Three industrial gas turbine blades made of conventionally cast (CC) IN-738 and GTD-111 and directionally solidified GTD-111 Ni-base superalloys were examined after long-term exposures in service environments. All three blades exhibit similar, service-induced microstructural changes (MCs) including ␥Ј coarsening and coalescence, excessive secondary M 23 C 6 precipitation, and primary MC degeneration, regardless of the chemical composition and the grain size. Special attention was paid to the primary MC decomposition. It is shown that the primary MC decomposition occurs by carbon diffusion out of the carbide into the ␥ ϩ ␥Ј matrix, resulting in the formation of Cr-rich M 23 C 6 carbides near the initial carbide/matrix interface. A transition zone is shown to develop between the original MC core and its perimeter, demonstrating the gradual outward diffusion of carbon and a slight inward increase in nickel concentration. The hexagonal Ni 3 (TiTa) -phase was also found in the MC transition zone and on the MC-␥/␥Ј interface. The primary MC decomposition can be expressed by the reaction MC ϩ ␥ր␥Ј → M 23 C 6 ϩ . Finally, it is shown that the grain-boundary (GB) MC decomposes more rapidly than that in the grain interiors. This is consistent with the more rapid GB diffusion that leads to the acceleration of the MC diffusional decomposition processes.

In this article, an energy-based model for predicting fatigue life and evaluation of progressive damage in a full composite wind turbine blade is proposed. It is based on the assumption that the damage growth rate in a composite material depends on the maximum value of elastic strain energy per cycle. Design, finite element modeling, and dynamic analysis of the blade have been performed using ANSYS software. The first five natural frequencies and mode shapes of the blade were calculated and dangerous nodes in the critical location were determined using the modal and harmonic analysis techniques. Obtaining critical stresses from ANSYS analysis, fatigue life of the blade at the first natural resonance frequency was estimated by the model. Results showed that the calculated life of the analyzed blade could meet the design requirement.

A conventional material behaviour model can be extended to taking into account varying thermo-mechanical loading conditions in wide stress range. The motivation for developing this model is given by the well documented failure case study of high-temperature components at unit 1 of the Eddystone fossil power plant (Pennsylvania, USA), which have operated for 130,520 h in creep-fatigue interaction conditions. The developed model basis is a creep constitutive law in the form of hyperbolic sine stress response function originally proposed by Nadai (1938). The constitutive law is extended to assume the damage process by the introduction of scalar damage parameter and appropriate evolution equation according to Kachanov-Rabotnov concept. The research task is the introduction into the constitutive model of a few additional material state variables, able to reflect hardening and recovery effects under cyclic loading conditions. The first variable is represented by the relatively fast saturating back-stress K describing kinematic hardening. The second variable is represented by the relatively slow saturating parameter H describing isotropic hardening. Evolution equations for K and H are formulated in a modified form originally proposed by Chaboche and based on the Frederick-Armstrong concept. The uniaxial modelling results are compared with cyclic stress-strain diagrams and alternative experimental data in the form of creep curves, tensile stress-strain diagrams, relaxation curves, etc., for the austenitic steel AISI type 316 at 600°C in a wide stress range.

In this paper an energy-based model for predicting fatigue life and evaluation of progressive damage using plane-stress assumption is proposed. This model allows us to predict fatigue durability taking into account principal directions of the stress tensor relative to planes of elastic symmetry of material. First, the unknown parameters of this model will be calculated for three different composites with various lays-up. Method for determining these parameters is based on the minimum necessary set of experimental data. Afterwards the model was used to predict fatigue life and estimate accumulated fatigue damage in a unidirectional composite under different angles of loading. The analysis of conclusions of the theory for various loading conditions was carried out and performed comparison between the experimental data and predicted results. The predicted fatigue lives obtained by the proposed energy model were in good agreement with the experimental data.