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Dynamic Stress Analysis of L-1 Low Pressure Steam Turbine Blade:

Mathematical Modelling and Finite Element Method

Article  in  Materials today: proceedings · December 2018

DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2018.10.053

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Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126 www.materialstoday.com/proceedings

ICCMMEMS_2018

Dynamic Stress Analysis of L-1 Low Pressure Steam Turbine

Blade: Mathematical Modelling and Finite Element Method
Loveleen Kumar Bhagia*, Vikas Rastogib, Pardeep Guptac, Swastik Pradhand
a
Associate Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab-144411, India
b
Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Delhi Technological University, Delhi-110042, India
c
Professor,MechanicalEngineering Department, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal, Punjab-148106,India
d
Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab-144411, India

Abstract

The present paper deals with dynamic stress analysis of the L-1 low pressure steam turbine blade. The mathematical
and finite element modeling employed to capture the effect of stresses on the dynamic response of the turbine blade
assembly. From the mathematical modeling, the various governing differential equations of motion for lateral
vibration of cantilever beam have been derived. The finite element model of AISI420 L-1 low pressure stage steam
turbine blade used in the present work is developed by using three dimensional scanning technique.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of International Conference on Composite Materials: Manufacturing,
Experimental Techniques, Modeling and Simulation (ICCMMEMS-2018).

Keywords: Steam tutbine blade; Dynamic Stresses; Beam theory; FEM.

1. Introduction

After corrosion attack, the fatigue is found to be the major source for the life degradation of L-1 low pressure
steam turbine blade [1]. In the field of turbine blade vibration a good number of researchers and engineers have
found that high cycle fatigue produced due to high dynamic stresses at resonance lead to fatigue problems. Since the


This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, which
permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
* Corresponding author.Tel.: +91-987-265-490.
E-mail address: bhagiloveleen14@rediffmail.com

2214-7853© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of International Conference on Composite Materials: Manufacturing, Experimental Techniques,
Modeling and Simulation (ICCMMEMS-2018).
28118 Bhagi et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126

advent of turbines and their application in various industrial sectors, the components most commonly rejected are
the blades, which ultimately results into a catastrophic damage[1]. The blades are considered to be structural
members particularly in the case of a turbine. Significant number of their natural frequencies can lie in the frequency
range of nozzle excitation forces. Though blades can be “de-tuned” to avoid resonance at the turbine’s steady
operating speed, they will often experience several resonances during start-up, shut down, and possibly over run. A
large number of failures and shut down can be explained by blade failure caused due to vibration or flutter.
In the present work authors have introduced the mathematical modelling of the steam turbine blade. Further,
natural frequencies for different modes of lateral vibrations of turbine blade using analytical approach for Euler
Bernoulli beam have also been presented and discussed in this paper. The frequencies obtained by the mathematical
model of the beam, are further verified by comparison with the FEM results using finite element software ANSYS.
Considering LP steam turbine blade disk assembly, the effect of change in blade length, area of blade root and area
of blade tip on the centrifugal force and stress have also been analyzed. Further, 3-D contour plot has been generated
to explore the significant parameter of turbine blade, which produced high impact on centrifugal force and stress.

2. Formulation of Governing Differential Equation of Motion of Turbine Blade

Consider the free body diagram of an element of a beam of length dx subjected to distributed external force w ( x )
per unit length (Fig. 1a) where, Q ( x, t ) is the shear force which is nothing but internal resistance created in beam
cross-section in order to balance the transverse external force acting on beam and M ( x, t ) is the bending moment
produced due to internal reaction of load causing the beam to bend and acts on a surface that would be normal to the
neutral axis of the section of beam under consideration [2]. ρ is the mass density and A(x ) is the cross sectional area
of the beam. The moment equation of motion about the neutral axis (Fig. 1b) presented in Eq. 2. The force equation
of motion having inertia force acting on the element of the beam in the vertical direction, which gives

∂2 y
− (Q + dQ ) + w(x )dx + Q = ρA(x )dx ( x, t ) (1)
∂t 2

dx
( M + dM ) − (Q + dQ)dx + w( x)dx −M =0 (2)
2

(a) (b)

