Similarity design method for dynamic characteristics of rotating composite blades in thermal environment

A similarity method for rotating composite blades in thermal environment is developed for the problems of difficulty, time consumption, high cost, and risk in the dynamic test under a high-temperature environment. Within this study, a set of scaling laws are derived for thin-walled composite plates based on their dynamic models and the applicability of the scaling laws is demonstrated in the similitude design of composite blades. The present dynamic model takes into account thermal stress and centrifugal stiffening effect. Analytical calculations show that the scaled models at relatively low temperatures can well reproduce the dynamic characteristics of their corresponding prototypes at high temperatures when taking into account the scaling of temperature change and rotational speed. • Thermal stress and centrifugal stiffening effect are considered in the dynamic model. • The scaling laws for temperature change, rotational speed, natural frequency, and acceleration response are deduced. • Models at low temperatures are used to predict prototypes in high-temperature operating environments. • The scaling laws for thin-walled composite plates are applicable to the prediction of composite blades.