Generalized Model for the Approximation of Coupled Acousto-Mechanical Natural Frequencies in High-Pressure Centrifugal Compressors

The oil and gas, chemical, and process industries employ centrifugal compressors for a wide range of applications. Due to this, the conditions under which centrifugal compressors have to operate, vary significantly from case to case. Gas pipeline compressors, for example, may feature discharge pressures well over 100 bar. During the last decades, comprehensive research was conducted on the impact of high pressure operating conditions on the vibrational behavior of centrifugal compressors. Nowadays, it is well-known that an increase in gas pressure levels leads to a more pronounced interaction between the side cavities and the impeller, which results in a frequency shift of the acoustic and structural modes. For the safe operation of compressors, it is necessary to predict these coupled natural frequencies accurately. The state-of-the-art approach to achieve this objective is the finite element method. While this technique provides high-quality results, it incurs high computational costs and is, therefore, time-consuming. The authors of the current paper propose a generalized model to overcome this challenge. It uses the uncoupled modes of the impeller and side cavities in a modal superposition to approximate the coupled system's natural frequencies. In this way, the intended design geometries are considered while reducing the computational effort significantly. In a numerical study, the generalized model is applied to different systems of increasing complexity, and the results are compared to a finite element analysis. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the limitations and benefits of all employed numerical methods.