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FREQUENCY EVALUATION OF A STEAM TURBINE BLADED DISK

Jim Dello
Dresser-Rand, Wellsville, NY, USA

Unplanned and untimely shutdowns of critical turbomachinery is costly-for both the user and original equipment
manufacturer. Therefore, it is very important that the turbomachinery be designed and operated to assure
trouble-free operation. This is not always easily accomplished. Because turbomachinery components,
specifically airfoils, are subjected to high variable loads that can cause failure, designing reliable components
requires in-depth vibration and stress analysis.
Identification of when the frequency of variable force match component's natural frequencies is the traditional
method to design around potential blade failures. The identification of matching frequencies-the force with the
structure-is commonly shown on a Campbell diagram. However, the Campbell diagram lacks some information
when used to analyze the possibility of blade failure. To further help bladed disk designers, Dresser-Rand has
initiated the use of the SAFESM (Singh's Advanced Frequency Evaluation) diagram.
Natural Frequency and Mode Shape
Natural frequency is the frequency at which an object vibrates when excited by a force, such as a sharp blow from a
hammer. At this frequency, the structure offers the least resistance to a force and if left uncontrolled, failure can occur.
Mode shape is the way in which the object deflects at this frequency. An example of natural frequency and mode shape
is given in the case of a guitar string. When struck, the string vibrates at a certain frequency and attains a deflected
shape.
The frequency can be noted by the pitch coming from the string. Different string geometries (length and diameter) lead
to different natural frequencies or notes.
By nature of its structure, a turbine bladed disk, shown in figure 1, usually has many natural frequencies and associated
mode shapes. These frequencies and mode shapes are somewhat further complicated by the use of a shroud to
connect groups of blades together. Shrouding groups of blades together serves two purposes-one is for aerodynamical
reasons to reduce losses and the other is for blade strength required to sustain steam forces. Blades are banded in
brackets with varying numbers in one packet. At Dresser Rand, a 6-blade packet is most commonly employed. The
knowledge of packeting arrangements of blades into groups is very important when analyzing packeted-bladed disk
vibration.

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Figure 1

Vibrational behavior or typical deflection mode shapes of a packet containing six blades is shown in figure 2. Natural
frequency values will change depending on blade geometry; a tall and narrow (i.e., less stiff or more flexible) blade will
have relatively low natural frequencies.

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Figure 2

In some mode shapes, some of the blades within a packet are moving in the same direction; while in others, blades are
moving opposite each other. This change in direction of motion or phase change is evident in some of the mode
shapes. For example, figure 3 shows several modes and the location of their phase changes. Because there is

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relatively no motion at this location, this point is called a node point. The axial rocking mode has just one phase change
or node point located at the center of the packet; the axial "U" mode has two nodes. The tangential fix-supported (TFS)
family of modes which typically have closely spaced natural frequencies, will number one less than the number of
blades. Therefore, for a 6-blade packet, there will be 5 TFS modes. The example shown in figure 3 shows the TFS
mode that has three nodes within the packet. Simple bending modes such as the first tangential and the first axial have
no phase changes within the packet. This means that all the blades within the packet move in one direction at the
same time. This concept of phase change within a packet is a key aspect of the SAFE diagram and its importance will
be explained later.

Figure 3

Turbine wheels or disks which hold the blades also have natural frequencies and mode shapes of their own
depending on the wheel geometry. Some characteristic mode shapes are illustrated in figure 4. These disk mode
shapes can be obtained by sand pattern testing. This is performed by placing sand on a horizontal disk and
exciting it a certain frequency until the sand forms into a pattern. The pattern is caused by the sand migrating
from an area of large amplitude vibration and seeking a location of minimal amplitude vibration. Just as before a
point of little or no vibration is called a node. In the case of a disk, these nodes could be thought of as diametral
lines across the disk and/or circular curves.

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Figure 4

Since a packeted bladed disk is a structure, it has unique mode shape characteristics of its own. It contains both
blade packet and disk mode shape characteristics mentioned before. The interaction between the blade packets
and the disk is best shown in figure 5.

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Figure 5

Observe that disk nodal diameter (ND) lines are coincident with blade motion. Specifically, a nodal diameter
occurs where blade movement is out of phase. There can be as few as 0 ND where all the blade packets are in
phase with one another or a maximum of one-half the number of blades which occurs when every blade moves
out of phase with its neighbor. For example, if a disk contains 90 blades, there is a maximum of 45 nodel
diameters possible.

