Full-Annulus Simulation of Nonsynchronous Blade Vibration Excitation of an Axial Compressor

2017 ◽  
Vol 140 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Espinal ◽  
Hong-Sik Im ◽  
Ge-Cheng Zha

A high speed 1–1/2 axial compressor stage is simulated in this paper using an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) solver for a full-annulus configuration to capture its nonsynchronous vibration (NSV) flow excitation with rigid blades. A third-order weighted essentially nonoscillatory scheme for the inviscid flux and a second-order central differencing for the viscous terms are used to resolve nonlinear unsteady fluid flows. A fully conservative rotor/stator sliding boundary condition (BC) is employed with multiple-processor capability for rotor/stator sliding interface that accurately captures unsteady wake propagation between the rotor and stator blades while conserving fluxes across the rotor/stator interfaces. The predicted dominant frequencies using the blade tip response signals are not harmonic to the engine order, which is the NSV excitation. The simulation is based on a rotor blade with a 1.1% tip-chord clearance. Comparison with the previous 1/7 annulus simulations show that the time-shifted phase-lag BCs used in the 1/7 annulus are accurate. For most of the blades, the NSV excitation frequency is 6.2% lower than the measurement in the rig test, although some blades displayed slightly different NSV excitation frequencies. The simulation confirms that the NSV is a full annulus phenomenon. The instability of the circumferential traveling vortices in the vicinity of the rotor tip due to the strong interaction of incoming flow is the main cause of the NSV excitation. This instability is present in all blades of the rotor annulus. For circumferentially averaged parameters like total pressure ratio, NSV is observed to have an effect on the radial profile, particularly at radial locations above 70% span. A design with a lower loading of the upper blade span and a higher loading of the midblade spans is recommended to mitigate or remove NSV.

Author(s):  
Jiaye Gan ◽  
Hong-sik Im ◽  
Daniel Espinal ◽  
Alexis Lefebvre ◽  
Ge-Cheng Zha

This paper study the non-synchronous vibration (NSV) of a high speed multistage axial compressor using rigid blade and vibrating blade with fluid-structural interaction (FSI). The unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations and mode based structural dynamic equations are solved. A low diffusion E-CUSP Reimann solver with a 3rd order WENO scheme for the inviscid fluxes and a 2nd order central differencing for the viscous terms are employed. A 1/7th annulus sector of IGV-rotor-stator is used with a time shifted phase lag BC at circumferential boundaries. An interpolation sliding boundary condition is used for the rotor-stator interaction. The URANS simulation for rigid blades shows that the leading edge (LE) tornado vortices, roughly above 80% rotor span, travel backwards relative to the rotor rotation and cause an excitation with the frequency agreeing with the measured NSV frequency. The predicted excitation frequency of the traveling vortices in the rigid blade simulation is a non-engine order frequency of 2603 Hz, which agrees very well with the NSV rig testing. For the FSI simulation, the results show that there exist two dominant frequencies in the spectrum of the blade vibration. The lower dominant frequency is close to the first bending mode. The higher dominant frequency close to the first torsional mode agrees very well with the measured NSV frequency. The simulation conducted in this paper appears to indicate that the NSV is excited by the traveling vortex.


Author(s):  
Hong-Sik Im ◽  
Ge-Cheng Zha

In this paper non-synchronous vibration (NSV) of a GE axial compressor is simulated using a fully coupled fluid/strcuture interaction (FSI). Time accurate Navier-Stokes equations are solved with a system of 5 decoupled structure modal equations in a fully coupled manner. A 3rd order WENO scheme for the inviscid flux and a 2nd order central differencing for the viscous terms are used to resolve nonlinear interaction between vibrating blades and fluid flow. 1/7th annulus is used with a time shifted phase-lag (TSPL) boundary condition to reduce computational efforts. A fully conservative rotor/stator sliding boundary condition is employed to accurately capture unsteady wake propagation between the rotor and stator blades. The predicted dominant frequencies using the blade tip response signals are not harmonic to the engine order, which is the NSV. The blade vibration is torsionally coupled with highly oscillating blade pressure and is not damped out during the NSV. No resonance to the blade natural frequencies is found. The instability of tornado vortices in the vicinity of the rotor tip due to the strong interaction of incoming flow, tip vortex and tip leakage flow is the main cause of the NSV observed in this study.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Van Zante ◽  
Jenping Chen ◽  
Michael Hathaway ◽  
Randall Chriss

