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, J une 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