An Integrated Product Team Approach to the Development of a Complex Rotor System

This paper details development efforts for the Turbine Research Facility (TRF) rotor system at the U. S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). In some previous test programs, the prior TRF rotor drive system was known to experience instances of excessive vibration during spin-up, limiting the robustness of the facility to execute its primary mission of developing advanced turbine aerothermal technologies; this paper will cover redesign and validation of the TRF rotor system to allow that mission to resume safely. First, a brief summary of the root cause investigation of historical rotordynamic issues at the facility is given; this pointed the way for the primary redesign path. Next, rotor system redesign elements will be covered and these are interspersed with design, manufacturing and assembly considerations for rotordynamics trades. This is followed by a discussion of rotordynamics analysis methodologies including the coupling of a one-dimensional beam element code with three-dimensional finite element analyses and laboratory component data to produce high fidelity rotordynamics predictions. In conclusion, test validation specifically concentrating on proximity probe and accelerometer data is presented along with a comparison to design intent. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated product team (IPT) approach to the development of a complex rotor system solution.