Development of Laser V-Probe Calibration Methods for Measurement of Turbine Blade Tip Clearance
Open Access
Author:
Zanine, Samantha
Area of Honors:
Mechanical Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Reid A Berdanier, Thesis Supervisor Daniel Humberto Cortes Correales, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
v-probe tip clearance blade tip clearance gas turbine engine calibration
Abstract:
Gas turbine engines are often used in applications where it may be necessary to produce large amounts of power. In the turbine section of the engine, blade tip clearance is an important measurement. With too small of a clearance, operational safety can be negatively impacted. If the clearance is too large, turbine efficiency may be decreased due to a leakage vortex, which causes additional resistance for blade rotation. In the Steady Thermal Aero Research Turbine (START) Lab at Pennsylvania State University, capacitance probes are typically used to measure this clearance. Through this project, the calibration of optical V-probe sensors to measure blade tip clearance is investigated. By the manufacturer, calibration curves were created on a 24-inch diameter disk. When used on rigs with varying radii, new calibration curves must be generated: here, a 7.8” diameter disk was used. Results from this study document the creation of operating procedures for calibration purposes. The calibration data are also compared to data collected on a different disk diameter.
