Experimental analysis of dynamic characteristics for vibration -impact process of steam turbine blades with integral shroud

Integral shroud is an advanced technique used to improve reliability of steam turbine blades. In this paper, dynamic characteristics of vibration-impact process of steam turbine blades with integral shroud are studied. To test and verify the reliability of calculation result, a series of experiments are well performed on the platform of contracting and impacting of blades tips. The dynamic strain data under different gaps, different loads and different rotating speeds are surveyed through which the log decrement at each condition is obtained, and the effects of vibration damping are obtained by comparing the log decrement. The results of experimental study show that larger log decrement means larger system damping and better effectives of vibration reduction. Besides, the effects of vibro-impact reduction of different parameters are got and the experimental study results show that the vibro-impact structure is a good vibration damper. The dynamic stress of the blade with integral shroud is insensitive to loads when the gap between adjacent integral shrouds is small. In short, the achievements gained in the paper have revealed dynamic characteristics for vibro-impact process of steam turbine blades with integral shroud, which will bring important engineering application to development and modification design of the integrally shrouded blades. © 2009 SPIE.