DYNA JOURNAL ENGINEERING

Key words:

modelos a escala, prototipos, análisis experimental, deformaciones, Leyes de similitud, vida útil, scale models, experimental analysis, deformations, similarity laws, useful life, mechanical fatigue

Article type:

ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION / RESEARCH ARTICLE

Section:

RESEARCH ARTICLES

The failures, unexpected and catastrophic, are presented in large mechanical systems, specifically, in the electric power generation. The development of new methodologies of analysis and research to evaluate and calculate useful life must be proposed. In this work, an analytical-experimental novel methodology was developed using laws of similarity and models at the scale of prototypes, parts or mechanical components of any system. The methodology developed in the dynamic study of steam turbine blades was applied to calculate their stresses, deformations and the prediction of their useful life in mechanical fatigue conditions. The analytic-experimental and numerical results showed a relative error of less than 3,16% for both models. The new methodology was validated with these results. The use of scale models with the application of similarity laws will be of help in the analysis of failures where due to the size or high costs, real systems cannot be analyzed.

Keywords: scale models, experimental analysis, deformations, similarity laws, useful life, mechanical fatigue