Experimental Study on Impeller Blade Vibration During Resonance—Part I: Blade Vibration Due to Inlet Flow Distortion

Author(s):  
Albert Kammerer ◽  
Reza S. Abhari

Forming the first part of a two-part paper, the experimental approach to acquire resonant vibration data is presented here. Part II deals with the estimation of damping. During the design process of turbomachinery components, mechanical integrity has to be guaranteed with respect to high cycle fatigue of blades subject to forced response or flutter. This requires the determination of stress levels within the blade, which in turn depend on the forcing function and damping. The vast majority of experimental research in this field has been performed on axial configurations for both compressors and turbines. This experimental study aims to gain insight into forced response vibration at resonance for a radial compressor. For this purpose, a research impeller was instrumented with dynamic strain gauges and operated under resonant conditions. Modal properties were analyzed using finite element method and verified using an optical method termed electronic-speckle-pattern-correlation-interferometry. During the experiment, unsteady forces acting on the blades were generated by grid installations upstream of the impeller, which created a distorted inlet flow pattern. The associated flow properties were measured using an aerodynamic probe. The resultant pressure fluctuations on the blade surface and the corresponding frequency content were assessed using unsteady computational fluid dynamics. The response of the blades was measured for three resonant crossings, which could be distinguished by the excitation order and the natural frequency of the blades. Measurements were undertaken for a number of inlet pressure settings starting at near vacuum and then increasing. The overall results showed that the installed distortion screens generated harmonics in addition to the fundamental frequency. The resonant response of the first and the second blade mode showed that the underlying dynamics support a single-degree-of-freedom model.

Author(s):  
Albert Kammerer ◽  
Reza S. Abhari

Forming the first part of a two-part paper, the experimental approach to acquire resonant vibration data is presented here. Part 2 deals with the estimation of damping. During the design process of turbomachinery components, mechanical integrity has to be guaranteed with respect to high cycle fatigue of blades subject to forced response or flutter. This requires the determination of stress levels within the blade which in turn depend on the forcing function and damping. The vast majority of experimental research in this field has been performed on axial configurations for both compressors and turbines. This experimental study aims to gain insight into forced response vibration at resonance for a radial compressor. For this purpose a research impeller was instrumented with dynamic strain gauges and operated under resonant conditions. Modal properties were analysed using FEM and verified using an optical method termed Electronic-Speckle-Pattern-Correlation-Interferometry (ESPI). During the experiment, unsteady forces acting on the blades were generated by grid installations upstream of the impeller which created a distorted inlet flow pattern. The associated flow properties were measured using an aerodynamic probe. The resultant pressure fluctuations on the blade surface and the corresponding frequency content were assessed using unsteady CFD. The response of the blades was measured for three resonant crossings which could be distinguished by the excitation order and the natural frequency of the blades. Measurements were undertaken for a number of inlet pressure settings starting at near vacuum and then increasing. The overall results showed that the installed distortion screens generated harmonics in addition to the fundamental frequency. The resonant response of the first and second blade mode showed that the underlying dynamics support a single-degree-of-freedom model.


2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Armin Zemp ◽  
Albert Kammerer ◽  
Reza S. Abhari

Blade failure in turbomachinery is frequently caused by an excessive resonant response. Forced response of the blades originates from unsteady fluid structure interactions as conditioned in the inlet section by duct bends, struts, or inlet guide vanes. This paper presents the computational part of a research effort that focuses on the blade forced response in a centrifugal compressor. Unsteady fluid flow simulations are used to quantify the forcing function acting on the compressor blades due to inlet flow distortion. The measured inlet flow distribution is applied as inlet boundary conditions in the computation. The unsteady investigation provided the temporal evolution of the distorted flow through the compressor. The time-resolved blade pressure distribution showed the temporal evolution of the dynamic load on the blade surface caused by the inlet distortion. The results suggest that the forcing function is most sensitive in the leading edge region due to inlet angle variations. Toward the impeller stability line the increase in incidence caused separation on the suction side of the main blade and therefore considerably altered the amplitude and the phase angle of the unsteadiness. The investigation of the effect of idealizing the inlet flow distribution on the forcing function showed an increase in the peak amplitude of approximately 30% compared with the actual inlet flow distribution.


Author(s):  
Armin Zemp ◽  
Albert Kammerer ◽  
Reza S. Abhari

Blade failure in turbomachinery is frequently caused by an excessive resonant response. Forced response of the blades originates from unsteady fluid structure interactions as conditioned in the inlet section by duct bends, struts or inlet guide vanes. This paper presents the computational part of a research effort that focuses on the blade forced response in a centrifugal compressor. Unsteady fluid flow simulations are used to quantify the forcing function acting on the compressor blades due to inlet flow distortion. The measured inlet flow distribution is applied as inlet boundary conditions in the computation. The unsteady investigation provided the temporal evolution of the distorted flow through the compressor. The time-resolved blade pressure distribution showed the temporal evolution of the dynamic load on the blade surface caused by the inlet distortion. The results suggest that the forcing function is most sensitive in the leading edge region due to inlet angle variations. Towards the impeller stability line the increase in incidence caused separation on the suction side of the main blade and therefore considerably altered the amplitude and the phase angle of the unsteadiness. The investigation of the effect of idealizing the inlet flow distribution on the forcing function showed an increase of the peak amplitude of approximately 30% compared to the actual inlet flow distribution.


