Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2010: Power for Land, Sea and Air

GT2010
June 14-16, 2010, Glasgow, UK
Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2010: Power for Land, Sea and Air
GT2010
REVISED June 14-18, 2010, Glasgow, UK

GT2010-22332
GT2010-
IMPACT OF OPERATING AND HEALTH CONDITIONS ON AERO GAS TURBINE

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HOT SECTION CREEP LIFE USING A CREEP FACTOR APPROACH

M.F. Abdul Ghafir Y.G. Li

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, School of Engineering, Cranfield University,
86000 Parit Raja, Malaysia Cranfield, Bedford MK43 0AL, UK

R. Singh K. Huang X. Feng

School of Engineering, Cranfield China Aviation Powerplant China Aviation Powerplant
University, Cranfield, Bedford Research Institute, Aviation Research Institute, Aviation
MK43 0AL, UK Industry Corporation of China Industry Corporation of China

ABSTRACT
A thorough assessment of component life is very important to
ensure both the safety and economics of gas turbine operation.
As a component’s life given by OEM is based on certain
ambient and operating conditions, its actual life may vary
substantially when the ambient, operating and engine health
conditions change. Therefore possessing knowledge on how
those conditions affect actual component life will be valuable in
making informed maintenance decisions, maximising operation
effectiveness and cutting down operating costs. In this paper, an
impact analysis on component creep life due to different
operating and engine health conditions using an introduced
Creep Factor is performed, which aims to provide useful
insights on the relationship between gas turbine performance
change and hot section component’s creep life. As the Creep
Factor is defined as the ratio between the actual creep life and a
reference creep life at a user-defined condition, the magnitude
of the impact can be quantified with the change of the Creep
Factor. The developed creep life analysis approach was applied
to a model single spool turboshaft gas turbine engine operated
at various operating and health conditions. A physics-based
model combined with the Creep Factor approach was then used
to estimate the creep life variation of the high pressure turbine
of the model engine. The results showed that for a clean engine,
the change in the rotational speed has given the highest impact
on the creep life consumption. Also the presence of blade
cooling and component degradation is seen to significantly
reduce the blade’s creep life and as the degradation effects are
combined, the degree of reduction increases even more. It also
shows that the Creep Factor is good indicator of creep life
consumption and provides a good technique to rank the
influencing factor according to the threat they imposed.
1. INTRODUCTION
Since the first jet engine was put into operation during the
1930’s, technology has progressed significantly. Despite
remarkable achievements, the desire to always improve an
engine’s efficiency has led to a condition where the hot section
components are exposed to extreme mechanical and thermal
stress. This invites several modes of failure such as creep
especially at the high pressure turbine blades as these
components are likely to experience intense mechanical and
thermal loading thus reducing the components’ service life
Life assessment has always been a major concern to the
gas turbine user for both safety and economy reasons [1, 2].
Overestimating the blades’ life could lead to catastrophic
incidents and economic losses. On the other hand,
underestimating the blades’ life will cause the premature
removal of the components. The large safety margin imposed
by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), to ensure
safety, makes the blades’ life estimation too conservative
leading to a waste of good product during maintenance [3, 4].
Moreover, as the life limits provided by the OEM are normally
calculated on the basis of a design envelope of expected base
load, calculated mechanical and thermal stresses as a function
of the operating condition and the capability of the materials
within those conditions, the guidelines do not always address