The time-accurate, multistage, Navier–Stokes, turbomachinery solver TURBO was used to calculate the aeroperformance of a 2 1∕2 stage, highly loaded, high-speed, axial compressor. The goals of the research project were to demonstrate completion times for multistage, time-accurate simulations that are consistent with inclusion in the design process and to assess the influence of differing approaches to modeling the effects of blade row interactions on aeroperformance estimates. Three different simulation setups were used to model blade row interactions: (1) single-passage per blade row with phase lag boundaries, (2) multiple passages per blade row with phase lag boundaries, and (3) a periodic sector (1∕2 annulus sector). The simulations used identical inlet and exit boundary conditions and identical meshes. To add more blade passages to the domain, the single-passage meshes were copied and rotated. This removed any issues of differing mesh topology or mesh density from the following results. The 1∕2 annulus simulation utilizing periodic boundary conditions required an order of magnitude fewer iterations to converge when all three simulations were converged to the same level as assessed by monitoring changes in overall adiabatic efficiency. When using phase lag boundary conditions, the necessity to converge the time history information requires more iterations to obtain the same convergence level. In addition to convergence differences, the three simulations gave different overall performance estimates where the 1∕2 annulus case was 1.0 point lower in adiabatic efficiency than the single-passage phase lag case. The interaction between blade rows in the same frame of reference sets up spatial variations of properties in the circumferential direction, which are stationary in that reference frame. The phase lag boundary condition formulation will not capture this effect because the blade rows are not moving relative to each other. Thus, for simulations of more than two blade rows and strong interactions, a periodic simulation is necessary to estimate the correct aeroperformance.


Author(s):  
Jiaye Gan ◽  
Hong-Sik Im ◽  
Ge-Cheng Zha

This paper examines the lock-in hypothesis of non-synchronous vibration (NSV) in a high speed multistage axial compressor. The unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations and modal approach based structural dynamic equations are solved. A low diffusion E-CUSP approximate Riemann solver with a 3rd order WENO scheme for the inviscid fluxes and a 2nd order central differencing for the viscous terms are employed. The structural vibration of the blades are solved by a set of modal equations that are fully coupled with the flow equation. The rigid blade simulations are conducted to examine the main driver of NSV. A 1/7th annulus sector of IGV-rotor-stator is used with a time shifted phase lag BC at circumferential boundaries. A dominant excitation frequency caused by the traveling tip vortices are captured. The excitation frequency is not on the engine order. The simulation is then switched to fluid structure interaction that allows the blades to vibrate freely under the flow excitations. The matching of aerodynamic forcing frequency with the structure response frequency seems indicating that the NSV of this compressor is a limit cycle oscillation (LCO) excited by aerodynamic forcing, not caused by flow frequency/phase locked to structural frequency. The rotating speed is varied within a RPM range, in which the rig test detected the NSV. The unsteady flows with rigid blades are simulated first at several RPMs. The simulation indicates that the structure response follows the frequency of the flow excitations existing in the rigid blades. At least under the simulated conditions, the NSV does not appear to be a lock-in phenomenon, which has the flow frequency lock-in to the structure natural frequency.


Author(s):  
Adam R. Hickman ◽  
Scott C. Morris

Flow field measurements of a high-speed axial compressor are presented during pre-stall and post-stall conditions. The paper provides an analysis of measurements from a circumferential array of unsteady shroud static pressure sensors during stall cell development. At low-speed, the stall cell approached a stable size in approximately two rotor revolutions. At higher speeds, the stall cell developed within a short amount of time after stall inception, but then fluctuated in circumferential extent as the compressor transiently approached a stable post-stall operating point. The size of the stall cell was found to be related to the annulus average flow coefficient. A discussion of Phase-Locked Average (PLA) statistics on flow field measurements during stable operation is also included. In conditions where rotating stall is present, flow field measurements can be Double Phase-Locked Averaged (DPLA) using a once-per-revolution (1/Rev) pulse and the period of the stall cell. The DPLA method provides greater detail and understanding into the structure of the stall cell. DPLA data indicated that a stalled compressor annulus can be considered to contained three main regions: over-pressurized passages, stalled passages, and recovering passages. Within the over-pressured region, rotor passages exhibited increased blade loading and pressure ratio compared to pre-stall values.


Author(s):  
Paul Xiubao Huang ◽  
Robert S. Mazzawy

This paper is a continuing work from one author on the same topic of the transient aerodynamics during compressor stall/surge using a shock tube analogy by Huang [1, 2]. As observed by Mazzawy [3] for the high-speed high-pressure (HSHP) ratio compressors of the modern aero-engines, surge is an event characterized with the stoppage and reversal of engine flow within a matter of milliseconds. This large flow transient is accomplished through a pair of internally generated shock waves and expansion waves of high strength. The final results are often dramatic with a loud bang followed by the spewing out of flames from both the engine intake and exhaust, potentially damaging to the engine structure [3]. It has been demonstrated in the previous investigations by Marshall [4] and Huang [2] that the transient flow reversal phase of a surge cycle can be approximated by the shock tube analogy in understanding its generation mechanism and correlating the shock wave strength as a function of the pre-surge compressor pressure ratio. Kurkov [5] and Evans [8] used a guillotine analogy to estimate the inlet overpressure associated with the sudden flow stoppage associated with surge. This paper will expand the progressive surge model established by the shock tube analogy in [2] by including the dynamic effect of airflow stoppage using an “integrated-flow” sequential guillotine/shock tube model. It further investigates the surge formation (characterized by flow reversal) and propagation patterns (characterized by surge shock and expansion waves) after its generation at different locations inside a compressor. Calculations are conducted for a 12-stage compressor using this model under various surge onset stages and compared with previous experimental data [3]. The results demonstrate that the “integrated-flow” model closely replicates the fast moving surge shock wave overpressure from the stall initiation site to the compressor inlet.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel Fischer ◽  
Walter Riess ◽  
Joerg R. Seume

