Abradable Coating Removal in Turbomachines: A Macroscopic Approach Accounting for Several Wear Mechanisms

Abradable materials are widely used as a coating within compressor and turbine stages of modern aircraft engines in order to reduce operating blade-tip/casing clearances and thus maximize the engine energy efficiency. However, recent investigations revealed that the interaction between a blade and these materials may threaten blades structural integrity. Consequently, there is a need for a better understanding of the physical phenomena at play and for an accurate modelling of the interaction in order to predict hazardous events. The cornerstone of related numerical investigations lies in the modelling of the abradable coating removal due to the blade/abradable coating interaction and the associated contact forces along the contact interface. In this context, this article presents a macroscopic model for abradable coating removal accounting for key wear mechanisms including adhesive wear, abrasive wear, micro-rupture wear and machining wear. It is coupled with an in-house numerical strategy for the modelling of full 3D blade/abradable coating interactions within turbomachines and applied to an aircraft engine. Numerical results are compared with respect to existing models and available experimental data. The applicability of the proposed model for 3D interaction simulations is underlined as well as the consistency of the obtained results with experimental observations.