1 Copyright © 2010 by ASME

the specific operating environment and requirements of each
operator [4, 5].
In view of this, having the knowledge of how an engine
responds to changes in the operating and health conditions will
be essential as these changes will affect the engine performance
parameters and hence alter the creep life. If the changes can be
quantified, it will help the users to make informed maintenance
decisions, maximise operation effectiveness and thus cut down
on operating costs.
Many studies have been conducted in order to understand
how these changes affect the creep life. While most of them
focus on investigating creep life from the ‘material’ point of
view [6-13], less information is available in the open literatures
that discuss the creep life from the ‘performance’ or ‘operation’
points of view. Tinga et al. [14] examined the degradation effect
on the high pressure (HP) turbine blades’ creep life of a
turbofan F100-PW-220 engine using an integrated lifing model.
A 1% and -2% changes in flow capacity and efficiency
respectively were simulated in order to examine the change in
accumulated creep strain. Similarly, Naeem et al. [15, 16] used
their lifing model to investigate the degradation effect on the
HP turbine blades’ creep life of a turbofan F404-GE-400
engine. Single and multiple component degradations were
simulated to observe the percentage change in creep life with
respect to a clean engine for a defined mission profile. They
then used the same engine model and mission profile to study
the effect of day temperature variation [17]. Liu et al. in their
work [18, 19] investigated the effect of several operating
parameters (engine speed, hot flow temperature, cooling flow
temperature and cooling holes diameter) on HP turbine blades’
creep life. Using the statistical Response Surface Method
(RSM), an explicit relationship between those parameters and
creep life was obtained. Wallace et al. [20] then used the same
approach when they studied the effect of gas temperature,
external heat transfer coefficient, creep constant variation
parameter and friction in the cooling holes with HP turbine
blades’ creep life.
Most of the works described earlier have provided insights
into how different operating conditions can dictate the change
on creep life. However, the focus has been either to obtain a
better creep life prediction at the desired operating condition or
to qualitatively describe the changes.
For this paper, an impact analysis was performed on a
model turboshaft engine using a Creep Factor introduced in this
study which quantitatively measures the magnitude of the
impact under different operating and health conditions. The aim
is to be able to identify how much it will weigh when a unit
change is given to those conditions relative to a specific
operating condition. In addition the change of the creep life
measured as a Creep Factor will be displayed as those
conditions are changed.
2. METHODOLOGY
The major factors that affect gas turbine useful life are
creep, fatigue and oxidation. Gas turbine creep life is
dominantly determined by its critical component - high
pressure turbine, as it experiences highest thermal and
mechanical stress and therefore the focus of this research is to
explore a method for the analysis of creep life of HP turbines.
The work used Cranfield University’s gas turbine
performance and diagnostics software, PYTHIA to simulate the
aero-thermal behaviour. Using a physics-based model, the
mechanical and thermal stress analyses were performed on the
high pressure turbine blades. In order to estimate the blades’
remnant creep life, the Larson-Miller parametric method was
applied before the impact of operating and the engine’s health
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conditions on the blades’ creep life were quantified using a
Creep Factor approach.
It is important to note that this paper focuses at the creep as
the main failure mode. The interactions between different
failure modes are not discussed and are not the scope of this
presented work.
2.1 CREEP FACTOR
It is obvious that in order for us to perform an impact
analysis, comparison to a certain reference value that will act as
a yardstick needs to be done. In the case of blades’ creep life
assessment, having to only know the remnant creep life say
17,000 hours, would not be sufficient as it does not reflect how
well the engine is being used. Instead, if we could also quantify
that the 17,000 hours is actually 40% shorter than it is supposed
to be, this will indicate that the engine under the present
operating condition has experienced more severe mechanical
and thermal loading. The value of 40% in this case indicates the
magnitude of impact that an operating condition has when the
engine is being operated away from the normal operating
condition. By possessing this information, it will allow the
users to seek for better solution, optimised the mission profiles
or establish an effective maintenance planning that will reduce
the operating and maintenance costs.
To represent such impact on the deviation of operating
conditions or even the deviation in the components’ health
conditions, a relative creep life analysis defined as the Creep
Factor, ‫ ܨܥ‬is introduced which can measure how quickly the
creep life is being consumed relative to a specific operating
condition desired by the users. It is defined as a ratio between
the actual remnant creep life calculated at the corresponding
operating condition and the reference remnant life at a user-
defined condition and can be expressed mathematically as:
‫ܮ‬஼
‫= ܨܥ‬ (1)
‫ܮ‬஼ோ௘௙
where ‫ܮ‬஼ is the actual remnant life calculated at the
corresponding operating condition and ‫ܮ‬஼ோ௘௙ is the reference
remnant life at a user-defined reference operating condition.
This reference condition can be the nominal operating
condition, baseline operating condition, cruise condition or the
design point condition.
By using a reference remnant life that is desirable to the
users, it will allow the users to choose a suitable ‘yardstick’ in
