Research on Structural Design and Analysis of S-CO₂ Turbine Impeller

The Brayton cycle with supercritical carbon (S-CO₂) as working medium is one of the most promising new nuclear power systems. Turbine is the key device during the working process in the Brayton power cycle. The turbine structural presents small size and extremely high rotational speed for the special physical properties of S-CO₂, which increase the difficulty for the structural design and strength safety significantly. According to the aerodynamic design and optimization results of 200 kW S-CO₂ radial inflow turbine, this paper proposes a detail structural design and analysis method for turbine impeller. Based on the three-dimensional blade profile data and meridional planes data, key structural design parameters are chosen and the parametric geometry model is established by CAD tools. On this basis, numerical simulation models of turbine are established to analyze the structural strength in detail. Then the influence of parameters on the turbine impeller strength is studied by a series of finite element numerical procedures. The influence mechanisms of key structural design parameters on impeller strength are discussed. Moreover, the final model of turbine impeller is obtained by parameter comparison and selection. The results show that for the initial model, the maximum von-Mises equivalent stress is 400.10 MPa, the maximum radial deformation is 0.0333 mm and the maximum axial deformation is 0.0770 mm. For the final model, the maximum von-Mises equivalent stress is 294.26 MPa, the maximum radial deformation is 0.0279 mm and the maximum axial deformation is 0.0769 mm. The maximum von-Mises equivalent stress and maximum radial deformation of structural decreases 26.45 % and 16.22 % respectively compared with the initial model. As a result, the impeller structural strength safety margin is obviously improved by the parameter analysis.