Fig. 1. (a) A beam in bending experiences uniformly distributed load w(x); (b) Forces acting on element of beam

As per the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, the bending moment is related to the curvature by the flexure equation
[3], which, for the coordinates indicated in Fig. 1b, is
 Bhagi et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126 28119

∂2 y
M (x, t ) = EI (x ) ( x, t ) (3)
∂x 2

Equation of motion for the forced lateral vibration of a non uniform beam:

∂2  ∂2 y  ∂2 y
 EI ( x ) ( x , t ) + ρA( x ) (x, t ) = w(x ) (4)
∂x 2  ∂x 2  ∂t 2

For a uniform beam, Eq. 4 may be reduce to

∂4 y ∂2 y
EI + ρA (x, t ) = w(x ) (5)
∂x 4 ∂t 2

For free vibration, w(x ) = 0 and so the equation of motion becomes

∂4 y 2
c2 (x, t ) + ∂ 2y (x, t ) = 0 ; c=
EI
(6)
∂x 4
∂t ρA

When beam vibrates about static equilibrium position, the ratio of load to unit length is then equal to the load
acting due to inertia i.e. mass and acceleration. ω is the natural frequency of beam vibration. Suppose beam
vibration follows harmonic motion;

y (x ) = Y sin (ωt − φ ) (7)

dy d2y
= ωY cos(ωt − φ ) and 2 = −ω 2 Y sin (ωt − φ ) = −ω 2 y (x ) (8)
dt dt

The Eq. 5 can be written as

∂4y ρAω 2
EI − ρAω2 y(x) = w(x); β 4 = (9)
∂x 4 EI

d4y
− β 4 y (x ) = 0 (10)
dx 4

For normal mode the general solution of Eq. 10 becomes

y ( x) = C1 cos β x + C 2 sin β x + C 3 cosh β x + C 4 sinh β x (11)

Where, C1, C2, C3 and C4 are constants.

ρAω 2
From β 4 = natural frequency can be found as:
EI
28120 Bhagi et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126

EI EI
ω n = β n2 = (β n l )2 (12)
ρA ρAl 4

The constants C1, C2, C3 and C4 and the value β are determined from the boundary conditions of beam.

 y=0

At x = 0  dy
 =0
 dx

 d2y d2y
 M = 0 or EI 2 = 0 or 2 = 0
 dx dx
At x = l 
 d  d2y  d3y
Q = 0 or  EI 2  = 0 or 3 = 0
 dx  dx  dx

After substituting these boundary conditions in the general solution Eq. 11, we get

( y ) x =0 = C1 + C3 = 0 C1 = −C3

 dy 
  = β [− C1 sin β x + C 2 cos β x + C 3 sinh β x + C 4 cosh β x ] = 0; β [C 2 + C 4 ] = 0
 dx  x =0

d2y
  = β 2 [− C1 cos β x − C 2 sin β x + C 3 cosh β x + C 4 sinh β x ]x =l = 0
 dx 2 
  x =l

C3 (cosh β l + cos β l ) + C 4 (sinh β l + sin β l ) = 0 (13)

 d3y 
  3
[ ]
 dx 3  = β C1 sin β x − C 2 cos β x + C3 sinh β x + C 4 cosh β x x =l = 0
  x =l

C3 (sinh β l − sin β l ) + C 4 (cosh β l + cos β l ) = 0 (14)

The frequency can be obtained by setting the coefficient in Eq. 13 and 14 to zero as

cosh β l + cos β l sinh β l + sin β l

=0
sinh β l − sin β l cosh β l + cos β l

and reduces to frequency equation cosh β l cos β l + 1 = 0 (15)

The Eq. 15 is satisfied by a number of values of β l for one end fixed beam, corresponding to each normal mode
of vibration and the first four normal modes are 1.875104, 4.694091, 7.854757 and 10.995541. Hence, the natural
frequencies for first four bending modes are:
 Bhagi et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126 28121

EI EI EI EI
ω1 = 3.5160 4
; ω 2 = 22.0345 4
; ω3 = 61.6972 4
; ω 4 = 120.9019
Aρl Aρl Aρl Aρl 4

