TECHNICAL NOTES—G. W. SHAW; H.
SHAW
-6 0 , . 8 16 0 0-2
Figure 6. Results for Gothic wing.
ment of the aerodynamic centre. Extending the leading
edges tends to stabilise the flow giving pitching moment
characteristics similar to those of cropped deltas. Another
effect is to increase the lifting capacity by as much as 30%
for a 10% increase in area at an incidence of 10 degrees.
Extending the trailing edge decreases the longitudinal
camber and hence causes a decrease in the lift at low
incidence but at higher incidences the flap improves the
flow over the trailing edge and greater lift coefficients are
developed.
The extension of the trailing-edge flap has a marked
stabilising effect on the wing at low incidence. Figure 7
shows that the drag polar is unaffected by leading- or
trailing-edge extensions.
4. Conclusions
A .series of wings has been tested to obtain information
about the aerodynamic characteristics of thick slender
wings with sharp leading edges. The following conclusions
were drawn from the results: —
(a) Large reductions in lift-dependent drag factor are
obtained by adding thickness distributions to one
surface of a flat plate wing with sharp edges. Values
of K less than unity can be obtained in the range
0-2 < Ci < 0-6.
An Improved Blade Root Design for Axial Flow Compressors
(and Turbines)
formerly Turbomachinery Dept. NGTE Pyestock.
now Engine R&D
Introduction
To save weight, designers of aircraft gas turbines aim
to produce axial compressors with fewer rows of blades
and greater mass flows per unit of frontal area. These
improvements often consist of increases in blade tip speeds
and reductions in the ratio of the hub to tip diameters. As
the efficiency of transonic blading is partly dependent upon
a low value of blade pitch /chord it is now frequently
necessary to design a blade with a greater actual chord at
the tip than at the hub.
Received 5th May 1969.
689
0-4
Figure 7. Results for Gothic wings.
(b) An increase in taper ratio decreases the lift-dependent
drag factor but increases the overall drag at a given
lift coefficient.
(c) The value of the lift-dependent drag factor for thick
cropped delta wings has a strong dependence upon the
value of aspect ratio while the static longitudinal
stability depends primarily upon the taper ratio.
(d) The cross-sectional shape of the leading edge has a
large effect on the minimum drag coefficient and the
optimum lift-drag ratio.
(e) Trailing-edge devices (elevons) provide the most
effective method of trimming pitching moments,
exacting a small drag penalty. No lift penalty results
from small up elevon angles at high incidence.
Acknowledgment
The author acknowledges the help and guidance of
Mr. J. J. Spillman of the College of Aeronautics during the
course of the work which was completed under a Post-
graduate Studentship from the Ministry of Education
(Northern Ireland).
Reference
1. LEE, G. H. Reduction of lift-dependent drag with separ-
ated flow. ARC CP No 593.
H. SHAW
Branch. Mintech, London
The combined effect of closer pitch and reduced hub
diameter is that less space is available for the disposition
of material to transfer loads from the blade to the disc.
Under the most uniform of conditions the tensile loads on
large fan blades can rise to values between 10 and 25 tons
(10 000 to 25 000 kg) per blade at design speed. For
greatest efficiency, engines are required to operate near to
the highest value of pressure ratio available from the com-
pressor and the margin between operating point and the
compressor surge line frequently falls under adverse condi-
tions such as "light-up" or "rapid acceleration". Blade foul-
ing and erosion, also eventually, narrow the gap between
"surge" and running lines.
590 VOL. 74 THE AERONAUTICAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY JULY 1970

