Importance

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Abstract

Gas turbines are used for power generation with units in a range of sizes. They serve as power plants for both military and commercial aircraft. Demand is for faster, lighter engines, utilizing more advanced manufacturing processes. One of the means of meeting this goal is through use of longer, thinner, more flexible shafts which operate supercritically. Supercritical operation was once viewed as impractical, however, a number of today's production gas turbines operate in this mode. The shaft manufacturing process is optimal if the shaft balance procedure can be conducted at low speeds, rather than requiring a more expensive and complicated high speed balance process. One embodiment of the present invention includes a systematic process for a low speed balance procedure which, would permits a high speed shaft system to transition through additional critical speeds and operate safely above them. Still other embodiments of the present invention pertain to analytical modeling and analysis of representative shaft systems to determine the optimum locations of the balance planes and an approach for predicting shaft responses.

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First Claim