Rotordynamics of a Highly Flexible Hub for Inside-Out Ceramic Turbine Application: Finite Element Modeling and Experimental Validation

The inside-out ceramic turbine (ICT) is a promising concept to increase turbine inlet temperatures in microturbines by integrating individual monolithic ceramic. This architecture uses a carbon–polymer composite rim to support the blades mainly in compression. High tangential velocities lead to elevated radial displacement of the rim, and therefore, the rotor hub needs to have sufficient compliance to follow this radial displacement. However, the rotordynamics of a flexible hub is not widely understood. This paper presents the rotordynamic analysis of a highly flexible hub for an ICT architecture. Finite element modeling (FEM) is used to design a simplified turbine prototype that maximizes the hub flexibility to explore the limits of the concept. The rotordynamics behavior of the highly flexible hub is measured by spinning a 171-mm diameter prototype up to 49 krpm. This paper highlights three principal challenges of this particular rotordynamics. First, critical speeds mode shape becomes highly coupled with bearings displacement, shaft bending, and hub deformation. At high-speed, the hub deforms out of phase with the shaft, which can cause high stresses in the hub. Second, the angular position between unbalance masses of the flexible hub and the composite rim changes the unbalance response significantly. Finally, vibration causes high stresses in the hub, due to the relative displacement between the composite rim and the shaft, which could lead to failure of the hub. Nevertheless, the rotordynamics of an ICT configuration is manageable as long as the vibration-induced stress in the hub is kept under its limit.