Author(s):  
Xinwei Zhao ◽  
Hongkun Li ◽  
Shuhua Yang ◽  
Zhenfang Fan ◽  
Yang Wang

The unshrouded impeller is widely used in industrial centrifugal compressors and normally operates at high tip speed and large volume flow. However, this type of impeller can be very sensitive to flow excitations such as IGV wake, and hence encounters the challenge of high dynamic stress. Due to the lack of experimental vibration data, this paper aims to enhance the understanding of the IGV preswirl effect. The real operating representative data from strain gauges is acquired during the experiment. The blade transient and quasi-steady response due to upstream IGV wake under different configurations are investigated and quantified. Results show that the blade response increases with larger positive regulation. And under specific operating conditions, the vibration of the blade is quite large, which is comparable with synchronize resonance. This increment is attributed to the aerodynamic loading change due to enhanced distortion of the inlet flow. Based on the current findings, accurate numerical prediction of the blade forced vibration for a large shift of inlet flow condition is also needed for more reliable operating of the impeller.


Author(s):  
Albert Kammerer ◽  
Reza S. Abhari

Centrifugal compressors operating at varying rotational speeds, such as in helicopters or turbochargers, can experience forced response failure modes. The response of the compressors can be triggered by aerodynamic flow non-uniformities, such as with diffuser-impeller interaction or with inlet distortions. The work presented here addresses experimental investigations of forced response in centrifugal compressors with inlet distortions. This research is part of an ongoing effort to develop related experimental techniques and to provide data for validation of computational tools. In this work measurements of blade surface pressure and aerodynamic work distribution were addressed. A series of pressure sensors were designed and installed on rotating impeller blades and simultaneous measurements with blade-mounted strain gauges were performed under engine representative conditions. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first publication which presents comprehensive experimental unsteady pressure measurements during forced response for highspeed radial compressors. Experimental data were obtained for both resonance and off-resonance conditions with uniquely tailored inlet distortion. This paper covers aspects relating to the design of fast response pressure sensors and their installation on thin impeller blades. Additionally, sensor properties are outlined with a focus on calibration and measurement uncertainty estimations. The second part of this paper presents unsteady pressure results taken for a number of inlet distortion cases. It will be shown that the intended excitation order due to inlet flow distortion is of comparable magnitude to the second and third harmonics which are consistently observed in all measurements. Finally, an experimental method will be outlined that enables the measurement aerodynamic work on the blade surface during resonant crossing. This approach quantifies the energy exchange between the blade and the flow in terms of cyclic work along the blade surface. The phase angle between the unsteady pressure and the blade movement will be shown to determine the direction of energy transfer between the blade and the fluid.


Author(s):  
M. M. Al-Mudhafar ◽  
M. Ilyas ◽  
F. S. Bhinder

The results of an experimental study on the influence of severely distorted velocity profiles on the performance of a straight two-dimensional diffuser are reported. The data cover entry Mach numbers ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 and several inlet distortion levels. The pressure recovery progressively deteriorates as the inlet velocity is distorted.


Author(s):  
Abdelgadir M. Mahmoud ◽  
Mohd S. Leong

Turbine blades are always subjected to severe aerodynamic loading. The aerodynamic loading is uniform and Of harmonic nature. The harmonic nature depends on the rotor speed and number of nozzles (vanes counts). This harmonic loading is the main sources responsible for blade excitation. In some circumstances, the aerodynamic loading is not uniform and varies circumferentially. This paper discussed the effect of the non-uniform aerodynamic loading on the blade vibrational responses. The work involved the experimental study of forced response amplitude of model blades due to inlet flow distortion in the presence of airflow. This controlled inlet flow distortion therefore represents a nearly realistic environment involving rotating blades in the presence of airflow. A test rig was fabricated consisting of a rotating bladed disk assembly, an inlet flow section (where flow could be controlled or distorted in an incremental manner), flow conditioning module and an aerodynamic flow generator (air suction module with an intake fan) for investigations under laboratory conditions. Tests were undertaken for a combination of different air-flow velocities and blade rotational speeds. The experimental results showed that when the blades were subjected to unsteady aerodynamic loading, the responses of the blades increased and new frequencies were excited. The magnitude of the responses and the responses that corresponding to these new excited frequencies increased with the increase in the airflow velocity. Moreover, as the flow velocity increased the number of the newly excited frequency increased.


