Adaptive Risk Refinement Methodology for Gas Turbine Engine Rotor Disks

Probabilistic fracture mechanics is a well-established method for predicting the probability-of-fracture (POF) of gas turbine engine rotor disks subject to low-cycle fatigue. An adaptive risk refinement methodology (ARRM) was developed to automate zone discretization and refinement that are typically associated with this approach. ARRM generates initial meshes using an adaptive nodal selection feature designed to optimize accuracy and efficiency. Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is performed until a converged risk solution is obtained. ARRM employs several techniques including skeletonization, constrained Delaunay triangulation (CDT), superparametric interpolation, and adaptive mesh refinement. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the methodology.