Table 1. Material properties and dimensions of AISI 420 low pressure steam turbine blade
Material Properties of L-1 Low pressure stage steam turbine blade
Material AISI420 Martensitic stainless Steel
Operating RPM 3000 (50 Hz)
Young’s modulus (N/m2) 2.0 x 1011
Poisson’s ratio 0.3
Density (Kg/m3) 7850
Bulk modulus (N/m2) 1.667x1011
2
Shear modulus (N/m ) 7.6923 x 1010
Tensile yield strength (N/m2) 2.5 x 108
2
Tensile ultimate strength (N/m ) 4.6 x 108
Dimensions of L-1 Low pressure stage steam turbine blade
Length, L, (m) along y-axis 0.233
Width, b, (m) along x-axis 0.042
Depth, h, (m) along z-axis 0.051

(a) (b)

Fig. 2. (a) 3-D model of L-1 low pressure steam turbine blade; (b) Rotating L-1 low pressure steam turbine blade nomenclature

Further, natural frequencies for different modes of turbine blade using above analytical approach for Euler
Bernoulli beam has been validated with finite element modelling (FEM).
The FEM of AISI420 L-1 LP stage steam turbine blade is developed by using 3D scanning technique as shown in
Fig. 2a. The modelling and post-processing are performed on FE based software ANSYS15. The boundary
conditions of the finite element model are similar to that of a cantilever. The material properties and dimensions of
AISI420 turbine blade which are used for FEM analysis are listed in Table 1. Fig. 3.shows the mode shapes of the L-
1 low pressure steam turbine blade. In order to check the correctness of the mathematical model, the frequencies are
further compared with the results of finite element model (FEM) analysis (Table 2).
28122 Bhagi et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126

To verify and validate the obtained results, the solution produced by the ANSYS15 workbench was compared to
the analytical solutions of the model, according to Eq. 13. The results show a good agreement between the numerical
and analytical solutions as presented in Table 2.

(a) (b)

Fig. 3. (a) The first bending mode shape of turbine blade at 739.77 Hz; (b) The second bending mode shape of turbine blade at 4796 Hz

Table 2. Comparison of the finite element modal analysis results with the analytical analysis
Percent error (in absolute)
E-B Beam
Natural Frequency, f, (Hz) E-B Beam  f FEM − f Analytical 
fn(Hz) = ωn(rad/sec)/2π
(Analytical
(FEM) %E =   × 100
method)  f Analytical 
 

First Bending Mode (Fundamental

749.96 739.77 0.014
Mode) (f1)
Second Bending Mode (f2) 4706.52 4796 0.019
Third Bending Mode (f3) 13178.34 N/A ---

3. Variation of centrifugal forces and stresses with geometric parameters of turbine blade

In high rotational speed machine components the centrifugal stress generally plays an important role than other
type of stress on the total stress. In the low pressure steam turbine section, centrifugal stress has been found a
significant causative factor with fatigue failures and corrosion fatigue failures, where it lowers the endurance
strength of turbine blade material [4]. The centrifugal stress is a function of the mass, length, rotational speed, and
the cross-sectional area [5]. To calculate the effect of centrifugal stresses on rotating L-1 low pressure steam blades,
a single turbine blade is assumed to be fixed to the rotor as shown in Fig. 2b.
Let the radius of blade at the root section is Rr, and the radius at the blade tip is Rt. The cross-sectional area of the
blade contour along x axis is denoted as A. The author has assumed that the CG of blade section under consideration
lies on the x-axis.
The centrifugal stress (σc) at the blade section (Fig. 2b) can be found by the following equation:

Fc
σc = (16)
A

Suppose a small element section dH having small mass dM shown in Fig. 2b, during the rotor-blade rotation, the
force developed by the section dH is:
 Bhagi et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126 28123

dFc = dM .ω 2 ( Rr + H ) Where, dM = (ρA)dH (17)

The centrifugal force on the arbitrary profile of the blade element

dFc = ρω 2 A( Rr + H ).dH (18)

By integrating Eq. (19)

L
Fc ( x ) =  ρω 2 A( H )( Rr + H ).dH where, L = Rt − Rr (19)
x

Therefore, stresses induced by the centrifugal force in a small section element of the blade are:

ω2  L 
σ c ( x) =  ρ  A( H )( Rr + z )dH  (20)
A( x)  x 

To further analyze the effect of centrifugal force and stress on the turbine blade, two different cases have been
considered in this paper i.e. constant cross-section area of the turbine blade and variable cross-section area of the
turbine blade, which will further provide an added dimension for such type of mathematical formulation.

