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SAFE Diagram - A Dresser-Rand Evaluation Tool For

Packeted Bladed Disc Assembly

M. Singh
Dresser-Rand, Wellsville, N.Y., USA

Evaluation of a turbine blade disc design is done by using a Campbell Diagram. An alternate method of
evaluation is the SAFE Diagram. It is shown that for a packeted bladed disc's design evaluation this method has
advantages over the current method.

INTRODUCTION
A rotating turbine blade (bucket) is the component which converts the energy of the flowing fluid into
mechanical energy. Thus the reliability of these blades is very important for the successful operation of a
turbine. Metallurgical examinations of failed blades show that almost all the failures can be attributed to the
fatigue of metal. Fatigue failure is caused by fluctuating forces in combination with steady forces.

Turbine blades experience fluctuating forces when they pass through non-uniform fluid flow from the stationary
vanes (nozzles). The basic design consideration is to avoid or to minimize the dynamic stresses produced by
the fluctuating forces.

Based on the theory of vibration of mechanical structures, the dynamic behavior of a turbine blade, blades or
the bladed disc assembly can be predicted. The evaluation of a blade design is made by combining the
dynamic behavior with the nature of the fluctuating forces. It is usually done by the use of a Campbell Diagram.

The Campbell Diagram is a two-dimensional projection of a three-dimensional surface, hence it does not retain
all the information for evaluation. Another two-dimensional projection of the same surface contains more
information for easier evaluation. This diagram, refined for packeted bladed disc assembly by Dresser-Rand, is
called a SAFE Diagram.

The use of the SAFE Diagram for a bladed disc assembly (not a single blade or a packet of blades as usually
considered) facilitates the design evaluation process.

DEFINITION OF RESONANCE
Each blade on a rotating turbine disc experiences a dynamic force when it rotates through a non-uniform flow
from stationary vanes. The dynamic response (e.g. stress, displacements, etc.) levels experienced by the
blades depend on:

a. the natural frequencies of the bladed disc and their associated mode shapes.

b. the frequency, the shape and the magnitude of the dynamic force which are a function of the
turbine speed, number of stationary vanes and their location around the annulus and/or the
number of interruptions in the flow passage e.g. struts and their location around the annulus and

c. the energy dissipating properties called damping - provided by blade material, frictional slip
between joints, aerodynamic damping from steam, etc.

A turbine bladed disc may get into a state of vibration where the energy build up is a maximum. This is

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exemplified by maxima in its response (stress, displacement, etc.) and minima in its resistance to the exciting
force. This condition is called a state of 'RESONANCE'. There are two simultaneous conditions for the energy
built up per cycle of vibration to be a maximum. These conditions are:

1. the frequency of the exciting force equals the natural frequency of vibration and

2. the exciting force profile has the same shape as the associated mode shape of vibration.

These have been demonstrated by theoretical calculations and also by measured responses of turbine bladed
discs.

Thus for a resonance to occur, both of the above conditions must be met.

MODE SHAPE
The deflected shape attained by a vibrating bladed disc at its natural frequency is called its mode shape. This is
shown by plotting the relative displacements of different points of the structure.

For a circular symmetric system (e.g. Bladed Disc), there are points which remain stationary in the vibration
cycle. These points fall either on a diametral line(s) or a circle(s). The characterization of mode shapes of a
packeted bladed disc is done by specifying the number of these nodal diameter (D) and nodal circle (C) e.g.
0C1D, 0C2D, etc. (Figure 1). The maximum number of nodal diameters in the bladed disc assembly is half the
number of blades (for an even number of blades). For a disc having an odd number of blades, the maximum
nodal diameter is (number of blades-1)/2.

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FIGURE 1. Typical Tangential Vibration (in-phase)

There are three variables describing a mode of bladed disc assembly, namely the natural frequency of vibration,
its shape (e.g. 0C1D, OC3D, etc.) and the speed of the turbine. This information can be displayed as shown in
Figure 2.

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FIGURE 2. Mode Shape Characterization as a Surface

The two vertical projections of this surface are shown in Figure 3a and Figure 3b. The first plane is the
Campbell plane, and the other is the SAFE plane.

