Structural response of SSME turbine blade airfoils

Reusable space propulsion hot gas-path components are required to operate under severe thermal and mechanical loading conditions. These operating conditions produce elevated temperature and thermal transients which results in significant thermally induced inelastic strains, particularly, in the turbopump turbine blades. An inelastic analysis for this component may therefore be necessary. Anisotropic alloys such as MAR M-247 or PWA-1480 are being considered to meet the safety and durability requirements of this component. An anisotropic inelastic structural analysis for an SSME fuel turbopump turbine blade was performed. The thermal loads used resulted from a transient heat transfer analysis of a turbine blade. A comparison of preliminary results from the elastic and inelastic analyses is presented.