3.1 For constant area turbine blade

For a blade having constant cross-sectional area:

L
Fc ( x ) = ρω 2 A( H )  ( Rr + H )dH (21)
x

Integrating Eq. 21

 1 
Fc ( x ) = ρω 2  Rr ( L − x ) + ( L2 − x 2 )
 2 

It is evident that at blade tip, i.e. when x = L, the centrifugal force becomes zero. Whereas, at the root section
when x = 0 the centrifugal force is maximum. Eq. 16 and Eq. 19 are further used to determine the centrifugal force
and stress:

L
σ c ( x) = ρω 2  ( Rr + H )dH where, A(H) =A (x) = constant (22)
x

 L
σ c ( x = 0) = ρω 2 L Rr +  (23)
 2

L
σ c ( x = 0) = ρω 2 LRm Where, Rm = Rr + (24)
2
28124 Bhagi et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126

3.3 For Variable area turbine blade

For the blade having variable cross sectional area, it is necessary to formulate the area as a function of blade
height using the relation.

 Aroot − Atip 
log e  
ξ Aroot − Amean 
( )
H
A( H ) = Aroot − Aroot − Atip   Where, ξ = 
log e 2
(25)
L

Using Eq. 19 and Eq. 25

L H 
Fc ( x) = ρω 2   Aroot − ( Aroot − Atip )( )ξ ( Rr + H )dH (26)
x Lb 

L
  H 2  ( Aroot − Atip )  Rr H ξ +1 H ξ + 2 
Fc ( x) = ρω  Aroot  Rroot H +
2
− +  (27)
  2  Lbξ  ξ +1 ξ + 2 
  x

Further, the centrifugal force and stress for variable area can be determined using area given by Eq. 25 and Eq. 27.
When x = L; Fc = 0 and
x = 0; Fc = maximum
At blade root centrifugal stress is;

  2 
 L
(
Fc (0) = ρω 2  Aroot L Rr +  − Aroot − Atip
2
) ξRr+L1 + ξ L+ 2  (28)
   

  L  Atip  Rr L L2 
σ c (0) = ρω 2  L Rr +  − 1 − 
  2  Aroot  ξ + 1 ξ + 2 
+ (29)
 

When the blade profile varies linear from Aroot to Atip then ξ becomes 1 and so from Eq. 25:

( )
H
A( H ) = Aroot − Aroot − Atip   (30)
L

Substituting Eq. 19 into Eq. 29 gives:

 
Fc ( x) = ρω  Aroot  Rr H +
2 (
H 2  Aroot − Atip
−
)  Rr H 2 + H 3  L (31)
  2  L  2 3 
  x

At x = 0; Fc and σc will be

  L2   R L L3 
Fc (0) = ρω 2  Aroot  Rr L +
 2 
(  2
)
− Aroot − Atip  r + 
3 
(32)
   
 Bhagi et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126 28125

 L2   Atip  Rr L L2 
σ c (0) = ρω 2  Rr L + − 1 − 
 2 + 3 
 (33)
 2   Aroot  

Table 3. Centrifugal force and stress variation for different values of length, tip area and root area of the blade