order to perform a realistic impact analysis as the value of
2 Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Creep factor helps the user to weight the change in the
component’s remnant creep life when the operating conditions
deviates from the normal users’ operating condition.
Furthermore the Creep Factor will eliminate the dependency on
the given OEM baseline operation which sometimes is not
achievable when the users-defined normal operating conditions
are far from the suggested baseline operation.
In general when:
a. ‫ = ܨܥ‬1, the engine is being operated at the reference
condition with ‫ܮ‬஼ = ‫ܮ‬஼ோ௘௙
b. ‫ < ܨܥ‬1, the engine is being operated in a much worse
condition than its reference condition hence reducing
the blades’ remnant life
c. ‫ > ܨܥ‬1, the engine is being operated at a better
condition thus increasing the blades’ remnant life
d. ‫ ܨܥ‬ൌ Ͳ, blade will fail as ‫ܮ‬஼ = 0.
Figure 1: A simplified flow diagram of the life estimation model
2.2.1 STRESS MODEL
The stress model considers the effects of the centrifugal
loading and gas bending moment as its main sources of stress.
Once PYTHIA had simulated the engine aero-thermal
behaviours, the values were inputted into the stress model
which was then used to calculate the blades’ stresses due to
centrifugal load caused by engine rotation and the gas bending
moment caused by (i) the change in gas momentum and (ii) the
For example, a ‫ ܨܥ‬value of 0.7 for example will indicates a
30% reduction of the component’s creep life from its reference
operating condition whereas a ‫ ܨܥ‬of 2 will indicates that the
creep life increase two fold from its reference operating
condition.
2.2 BLADE LIFE ASSESSMENT MODEL
Since the prediction of creep life can be computationally
very expensive, especially if the most elaborate and time-
consuming finite element procedures are applied, the life
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assessment model developed was simplified using a 2D
analytical approach. The simplified flow diagram of the life
assessment model is given in Figure 1. The model consists of
three sub-models which are the (i) mechanical stress model
which performs the stress analysis, (ii) thermal model which
performs the thermal analysis, and (iii) creep model which
calculates the reference and the actual creep life and then
displays the result as a Creep Factor. The model receives the
aero-thermal input from PYTHIA, and uses the geometrical and
material data defined by the user.
presence of the static pressure difference. It is assumed in the
model that the axial velocity remain constant along the blade
span and the forces action on the blade (centrifugal loading,
static pressure difference and momentum change) act at the
blade section centre of gravity (CG).
A blade was divided into sections and the section’s
centrifugal force ‫ܨܥ‬ௌ௘௖ was computed using [21]:
3 Copyright © 2010 by ASME
 ‫ܨܥ‬ௌ௘௖ ௜ = ߩ × ‫ܣ‬஺௩஼௦ ௜ × ℎୗୣୡ୧ × ߱ ଶ × ݀஼ீ ௜ (2)
where݅ is the designated blade section, ߩ is the blade
density, ‫ܣ‬஺௩஼௦ is the average cross section between the top and
the bottom sections, ℎୗୣୡ is the blade section height, ߱ is the
angular speed, and ݀஼ீ is the distance between the rotation axis
and the section centre of gravity (CG). Using Equation 3 [21],
the centrifugal stress at each section ߪ஼ிௌ௘௖ was calculated
where ‫ܣ‬஼ௌ is the cross section area of blade section i and ݊ is
the number of blade section.
∑௡௜ ‫ܨܥ‬ௌ௘௖ ௜
ߪ஼ிௌ௘௖௜ = (3)
‫ܣ‬஼ௌ ௜
In order to calculate the bending moment stress due to
static pressure difference(see Figure 2), the pressure force of
each blade section, ܲ‫ܨ‬ௌ௘௖ was calculated using Equation 4 [21]
before the pressure bending moment at each section, ‫ܲ ܯܤ‬௦௘௖
was calculated using Equation 5 [21],
‫ܣ‬஺௡ௌ௘௖ ௜ × ∆‫݌‬஺௩ௌ௘௖ ௜
ܲ‫ܨ‬ௌ௘௖ ௜ = (4)
ܰ௕
௡ three different locations which were at the leading edge (LE),
‫ܲ ܯܤ‬ୗୣୡ௜ = ෍ (ܲ‫ܨ‬ௌ௘௖௜ × ݀஼ீ௦௘௖௜) (5)
௜
where ‫ܣ‬஺௡ௌ௘௖ is the blade section annulus area, ο‫݌‬஺௩ௌ௘௖ is the
average section static pressure difference, ܰ௕ is the number of
blades, and ݀஼ீ௦௘௖ is the distance between the section CG to the
respective section .
ܲ‫ܨ‬ୱୣୡ௡ /ܸ‫ܨ‬ୱୣୡ௡
ܲ‫ܨ‬ୱୣୡூூ / ܸ‫ܨ‬ୱୣୡூூ
݀஼ீ௦௘௖ூூ
ܲ‫ܨ‬ୱୣୡூ/ܸ‫ܨ‬௦௘௖ூ
Bending moment at root
Figure 2: Bending moment at root calculation due to
static pressure difference / momentum change
When the gas traverses the blades, there exist forces acting
on the blades due to velocity difference between the inlet and
the outlet. These forces are produced by the momentum change
of the gases in both axial and tangential directions. In this
model, the blade section momentum forces for both axial and
tangential direction ܸ‫ܨ‬ௌ௘௖ were computed using a general
equation expressed as [21] as shown in Figure 2:
݉ ஺௥௘௔ × ‫ܣ‬஺௡ௌ௘௖ ௜ × ∆ܸ஺௩ௌ௘௖ ௜
ܸ‫ܨ‬ௌ௘௖ ௜ = (6)
ܰ௕
where ݉ ஺௥௘௔ is the mass flow per unit section annulus area,
οܸ஺௩ௌ௘௖ is the average section velocity difference for both axial
and tangential directions respectively. The momentum bending
moments (axial and tangential) about each blade section
‫ܸ ܯܤ‬௦௘௖ were then calculated using [21]:
௡
‫ܸ ܯܤ‬ୗୣୡ௜ = ෍ (ܲ‫ܨ‬ௌ௘௖௜ × ݀஼ீ௦௘௖௜) (7)
௜
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In order to obtain the resulting bending moment at the
blade direction (see Figure 3), Equations 8 [21] and 9 [21] were
applied,
‫ ܯ‬௫௫ ௜ = ൫‫ܲ ܯܤ‬ୱୣୡ௜ + ‫ܸ ܯܤ‬௦௘௖ (௔௫௜௔௟) ௜൯sin ߠ
(8)
+ ‫ܸ ܯܤ‬௦௘௖(௧௔௡) ௜cos ߠ
‫ ܯ‬௬௬ ௜ = ൫‫ܲ ܯܤ‬ୱୣୡ ௜ + ‫ܸ ܯܤ‬௦௘௖(௔௫௜௔௟) ௜൯ܿ‫ߠݏ݋‬
(9)
− ‫ܸ ܯܤ‬௦௘௖(௧௔௡) ௜‫ߠ ݊݅ݏ‬
where ‫ ܯ‬௫௫ and ‫ ܯ‬௬௬ are the blade section resulting bending
moments about the x and y axis, and ߠ is the blade section
stager angle. This was to calculate the bending moment stress at
trailing edge (TE), and the back of the blade section using
Equation 10 [21]
‫ ܯ‬௫௫ ௜ ‫ ܯ‬௬௬ ௜
ߪ஻ெ ௜ = ܻ௜ + ܺ (10)
‫ܫ‬୫ ୧୬ ௜ ‫ܫ‬୫ ୟ୶௜ ௜
where ‫ܫ‬௠ ௜௡ and ‫ܫ‬௠ ௔௫ are the maximum and minimum values of
the blade section moment of inertia, ܺ and ܻ are the distances
between the corresponding location to the blade’s section CG as
illustrated in Figure 3.
The output of the stress model is the maximum stress at the
