Application of fracture mechanics to estimation of supporting power and residual operating life of turbine rotors

The paper contains basic problems of fracture mechanics in connection with estimation of the turbine rotor supporting power. Stasistical data on the rotor failure are presented with methods of nondestructing control analyzed; classification of defects in the rotor is suggested; engineering and numeric methods for calculation of defects are considered; the greatest attention is paid to calculation of half-elliptical shape defects distributed on the surface of the axial channel; experimental methods for studing crack resistance of rotor steels and methods for the fracture examination are considered