Aero-Structural Coupling Strategy for a Morphing Blade Cascade Study

The coupling of aerodynamics and structural mechanics is an important step in the design process of aeronautical devices with morphing parts. In this paper, a 2D-3D coupling approach is developed to study a morphing blade cascade. Two shape memory alloy actuators are placed on the upper and lower sides of the blade to make possible the change in shape of the leading-edge. In the present work, a preliminary design study is conducted by considering a two-dimensional CFD analysis of an airfoil cascade coupled with a three-dimensional structural analysis of the whole 3D blade. A methodology is developed to match 2D and 3D meshes such that the aerodynamic loads can be easily transferred to the structural analysis. From there, the deformed blade geometry due to both aerodynamic loads and actuator work can be transferred back to the CFD solver, and the iterative aero-structural coupling loop can be repeated until convergence. The aero-structural coupling strategy developed in this work is also applied to a blade cascade study aiming to improve its performance by morphing the leading-edge of the blade. The results of this application show that by morphing the leading-edge blade of only few millimeters (less than 2 mm), it is possible to achieve a relevant performance improvement in terms of total pressure loss coefficient decrease of about 53%.

A viscous blade body force model for computational fluid dynamics–based throughflow analysis of axial compressors

In recent years, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques have attracted enormous interest in the throughflow calculations, and one of the major concerns in the CFD-based throughflow method is the modeling of blade forces. In this article, a viscous blade force model in the CFD-based throughflow program was proposed to account for the loss generation. The throughflow code is based on the axisymmetric Navier–Stokes equations. The inviscid blade force is determined by calculating a pressure difference between the pressure and suction surfaces, and the viscous blade force is related to the local kinetic energy through a skin friction coefficient. The viscous blade force model was validated by a linear controlled diffusion airfoil cascade, and the results showed that it can correctly introduce the loss into the CFD-based throughflow model. Then, the code was applied to calculate the transonic NASA rotor 67, and the calculated results were in good agreement with the measured results, which showed that the calculated shock losses reduce the dependence of the throughflow calculation on the empirical correlation. Last, the 3.5-stage compressor P&W3S1 at 85%, 100%, and 105% of the design speed was performed to demonstrate the reliability of the viscous blade force model in a multistage environment. The results showed that the CFD-based throughflow method can easily predict the spanwise mixing due to the inclusion of the turbulence model, and predicted results were in acceptable agreement with the experimental results. In a word, the proposed viscous blade force model and CFD-based throughflow model can achieve the throughflow analysis with an acceptable level of accuracy and a little time-consuming.

Turbomachine criteria for similarity of natural size proportionality

Introduction. It is possible to give rise to synergy as a result of science-intensive industries combination with innovative eco-technologies for subsoil use only by developing a brand new approach to nature-like auxiliary technologies. Insufficient adaptability of turbomachines that ensure industrial safety increases the production cost of the mining and oil and gas complexes of the Russian Federation by more than 15%, reducing its competitiveness. Research methodology. Based on the hypothesis of the hydrodynamic analogy of the mechanisms of deceleration of the flow around the airfoil and the formation of its profile resistance, Karman's theory of attached and free vortices, the Zhukovsky-Chaplygin-Kutta hypothesis, the method of conformal transformations, the theory of similarity, the method of singular points by Chaplygin S. A., the criteria for the similarity of natural proportionality are obtained, that is, for the hydrodynamic similarity of the mechanism of energy interaction between the blades of the turbomachine impeller and the wing of a bird. Results. It has been proved that the dominant control over the nature-like proportionality of the aerodynamics of turbomachines is the ratio between the speed and flow acceleration circulation around the airfoil. It has been established that the coefficients of the airfoil resistance, lift and aerodynamic quality of the airfoil cascade are hydrodynamic analogs of the coefficients of the circulation of the velocity and acceleration of the flow and their ratio. Conclusions. It has been experimentally confirmed that the use of the proposed criterion of natural proportionality in the design of turbomachines increases their coefficient of aerodynamic adaptability by more than 2 times, increasing the area of economical operation by 83%.

Experimental and Numerical Studies on a Curved Back Transonic Airfoil

The curvature of a turbine blade airfoil downstream of the throat location significantly affects its aerodynamic performance, specifically at Mach number close to unity. In the present work, a low aspect ratio (0.64), highly curved back airfoil corresponding to stator blade ‘mean’ section of a high-pressure (HP) turbine stage is studied. The details of the blade parameters, experimental test setup, CFD solver and numerical setup are explained in the paper. Its aerodynamic characteristics are obtained numerically using a commercial CFD solver and are compared to those from experimental cascade test results. For numerical assessment, CFD simulations are carried out on three configurations viz. (i) Full turbine stage (stator and rotor) domain (ii) Isolated turbine stator row domain (iii) Stator mean section airfoil cascade domain. The loss predictions obtained through CFD are also compared against the loss estimates calculated using two loss models. The experimental cascade pressure loss across the blade row at design point Mach number 0.996 increases to 250% of that at lower Mach numbers. This drastic increase is not desirable. But the airfoil performs appreciably well in a ‘stage’ setup i.e. with downstream rotor. Therefore, the present study brings out the behaviour of the stator airfoil performance in a linear cascade, annular cascade and stage environments.

Unsteady Flow Simulation of Leading-Edge Separation in Thin-Airfoil Cascade: A Modification to Turbulence Model

Leading edge separation of thin airfoil cascade in subsonic flow at large angle of incidence was simulated by implicit large eddy simulation (ILES) and Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations with various turbulence models. In the ILES simulations with fine grids, the time-averaged surface pressure qualitatively agreed with the experimental data. The RANS and ILES simulations on the coarse mesh failed to capture a peak of pressure near the leading edge. From spectrum analysis, it was observed that the flow-field was turbulent in the separation bubble. In the failed RANS simulations, the separation bubble was much longer and the turbulence energy near the leading edge was much lower than those in the ILES results. The development of lambda-shaped vortex structures and their sudden weakening near the reattachment point was observed in the unsteady simulations. Two possible modifications to existing turbulence models in RANS simulations were proposed based on the comparison of turbulence energy between the ILES and RANS results. It is shown that these modifications improve the bubble length and Cp distributions of RANS simulations, though further validation and modeling are needed for the application to realistic cases.