blade sections when both stresses (centrifugal loading and gas
bending moment) were added. It is important to note that the
location where the maximum stress occurs (either at LE, TE or
the blade back) largely depends on the operating condition and
the geometry of the blade.
Figure 3: Schematic diagram of the blade and gas flow
directions
4 Copyright © 2010 by ASME
2.2.2 THERMAL MODEL
The thermal model uses a 2D approach which computes
the temperature variation at each blade section. Taking the
radial temperature distribution profile (RTDF) as 0.1, the
maximum, ܶ௠ ௔௫ and the minimum gas temperature, ܶ௠ ௜௡ were
calculated using Equations 11[22] and 12:
ܶ௠ ௔௫ = ܶைூே + (ܶோாி × ܴܶ‫)ܨܦ‬
(11)
(5ܶ௢ூே − 2ܶ௠ ௔௫) (12)
ܶ௠ ௜௡ =
3
where ܶைூே is the rotor inlet temperature and ܶோாி is
temperature rise of the burner. By assuming that the maximum
temperature will occur around 75% distance from the root,ܶ଻ହΨ
the gas temperature at each blade section was predicted. Note
that the value of RTDF is considered to be a typical value
(RTDF value should be kept not more than 0.2[22]) as this
value was found to be used in other literatures [23-25]. Note
also that the selection of the maximum temperature is based on
the fact that the rotation of the turbine blade will cause the peak
gas temperature to shift from the mid of the blade towards the
tip region [26].
Equation 12 is derived through extrapolation of several
defined gas temperature points (ܶ௧௜௣ ǡܶ௥௢௢௧ǡܶ଻ହΨ ...and etc.)
which characterized the gas temperature distribution along the
blade span. At this point, several assumptions were used (i) the
minimum gas temperature will occur at the root, ܶ௥௢௢௧ and the
tip, ܶ௧௜௣ of the blade, (ii) the reduction in gas temperature from
the maximum temperature, ܶ଻ହΨ to the tip of the blade, ܶ௧௜௣ is
linear, (iii) the rise of the gas temperature from the root,ܶ௥௢௢௧ to
ܶ଻ହΨ is also linear, and (iv) the average of those defined
temperature points should equal to the rotor inlet
temperature,ܶைூே .
The value of the rotor inlet gas temperature, ܶைூே used in
Equation 12 is determined by considering the mixing effect
between the core flow and the coolant flow exiting the nozzle
guide vane (NGV) using Equation 13:
݉ ௚ ‫ܲܥ‬௛ ܶைூே (஻௘௙) + ݉ ௖ே ீ௏ ‫ܲܥ‬௖ܶ஼௢ே ீ௏
ܶைூே = (13)
൫݉ ௚ + ݉ ௖ே ீ௏ ൯‫ܲܥ‬௛
where ݉ ௚ is the gas mass flow,‫ܲܥ‬௖ and ‫ܲܥ‬௛ are the specific
heats of the cold and hot gases respectively, ܶைூே (஻௘௙) is the
rotor inlet temperature before mixing, ݉ ௖ே ீ௏ is the NGV
coolant mass flow, and ܶ஼௢ே ீ௏ is the NGV coolant exit
temperature. In order to use Equation 13, ܶைூே (஻௘௙) and ܶ஼௢ே ீ௏
are calculated using Equation 14 and 15[23]:
݉ ௖ே ீ௏ ‫ܲܥ‬௖
ܶைூே (஻௘௙) = ܶ‫ ܶܧ‬− (ܶ஼௢ே ீ௏ − ܶ஼௜ே ீ௏ ) (14)
݉ ௚ ‫ܲܥ‬௛
ܶ஼௢ே ீ௏ = ܶ஼௜ே ீ௏ + ߟ௖௢௡ே ீ௏ (ܶே ீ௏ − ܶ஼௜ே ீ௏ ) (15)
where ܶ‫ ܶܧ‬is the turbine entry temperature, ܶ஼௜ே ீ௏ is the NGV
inlet coolant temperature, ߟ௖௢௡ே ீ௏ is the NGV’s convection
efficiency and ܶே ீ௏ is the NGV metal temperature. The
ߟ௖௢௡ே ீ௏ and the ܶே ீ௏ in Equation 15 are determined using
Equation 16 [23] and 17[23].
ܶே ீ௏ = ܶ‫ ܶܧ‬− ߝ(ே ீ௏) (ܶ‫ ܶܧ‬− ܶ஼௜ே ீ௏ ) (16)
ߝ(ே ீ௏)
ߟ௖௢௡ே ீ௏ = (17)
݉ ∗ ே ீ௏ ൫1 − ߝ(ே ீ௏) ൯
where ܶே ீ௏ is the NGV metal temperature, ߝሺே ீ௏ሻ is the NGV’s
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cooling effectiveness, and ݉ ∗ ே ீ௏ is the NGV coolant non-
dimensional mass flow which was assumed to be around 1ൗ2.5
of the NGV coolant mass percentage[27].
To predict the blade section metal temperature, similar
approach is being employed. Each blade section is treated as
individual blade where the metal temperature is assumed to be
constant at both chord-wise and span-wise. It is also assumed
that all blade section has the same cooling effectiveness and the
inlet coolant temperature for the blade section is taken from the
exit temperature of the section below it (blade section at the
root will take the rotor coolant inlet temperature as its coolant
inlet temperature. The section metal temperatures ܶெ ௌ௘௖ were
then calculated using [23]:
ܶெ ௌ௘௖ = ܶீௌ௘௖ − ߝ(ܶீௌ௘௖ − ܶ஼௜ௌ௘௖) (18)
where ܶீௌ௘௖ is the section gas temperature which is taken form
the gas temperature points respectively, ܶ஼௜௦௘௖ is the section
inlet coolant temperature and ߝ is the rotor cooling
effectiveness. Similar to the NGV analysis, the section coolant
exit temperature, ܶ஼௢ௌ௘௖ is determined using [23]:
ܶ஼௢ௌ௘௖ = ܶ஼௜ௌ௘௖ + ߟ௖௢௡ௌ௘௖(ܶெ ௌ௘௖ − ܶ஼௜ௌ௘௖) (19)
where ߟ௖௢௡ௌ௘௖ is the section’s convection efficiency which is
calculated using Equation 20[23]:
ߝ
ߟ௖௢௡ௌ௘௖ = (20)
݉ ∗ (1− ߝ)
where ݉ ∗ is the rotor coolant non-dimensional mass flow
which was assumed to be around 1ൗ2.5 of the rotor coolant
mass percentage [27].
2.2.3 CREEP MODEL
To obtain a reasonably conservative estimate of creep life,
either at the current operating condition or the reference
operating condition, the Larson-Miller parametric approach was
used in the model. From Arrhenius’s Law, the equation can be
expressed as
(21)
ܲ = 10ିଷܶ൫log ‫ݐ‬௙ + ‫ܥ‬൯
hence the time to failure can be written as
ଵ଴଴଴௉
‫ݐ‬௙ = 10ቀ ்
ିଶ଴ቁ (22)
5 Copyright © 2010 by ASME
where ܲ is the Larson-Miller parameter, ܶ is the material
temperature, ‫ݐ‬௙ is the time to failure and ‫ ܥ‬is the parameter
constant. It is reported in most of the literature that the value of
the constant ‫ ܥ‬can be between 17 and 23, but it is normally
generalised to 20.
For a known specific turbine blade material, and the stress
and metal temperature obtained from the previous models, the
time to failure for both current and reference operating
conditions were estimated before the Creep Factor was
estimated using Equation 1.
blades are exposed to the most volatile conditions (high thermal
and mechanical loading) which make them vulnerable to creep
damage. Because of this reason, the HP turbine blades are
considered to be the life limiting component and often so
influence the inspection and maintenance interval. The
variation of those listed factors is reasonably assumed and the
impacts are quantified using the Creep Factor.
Table 1: Influencing factors and their variation chosen in
this study

