Effects of S-Shaped Intake on Aeromechanical Characteristics of a Transonic Fan

Author(s):  
Yun Zheng ◽  
Kang Xu ◽  
Hui Yang ◽  
Qingzhe Gao ◽  
Xiubo Jin

Abstract S-shaped intakes are widely used in aero-engines of modern fighters because of the demand for reducing radar cross-section. Besides, boundary layer ingestion (BLI) configurations are proposed in civil engines recently due to the high propulsion efficiency and low fuel consumption. And S-shaped ducts are usually used as transition sections of diffusers in BLI intakes. Compared with normal straight intakes, it is inevitable to bring in the influence of inlet distortion and acoustic reflection for S-shaped intakes. Meanwhile, composite fan blades, shorter intakes and integrated blisks are common in engine designs. So, fan blades are prone to serious vibrations such as flutter and forced response, which may lead to high-cycle fatigue, and further cause structural failure. The aeromechanical characteristics of a transonic fan (NASA rotor67) in presence of a s-shaped intake are predicted by an in-house integrated time-domain aeroelasticity code. The three dimensional, time-accurate, unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved in fluid domain, and the structural dynamic equations of blade vibration are solved with a modal superimposition method. Mode shapes and natural frequencies of rotor blade are obtained with a commercial Finite Element code, and the Campbell diagram is presented. Full-annulus aeroelastic calculations are conducted to obtain the transient response and the aerodynamic damping of fan blades. Different techniques for interface between the intake and the rotor are used for comparison to demonstrate the influence of upstream interaction. A mixing-plane model is used at the interface to model the blade vibration without interactions with the distortion, while a sliding-plane model is used at the same condition to include the flow distortion and acoustic effects on the fan blade motion. S-shaped intakes with two different axial length are investigated for the forced response and flutter stability. This study indicates that the forced response level is attenuated due to the decrease of distortion level as the length increases, while the flutter stability is determined by the phase difference between the upstream and the reflective acoustic wave.

Author(s):  
Zhonglin Wang ◽  
Yong Chen ◽  
Hua Ouyang ◽  
Anjenq Wang

When a turbofan engine is taxing or taking-off, a vortex can form between ground surface and the intake. As the diameters of engines increase, intakes are closer to the ground and as a result the possibility of vortex ingestion is increasing. The vortex starts from the ground surface and enters the inlet at high rotating speed. It is likely to draw in hard material or dust from the ground, which leads to blade erosion or impact damage. This is harmful to the engine durability and safety. Besides the vortex, inlet flow separation could induce high level of blade vibration, or aerodynamic instability, such as rotating stall. Cross wind may also lead to both vortex and flow distortion, which is more challenging for engine stability. Therefore, vibration characteristics and forced response under vortex ingestion should be evaluated to ensure the stability and safety of the engine in design phase. This paper presents a computational study of the forced response of a wide-chord fan blade under vortex ingestion. A finite element model was built, and modal analysis was conducted to characterize the vibrating characteristics of the fan blade with a corresponding Campbell diagram. Transient simulations of vortex passing over the fan blade were conducted with and without the blade pre-vibration at the natural frequency of the first bending mode. The forced response level was evaluated under various conditions, including different hitting time and increasing intensity of vortex. Results showed that the ingested vortex is able to amplify the displacement and vibratory response to a significant level of 18% at most. Linear relation between vortex intensity and blade response was found. The results give a comprehensive prediction of forced response for a better blade design against vortex ingestion.


Author(s):  
Zhang Zhang ◽  
Anping Hou ◽  
Wei Tuo ◽  
Aiguo Xia ◽  
Sheng Zhou

Under inlet total pressure distortion, forced response of compressor blades poses a threat to aircraft propulsion system. Research on blade dynamic response is premise and basis for high-cycle fatigue life analysis. Blades of a compressor first rotor row are studied with three dimensional numerical simulation in fluid-structure coupling methods. The inlet distortion’s influence on blade aeroelastic dynamic response and flow field characteristics are analyzed. The results demonstrate that circumferential and radial total pressure distortion should be considered together in the phenomenon of actual inlet distortion induced blade vibration response. At the condition of low angle of attacks, radial distortion intensity is weak, the relation between vibration response level of rotor blades and circumferential distortion intensity is proportional. With the angle of attack increases, the vibratory stress under aerodynamic forces grows sufficiently. The radial total pressure distortion near hub increases dynamic response severity of rotor blades.


