Investigation of Efficient CFD Methods for the Prediction of Blade Damping

Accurate and efficient prediction of blade damping is one essential element in the engineering of durable and reliable compressors and turbines. Over the years, a variety of empirical and linearized methods have been developed and used, and have served well. Recently, the development of efficient unsteady CFD methods combined with an expansion in available and affordable computing power has enabled CFD analysis of blade damping. This paper looks at the prediction of aerodynamic blade damping using some recently developed CFD methods. Unsteady CFD methods are used to predict the fluid flow in a transonic fan rotor, with tip Mach number of about 1.4. Deformation of the blade is determined from a mechanical pre-stressed modal analysis. In this investigation, blade motion for the first bending moments is prescribed in the CFD code, for a range of nodal diameters. After periodic unsteady solutions are obtained, damping coefficients are calculated based on the predicted blade forces and the specified blade motion. Traditional unsteady CFD methods require the simulation of many blades in a given row, depending on the nodal diameter. For instance, for a nodal diameter of four, a wheel with 22 blades would require simulation of eleven blades. Computational methods have been developed which now enable simulation of only a few (1 or 2) blades per row yet yield the full sector solution, thus providing considerable savings in computing time and machine resources. The properties of the available methods vary, but one method, the Fourier Transformation method, has the property that it is frequency preserving, and hence suitable for the present task. Fourier Transformation predictions, for a variety of nodal diameters, are compared with full sector predictions. Positive damping was predicted for this range of nodal diameters at design speed near peak efficiency operating condition indicating a stable system. The Fourier Transformation predictions for blade aerodynamic damping match very closely the reference full sector solutions. The Fourier transformation methods also provide solutions 3.5 times faster than average periodic reference cases.