Harmonic Balance Vibration Analysis of Turbine Blades With Friction Dampers

Although considerable effort has been devoted to the formulation of predictive models of friction damper behavior in turbomachinery applications, especially for turbine blades, the problem is far from being solved due to the complex nonlinear behavior of the contact surfaces. This paper primarily focuses on analytical and numerical aspects of the problem and addresses the problem in the frequency domain while exploring the viability of equivalent time-domain alternatives. The distinct features of this work are: (i) the modelling of nonlinear friction damper behavior as an equivalent amplitude-dependent complex stiffness via a first-order harmonic balance method (HBM), (ii) the use of sine sweep excitation in time-marching analysis, (iii) the application of the methodology to numerical test cases, including an idealised 3D turbine blade model with several friction dampers, (iv) the verification of the numerical findings using experimental data, and (v) a detailed assessment of the suitability of HBM for the analysis of structures with friction dampers.