On the development of airfoil section inspection and analysis technique

In blade inspection, the measurement and analysis of airfoil section parameters and geometric tolerance are very important but complicated. The aim of this study was to apply coordinate measurement techniques to blade sections measurement and to develop methods for the evaluation of dimensions and geometric tolerance. Due to significant variation in the blade shape, especially near the upper sections, the leading edge and the trailing edge, the measurement paths based on the CAD model may lead to incorrect results. Thus, a two-step measurement procedure, including a rough measurement and a fine measurement, along with the calculation of the back-off directions was proposed to improve the measurement accuracy. In blade profiles analysis, several algorithms, including a best-fit algorithm, blade parameters computation and profile and tolerance zone analysis, were used to evaluate section parameters and geometric tolerance. Successful experimental results have demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed method.