Effects of Static Friction on the Forced Response of Frictionally Damped Turbine Blades

The effect of static friction on the design of flexible blade-to-ground vibration dampers used in gas turbine engines is investigated. It is found that for γ (ratio of dynamic and static friction coefficients) less than 1, the steady-state response is essentially harmonic when the damper slip load, S, is small. However, as S increases beyond a certain value, the steady-state response ceases to be simply harmonic and, while still periodic, is a more complex waveform. The transition slip load is found to be lower for smaller γ. The maximum possible reduction in vibratory stresses increases as γ decreases. These analytical results are compared with those from the conventional numerical time integration method. In addition, an efficient time integration algorithm is described which can be used to predict the peak displacements of the transition solution without tracing the whole waveform, a useful procedure when no harmonic steady-state solution exists. The conditions under which blade response can be adequately modeled by simulating only dynamic friction are established.