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FIGURE 3a. Campbell Plane

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FIGURE 3b. SAFE Plane

FLUCTUATING FORCES
Circumferentially oriented flow distortion due to stationary vanes (nozzles) is shown in Figure 4.

FIGURE 4. Flow Distortion due to Stationary Vanes

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The forces experienced by the blade depend on its relative position with respect to nozzles in one complete
revolution. Under the steady state condition, the same pattern of the force is repeated in successive
revolutions making it a periodic force. Such a force is shown in Figure 5.

FIGURE 5. Force Pattern due to Nozzles

These time-periodic forces may be composed of many harmonics. The frequencies of these harmonics are
integer multiples of the angular speed of the turbine and also depend on the number of interruptions around
the annulus.

The frequency (w) of dynamic forces experienced by the blading is expressed mathematically as follows:

A three dimensional view and two vertical projections of the surface represented by the above equations are
shown in Figure 6 through Figure 8.

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FIGURE 6

FIGURE 7. Projection on Campbell Plane

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FIGURE 8. Projection on SAFE Plane

CAMPBELL DIAGRAM
A Campbell Diagram is a graph depicting turbine speed (RPM) on the horizontal axis and frequency (Hertz) on
the vertical axis. The blades' natural frequencies and the frequencies of exciting forces are plotted on the
Campbell Diagram. This diagram predicts where the blades' natural frequencies coincide with the exciting
frequencies. This condition of frequency coincidence will be termed a "PROBABLE RESONANCE." These
points are shown by small circles in Figure 9.

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FIGURE 9. Campbell Diagram

RESONANCE
A further look at these coincident points with the knowledge of mode shape(s) and the shape(s) of exciting
forces allows the POSSIBLE RESONANCE points to be identified. Figure 10 is a representation of such an
analysis where the solid circles indicate the few POSSIBLE RESONANCES among the many PROBABLE
RESONANCES of the blade frequency and force frequency intersections.

FIGURE 10. Campbell Diagram with Possible

Resonance Points

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SAFE DIAGRAM
The other projection (Figure 11) in vertical plane (SAFE Plane) shows the same information more clearly. This
is more significant in the low speed range with high order(s) of excitation.

FIGURE 11. SAFE Diagram-

Completely Shrouded Disc

REAL RESONANCE
The explicit knowledge of the forcing function (e.g. shape and frequency) is required to find the real resonance
condition. The major source of excitation is the nozzles, and the frequency of nozzle excitation force is a
function of the number of nozzles and the speed of the turbine. The shape of this force is determined by the
number of nozzles.

Figure 12 and Figure 13 show such a real resonance.

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FIGURE 12. SAFE Diagram-

Completely Shrouded Disc

FIGURE 13. Real Resonance on a

Campbell Diagram

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SAFE DIAGRAM FOR BLADED DISC ASSEMBLY

The SAFE diagram of a forty-blade disc is given below. For the same disc, the effect of shrouding is shown by
three different constructions:

1. completely shrouded (one packet)

2. free standing blades with shrouding (in effect forty packets)
3. eight packets

FIGURE 14. SAFE Diagrams for One Packet,

Eight Packets, and Forty Packets System

The one packet and forty-packet constructions are two limits; any other packeting, such as eight groups of five
blades, will fall in between these two extremes.

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MODE SHAPES OF A PACKETED BLADED DISC

The mode shapes of a packeted bladed disc are complicated. The Fourier decomposition of the displacements
of each blade does not lend to only one component (e.g. Sin or Sin 5 etc.) but other components as well.

For the example problem of 40 bladed disc with eight packets, four mode shapes are plotted together with plots
of different harmonic contents in Figure 15.

FIGURE 15. Some Mode Shapes (for 8 Packets) and their Harmonic Contents

In general, the mode shape of a packeted bladed disc can be written as:

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FIGURE 16. Continuously Shrouded or

Unshrouded Bladed Disc (40 Blades)

FIGURE 17. 8 Packets, 5 Blades in a

Packet, Total 40 Blades.

A graphical depiction of the above equation is given by Ewins and Imregun. The horizontal designation is
harmonic content and the vertical designation is the nodal diameter. For a system having N blades and n
packets, the maximum horizontal and vertical designations will be N/2 (or (N - 1)/2 when N is odd). The
diagrams are constructed by drawing 45 degree lines emanating from each integer multiple of n as shown in
Figure 16 and Figure 17.

