LAQ AERMEC for gas turbine and compressor blades
The laboratory "Aer-Mec – TURBINES AND COMPRESSORS" is an experimental and numerical laboratory which covers advanced aspects of the mechanical engineering.
The Lab was founded in 2002 by Prof. Muzio Gola, now an Emeritus Professor in Machine Design. A Board, whose members are the Professors affiliated to the Lab itself, manages the research activities. Each Professor leads and coordinates specific research activities. The Board appoints a Coordinator, who is in charge of the coordination and the interaction with the Department and the main stakeholders.
The laboratory is engaged in international research projects and collaborates - mainly, but not only – with turbomachinery industries (GE Avio, Ansaldo Energia, Nuovo Pignone, GE Power) which design and manufacture components for aero-engines, gas and steam turbines.
The laboratory has developed test equipment and experimental rigs purposely designed and manufactured for:
- (Low- and High-cycle) fatigue fretting analysis of turbomachinery components,
- wear characterization of friction contacts,
- kinematics characterization of friction dampers,
- dynamics of mechanical components with contact interfaces by static and rotating test rigs,
- residual stress state characterization.
The Laboratory develops theoretical and numerical models of phenomena under investigation; those models, implemented in numerical routines, are validated experimentally. The developed software is used by the industrial partners for the dynamic design at both component and system level.
The main research subjects and the corresponding Leader (in brackets) are listed below:
- Reduced order modeling for nonlinear dynamics, modeling of friction contacts in structural dynamics, design of dampers for gears (Prof. Stefano Zucca)
- Mechanics and tribology of friction contacts, dynamics of jointed structures, low- and high-cycle fatigue (Prof. Daniele Botto)
- Experimental dynamics of rotating components, design and testing of dampers for bladed disks, residual stress measurement and analysis (Prof. Teresa M. Berruti).
- Multistage bladed disk dynamics, experimental dynamics of turbine blades, mitigation of the aero-elastic vibrations of bladed disks (Prof. Christian M. Firrone).