Numerical simulation of contact problems in vane machinery by a parametric quadratic programming method

Interference fits are widely used for connecting impeller and shaft assembly that are forced together slowly by pressing. The interference fit design ensures stable balance behavior and allows for positive contact between the impeller and shaft assembly throughout the range of operating speeds. In addition to maintaining radial contact, sufficient net radial interface pressure must remain in order to transmit torque when the rotational speed is very high. Therefore, the interference fit between the impeller and the shaft assembly is one of the most important factors influencing the performance of the turbo unit in the design of turbocharger compressor. A suitable fit tolerance needs to be considered in the structural design.A locomotive-type turbocharger compressor with 24 blades under combined centrifugal and interference fit loading is used for the analysis. The finite-element (FE) parametric quadratic programming (PQP) method developed based on the parametric variational principle (PVP) is used for the analysis of the stress distribution in the three-dimensional (3D) contact problem of impeller. The advantages of the parametric programming method compared with conventional approaches are that the penalty factors can be canceled and that solutions can be obtained directly without tedious iterative procedures such as the general incremental iterative method. To save time in the computation, a~multi-substructure technique is adopted for structural modeling. This not only simplifies the calculation, but also provides a convenient service for process computer-aided design (CAD) by means of FE simulation. The effects of the fit tolerance, coefficient of friction and rotational speed (centrifugal force), wall thickness of the shaft sleeve and the contact stress on the interference-fitting surfaces are studied in detail in the numerical computation. It is found that a nonuniform initial amount of interference in the structural design avoids the relative displacement generated and ensures uniformity of the contact stress. To assure quality of press-fitting, the amount of interference between the shaft sleeve and shaft should be strictly controlled to avoid the rapid increase of the contact stress. The numerical results demonstrate the high accuracy and good convergence of the algorithm presented here, which provides an effective approach that achieves more-reliable interference-fitted connections and more-precise assembly accuracy with lower manufacturing cost in the structural design.