There are two important facts revealed by this diagram. (1) When the 45 degree lines cross each other and
have the same horizontal and vertical designation, that mode will split i.e. will have same mode designation but
have two different frequencies. (2) They also indicate the harmonic contents of any mode. For a completely

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shrouded arrangement, each mode contains only one harmonic but on the other hand the example for eight
packets, the fifteen nodal diameter mode has 17, 15, 9, 7, 1 harmonics contents as shown on Figure 15.

Implications of this are that the fifteen nodal diameter mode of the above example will also respond to the 17th,
9th, 7th and 1st harmonics of exciting force but with different magnitude.

INTERFERENCE DIAGRAM BEYOND N/2 LIMIT

The maximum number of mode shapes (number of nodal diameters) plotted on an Interference Diagram for N
blades on the disc is N/2 (or (N - 1)/2, when N is odd). When the excitation is of higher harmonics than N/2, two
questions arise:

1. Will the higher order harmonic(s) of a force excite modes of lower harmonic(s) content?

2. If the answer is "Yes", then how can this information be depicted on the SAFE Diagram?

For the forty bladed disc, the maximum nodal diameter depicted on the SAFE Diagram is twenty. A force having
a fifteen nodal diameter shape will excite the fifteen nodal diameter mode if the frequency is equal to the natural
frequency of this mode.

FIGURE 18. Cos 15and Cos 25 Force Shape

In Figure 18, two cosine waves are plotted between 0 and 90 degrees. They are Cosine 15 and Cosine 25.
They intersect each other at ten points marked with asterisks. In 360 degrees arc, they will intersect at forty
points. The spacing between consecutive intersections is equal and, in turn, it is equal to the spacing between
consecutive blades.

For forty blades on a disc, the spacing between each consecutive blade is 9. If one measures forces on each
blade, these forces will be the same for both of these waves (cosine 15 and cosine 25). That is to say that
blades cannot know whether the forces are from a Cos 25 wave or a Cos 15 wave.

This information can be depicted on the SAFE Diagram.

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FIGURE 19. Force Shape (Nodal Dia.)

The mode shapes of the bladed disc are plotted up to twenty nodal diameters. The force shape can be plotted
to any value. It is shown to eight nodal diameters in Figure 19.

A force having Cos 15 shape will excite fifteen nodal diameter mode shape at a speed of 6280 RPM (Point
P1). A force having Cos 25shape will excite fifteen nodal diameter mode as argued earlier. The speed of
rotation will be 3768 RPM for the frequency of this force to be equal to the natural frequency. This is shown as
Point P2 on the plot. Similarly, a force having Cos 55 and Cos 65 will also excite the fifteen diameter mode
but at lower speeds. These are marked as points P3 and P4 on the plot. By similar argument, any mode
between 0 to 20 nodal diameters can be excited by force shapes higher than Cos 20q. These points are also
shown up to eighty nodal diameters. It should, however, not be inferred that any force shape can excite any
mode. There is a special relationship between mode shapes, shapes of the force and total number of blades on
the disc. This relationship can be described as follows:

The M nodal diameter mode will be excited by a force having a shape of Cos M, Cos (N-M), Cos (N+M)q,
Cos (2N-M), Cos (2N+M), etc. In the above example, M is 15 and N is 40; hence, a force of Cos 15, Cos
25, Cos 55, Cos 65, Cos 95, etc. will excite the fifteen nodal diameter mode but at different speeds. Hence,
the M nodal diameter mode can be excited by a force having a Cos L shape where L = n.N M, where n = 0,
1, 2, 3,---, N and N is the number of blades.

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Let us identify the plot between 0 and 20 nodal diameter as Zone I, between 20 and 40 nodal diameter as Zone
II and so on. Zone II is a mirror image of Zone I, Zone III is a mirror image of Zone II and so on. Hence, Zone I
contains all the information about the structure. The reflections of speed lines about vertical lines passing
through 0 and 20 nodal diameters are required in the first zone. It can be seen that all reflected speed lines
pass through the same fifteen nodal diameter point in Zone I.

