Development and validation of a rotating blade-casing rubbing model by considering the blade deformation and abradable coating

Aiming at the phenomenon that blade bending deformation and coating wear are rarely considered in existing rubbing force models, a blade-casing rubbing model based on the Archard wear model was established in this paper. First, the bending deformation of the blade was deduced according to the torque balance relationship, the equivalent deformation of the coated casing was analysed using the equivalent stiffness method, and the clearance between the blade and casing was calculated with the consideration of coating wear based on the Archard model. Second, the influences of the casing stiffness, blade size, and Young's modulus of the coating on the rubbing force were analysed and compared with the existing rubbing force models. Subsequently, a rubbing force characterisation test bench was built considering the AlSi-polyester coating. A strain gauge was used to analyse the blade deformation, the rubbing force was compensated based on the acceleration sensor, and a grating displacement sensor was used to measure the penetration depth, which made the relative error between the experimental and simulation results was less than 15%. Finally, the rubbing force model was applied to the rotor-blade-casing system, and the influence of coating and coating wear on the dynamic characteristics of the rotor system is analyzed. The results show that the model proposed in this paper is more suitable for the rub-impact faults of the elastic blade with an abradable coating on the casing surface. The rubbing force model considering the coating wear is beneficial to accurately predict the rubbing force.