ABSTRACT
The development of methodologies for dynamic and structural analysis in complex geometries, such as gas turbine blades, requires a deep knowledge of the numerical methods applied, mainly to generate models that allow the study of heat transfer and fluid dynamics. In this sense, the application of computer-based tools that use finite volume methods (FVM) and finite element methods (FEM) have shown their usefulness; the first for evaluation of the fluid-dynamic behavior of the hot gases surrounding the blade and the cooling air that passes through the blade interior, and the second for evaluating the thermal-mechanical stresses generated under the extreme conditions caused by temperature changes. In this chapter, a data interchange procedure is presented which allows data interchange from results obtained in models that apply the finite volume method towards the models generated by the finite element technique. This procedure was developed with the DELPHI 5.0® tool for data interchange between FLUENT® and ANSYS®, whose procedure validation is presented in the results obtained for a case study where temperature, pressure and velocity distributions for the combustion gases and blade cooling air are analyzed, as well as the temperature and thermal-mechanical stresses on the blade body. A procedure for the meshing automation of the computer domain of the flux, where mesh sensibility analysis is expensive in terms of human and computational resources are presented, and in addition, numerical and experimental dynamic analysis results, which were made on blades for an evaluation of the finite element model are presented. The usefulness of these results allows for the prediction of the useful lifetime of the blade.
