Gas turbine disk-blade attachment crack

Evaluation of a gas turbine disk revealed a crack in the blade attachment area. The subsequent effort to understand the origin of this crack led to a series of analyses that included computing the stresses on the attachment, characterization of fatigue crack growth, and a model for fretting fatigue crack growth. These elements were brought together to simulate the conditions that led to the cracking. It is concluded that the crack was probably caused by fretting fatigue induced by the stresses related to normal takeoff and landing cycles and exacerbated by aircraft maneuvers, and that short periods of blade resonance may have contributed to the cracking. If material had not been removed from the attachment surface of the disk by service-induced wear, it is likely more cracks would have been found.