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Vibratory Forces
Now that natural frequency and mode shapes have been established, some alternating forces must exist to
excite a structure to vibrate. These forces have inherent frequencies and shapes just as bladed disks do. In a
steam turbine, the most common sources of excitation are nozzle passing frequencies and running speed
harmonics.
Running speed harmonics occur due to interruptions in the fluid flow path. Frequencies of running speed are
multiples of rotor operating speed. For example, the tenth harmonic of running speed would be a force that
occurs ten times for every revolution of the wheel. For example, a turbine rotor running at a speed of 3600 RPM
(60 cycles/sec or Hz) would have running speed harmonics occurring at 120 Hz, 180 Hz, 240 Hz ....
Nozzle passing frequency excitation is caused by steam flowing through a nozzle or diaphragm which is used to
turn and direct steam flow onto the blades. Because of their design, nozzles have flow interruptions at regular or
cyclic intervals which cause the force imparted on the blades to be cyclic. An analogous situation would be
running a stick along a picket fence. Figure 6 shows what this force would be for the first couple of evolutions.
This cyclic or periodic force can excite bladed disks into their characteristic mode shapes.

Figure 6

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Resonance
Combining the previously established concepts of natural frequency and periodic forces together will help explain
resonance. Resonance is a condition where response (amplitude of vibration) is a maximum and resistance to an
oscillating force is minimal. At this condition, the shape and frequency of a force must match the mode shape and
natural frequency of the structure that is being excited. Resonance cannot occur if one of these four factors is not in
place.
The best example of the destructive power that a resonance condition can cause is the classic Tacoma-Narrows bridge
failure. The bridge as any structure had inherent natural frequencies and associated mode shapes. When the wind
blew (forcing phenomena) at a certain speed, air buffeting (vortex shedding) that apparently had the same frequency as
the bridge natural frequency caused the bridge to oscillate. Vibration became large and uncontrolled until the bridge
failed. As shown by this example, resonance is a condition best avoided or at least controlled.
Campbell Diagram
Traditionally, the Campbell diagram shown in figure 7 is used to illustrate interferences between blade packet natural
frequencies and the common exciting forces described earlier. Specifically, in the case of a turbine, blade packet
frequency is plotted against rotor running speed. Diagonal lines represent sources of excitation (e.g.,1xNPF, 2xNPF,
and 10x running speed).

Figure 7

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When a diagonal crosses a packet natural frequency within the turbine speed range, a resonance is said to occur such
as the axial "S" mode in figure 7. This may or may not be the case. What was shown by this interference is that the
natural frequency matches the forcing frequency. Resonance may occur at this location but it is not assured since the
definition of resonance is not complete.
The difficulty in defining the real resonance is that it considers only one packet in its analysis. This assumes that the
packets around the wheel are vibrating in phase to each other at any time. This is just one possibility. Packets may
move independently of one another creating many combinations of out-of-phase movements. A slightly different
Campbell diagram could be drawn showing all the possible packet motions, figure 8, but this is very cluttered and hard
to interpret, particularly in the speed range where most designs operate.

Figure 8

As mentioned before, the concept of nodal diameters relating to nodes within packets and packets moving relative to one
another is important. It should be noted at this point that a disk may be stiff where a disk nodal pattern like that shown in
figure 4 will not form, however, the blades and packets still move opposite each other. Even when this situation occurs, the
mode shapes will be designated by a nodal diameter. Therefore, nodal diameter is the name given to the convention of
blades and/or packets moving out of phase. It is this feature of disk mode shapes and the out-of-phase movement of blade
packets that the traditional Campbell diagram does not show.
The different type of Campbell diagram, shown in figure 8, could be drawn for a bladed disk showing all the nodal diameter
possibilities. For simplicity this plot shows a disk that would be completely shrouded by just one shroud. The frequency axis
is then the location for specific nodal diameter. As shown this plot is very hard to interpret. To illustrate this, observe points
A and B in figure 8, Point A indicates a point of possible resonance where natural frequency equals the frequency of the
exciting force. Closer observation reveals that the excitation is 4x running speed; but the mode shape is 2 nodal diameters.
No resonance will exist in this situation. There are many points similar to point A. Point B shows a situation where
resonance could exist because the running speed harmonic and nodal diameter are 3. A line connects the few locations
where resonances may exist.

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SAFE Diagram
Another projection of the Campbell plane will show the same information as before in a clear and concise manner, This
projection is the SAFE plane and is shown in a 3-D model of the Campbell and SAFE planes given in figure 9.

