Theoretical and Experimental Study of the Torque Impact and Shaft Response during the Rapid Engaging Process of a Gas Turbine

Gas turbines produce torque impacts during the rapid engaging process, which could obviously affect the safety of the propulsion shafting. To analyze the impact load and the corresponding response of a shaft, a calculation method is proposed for the torque impact load, based on a propulsion shafting model and the motion characteristics of a synchro-self-shifting (SSS) clutch. In addition, the time-domain integration method was used to analyze the shaft response under an impact load. Finally, the engaging process was reproduced in an experimental plant, and the proposed method was verified with measured transient torque responses. The results show that an obvious torque impact is produced in the shafting under the action of the damping force when the SSS clutch meshes during the engaging process, with the torque response amplitude fluctuating within a certain range. Adjusting the engaging parameters of the working engine and the engaging engine can reduce the amplitude of the shaft response.