Heat transfer, thermal stress and failure analyses in a TiB₂ gas turbine stator blade

Gas turbine stator blades do not experience centrifugal force contrary to the rotor blades; but they are exposed to high–temperature combustion gases causing thermal stresses. In the present work, a series of numerical simulations were carried out to clarify the feasibility of TiB₂ utilization as an appropriate material for gas turbine stator blades. The governing equations of heat transfer and solid mechanics were discretized by the finite element method and solved using Comsol Multiphysics software. The boundary conditions were applied, and temperature, displacement and maximum principle stress were obtained. The results showed that using ceramics such as TiB₂ instead of conventional alloys can enhance the maximum displacement. Temperature distribution in the blade is more uniform than that of alloys, and consequently, the thermal stresses are reduced. The TiB₂ can withstand the applied stresses according to the Coulomb–Mohr theory with a safety factor of 2.4.