Damping material characterization and modeling: an industrial case-study

Turbojet engines contain potential nonlinearity sources such as geometric nonlinearities due to the slenderness and the length of modern blades, contacts between the blades and the shrouds, friction in the connections, and material nonlinearities. This paper focuses on the damping material which can be found in some stator stages of low-pressure compression parts. This material makes the shroud and all the blades of the stage interdependent, providing damping and fluid vein airtightness. The objective is to propose a characterization and a numerical modeling methodology that could easily be integrated within an industrial process. Nonlinearity characterization tests, based on the Restoring Force Surface method, are presented as well as viscoelastic characterization. Finally the proposed viscoelastic modeling, based on the Modal Strain Energy method, is validated against experimental data.