The FVV sponsored project “Bow Blading” (cf. acknowledgments) at the Turbomachinery Laboratory of the University of Hannover addresses the effect of strongly bowed stator vanes on the flow field in a four-stage high-speed axial compressor with controlled diffusion airfoil (CDA) blading. The compressor is equipped with more strongly bowed vanes than have previously been reported in the literature. The performance map of the present compressor is being investigated experimentally and numerically. The results show that the pressure ratio and the efficiency at the design point and at the choke limit are reduced by the increase in friction losses on the surface of the bowed vanes, whose surface area is greater than that of the reference (CDA) vanes. The mass flow at the choke limit decreases for the same reason. Because of the change in the radial distribution of axial velocity, pressure rise shifts from stage 3 to stage 4 between the choke limit and maximum pressure ratio. Beyond the point of maximum pressure ratio, this effect is not distinguishable from the reduction of separation by the bow of the vanes. Experimental results show that in cases of high aerodynamic loading, i.e., between maximum pressure ratio and the stall limit, separation is reduced in the bowed stator vanes so that the stagnation pressure ratio and efficiency are increased by the change to bowed stators. It is shown that the reduction of separation with bowed vanes leads to a increase of static pressure rise towards lower mass flow so that the present bow bladed compressor achieves higher static pressure ratios at the stall limit.


1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 930-936 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Mosher ◽  
D. W. Childs

This research investigates the effect of varying the concentric recess pressure ratio of hybrid (combination hydrostatic and hydrodynamic) bearings to be used in high-speed, high-pressure applications. Bearing flowrate, load capacity, torque, rotordynamic coefficients, and whirl frequency ratio are examined to determine the concentric, recess-pressure ratio which yields optimum bearing load capacity and dynamic stiffness. An analytical model, using two-dimensional bulk-flow Navier-Stokes equations and anchored by experimental test results, is used to examine bearing performance over a wide range of concentric recess pressure ratios. Typically, a concentric recess pressure ratio of 0.50 is used to obtain maximum bearing load capacity. This analysis reveals that theoretical optimum bearing performance occurs for a pressure ratio near 0.40, while experimental results indicate the optimum value to he somewhat higher than 0.45. This research demonstrates the ability to analytically investigate hybrid bearings and shows the need for more hybrid-bearing experimental data.


Fluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
Motoyuki Kawase ◽  
Aldo Rona

A proof of concept is provided by computational fluid dynamic simulations of a new recirculating type casing treatment. This treatment aims at extending the stable operating range of highly loaded axial compressors, so to improve the safety of sorties of high-speed, high-performance aircraft powered by high specific thrust engines. This casing treatment, featuring an axisymmetric recirculation channel, is evaluated on the NASA rotor 37 test case by steady and unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations, using the realizable k-ε model. Flow blockage at the recirculation channel outlet was mitigated by chamfering the exit of the recirculation channel inner wall. The channel axial location from the rotor blade tip leading edge was optimized parametrically over the range −4.6% to 47.6% of the rotor tip axial chord c z . Locating the channel at 18.2% c z provided the best stall margin gain of approximately 5.5% compared to the untreated rotor. No rotor adiabatic efficiency was lost by the application of this casing treatment. The investigation into the flow structure with the recirculating channel gave a good insight into how the new casing treatment generates this benefit. The combination of stall margin gain at no rotor adiabatic efficiency loss makes this design attractive for applications to high-speed gas turbine engines.


2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth L. Suder ◽  
Michael D. Hathaway ◽  
Scott A. Thorp ◽  
Anthony J. Strazisar ◽  
Michelle B. Bright

Mass injection upstream of the tip of a high-speed axial compressor rotor is a stability enhancement approach known to be effective in suppressing stall in tip-critical rotors. This process is examined in a transonic axial compressor rotor through experiments and time-averaged Navier-Stokes CFD simulations. Measurements and simulations for discrete injection are presented for a range of injection rates and distributions of injectors around the annulus. The simulations indicate that tip injection increases stability by unloading the rotor tip and that increasing injection velocity improves the effectiveness of tip injection. For the tested rotor, experimental results demonstrate that at 70 percent speed the stalling flow coefficient can be reduced by 30 percent using an injected massflow equivalent to 1 percent of the annulus flow. At design speed, the stalling flow coefficient was reduced by 6 percent using an injected massflow equivalent to 2 percent of the annulus flow. The experiments show that stability enhancement is related to the mass-averaged axial velocity at the tip. For a given injected massflow, the mass-averaged axial velocity at the tip is increased by injecting flow over discrete portions of the circumference as opposed to full-annular injection. The implications of these results on the design of recirculating casing treatments and other methods to enhance stability will be discussed.


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