Author(s):  
Albert Kammerer ◽  
Reza S. Abhari

Centrifugal compressors operating at varying rotational speeds, such as in helicopters or turbochargers, can experience forced response failure modes. The response of the compressors can be triggered by aerodynamic flow nonuniformities such as with diffuser-impeller interaction or with inlet distortions. The work presented here addresses experimental investigations of forced response in centrifugal compressors with inlet distortions. This research is part of an ongoing effort to develop related experimental techniques and to provide data for validation of computational tools. In this work, measurements of blade surface pressure and aerodynamic work distribution were addressed. A series of pressure sensors were designed and installed on rotating impeller blades and simultaneous measurements with blade-mounted strain gauges were performed under engine representative conditions. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first publication, which presents comprehensive experimental unsteady pressure measurements during forced response, for high-speed radial compressors. The experimental data were obtained for both resonance and off-resonance conditions with uniquely tailored inlet distortion. This paper covers aspects relating to the design of fast response pressure sensors and their installation on thin impeller blades. Additionally, sensor properties are outlined with a focus on calibration and measurement uncertainty estimations. The second part of this paper presents unsteady pressure results taken for a number of inlet distortion cases. It will be shown that the intended excitation order due to inlet flow distortion is of comparable magnitude to the second and third harmonics, which are consistently observed in all measurements. Finally, an experimental method will be outlined that enables the measurement of aerodynamic work on the blade surface during resonant crossing. This approach quantifies the energy exchange between the blade and the flow in terms of cyclic work along the blade surface. The phase angle between the unsteady pressure and the blade movement will be shown to determine the direction of energy transfer.


Author(s):  
Albert Kammerer ◽  
Reza S. Abhari

Forming the second part of a two-part paper, the estimation of damping is presented here. Part I discusses the experimental approach and the results on blade resonant response measurements. In the study of forced response, damping is a crucial parameter, which is measured to quantify the ability of a vibrating system to dissipate vibratory energy in response to a given excitation source. The blading of turbomachinery components is particularly prone to forced response excitation, which is one of the major causes of high cycle fatigue failure during operation. In turbocharging applications, forced response cannot be avoided due to a number of factors, i.e., change in speed, inlet bends, or obstructions in the flow field. This study aims to quantify the damping parameter for the lightly damped blades of a centrifugal compressor. The impeller geometry is typical of turbocharging applications. As a first step, the nonrotating impeller was excited using piezos, and the transfer function was derived for a number of pressure settings. Both circle-fit and curve-fit procedures were used to derive material damping. In the second step, measurements were taken in the test facility where forced response conditions were generated using distortion screens upstream of the impeller. The main blade strain response was measured by sweeping through a number of resonant points. A curve-fit procedure was applied to estimate the critical damping ratio. The contributions of material and aerodynamic dampings were derived from a linear curve-fit applied to the damping data as a function of inlet pressure. Overall, it will be shown that aerodynamic damping dominates the dissipation process for applications with an inlet pressure of 1 bar. Damping was found to depend on the throttle setting of the compressor, and where applicable computational fluid dynamics results were used to point toward the possible causes of this effect.


Author(s):  
Yun Zheng ◽  
Kang Xu ◽  
Hui Yang ◽  
Qingzhe Gao ◽  
Xiubo Jin

Abstract S-shaped intakes are widely used in aero-engines of modern fighters because of the demand for reducing radar cross-section. Besides, boundary layer ingestion (BLI) configurations are proposed in civil engines recently due to the high propulsion efficiency and low fuel consumption. And S-shaped ducts are usually used as transition sections of diffusers in BLI intakes. Compared with normal straight intakes, it is inevitable to bring in the influence of inlet distortion and acoustic reflection for S-shaped intakes. Meanwhile, composite fan blades, shorter intakes and integrated blisks are common in engine designs. So, fan blades are prone to serious vibrations such as flutter and forced response, which may lead to high-cycle fatigue, and further cause structural failure. The aeromechanical characteristics of a transonic fan (NASA rotor67) in presence of a s-shaped intake are predicted by an in-house integrated time-domain aeroelasticity code. The three dimensional, time-accurate, unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved in fluid domain, and the structural dynamic equations of blade vibration are solved with a modal superimposition method. Mode shapes and natural frequencies of rotor blade are obtained with a commercial Finite Element code, and the Campbell diagram is presented. Full-annulus aeroelastic calculations are conducted to obtain the transient response and the aerodynamic damping of fan blades. Different techniques for interface between the intake and the rotor are used for comparison to demonstrate the influence of upstream interaction. A mixing-plane model is used at the interface to model the blade vibration without interactions with the distortion, while a sliding-plane model is used at the same condition to include the flow distortion and acoustic effects on the fan blade motion. S-shaped intakes with two different axial length are investigated for the forced response and flutter stability. This study indicates that the forced response level is attenuated due to the decrease of distortion level as the length increases, while the flutter stability is determined by the phase difference between the upstream and the reflective acoustic wave.


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