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It is important to note that since at different blade sections, Influencing factor Test range Remark
the amount of stresses and metal temperatures are different;
creep life at different blade sections will be different as well. Engine relative PCN 0.9981 to 0.95
The minimum creep life calculated will be taken as the value rotational speed
which represents the blade’s remnant life. Altitude 0 to 5000 m
Ambient temperature 0 to 21.1 T from
ISA sea level.
3. APPLICATION Cooling effectiveness 0 to 6% degradation
degradation
In order to study the impact of operating and health Compressor fouling 0 to 5 FI
conditions on the creep life of a gas turbine engine’s hot section HPT erosion 0 to 5 EI
using the Creep Factor approach, a model single spool turbo- LPT erosion 0 to 5 EI
shaft engine was used. The engine configuration, given in Combination of 0 to 3 EDI Assigned as
Figure 4, consists of a compressor, a reverse flow annular compressor fouling Case 1
combustion chamber, a single stage compressor turbine and a and HPT erosion
two stage power turbine. Combination of 0 to 3 EDI Assigned as
compressor fouling Case 2
and LPT erosion
Combination of HPT 0 to 3 EDI Assigned as
and LPT erosions Case 3

A B C E F
D D G
C of PCN 0.95 in Table 1 means that the rotational speed at that
A: Intake B: Compressor C: Burner D: Duct
E: Compressor Turbine F: Power Turbine G: Nozzle
Figure 4: Engine model configuration
Based on the engine configuration, an engine performance
model was constructed using PYTHIA. For each of the
changes in the performance parameters and the engine’s health
conditions, gas path measurements such as mass flow rates,
pressures and temperatures were simulated and sent to the life
estimation model to estimate the Creep Factor.
In addition, the turbine stage data such as the number of
blades, the stager angles, the heights of the tip and root at the
leading and trailing edges, the cross sectional areas, blades’
angles, cooling effectiveness and the blades’ material were
specified but for confidentiality reasons, those values are not
given in this paper.
This work focuses on studying the impacts of different
influencing factors listed in Table 1 on the creep life of HP
turbine blades. HP turbine blades are chosen due to the fact that
by comparison with other major gas turbine components, the
It is important to note that for all the tests, the engine
relative rotational speed was chosen as a handle. Also the value
point is 95% of its absolute design rotational speed. Three
indices which are the fouling index (FI), erosion index (EI), and
engine degradation index (EDI) are used in this study. These
indices were adopted from Naeem et al.’s work [15, 16, 17]
which are hypothetical parameters describing the magnitude of
degradations:
(i) 1% of EI - 1% decrease in efficiency accompanied by
a 0.5% increase in flow capacity
(ii) 1% of FI - 1% decrease in efficiency accompanied by
a 0.5% reduction in flow capacity
(iii) 1 % EDI - 1% FI and 1% of EI for both Case 1 and
Case 2. For Case 3 1 % EI of both HPT
and LPT.
In this study, a clean engine running at a PCN of 0.98, zero
altitude, with an ambient temperature of 36.1 C (21.1 T
from ISA sea level) is chosen as the reference operating point.
4. RESULTS AND DUSCUSSION
In this section, the effects of the change in operating and
health conditions on engine high pressure turbine blade creep
life are discussed.

6 Copyright © 2010 by ASME

4.1 EFFECT OF ENGINE ROTATIONAL SPEED
As the engine rotational speed was used as the handle of
the engine, the level of the handle represents the level of engine
speed. Figure 5 illustrates the effect of engine rotational speed
on the creep life of the HP turbine blades. It can be seen from
the predicted results shown in Figure 5 that when the engine’s
rotational speed was reduced from its reference value of 0.98 to
0.95 the Creep Factor was increased substantially from 1.0 to
around 5.2. This indicates that a 3% reduction in rotational
speed from its reference operating condition will extend the
stress from its reference value. Delta stress represents the
difference between the blade stress (ߪ௠ ) at the current
operating condition and the blade stress ൫ߪ௥௘௙൯at the reference
operating condition. A negative trend as the engine rotational
speed reduces indicates a significant reduction in the blade
stress value. This shows that when the engine speed reduces,
the stresses are reduced extensively due to the change in
centrifugal forces, thus changing the maximum stresses. It is
important to note that the stresses due to the bending moment
also change but are relatively small compared with the stress

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blade life up to nearly 5 fold. In contrast, as the speed was resulting from the centrifugal force.
increased from its reference operating condition to 0.999, the
Creep Factor dropped dramatically to a value of 0.23 indicating 30
a 77% reduction in the blade’s creep life from its reference life.

