Structural Design Research Through Finite Element Method (FEM) for a Compressor Disc

Compressor Discs are subjected to various loads like pressure load, tensile, compressive, buckling, temperature, gravity, etc. during its operation. There are load bearing members and non-load bearing members. The load bearing members are critical components of the disc. Due to these loading condition radial and hoop stresses are generated in the discs. When these stresses exceed yield strength of the material failure occurs. To determine the various stresses acting on a gas turbine compressor disc rotating with constant velocity, initially the Disc is modeled and analyzed using Commercial FEA codes focused on bolt holes and nominal stresses on the cracked disc (a corner crack at a hole and then a through-thickness crack between two holes) are determined. These Stresses can be accounted for the development of advanced crack growth model which can predict the propagation of crack from the critical location of the rotating disc.