Author(s):  
David Hemberger ◽  
Roberto De Santis ◽  
Dietmar Filsinger

As a means of meeting ever increasing emissions and fuel economy demands car manufacturers are using aggressive engine downsizing. To maintain the power output of the engine turbocharging is typically used. Compared to Mono scroll turbines, with a multi-entry system the individual volute sizing can be better matched to the single mass flow pulse from the engine cylinders. The exhaust pulse energy can be better utilised by the turbocharger turbine improving turbocharger response. Additionally the interaction of the engine exhaust pulses can be better avoided, improving the scavenging of the engine. Besides the thermodynamic advantages, the multi-entry turbine represents a challenge to the structural dynamic design of the turbine. A higher number of turbine wheel resonance points can be expected during operation. In addition, the increased use of exhaust pulse energy leads to a distinct accentuation of the blade vibration excitation. Using validated engine models, the interaction of the multi-entry turbine with the engine has been analyzed and various operating points, which may be critical for the blade vibration excitation, have been classified. These operating points deliver the input variables for unsteady computational flow dynamics (CFD) analyses. From these calculations unsteady blade forces were derived providing the necessary boundary conditions for the structural dynamic analyses by spatially and temporally high-resolved absolute pressures on the turbine surface. Goal of the investigation is to identify critical operating conditions. Important is also to investigate the effect of a scroll connection valve on blade excitation. The investigations utilize validated tools that were introduced and successfully applied to several turbine types in a series of publications over recent years. It can be stated that the engine operating condition and the admission type significantly influence the forced response reaction of the blade to the different excitation orders (EO). In case of equal admission even (or multiples of two) EOs generate the largest dynamic blade stress as can be expected due to the two turbine inlet segments. This reaction also increases with the engine speed. In the case of unequal admission, the odd EOs produce the largest forced response reaction. The maximum dynamic blade stress occurs in the region where the scroll connection is just closed. Above all, the scroll connection valve influences the Beta value and thus the basic behavior — unequal or equal admission. It has been possible to reconstruct the forced response behavior of the turbine blade within an engine combustion cycle. For the first time it could be shown for a double scroll application that there is a significant dynamic blade stress change dependent on the engine crankshaft angle. Certainly, due to the inertia of the mass and damping (mass, structure, flow), the blade will not exactly follow the predicted course. However, it is clear that the transient processes within an engine combustion cycle will affect the dynamic blade stress. This applies to the turbine wheels investigated in the work at hand with low damping, high eigenfrequencies and the considered internal combustion engines — as they are typically used in the passenger car sector.


Author(s):  
Tomas J. Börjesson ◽  
Torsten H. Fransson

The capabilities of an inviscid quasi three-dimensional linearized unstructured flow solver to correctly predict the stall flutter limit, flutter modes and critical inter-blade phase angles on a transonic rotating shroudless fan model where experimental data exist have been investigated. Three operating points were chosen for investigation at 70% and 95% speed. At 70% speed two points were investigated: one close to the torsional flutter boundary (at the intermediate operating line) and one at the flutter boundary. The 95% speed point was at the flexural flutter boundary. Steady state and unsteady calculations were made at several stream sections per operating point. At each stream section unsteady calculations were performed over the entire range of inter-blade phase angles with different mode shapes (real mode, rigid torsion and rigid bending) at different frequencies. Thus the model was “provoked” with “unphysical” mode shapes and frequencies to be compared to the unsteady solution obtained with the mode shapes and frequencies observed from the experiments. Furthermore all unsteady calculations were made with different mesh densities and solutions from different “tuned” and “untuned” steady-state solutions. The main conclusion of the validation of the inviscid Q3D Euler model on the Fan C Model Rotating Rig is that the model generally predicts flutter, flutter modes and the critical inter-blade phase angles to be close to the experimentally determined ones.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Aziz ◽  
Farouk M. Owis ◽  
M. M. Abdelrahman

The design of a transonic-fan rotor is optimized using numerical computations of the full three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. The CFDRC-ACE multiphysics module, which is a pressure-based solver, is used for the numerical simulation. The code is coupled with simplex optimization algorithm. The optimization process is started from a suitable design point obtained using low fidelity analytical methods that is based on experimental correlations for the pressure losses and blade deviation angle. The fan blade shape is defined by its stacking line and airfoil shape which are considered the optimization parameters. The stacking line is defined by lean, sweep, and skews, while blade airfoil shape is modified considering the thickness and camber distributions. The optimization has been performed to maximize the rotor total pressure ratio while keeping the rotor efficiency and surge margin above certain required values. The results obtained are verified with the experimental data of Rotor 67. In addition, the results of the optimized fan indicate that the optimum design is found to be leaned in the direction of rotation and has a forward sweep from the hub to mean section and backward sweep to the tip. The pressure ratio increases from 1.427 to 1.627 at the design speed and mass flow rate.


Author(s):  
V. Michelassi ◽  
M. Giachi

A typical compressor inlet volute is studied by using both experimental and numerical approaches. The highly distorted and complex flow pattern is measured in two typical configurations. Measurements include velocity, flow angle, Mach number and losses. The same geometries are analyzed by using a computer code which solves the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. Turbulence effects are modeled by a two-equation turbulence model. The set of measurements shows the flow distortion induced by the volute, and also highlights how this distortion can be controlled or largely reduced by small modifications to the geometry. The computational results indicate an overall good agreement with the measurements and allow reproducing the changes in the pattern induced by the changes in volute geometry. Both the measurements and computations prove the importance of the optimal design of this component which controls the uniformity of the flow approaching the compressor impeller.