Deviation from reference values

25
6 Delta Temperature
20
Delta Stress
5 15
10
4
Creep Factor

5
3 0
-5 0.94 0.95 0.96 0.97 0.98 0.99 1
2
-10
1 -15

0 -20
0.94 0.95 0.96 0.97
PCN
Figure 5: The effect of engine rotational speed on Creep
Factor
The figure also indicates that the Creep Factor varies
exponentially with the engine rotational speed. A plot of a log
Creep Factor against speed (see Figure 6) shows an almost
linear relation between the log Creep Factor and the engine
rotational speed and such a plot provides a much clearer
representation of the relationship. For example for this engine,
a 1% drop in rotational speed from its reference operating
condition will result in around a 0.2 to 0.3 rise on the value of
the log Creep Factor and vice versa.
0.8
0.6
Log Creep Factor
PCN
0.98 0.99 1 -25
Figure 7: Deviation of metal temperature and stress from
reference value vs. engine speed
In addition, the reduction in rotational speeds also reduces
the intake mass flow. As the mass flow reduces, the required
shaft power will reduce thus reducing the TET. As a result, the
metal temperature will be brought down. Figure 7 also
illustrates the relationship between the change in the metal
temperature of HP turbine blades and the engine rotational
speed. In this figure the delta temperature represents the
difference between the temperature (ܶ௠ ) at the current
operating condition and the metal temperature (ܶ௥௘௙ ) at the
reference operating condition. As the rotational speed drops, a
negative slope is depicted indicating a lower metal temperature
due to the lower TET.

0.4
0.2
0.0 4.2 EFFECT OF ALTITUDE
With the increase in altitude, the ambient static temperature
-0.20.94 0.95 0.96 0.97 0.98 0.99 1
falls linearly and so does the static pressure and air density,
-0.4 hence reducing the mass flow rate into the engine. Since in this
-0.6 PCN test the engine rotational speed is chosen as a handle, the
required shaft power will reduce in order to keep a constant
-0.8
shaft rotational speed. Therefore less energy input is required
and the TET drops as a result, thus reducing the metal
Figure 6: Log Creep Factor vs. engine speed temperature as shown in Figure 8.
The increase in the altitude also changes the blade stresses
The change in the Creep Factor is resulted from a because of the change in the gas bending moment due to
substantial change in both blade stresses and metal pressure and momentum change. Unfortunately, such change is
temperatures. Figure 7 illustrates the deviation of the blade

7 Copyright © 2010 by ASME

relatively small since the centrifugal force which acts as the
main stress contributor does not change. This can be seen
clearly as we compare the stress deviation shown in Figure 8
with that in Figure 7. So in this study, temperature is seen to be
the most influential factor in changing the creep life of the HP
turbine blades.
2 Altitude (m)
metal temperature as shown in Figure 10. In addition, the lower
intake temperature will results in a drop in coolant temperature.
This increases the cooling capability as more heat can be
transferred out of the blades thus lowering the metal
temperature.
2 Dev. In Ambient Temp from ISA
0

Deviation from reference

0 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22

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-4
Deviation from reference value

-2 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

value
-6
-4 -8
Delta Temperature
-6 Delta Stress -10
-12
-8
-14 Delta Temperature
-10 -16 Delta stress
-12 -18

-14 Figure 10: Deviation of metal temperature and stress from

reference value vs. deviation in ambient temperature
-16

-18 The effect of ambient temperature change on creep life is

Figure 8: Deviation of metal temperature and stress from
reference value vs. altitude
Figure 9 illustrates the behaviour of the Creep Factor when
the altitude was increased from its reference value 0m to
5000m. The figure shows that when the altitude increases, the
Creep Factor increases fairly linearly from 1.0 to around 3.0
indicating an increase in the blade’s creep life up to three fold.
Treating the changes as linear, 100m increase in altitude from
its reference value results in an increase of 0.034 in the Creep
Factor and vice versa.
3.00
2.50
shown in Figure 11. Since the reference operating condition
has an ambient temperature deviation of 21.1C from the ISA
condition, the simulations were carried out by reducing the
deviation until it reached the ISA sea level condition. It can be
seen from the figure that as the ambient temperature difference
is brought to zero, the creep factor increases 2.5 times from its
initial value. Similar to the previous graph, a fairly linear
relation between the creep factor and the ambient temperature
deviation is depicted. Figure 11 indicates that a unit reduction
in the temperature deviation from its reference operating
condition will cause approximately a 0.069 increase in the
creep factor.
3.0
2.5
Creep Factor

2.0
Creep Factor

2.00
1.5
1.50
1.0
1.00
0.5
0.50 0.0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Altitude (m)
Figure 9: Effect of altitude on Creep Factor Dev. In Ambient Temp from ISA

Figure 11: The effect of ambient temperature change on

4.3 EFFECT OF AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
The drop in the ambient temperature means a decrease in
the inlet intake temperature. As the air becomes colder, the
amount of work that is needed to compress the air becomes
less. Apparently, this will reduce the amount of work that is
needed to drive the compressor hence reducing the TET and the
creep factor
Similar to the change in altitude, the dominant effect of the
change in the blade creep life is the change of turbine entry
temperature due to the change of ambient temperature as small

8 Copyright © 2010 by ASME

changes in the blade stress happen as the engine rotational 4.5 EFFECT OF SINGLE AND MULTIPLE
speed is kept constant. COMPONENTS’ DEGRADATION
In this section, the effects of the engine health conditions
4.4 EFFECT OF COOLING EFECTIVENESS on Creep Factor are discussed. The first part of this section will
DEGRADATION. focus on the effect of the single component degradation. The
The cooling capability of the turbine blades is defined by aims are to understand how much influence each individual
the cooling effectiveness, . The higher the effectiveness, the component has on the HP turbine blades’ creep life, and which
better the heat transfer will be hence producing a lower metal components have the highest impact when they are degraded.
temperature. When the cooling effectiveness degrades, the In the second part of the section, the effects of dual component
difference between the gas temperature and the by-product of degradation are studied where similar aims are set to be

