Bird strike resistance analysis for engine fan blade filled with triply periodic minimal surface

Abstract

The continuous advancement of modern aero engines places higher demands on fan blades, requiring lighter weight without compromising mechanical properties, such as bird strike resistance. The triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structure, a lattice structure, has garnered significant attention due to its lightweight, controllable, and excellent mechanical properties. The progress of additive manufacturing (AM) technology has made it possible to use TPMS structures as fillers for fan blades. This study addresses the challenge of impact resistance in wide-chord hollow fan blades and, for the first time, proposes the use of TPMS structures as the filling layer for such blades. Using a multi-level filling structure impact analysis framework, the blade designs are categorized into three levels of simulation and experimental verification, namely, the material-level, the element-level, and the component-level. To reduce the computational cost of numerical simulations, homogenization models were developed for element-level and component-level specimens. The experimental and simulation results show good consistency between the two, while revealing some unique properties of TPMS as the fan blade filling layer. The research demonstrates that TPMS structure has great potential as a new filling core layer for wide-chord hollow fan blades.