σc σc
Rt ρ ω Rr L Atip Aroot Fc
Runs (Root) (Tip)
(m) (kg/m3) (rad/sec) (m) (m) (m2) (m2) (KN) (MPa) (MPa)
1 1.1 7860 314.2 0.7 0.2 0.0021 0.014 260.72 124.15 186.23
2 1.1 7860 314.2 0.7 0.3 0.002 0.0133 395.74 197.87 296.80
3 1.1 7860 314.2 0.7 0.4 0.0019 0.01267 530.75 279.34 419.01
4 1.2 7860 314.2 0.7 0.5 0.0018 0.012 663.44 368.58 552.86
5 1.3 7860 314.2 0.7 0.6 0.0017 0.01133 791.47 465.57 698.35
6 1.4 7860 314.2 0.7 0.7 0.0016 0.01067 912.52 570.32 855.48
7 1.5 7860 314.2 0.7 0.8 0.0015 0.01 1024.26 682.84 1024.25
8 1.6 7860 314.2 0.7 0.9 0.0014 0.0093 1124.35 803.11 1204.66
9 1.7 7860 314.2 0.7 1 0.0013 0.00867 1210.49 931.14 1396.71
10 1.8 7860 314.2 0.7 1.1 0.0012 0.008 1280.32 1066.93 1600.40

Fig. 4. Contour plot of centrifugal force experienced by blade for varying length and area of blade tip

Eq. 33 and 34 are further used to calculate the centrifugal force and stress for various runs. The values of
centrifugal force and stress calculated for different values of length, tip area and root area of the blade are enlisted in
Table 3. It can be seen that the centrifugal force and stress varies directly with change in length and tip area of the
blade. Further, the variation in stress is found to be more for change in blade tip area than the change in blade root
area.
Contour plot has been generated to further explore the variation of centrifugal force as a function of length and
area of the blade. From Fig. 4, it is clearly depicted that that at constant rotational speed of turbine the rise in
centrifugal forces on the turbine blade with change in length of blade varies more significantly than change in area
of tip of turbine blade.
28126 Bhagi et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 28117–28126

4. Result and Discussion

The mathematical and computational modelling is employed in this paper to capture the effect of stresses on the
dynamic response of the low pressure steam turbine blade.
The Euler Bernoulli beam theory has been used in mathematical modelling. First, the effect of distributed load,
which is applied in lateral direction of the cantilever beam is studied. Next the effect of adding shear force and
rotational inertia on the dynamic behaviour of cantilever beam has been explored. From the mathematical
modelling, the various governing differential equations of motion for lateral vibration of cantilever beam have been
derived. This mathematical model is further used to create the bond graph model of turbine blade with under
platform friction damper to study the dynamic behaviour of turbine blade with varying damper mass [6].
The mathematical modelling and numerical analysis of turbine blade bearing centrifugal force demonstrates that
the centrifugal force and stress on the turbine blade varies significantly with the blade length and area of blade tip.

5. Conclusion

It is concluded from the analysis that for the L-1 low pressure stage steam turbine blade of length 0.2 m and 0.3 m
experiences the centrifugal forces are 260.72 KN and 395.74 KN, and centrifugal stresses are 124.15 MPa and
197.87 MPa respectively (refer Table 3). All these obtained results are well within the safe limit of maximum design
stress values of 250 MPa. Besides this, the high dynamic stresses, which produce high cycle fatigue in the low
pressure section blades. On the other hand when these blades are subjected to high centrifugal load stresses, the
combined effect of dynamic stresses and centrifugal load stresses become responsible for fatigue failures in LP
steam turbine blades.

References

[1] L. K. Bhagi, P. Gupta, V. Rastogi, Case Studies in Engineering Failure Analysis 1 (2013) (2), 72-78.
[2] W. Thomson, Theory of vibration with applications. CRC Press: 1996.
[3] M.P. Singh, J.J. Vargo, D.M. Schiffer, J.D. Dello, Safe Diagram-A Design And Reliability Tool For Turbine Blading. In Proceedings of
the 17th Turbomachinery Symposium, Texas A&M University. Turbomachinery Laboratories, 1988.
[4] J.S. Sohre, In Proceedings of the 4th Turbomachinery Symposium, Texas A&M University. Gas Turbine Laboratories, 1975.
[5] H.G. Naumann, In Proceedings of the 11th Turbomachinery Symposium, Texas A&M University. Turbomachinery Laboratories, 1982.
[6] L.K. Bhagi, V. Rastogi, P. Gupta, Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2017) (1), 17-27.

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