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multiplication between the cooling effectiveness and the achieved.
temperature difference between the gas and the coolant Figure 14 illustrates the effects of compressor fouling, HP
temperature (see Equation 18) will becomes relatively smaller and LP turbines erosions on the Creep Factor. From the figure
thus increasing the metal temperature. we can see that the Creep Factors were reduced when the
1.20 erosion and fouling indices were increased. At an index of 5.0,
the Creep Factors for compressor fouling, HP and LP turbine
1.00 erosion are 0.125, 0.12 and 0.48 respectively. This means that
the blades’ creep life has reduced significantly to 87.5%, 88%
Creep Factor

0.80
and 52% respectively. The values indicate that both HP turbine
0.60 erosion and compressor fouling provide the greatest ‘threat’ to
the blades’ creep life, although HP turbine erosion seems to
0.40 have a greater impact.
1.2
0.20
HPT erosion
0.00 1.0
LPT Erosion
0 2 4 6 Com Fouling
0.8
Cooling Effectiveness Degradation (%)
Creep Factor

Figure 12: The effect of cooling effectiveness degradation on 0.6

Creep Factor
0.4
Figure 12 shows how the cooling effectiveness degradation
0.2
affects the Creep Factor. From the figure, it can be seen that the
Creep Factor dropped from its reference value to 0.23 when the
0.0
degradation is increased to 6%. The figure also indicates the
0 1 2 3 4 5
Creep Factor varies exponentially with the cooling
effectiveness degradation. A plot of a log Creep Factor against Erosion and Fouling Index
the cooling effectiveness degradation (Figure 13) shows a linear
relation between the two of them. Based on this relation, it can Figure 14: Effects of compressor fouling, HP and LP
be concluded that one increment of the cooling effectiveness turbines erosion on Creep Factors
will produce a 0.105 drop on the value of the log Creep Factor
and vice versa. The main reason behind this is that the degradation on each
component has different effects on the drop in the blades’ metal
Cooling Effectiveness Degradation (%) temperature. Figure 15 shows the change in the metal
0
temperature as the fouling and the erosion indices are changed.
-0.1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 As we can observe, the highest rise in the blades’ metal
Log Creep Factor

-0.2 temperature is obtained when the HP turbine is eroded which is

-0.3 around 38C at an erosion index of 5.0, resulting the highest
drop in the blades’ creep life.
-0.4
Similar to the previous cases, the blade stresses did not
-0.5 change significantly due to engine degradation as the engine
-0.6 rotational speed was the same. In the case of single or multiple
-0.7 component degradation, the main contributor to the
deterioration of the blades’ creep life is the change of blade
metal temperature.
Figure 13: Log Creep Factor vs. cooling effectiveness
degradation

9 Copyright © 2010 by ASME

 Erosion and Fouling Index index reaches 3.0, the Creep Factor for Case 1 was reduced to
0.0 0.08.
0 1 2 3 4 5
-5.0
Temperature deviation from

1.2
-10.0
Case 1: Comp + HPT degrade
reference value

-15.0 1.0
Case 2: Comp + LPT degrade
-20.0 case 3: HPT + LPT degrade
0.8

Creep Factor
-25.0

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HPT erosion
0.6
LPT Erosion
-30.0
Com Fouling
-35.0 0.4

-40.0 0.2

Figure 15: Effects of compressor fouling, HP and LP

turbine erosion on the blades’ metal temperatures
The trend of the plotted graph in Figure 14 shows that
Creep Factors change exponentially with components’
degradation. A plot of a log of Creep Factors against the fouling
and the erosion indices (Figure 16) shows linear relations
between them. Based on these relations, it can be seen that a
unit increment of erosion or fouling index will produce 0.184,
0.064 and 0.18 reductions in the value of the log Creep Factor
for the HP turbine, LP turbine and compressor respectively
from its reference value.
Erosion and Fouling Index
0.0
-0.1 0 1 2 3 4
-0.2
Log creep factor
0.0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Degradation Index
Figure 17: Effect of multiple components’ degradation with
Creep Factor
Meanwhile, Cases 2 and 3 show a similar effect to Case 1
but with a lesser impact on the Creep Factor. This is mainly
because degradation in LP turbine erosion causes a relatively
small amount of Creep Factor change during its individual
component degradation simulation (see Figure 14). This
produces a less ‘overall impact’ when LP turbine degradation is
combined with other component degradations. Figure 17 shows
that at a degradation index of 3.0 the Creep Factors were
5
reduced to 0.19 for both Case 2 and Case 3.

-0.3 Degradation Index

0.0
-0.4
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
-0.5
-0.2
-0.6 HPT erosion
Log Creep Factor

-0.7 LPT Erosion -0.4

-0.8 Com Fouling
-0.9 -0.6
-1.0
-0.8
Figure 16: Log Creep Factor vs. fouling and erosion indices Case 1: Com + HPT degrade
-1.0 Case 2: Com + LPT degrade
Figure 17 illustrates the change in Creep Factor when the Case 3: HPT + LPT degarde
multiple components’ degradation for Case 1 (compressor + HP -1.2
turbine degradation), Case 2 (compressor + LP turbine
degradation) and Case 3 (HP turbine and LP turbine Figure 18: Log Creep Factor vs. degradation indices
degradation) are simulated. Notice that the effects on the Creep
Factor due to the multiple components’ degradation are similar Looking at the trend of the graph plotted in Figure 17 all of
to the single component degradations but with a higher the cases has an exponential relation with the Creep Factor.
magnitude of impact. As expected the highest impact on Creep Again, a plot of the log Creep Factor against the degradation
Factor was given by Case 1, as both components during indices will show a linear relationship, as shown in Figure 18.
individual degradation simulation showed severe Creep Factor Based on this relation, it can be concluded that one increment
deterioration. Figure 17 also shows that as the degradation of the degradation index will produce 0.36, 0.24, and 0.25

