Stress analysis of rotating propellers subject to forced excitations

Turbine blades experience vibrations due to the flow disturbances. These vibrations are the leading cause for fatigue failure in turbine blades. This thesis presents the finite element analysis methods to estimate the maximum vibrational stresses of rotating structures under forced excitation. The presentation included starts with the derived equations of motion for vibration of rotating beams using energy methods under the Euler Bernoulli beam assumptions. The nonlinear large displacement formulation captures the centrifugal stiffening and gyroscopic effects. The weak form of the equations and their finite element discretization are shown. The methods implemented were used for normal modes analyses and forced vibration analyses of rotating beam structures.;The prediction of peak stresses under simultaneous multi-mode excitation show that the maximum vibrational stresses estimated using the linear superposition of the stresses can greatly overestimate the stresses if the phase information due to damping (physical and gyroscopic effects) are neglected. The last section of this thesis also presents the results of a practical study that involves finite element analysis and redesign of a composite propeller.