When surge occurs in a compressor, a plug of air which
might be travelling at a mass flow of 35 to 40 lb/s/ft 2
(170 to 195 kg/s/m2) of frontal area, and perhaps possess-
ing a mean axial velocity of 700 ft/s (215 m/s) will be
abruptly arrested (and perhaps reversed). The associated
impulsive loading creates alternating stresses from six to
ten times those normally produced from vibrating sources
in a non-surge condition of operation. Only a hinge, in
the correct plane, at the blade root or an extreme degree
of flexibility akin to a hinge can prevent these impulsive
loads from creating excessive stresses in the blade aerofoil
fillet, the blade root itself and the inter-blade disc necks.
A hinge (pin root fixing) enables the blade to deflect until
the centrifugal component of force takes over the task of
resisting further deflection of the blade. Thus as long as
there has been adequate space for the accommodation of
pin root fixings they appear to have been the most success-
ful method of locating the blades on the discs.
Stress Levels
However if one defines the nominal stress as the mean
radial stress (adhesive) necessary to transfer the centrifugal
loads from the blade platform to the disc, one finds in a
practical case that the peak stresses in the pin roots are
about ten times the theoretical uniform adhesive stress.
The high factor is due to the unavoidable compounding of
stress concentration factors in two planes. Increase of axial
length offers little advantage since offset loads create poor
distribution factors in the axial direction. Under working
conditions the component parts of pin root assemblies are
subjected to further increases of local stresses by the in-
ability of the hinge to accommodate axial components of
impulsive loads. The pins are normally arranged with
their axes parellel to that of the compressor shaft, but with
a highly twisted rotor blade the maximum bending moment
applied at the blade fillet radius plane can be as much as
50° from the plane which passes through the pin axis.
Against the above background, the use of a dovetail in
a recent mechanical design appeared to hold promise of
peak stresses not higher than five times the nominal
(adhesive) stress necessary to fix the blade on to the disc
cylindrical surface. However, it would be necessary to find
some means of retaining, at least in part, some of the
features of the pin root fixing so that compressor surge,
or any other form of unsteady flow, would not create
greater stresses than those brought about by geometrical
stress concentrations in competitive forms of root fixing.
TENSION IN THE BLADE ROOT
CENTBi: LINE LINE
DISC
WENT
SHADED AREAS OF METAL
PLAY MINOR ROLE IN
AFFECTING TENSION AT X
r c/1
The Chief Causes of Stress Concentrations
When an aerofoil which is subjected to centrifugal
tension is restrained by a profiled slot broached in a disc,
stress concentrations are created in the blade root because:
(a) The tensile forces in the aerofoil can only be distri-
buted into compressive stresses at the mating sur-
faces between root and disc by what is, in fact, a
cantilever structure, i.e. the tensile stresses in both
blade root and disc neck segment are converted into
bending moments before they join as a compressive
stress (Fig. 1).
(b) Compressive loads at the areas of contact produce
local tensile stresses acting perpendicular to the direc-
tion of the load. Since the compressive forces must
be approximately normal to the common boundary it
follows that increased tensile forces will occur parallel
to the common boundary near the contact (bearing)
area. This will be referred to below as the "local
compression" effect. Fretting corrosion is a serious
additional hazard in these areas.
(c) The simple tensile stresses, even if unaffected by the
above two effects, are committed to operate through
a region of changing area which causes stress con-
centrations in the fillet radius where the sectional
area changes. This will be referred to as the "tensile
area change" effect.
Minimum Values of Stress Concentration Factors in Two
Dimensions
The effect of (c) in the previous section (namely the
tensile area change) is well understood and forms the basis
of IMechE/RAeS Data Sheet No 65004(1). Fig. 2 shows
the data replotted on a logarithmic scale and the simple
tensile concentration factors (SCF) are shown for a variety
of parameters. The SCF is defined as the maximum tensile
stress in the fillet radius divided by the normal stress on
the minimum area. All values refer, of course, to the two-
dimensional case only. The significance of Fig. 2 to
these designs of blade roots is that the values shown are
the absolute minima for the stress concentration factors
that can be obtained on blade roots of this general form.
The additional effects of (a) and (b) will make the values
worse but they can be minimised by design. One way to
do this is to separate the areas at which each effect estab-
lishes its own peak value.
Photo-elastic Tests
As mentioned in the introduction the need to design
compressors with higher numbers of blades and with low
VALUES OF
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Figure 1. Cantilever effect on blade m H
2 50
root stress concentrations. Peak
tensile stress at X created by com-
10
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•14 16 18 2 -25 -30 -35 40-4550 55S06S70-80-90 10 12 15 20

pounding of radial tensile stress

and tensile components of bending Figure 2. Stress concentration factors for a flat plate in
moments and shear forces. tension.
 \