10 Copyright © 2010 by ASME

reductions in the value of the log Creep Factor for Cases 1, 2,
and 3 respectively from its reference value.
Table 2 ranks the impacts that single and multiple
components’ degradation have on Creep Factor starting from
the highest to the lowest. It can be seen clearly from the list that
the most ‘threatening’ condition on the blades’ remnant life is
when both compressor fouling and HP turbine erosion occur at
the same time.
Table 2: Ranking of component degradation cases
On the basis of the work presented, the impact of the
operating and health conditions on a typical turboshaft HP
turbine blades’ creep life can be summarised as follows:
a. Temperature is seen to be the dominant factor in this study
in changing the behavior of the blade’s creep life due to the
fact that the variation in metal temperatures was seen to be
considerably large when compared with the variation in the
blade stresses.
b. By comparison between the effects of engine speed,
altitude and ambient temperature on the blade’s creep life,

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Rank Degradation Increment of Impact the engine speed is seen to have the highest impact with a
index Magnitude 0.22 drop in the value of the log Creep Factor while
(log Creep altitude is seen to have the least impact with a 0.00034
Factor value) drop in the value of the Creep Factor when both parameters
1 Compressor fouling 1 unit of EDI 0.36 are increased by 1 unit.
and HP turbine c. The rise in day temperature has resulted in an increase in
erosion the TET hence increasing the blade’s metal temperature.
2 HP and LP turbines 1 unit of EDI 0.25 This will reduce the blades’ creep life as a 1% increase in
erosions the day temperature will cause the Creep Factor to reduce
3 Compressor fouling 1 unit of EDI 0.24 by 0.069.
and LP turbine d. The presence of blade cooling and components
erosion degradations has significantly reduced the blade’s creep
4 HP turbine erosion 1 unit of EI 0.184 life. As the degradation effects are combined, the degree of
5 Compressor fouling 1 unit of FI 0.18 reduction increases severely. The presence of both
6 LP turbine erosion 1 unit of EI 0.064 compressor fouling and HP turbine erosion is seen to give
the highest threat to the remaining blade’s creep life as 1 %
change in EDI will cause the log Creep Factor to reduce to
The work presented in the paper looked at how the operating 0.36. On the other hand the presence of the LP turbine
and health conditions have impacted the blade’s creep life erosion is seen to have the least threat as a unit change in
individually. It may also be possible to look at the behaviour of EI will cause the log Creep Factor to reduce to 0.064.
the blade’s creep life via creep factor when those operating and
health conditions changes simultaneously. Apart from that it is
also possible to use the Creep Factor concept on quantifying the 7. NOMENCLATURE
impact of a particular mission profile by introducing a Mission
Creep Factor. This will be considered as the project’s future ‫ܣ‬஼ௌ = Blade section cross section area at blade
work. section i
‫ܣ‬஺௡ௌ௘௖ = Blade section annulus area
‫ܣ‬஺௩஼௦ = Average cross section between the top and
5. CONCLUSION the bottom section
‫ܲ ܯܤ‬ௌ௘௖ = Pressure bending moment at blade section
This paper introduces a Creep Factor and a corresponding ‫ܸ ܯܤ‬ௌ௘௖ = Momentum bending moment at blade
creep analysis approach consisting of mechanical stress, section
thermal and creep models to represent the degree of creep ‫ܥ‬ = Parameter constant
damage to gas turbine engines with respect to a user-defined ‫ܨܥ‬ୗୣୡ = Section’s centrifugal forces
operating condition. It provide a relative creep damage analysis
‫ܲܥ‬௛ , ‫ܲܥ‬௖ = Specific heat of the hot and cold gas
and provides information to gas turbine users on how the
CF = Creep Factor
operating conditions can affect the creep life of gas turbine
݀஼ீ = Distance between the rotation axis and the
engine. The new Creep Factor has been applied to a model
section centre of gravity
turboshaft gas turbine engine to analyze the impact of health
݀஼ீ௦௘௖ = Distance between the section CG to the
and operating conditions on engine’s creep life. By
respective section
investigating the behaviour of the plotted Creep Factor graphs,
EDI = Engine degradation index
the consumption rate given by the change in the Creep Factor
EI, FI = Erosion and fouling index
per a unit change of the influencing factors (operating and
HP = High pressure
health conditions) provides a useful technique to rank the
ℎ௦௘௖ = Blade section height
influencing factor according to the threat they imposed.
‫ܫ‬௠ ௔௫, ‫ܫ‬௠ ௜௡ = Max and min moment of inertia at root
ISA = International Standard Atmosphere

11 Copyright © 2010 by ASME

i = Designated blade section ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
‫ܮ‬஼ , ‫ܮ‬஼ோ௘௙ = Actual and reference remnant life
LE, TE = Leading and trailing edge The authors would like to thank the China Aviation
LP = Low pressure Powerplant Research Institute (CAPI) for sponsoring the
‫ ܯ‬௫௫, ‫ ܯ‬௬௬ = Blade section resulting bending moment research. Also the first author would like to thank Universiti
about the X and Y axis Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia for sponsoring his study in
݉∗ = Rotor coolant non-dimensional mass flow Cranfield University.
݉ ஺௥௘௔ = Mass flow per unit section annulus area
݉௚ = Gas mass flow REFERENCES
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12 Copyright © 2010 by ASME

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