The above discussions can be summarized as follows:

1. Zone I as traditionally drawn contains all the information about the vibrating structure.

2. The fifteen nodal diameter mode of a forty bladed disc can be excited by a diaphragm
containing either fifteen, twenty-five, fifty-five, sixty-five, etc. nozzles.

EXPLAINING PUBLISHED DATA BY THE USE OF DRESSER-RAND'S SAFE DIAGRAM

The usefulness of the SAFE Diagram is demonstrated by published results of other researchers. Data from the
following two ASME publications have been used.

1. Weaver, F.L. and Prohl, M.A. - "High Frequency Vibration of Steam Turbine Buckets" ASME Paper No. 56-A-
119

2. Provanzale, G.E. and Skok, M.W. - "A Cure for Steam Turbine Blade Failures" ASME Paper No. 73-Pet-17

1. By using an energy method, Weaver and Prohl calculated response of a packet of blades due to nozzle
passing excitation. The turbine disc in their paper contained 6 blades per packet with a total of 192 blades. The
number of nozzles was 92. Their response calculations showed that the response of the blades was highest
when the nozzle passing frequency coincided with the tangential fixed supported modes. The first tangential
mode's response was very low compared to the tangential fixed supported mode's response. A Campbell
Diagram is drawn using their data (Figure 20).

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FIGURE 20. CAMPBELL DIAGRAM

A SAFE Diagram using their frequency numbers (assuming that the disc is very stiff in tangential direction) has
been constructed. Assuming that the excitation comes from flow distortion due to nozzles, the modes and
frequency of concern have been marked by large shaded circles (Figure 21).

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FIGURE 21. SAFE DIAGRAM

Data from Weaver & Prohl

ASME Paper #56-A-119
192 Blades
92 Nozzles
32 Packets of 6 Blades

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Results from Weaver and Prohl's paper are reproduced alongside the SAFE Diagram (Figure 22).

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FIGURE 22. Resonant-Vibration Stress

The shaded circles on the SAFE Diagram point to the mode(s) of concern as predicted by Weaver and Prohl
(after numerous response calculations).

1XNPF and 2XNPF lines are also drawn on the Campbell Diagram for eighty nozzles. 1XNPF coincides with the
tangential fixed supported modes while 2XNPF line coincides with the tangential fixed supported modes and the
second tangential mode. It will be difficult to find out from this diagram which coincident point(s) can be of
concern without a response calculation for all of the coincident points. The same information is shown (in
broken line and circles) on the SAFE Diagram. It is clear that the 1XNPF coincidence with the tangential fixed
support modes warrants further look.

2. The data provided in the paper by Provanzale and Skok (ASME Paper 73-Pet-17) were obtained by a
response calculation of the blades under the action of aerodynamic forces. Forces were defined by a frequency
and a shape defined by a parameter b. The relationship between b and nodal diameters is b= 360 = N nodal

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diameter (N is the number of blades).

The total number of blades based on the data provided in the paper is estimated to be 264. Based on the theory
of bladed disc vibration, there should be 264 frequencies; each of these will be excited by a force shape
matching the mode shapes provided frequencies coincide. Figure 2 and Figure 3 of the paper are reproduced
here as Figure 23 and Figure 24 below with the addition of definitions followed in this write up. Figure 23 is a
Campbell Diagram with resonance points (partial). Figure 24 is an Interference Diagram (partial) showing the
periodicity every 180 or N/2.

This confirms that the Interference Diagram shows all the resonant points in a bladed disc structure.

FIGURE 23

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FIGURE 24

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SUMMARY
1 . The SAFE Diagram utilized by Dresser-Rand brings in the additional required information about resonant
conditions, namely mode shape and force profile for packeted bladed disc assemblies.

2. A designer does not have to make numerous calculations for response but only at selected points of
concern(s).

3. Interferences on a Campbell Diagram are very difficult to show in the low speed range while the SAFE
Diagram retains clarity for every speed.

4. A Campbell Diagram can be constructed (if desired) by the information available from the SAFE Diagram.

5. Influence of turbine speed on the frequency of vibration is not easily depicted on the SAFE Diagram. It is
easily shown on a regular Campbell Diagram.

6. The reliability of steam turbine can be improved by utilizing this diagram.

Refer questions to:

Contact D-R

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