Fatigue Crack Propagation in a High-Pressure Turbine Blade Slot Damaged by Fretting

In this study, fatigue crack propagation due to unexpected damage caused by fretting in an aero engine high-pressure turbine (HPT) blade slot is analyzed. Two different numerical crack models were applied and studied to simulate fatigue crack propagation caused by amplitude service loading. Also, the goal was to demonstrate the capacities of numerical simulations, including their limitations, especially when the crack propagation behavior should be predicted for critical parts of the real structure. It is shown that the structural integrity of the analyzed component is not jeopardized by the existing damage.