Author(s):  
H. D. Li ◽  
L. He

Prediction of blade forced response and flutter is of great importance to turbomachinery designers. However, calculations of unsteady turbomachinery flows using conventional time-domain methods typically would lead to the use of multi-passage/whole-annulus domains due to the required direct periodic condition. This makes numerical computations extremely time-consuming and is one of the major difficulties for nonlinear unsteady calculations to be applied in a blading design environment. A single-passage approach to three-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes calculations using the Fourier-series based Shape-Correction method has been developed, and been applied to analyze inlet distortion driven response and flutter of a transonic fan rotor (NASA Rotor-67). The key feature is that the Shape-Correction method enables a single-passage solution to unsteady flows in blade rows under influences of multiple disturbances with arbitrary inter-blade phase angles. The results show that the single-passage solution can capture deterministic unsteadiness as well as time-averaged flows in good agreement with conventional multi-passage solutions, while the corresponding computing time can be reduced dramatically.


Author(s):  
Parthasarathy Vasanthakumar

This paper describes the computational analysis of aerodynamic damping for prediction of flutter characteristics of a transonic fan stage that consists of a highly loaded rotor along with a tandem stator. Three dimensional, linearized Navier-Stokes flow solver TRACE is used to numerically analyse the flutter stability of the fan. The linear flow solver enables the modeling of a single blade passage to simulate the desired inter-blade phase angle. The unsteady aerodynamic load on a vibrating blade is obtained by solving the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations on a dynamically deforming grid and the energy exchange method is used to calculate the aerodynamic damping. The calculation of aerodynamic damping for the prediction of flutter characteristics of the fan rotor is carried out with and without considering the influence of the disk. The blade mode shapes from finite element modal analysis are obtained accordingly and the flutter calculations are carried out for three blade vibration modes at the design speed and at part speeds for all possible inter-blade phase angles. Two operating points, one on the working line and the other near stall are investigated at every rotational speed. Different aspects that affect the aerodynamic damping behaviour like part speed operation, variation in unsteady blade surface pressure fluctuation between operating points on the working line and at near stall and the corresponding variation in aerodynamic work, inter-blade phase angle etc., are described. This analysis primarily focuses on the variations in aerodynamic damping of the fan with and without the influence of the disk. In addition, influence and effect of shock wave on the aerodynamic damping is also discussed.


Author(s):  
Roque Corral ◽  
Juan Manuel Gallardo ◽  
Carlos Vasco

Part II of this paper compares the aerodynamic damping of a modern Low Pressure Turbine (LPT) interlock bladed-disc to the one obtained when the blades are welded in pairs through the lateral face of the shroud. The damping is computed using the linearized Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations on a moving grid. It is concluded that the increase in stability of the welded-pair with respect the cantilever configuration due to the modification of the mode-shapes, is smaller than the one due to the overall raise of the reduced frequencies of a bladed-disc with an interlock design. The modification of the flutter boundaries due to mistuning effects is taken into account using the reduced order model known as the Fundamental Mistuning Model (FMM). It is shown that the modification on the stability limit of a interlock bladed-disc is negligible, while for a welded-pair configuration an increase of 0.15% on the critical damping may be expected. Two realistic welded-pair bladed-discs are analysed in this work. It is shown that both are aerodynamically unstable, which is in agreement with the experimental observations. Critical reduced frequency stability maps accounting for mistuning effects are derived for both, freestanding and welded in pairs airfoils. The airfoils are assumed to be identical and mechanically uncoupled. The stabilizing effect of mistuning is also retained in these maps.


Author(s):  
J. G. Marshall ◽  
L. Xu ◽  
J. Denton ◽  
J. W. Chew

This paper presents a forced response prediction of 3 resonances in a low aspect ratio modern fan rotor and compares with other worker’s experimental data. The incoming disturbances are due to low engine-order inlet distortion from upstream screens. The resonances occur in the running range at 3 and 8 engine orders which cross low modes (flap, torsion and stripe) of the blade. The fan was tested with on-blade instrumentation at both on- and off-resonant conditions to establish the unsteady pressures due to known distortion patterns. The resulting steady and unsteady flow in the fan blade passages has been predicted by three methods, all three-dimensional. The first is a linearised unsteady Euler method; the second is a non-linear unsteady Navier-Stokes method; the third method uses a similar level of aerodynamic modelling as the second but also includes a coupled model of the structural dynamics. The predictions for the 3 methods are presented against the test data, and further insight into the problem is obtained through post-processing of the data. Predictions of the blade vibration response are also obtained. Overall the level of agreement between calculations and measurements is considered encouraging although further research is needed.


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