On the Unsteady Supersonic Cascade With a Subsonic Leading Edge—An Exact First Order Theory—Part 2

Pursuant to Part 1, the analysis of the aerodynamic forces acting on slowly oscillating airfoils in a supersonic cascade with a subsonic leading edge is presented. First the flow field between adjacent airfoils is determined. In the limit of sonic leading edge, the present results for the velocity potential agree with the sonic limit of Lane’s supersonic leading edge analysis. The requirement of the continuity of pressure in the “train” leads to functional equations for the train velocity; their solutions, obtained in closed form, are found to involve arbitrary constants which are related to the back pressure. The effect of the back pressure on the “train” is discussed in detail. For a cascade with zero pressure rise across it, the train velocity is determined completely and the formulas for lift and moment, accurate to the first order of a frequency parameter, are obtained in closed form. Stability criteria for a single-degree-of-freedom motion are examined. A pure bending motion is found to be stable, but a pure torsional motion becomes unstable under certain circumstances. These results are consistent with analogous oscillations of an isolated airfoil. However, the stability boundary for a typical cascade differs significantly from the case of the isolated airfoil, being strongly influenced by such cascade parameters as solidity, blade-to-blade phase difference, and stagger angle.