001-7125-0734, Valero Ferrando, Ma. del Carmen|||0000-0002-4603-1457, Egusquiza Montagut, Mònica|||0000-0003-1777-1840, Egusquiza Estévez, Eduard|||0000-0003-1007-7901
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/133632
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/133632
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.01.056
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Turbines--Blades
Failure of a Kaplan turbine blade
Turbine Kaplan
Turbines hidràuliques
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria mecànica::Mecànica de fluids::Màquines hidràuliques i de fluids
Descripción
Sumario:In this paper, an uncommon failure of a Kaplan turbine blade has been analyzed. After the monitoring system detected a sudden increase in vibration levels, the turbine was inspected. The inspection showed that a large crack occurred on one blade starting from the leading-edge side root hole. Moreover, the tip of the blade was also found broken. A comprehensive analysis of the crack surfaces, broken parts and the vibration data revealed a fatigue problem probably caused by rubbing between the blade and the nearby wall. The effect of contacts on the stress distribution of the blade was investigated through a numerical model of the turbine blade. To validate this numerical model an experimental modal analysis was done on a nondamaged blade and the results showed a good agreement with the numerical results. Stress distribution analysis showed that when applying a contact force, the stress at the leading-edge root hole increases drastically. Therefore, experimental evidences as well as numerical simulations confirm that the crack occurred due to rubbing between the blade tip and the nearby wall.