TECHNICAL NOTES—H. SHAW 591

ratios of hub to tip diameters inevitably leads to a limited
space for the disposition of material for a mechanical joint.
Compressive loads between mating parts are channelled
into tensile forces in blade and disc by the equivalent of
small structures containing many elements in compression.
These "zones of compression" will clearly modify the stress
concentration patterns if local stresses approach the plastic
range. However, the level of stress must, in general, be
kept within the elastic range so it follows that indications
of peak stresses can be obtained by photo-elastic tech-
niques. All values of stress concentration factors quoted
below, except the calculated ones of Figs. 2 and 3, have
been obtained by photo-elasticity.
The Cantilever Effect
Heywood (a) has calculated the values of maximum fillet
stress in the radius of a T-head for a large variation of
h/d and r/d. These have been replotted to logarithmic
base in Fig. 3. All the T-heads have compressive mating
surfaces assuming uniform distribution on a plane normal
to the tensile forces at a stress level of twice the nominal
tensile stress. (The total compressive area is one half of
the tensile area, characterised by dimension d.) In the case
of a blade root dovetail such as those shown in Fig. 4 it is
reasonable to suppose that since the maximum tensile stress
occurs in the upper fillet radius (point X in Fig. 1) the
stress at this point will be sensibly independent of the flank
angle for a given load. In other words the removal of
metal to convert from a normal T-head into a dovetail
involves metal which is largely stressed in compression and
the associated tensile stresses do not superimpose them-
selves upon the existing peak tensile stresses which are
mainly determined by the bending moments. The high
concentration factors created by low values of h/d and
D/d have been borne out by the failure of some early
dovetail root designs where concentration factors above
eight have been found. On an actual dovetail where
D/d was 1-77 the SCF was reduced from 6-5 through 5-1
to 4-0 as h/d was increased from 0-57 through to 0-70
to 0-82.
The values follow very closely on those predicted from
Fig. 3 which would forecast 5-6, 4-7 and 4-1 respectively.
The similarity between these results shows that provided
the compressive loads are distributed and kept clear of the
tensile fillet radius the concentration factors calculated for
normal loaded T-heads can be used as a good guide to
what will be found in dovetails. This method could of
course be misleading if high bearing (compressive) stresses
should falsify the analogy.
Reverting to Fig. 3, we see that provided the upper
radius r is between 0-3 and 0-6 of the minimum dimension
across the blade (or disc) neck a depth of head (h) equal
to the dimension of the minimum section (d) will give
stress concentrations of about 2-7 but by increasing h/d
to 2-0, SCF's of 1-6 can be obtained provided that D/d
ratios of 2-5 can be tolerated. This property can be
utilised to make the blade root extension flexible where
this is desirable—see the section on "the flexible blade
root".
The Improved Cantilever
An improved root shape is shown in Fig. 4(a). Depth
has been added to counteract the cantilever effect while
still leaving very generous radii for the benefit of disc hoop
and disc neck stresses. The SCF (K) was found to be 2-46
and an analysis for changing area effect would suggest
a minimum value for K of 1 -65. Thus the cantilever effect
is responsible for a multiplying fact factor of only 1-5. In
this case there was i° of non-compliance between the top
surface of the root dovetail and the inward facing surfaces
of the disc broach slot which was utilised in such a way
that the compressive load occurred well away from the
neck radius. This of course put the greatest accent on the
cantilever effect and separated the local compression peak
well away from the peak stress in the fillet radius.

