Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) represent a critical technology for both aerospace and land based turbine applications. As the need to develop greater engine efficiencies in aircraft engines and land-based turbines continues to grow, the requirements imposed on TBC applications become increasingly more demanding. The development of quantivative design criteria and methods of assessing combined material effects becomes more difficult as both the number and complexity of potential TBC material constituents expands. This proposal Focuses on the development of a simulation based design tool to assist TBC designers in assessing the potential performance implications of a given set of TBC material design options. This tool will consist of a set of both finite element modeling modules and a design optimization package, allowing the designer to accurately determine the quantitative perfomance of a given TBC material system, and adding an additional level of sophistication to the design process by providing a means of visualizing the development and evolution of internal stress fields within a given TBC. The optimization software package will promote more rapid determination of optimal design criteria from a given set of potential design combinations, and thus promote the development of more cost efficient physical testing plans.
Potential Commercial Applications:This software system will permit designers for the first time to rapidly visualize the material mechanisms at work in a given TBC system, as well as provide a means of developing an optimized design scheme based on Simulated predictions of the performance of a given set of design options. Simulation based cracking assessment will provide an additional design criteria for predicting potential TBC life. Economically, the proposed design tool will Provide substantial finacial benefit in terms of reducing very costly physical testing, by allowing designers to optimize the physical testing design matrix to maximum efficiency.
