An advanced underplatform damper modelling approach based on a microslip contact model

High-cycle fatigue caused by large resonance stresses remains one of the most common causes of turbine blades failures. Friction dampers are one of the most effective and practical solutions to limit the vibration amplitude, and shift the resonance frequencies of the turbine assemblies far from operating speeds. However, predicting with good accuracy the effects of underplatform dampers on the blades dynamics, still represents a major challenge today, due to the complex nature of the nonlinear forces at the interface, characterised by transitions between stick, slip, and separation conditions. The most common modelling approaches developed recently are based on the explicit FE model for the damper, and on a dense grid of 3D contact elements comprised of Jenkins elements, or on a single 2D microslip element on each surface. In this paper, a combination of the two approaches is proposed. A 3D microslip element, based on a modified Valanis model is proposed and a series of these elements are used to describe the contact interface. The proposed model and its predicting capabilities are then evaluated against a simplified blade-damper model, based on an underplatform damper test rig recently developed by the authors. A comparison with a more simplistic modelling approach based on macroslip contact elements, highlights the improved accuracy of the new model to predict the experimental nonlinear response