INVESTIGATION OF BLADE DAMPING OF THE NASA ROTOR 67 USING COUPLED STRUCTURAL AND COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS

Sunil Patil, William Holmes ANSYS, Inc.

ABSTRACT
Accurate prediction of blade flutter in compressors and turbines is critical to design highly reliable and durable turbomachinery systems. Traditionally, empirical methods were used to compute the blade damping. Recent progresses in CFD methods now allows for direct 3D unsteady analysis of blade damping, which is key to predict blade flutter phenomena. The first progress is the availability of unsteady CFD methods which allows for an accurate simulation using only a small sector of a blade row. As noted by Elder et al.[1], when dealing with a nodal diameter of four, a reference calculation of a compressor or turbine blade row, having 22 blades, would require the simulation of 11 of those blades (or a 180 degree sector). Using efficient unsteady CFD methods like Fourier transformation, the number of blades required for the simulation reduces to only one or two (or approximately a 30 degrees sector maximum). The second progress is the capability to seamlessly use output from a highly accurate structural pre-stressed modal analysis as input for the 3D CFD simulation. The output (nodal coordinates and normalized modal displacements) are passed to the 3D CFD simulation and the displacements are mapped onto the CFD mesh. Then, the 3D CFD simulation can be performed and analysing the flow behaviour around the moving blade (which motion is prescribed using the structural pre-stressed modal analysis) will determine which modes will be damped (or excited) by the flow. This study showcases both the use of this multiple physics approach as well as the use of the Fourier transformation technique for the 3D unsteady CFD simulation using the NASA Rotor 67 geometry [2]. Results of the unsteady CFD simulation using the Fourier transformation method (2 blades) are compared to a full sector reference simulation. Results indicate that the 2 blade simulation with the Fourier transformation method is as accurate, but faster, than the full sector simulation. [1] Elder, R., Woods, I., Patil, S., Holmes, W., Steed, R., Hutchinson, B., Investigation of Efficient CFD Methods For The Prediction of Blade Damping Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2013: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition, GT2013-95005, June 3-7, 2013, San Antonio, Texas, USA

[2] Strazisar A. J., Wood J. R., Hathaway M. D., and Suder K.L., - Laser Anemometer Measurements in a Transonic Axial-Flow Fan Rotor, NASA Technical Paper 2879, 1989.

SUGGESTED THEMES
Innovations in Simulation Technology: Achieving engineering insight through multifunctional and multiphysics simulations Turbomachinery, blade damping/flutter