Approximation of the Profile of Gas Turbine Engine Blades
Authors: Soloviev M. E. , Shuleva Y. N. , Baldaev S. L. , Baldaev L. Kh. 
Published: March 2024

Introduction. Increasing the durability of gas turbine engine (GTE) blades is achieved through the use of special protective coatings on their surface. For the development of such coatings, the basic source information is the geometric profile of the blade section. To transfer a given blade cross-section profile to the appropriate CAD/CAM system or engineering analysis package, parametric modeling methods are used to automate this operation. However, the known approaches to creating a parametric model of a blade profile are not without a number of disadvantages, and a generally accepted method for creating it does not currently exist. The research was aimed at creating a technique for approximating the profile of gas turbine engine blades, convenient for use in the subsequent analysis of the operating conditions of special coatings on the surface of the blades.

Materials and Methods. When constructing parametric models of the profile of gas turbine engine blades, a method based on the orthogonal Legendre polynomials was used. This made it possible to provide high accuracy of approximation and construction of a continuous mapping for the parameters of the blade profile approximation. A Python application was created for automated processing of source profiles. It provided the calculation of the coefficients of approximating polynomials for the contour lines of the blade, visualization of the calculation results, and creation of a dxf file based on the points of approximating functions to transfer it to the CAD system. Next, geometric models of blades were used to solve the problem of a stationary aerodynamic flow around a blade. The results of solving this problem were used to study the effect of the blade profile on its cooling in an aerodynamic flow.

Results. As an example, three options of blade profiles belonging to different types of GTE were considered. It was shown that for all three studied profiles, the proposed technique provided obtaining parametric models that maintained high accuracy in constructing approximating lines, which was confirmed by the values of the determination coefficients close to unity. To illustrate the possibility of using the obtained models, examples of solving the gas dynamic problem with a potential flow around a blade in a stationary aerodynamic flow were given. The distributions of pressure and temperature on the surface of the blade were calculated using the finite element method.

Discussion and Conclusion. The calculation results show that the proposed technique of approximating the profile of the GTE blade, based on the use of orthogonal polynomials, is a convenient tool to automate the creation of a geometric model of the blade and compare different types and profiles of blades, solving the corresponding gas dynamic problems. At the same time, for a given blade profile and GTE operating conditions, it is possible to obtain the distribution of temperatures and forces acting on the surface of the blade, which is required for predicting the durability of special coatings.