025d 0'25d
525

S) it -P ON EACH
—jELANK LLS
v: %
r
/d
125
553
238
"Vd 1-04
5
/o •10

= 35
%
r
/D = 125
m = 64
/o
'Id = -357
"Vd = 1 83
S
'D = -10
1-5 16 tf 1-8 19 2 0 2-1 2 2 2-3 24 2-5 26 2-7
RATIO D /d
i r~i i i i i i i i i i-1
01 02 0-3 0'i 0-5 0-6
r
RATIO /d K = 1 64

Figure 3. Calculated maximum fillet stresses in T-heads for

D = :-5d+2r. Figure 4. Stress concentration factors.
592 VOL. 74 THE AERONAUTICAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY
Because the fillet radius r had not reached the limit
permitted by the disc design a further requirement was
considered. Strictly speaking, the disc stressing is, of
course, largely governed by dimensions D, m and s, etc.,
but since all these are finalised through the disc by "skew"
broaching only r can be changed independently of d on
the blade root to give a dependent variation of m. To
make the root neck more flexible in bending, it would be
desirable to reduce d without further change of dimensions
or increase of peak stress. Fig. 4(b) shows the same profile
as Fig. 4(a) as regards broach slot but the non-contacting
upper surface has been continued upwards to reduce djD
from 0-525 to 0-35. The measured S.C.F. was 1-64 which
is in fact a directly proportional reduction on the value
of 2-46 as the reduction of d/D from 0-525 to 0-35. The
neck could clearly be thinned down to increase flexibility
at no increase to tensile stress in the fillet radius. Since
analysis of these proportions based only on the area change
effect would forecast an SCF of almost 1-60, the profile as
thinned down is sacrificing only a very minor contribution
to the cantilever effect.
The Flexible Blade Root
There are two distinct advantages of making a root
extension as flexible as possible' 3 '.
(a) Flexibility allows the T-head (in this case a dovetail)
to position itself for the best possible balance of loads
(and therefore stresses) on each side of the broach
disc slot. For instance manufacturing errors could
cause asymmetric loads in a non-flexible root exten-
sion as found beneath the trailing edge of a conven-
tional compressor blade with a highly flared inner
annulus wall.
(b) Flexibility also reduces any out of balance transmitted
by gas bending moments on the blade to the disc
extension necks, because for a given level of stress
the further a blade can deflect, the earlier will centri-
fugal force apply a component to assist the moments
of resistance.
The advantages quoted for flexible blade roots are
naturally not available to the same extent as when pin-
jointed roots are used, but the latter type can only furnish
virtually unlimited flexibility in one plane, i.e. that normal
to the pin axis. The pin axes are almost universally
parallel to the axis of the compressor and this arrangement
does not help the blade to withstand the axial components
of impulsive surge loads.
A further advantage of the flexible root over a pin
jointed one is that the highly stressed portion of the aero-
foil trailing edge near the root can be partially unloaded
by making the blade platform weak in bending. In this way
any severe concentration of bending strain produced near
the trailing edge of the aerofoil can be reduced as the rear
end of the platform deflects upwards under tensile forces.
Blade Twisting Effects
As compressor blades are required to operate at higher
Mach numbers the position of maximum thickness of the
section moves further back. Some designs require maxi-
mum thickness to be behind 50% of the chord and many
blades designed for transonic duty have their maximum
t/c at 50% and are symmetrical (back to front) in profile.
Most axial compressors being designed for approximately
constant axial velocity, are longer above the platform at
the leading edge than at the trailing one, and the gas bend-
ing deflection is accompanied by a twisting action which
tends to increase the incidence of the blade relative to the
JULY 1970
local gas stream. This effect is much aggravated in "free
vortex" designs where a high degree of twist occurs in
the inner half of the blade. The minimum values of second
moment of area (bending) do not occur on surfaces which
make tangents to a cylindrical surface. The minimum
values occur when the area examined is tangential to a
cone with its apex upstream of the blade row, and its
axis on the compressor centre line. The areas whose
second moments are responsible for the least resistance to
bending are frequently tangents to cones having generators
in the order of 35° to the compressor axis. On a conven-
tional "free-vortex" blade, if one regards the platform as
infinitely rigid, the incidence of the outboard sections is
predominantly controlled by the elastic strain curvatures of
the inboard 30% of the aerofoil span. Because bending of
the aerofoil is least opposed by second moments of area
derived from the oblique blade sections the deflection of
the tip leading edge is considerably greater than that of
the tip trailing edge. Increase of bending deflection gives
the outboard portion of the blade additional incidence
and further increases the lifting moment and hence the
deflection. Similarly any airflow disturbance creating less
gas bending moment immediately promotes less incidence
and further reduces the bending loads which previously
were responsible for the additional incidence. In this way
a flared and highly twisted conventional compressor blade
is extremely susceptible to aero-elastic flutter, Fig. 5(a).
If, however, the rearward portion of the blade root exten-
sion is given extreme flexibility, the blade is effectively
supported in bending and torsion from much further for-
ward, Fig. 5(b). A compressor blade root has been designed
