On the efficiency of a conical underplatform damper for turbines

Underplatform dampers (UPDs) are commonly used in aircraft engines to limit the risk of high-cycle fatigue of turbine blades. The latter is located in a groove between two consecutive blades. The dry friction contact interface between the damper and the blades dissipates energy and so reduces the vibration amplitudes. Two common geometries of dampers are used nowadays, namely wedge and cylindrical dampers, but their efficiency is limited when the blades have an in-phase motion (or a motion close to it), since the damper tends to have a pure rolling motion. The objective of this study is to analyze a new damper geometry, based on a conical shape, which prevents from this pure rolling motion of the damper and ensures a high kinematic slip. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the damping efficiency of this geometry. Hence, in a first part, the kinematic slip is approximated with analytical considerations. Then, a nonlinear dynamic analysis is performed, and the damping efficiency of this new geometry is compared to the wedge and the cylindrical geometries. The results demonstrate that the conical damper has a high damping capacity and is more efficient and more robust than the two others.