A METHOD FOR PREDICTING THE LIFETIME OF GAS TURBINE BLADES

— –The article describes a method developed at ONERA for predicting the lifetime of gas turbine blades. This method makes use of non-linear viscoplastic constitutive laws, the problem being solved from a plane cross section assumption and through a time-step linearization. The initiation of the first macroscopic crack is calculated from a stabilized cycle condition. A blade test rig has been developed for checking the method under load and temperature conditions that are as close as possible to operational ones. The results of two series of tests on convection cooled IN100 blades prove the method to be acceptable to design engineers.