to add sufficient bending strain beneath the trailing edge
of the aerofoil to establish a torsional axis, of the combined
unit, in front of the centre of pressure loci of the aerofoil
sections (Fig. 5(b)). The plan cross-sectional area of the
root extension has been minimised under the trailing edge
without any increase of peak stress in the dovetail fillet
(Fig.4 (b)). The platform of the blade which of course
forms the inner annulus boundary becomes progressively
weaker in bending towards the exit plane where it is com-
pletely deprived of direct support from the actual dovetail.
GAS FLOW
CENTRE OF GAS PRESSURE FORCES (APPROX)
TENSILE
^MEMBER
SUPPORTING MEMBER
(b)
GIVING RESTRAINT IN
BENDING AND TORSION.
ON CONVENTIONAL BLADE ON BLADE WHERE ROOT
SUPPORT FROM ROOT IS HAS BEEN MADE EXTREMELY
EFFECTIVELY BEHIND THE FLEXIBLE BENEATH THE T.E,
CENTRE OF AERODYNAMIC THE EFFECTIVE SUPPORT
IS MOVED FORWARD
FORCES.
Figure 5. Torsional stabilisation by root design.
TECHNICAL NOTES—H. SHAW
It is necessary to allow the platform to have some circum-
ferential displacement at the trailing end but a small
amount produces insignificant leakage if the root is a
fairly close fit into the broach slot at the leading edge of
the disc. The importance of the clearance is primarily to
give the platform freedom to twist about a longitudinal
axis roughly parallel to the compressor inner annulus wall.
Another approach is to regard the bulk of the lower dove-
tail as a beam stiff in bending and torsion. The strain
curvatures are greatest in the rearward sections. Nothwith-
standing torsion and shear coupling through the platform,
the integration of the strain curvatures towards the tip of
the blade will always give greater deflections at the trailing
edge (at any given radius of the compressor annulus) so
that any impulsive gas load will deflect (steer) the aerofoil
into a position of less incidence relative to the transient
gas direction (Fig. 6).
Other Advantages
There are three minor advantages in stress reduction
by the use of a flexible blade root.
(a) The rim of the disc is partially freed from stress con-
centrations created by axial components of impulsive
blade loads.
(b) Since the root is made marginally lighter overall stress
levels are marginally reduced.
(c) Since the restraint given to the blade to resist gas
bending deflections is passed over to the components
of centrifugal force instead of falling on to the indi-
vidual rim necks the latter components are subjected
to much more even loading not only between both
flanks but also in an axial sense along each flank.
Thus the tensile stresses on each segmental neck of the disc
rim are more evenly balanced circumferentially but, in
general, the highest values are to be found near the central
plane of the disc. The rim segment neck areas (viewed
radially) now have diminished stresses in the outermost
corners which were previously notorious focal points for
the origin of fatigue cracks, particularly on fir tree root
designs.
- A P P R O X I M A T E CENTRE LINE OF G A S -
PRESSURES WHICH CREATE THE
BENDING STRAINS
COMPRESSOR BLADE
WITH CONVENTIONAL ROOT
CENTRE O F RESISTANCE
DIAGRAM IS DOWNSTREAM
OF THE CENTROID OF GAS
PRESSURE WHICH CAUSES
THE BENDING STRAIN
REPRESENTATIVE DISTRIBUTION OF
RESISTANCE TO BENDING STRAIN
-AT
CONVENTIONAL -
Figure 6.
693
Figure 7 shows a summary of estimated stresses in the
blade root and also in the blade aerofoil immediately above
the fillet radius which connects the aerofoil to the plat-
form. It will be seen that the thinning of the root neck
actually increases the tensile stress in the concave surface
of the aerofoil in the region of the blade centroid. It also
increases the aerofoil stresses where the section falls almost
symmetrically above the root neck. These areas of in-
creased steady stress can be regarded as the price we must
pay for the reduction in steady centrifugal stress in the
areas we have protected to some extent from the worst
hazards of bending and vibration stresses.
Concluding Remarks
The purpose of this paper has been to illustrate a
logical procedure whereby severe concentrations of tensile
stress can be avoided both in the root fixing of a high duty
compressor blade and in the inner sections of the aerofoil
itself. A useful additional benefit is that the elasticity of
the combined blade and root has been arranged to oppose
aerodynamic flutter. Any increment of blade bending
deflection is accompanied by a negative increment of blade
incidence so that a work input cycle operates to oppose
any vibratory motion of the blades. A compressor blade
which incorporates these features in its root design has
been running successfully in a high duty experimental com-
pressor at tip speeds above 1450 ft/s (440 m/s) and has
frequently been "surged" at full design speed during a life
of over 120 hours. A photograph of the blade and its
root is shown in Fig. 8.
Acknowledgments
This paper is Crown copyright reserved, and has been
reproduced with the permission of the Controller of
HMSO.
Some of the material presented has been obtained as a
result of work performed at the NGTE, and so, while
accepting full responsibility for all statements made and
opinions expressed, the author acknowledges the permission
of Mintech for its publication.
COMPRESSOR BLADE
WITH MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY
CONCENTRATFD IN ROOT
EXTENSION BENEATH
TRAILING EDGE OF
AEROFOIL.
CENTRE OF RESISTANCE
DIAGRAM HAS MOVFD
UPSTREAM TO GIVE
WEATHERCOCK' STAR LITY
TO BENDING STRAINS.
AEROFOIL FILLET P L A N E . —
- W I T H HIGHLY FLEXIBLE ROOT
BENEATH TRAILING EDGE
Blade root flexibilities.
594 VOL. 74 THE AERONAUTICAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY JULY 1970