Figure 9

Notice that the Campbell and SAFE planes share the vertical or frequency axis. But instead of running speed as on the
Campbell, the SAFE plane plots nodal diameter on this axis. Nodal diameters describe the mode shapes of the packetedbladed disk and also the shape of the varying force. Nodal diameter describes the shape of the force will be 46 nodal
diameters at 1xNPF. Therefore, nodal diameter also describes the shape of excitation such as 1xNPF. This is a key point since
this completes the definition of resonance-shape of the force matching the disk mode shape. Therefore, the SAFE diagram will
reveal true resonances, not just probable resonances as the Campbell diagram shows.
Figure 10 helps illustrate how a Campbell and SAFE diagram can be used to evaluate packeted-bladed disk resonances.
Two cases are included for contrast. The first case shows a Campbell diagram interference and the SAFE diagram confirms
it. The second case also shows a Campbell diagram interference; however, this time the SAFE diagram shows that a
resonance condition does not exist.

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For simplicity and clarity, only the first family of tangential modes are plotted. Construction of the Campbell diagram was
discussed earlier. To construct the SAFE diagram from the Campbell diagram only two additional pieces of information must
be known-the number of blades and the number of packets. This must be known so the maximum number of nodal diameters
(horizontal axis) for a specific wheel can be determined. Recall that nodal diameter (ND) is the node line running across a
disk. The maximum number of nodal diameters for a given disk is one-half the number of blades. That is the maximum which
would occur if a line were drawn across the wheel between each and every blade.
Circles on the SAFE diagram represent the various nodal diameters. Notice that each frequency has a discrete set of nodal
diameters. For instance, the first tangential mode occurs from 0 to 9 ND. What this means is that the first tangential has only
these possible packet movements. All packets are moving in the same direction at the same time (0 ND), or the eighteen
packets of this wheel are all moving opposite each other (9 ND). This means 18 change of phase movements of the packets.
Closer examination reveals that other modes could be thought of in the same manner. The first TFS mode has one phase
change among the blades in the packet so it can only have a minimum of 9 ND which means the TFS1 mode picks up where
the first tangential mode leaves off. The fifth TFS mode with five phase changes within a packet can have the maximum
number of nodal diameters, 54. That is, all the blades within the wheel are moving out of phase with one another.
Solid circles represent single modes and the unfilled circles represent double modes. This means that, except for the
maximum and minimum ND (0 and 54) nodal diameters or disk modes occur in pairs. A nodal diameter will occur 90 from the
first. Except for 0 and 54 ND, the other single modes are really separated double modes. For example, the 9th ND could
describe either the first tangential or the 1st TFS mode.
Completing construction of the SAFE diagram requires plotting of the excitation phenomena. On the Campbell diagram,
possible excitations are presented by diagonal lines. However, on the SAFE diagram, diagonals represent speed; excitation is
represented by the horizontal nodal diameter axis. In this case, it is 5 times running speed (60 Hz) and occurs at 5 ND.
Therefore, since the 5ND excitation point crosses the first tangential frequency, case no.1 given in figure 10 shows a SAFE
interference of the first tangential at 5 ND. It is interesting to note that direct interference would be unlikely to occur if:

1. turbine speed were much lower (i.e., a lower sloped speed line)
2. the first tangential mode was higher in frequency
3. there were fewer than 9 packets so that the maximum nodal diameter for the first tangential frequency is 4ND. This
judgement may be made from information on the SAFE diagram.
The second case shows the shortcoming of the Campell diagram. This Campell diagram shows an interference of the first
tangential mode with 1xNPF. Examination of the SAFE diagram shows that the Campbell diagram interference is highly
unlikely. That is, the shape of the force, 46 ND, does not match the shape of the disk, 0 to 8 ND. This example illustrates that
the SAFE diagram contains the needed information to accurately determine if a bladed disk resonance will occur.
CONCLUSION
Packeted bladed disks are unique structures that require specialized vibrational analysis. Traditionally, the Campbell diagram
is used to analyze resonance of a single blade packet. However, the Campbell diagram does not contain enough information
to analyze a complete packeted bladed disk. To help understand and analyze packeted bladed disk interferences, the SAFE
diagram was developed.
The SAFE diagram is created from a third axis projection of the real resonance points. This third axis plots nodal diameters
which describe the shape of a disk mode and shape of the forcing function. A Campbell diagram may be constructed from
information contained on a SAFE diagram if desired.
The main advantage of the SAFE diagram over the Campbell diagram is that it allows a bladed disk designer to see if a true

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resonance exists in the disk. As traditionally plotted, the Campbell diagram reveals only possible resonances.
Refer questions to:
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