STEADY TENSILE STRESS IN AEROFOIL

ROOT FILLET ( A B ) A N D ROOT
EXTENSION ( C ) RELATIVE TO THE
NOMINAL STRESS ON AEROFOIL ROOT AREA.

CONVEX SURFACE A

CONCAVE SURFACE B

RELATWE STRESS IN ROOT

EXTENSON C

Figure 7. Tensile stress distribution in flexible blade root (estimated values).

This factor K, refers to any section normal to the direction

of broach travel. Although based on elastic theory (or
measurement) this "geometric" factor is slightly improved
(diminished) when the outermost fibres of the material are
stressed into the plastic range.

KD = Stress distribution factor

Peak stress along the fillet radius

Figure 8. Photograph of high duty compressor blade with Mean stress level in the fillet radius '
enlarged view of root.
References
1. Stress concentration factors for a flat bar in tension. Data The mean level of the fillet stress is taken along the length
Sheet—No. 65004. IMechE/RAeS. of the broached slot. If the root extension material is
2. HEYWOOD, R. B. Designing by photo-elasticity, p 224. locally stressed into the plastic state this factor is liable
Chapman and Hall Ltd, 1952. to benefit appreciably from redistribution.
3. SHAW, H. Blading for fluid flow machines. British Patent
No. 1, 151, 937. US Pat. No. 3,458,119. It follows that: —
Appendix
K= Stress concentration factor (SCF) of a section for a Peak stress in fillet radius
perfectly elastic material =KxK„
Nominal stress on minimum (neck) area
Highest stress in fillet radius
—
Nominal stress on minimum (neck) area