Vibration Modal Analysis of Compressor Blade based on ANSYS

Compressor is an important part of aero engine. In the environment of high temperature and high pressure,compressor blade will suffer from several physical and chemical processes,such as centrifugal force,aerodynamic force vibration and oxidation. These processes will lead compressor blade to fatigue fracture,and at the same time,make negative effects on the engine’ s overall performance. Based on the software ANSYS15. 0,we made strength analysis and modal analysis of compressor blade in this paper. As a result,we got its natural frequencies,relevant modal parameters and vibration mode cloud pictures. After analyzing the influence that centrifugal force made on modal parameters,we predicted the expected damage of the blade. Eventually the analysis results will provide the basis for overall performance evaluation,structural crack detection,fatigue life estimation and strength calculation of aircraft engine compressor.

Inducer/Exducer Matching Characteristics inside Tandem Impellers of a Highly Loaded Centrifugal Compressor

A centrifugal compressor usually operates with low isentropic efficiency and a terrible stable operating range, resulting from the complex impeller flow structure companied with the intense interaction among the impeller and the diffuser downstream. In many studies, the potential of centrifugal compressor tandem-impeller configurations for improving the compressor has been demonstrated. Whereas, compared with the convincing results on the tandem-designed axial compressors, the results on tandem impellers are limited and contradictory. Very little insight has been provided into the flow mechanisms inside tandem impellers, which is considered to be the primary reason for the confusion in tandem impeller design and application. Tandem impellers are expected to exhibit a totally different behavior due to the intense aerodynamic interaction between the inducer and the exducer, which substantially contributes to the flow structure and the compressor performance change. In the present study, a numerical study of a highly-loaded centrifugal compressor with various tandem designs was conducted to explore the inducer/exducer matching characteristics and the underlying flow mechanism inside tandem impellers. Two tandem impeller design parameters, namely, the inducer/exducer clocking fraction and the axial gap(overlap), were considered in the tandem impeller design process. The tandem impeller was also compared to the existing conventional impeller which the tandem impeller was redesigned for. The results demonstrated that the tandem-designed impeller can improve the centrifugal compressor stage performance and intense inducer/exducer interaction can be observed with changes in the clocking fraction and the axial gap(overlap). The tandem impeller performance is sensitive to changes in axial gap(overlap) when the suction side of the exducer blade is circumferentially close to the inducer blade. The fundamental reason for the performance variation in the inducer and the exducer lies in the inducer pressure change in the blade trailing edge that is determined by the Kutta condition. Additionally, the correlation between the tandem impeller slip effect and the discharge flow quality should be emphasized in the inducer/exducer gap jet analysis, in which the jet injection angle and the Coanda effect of the exducer suction surface critically affect the discharge flow characteristics.

Unsteady flow structures in the tip region for a centrifugal compressor impeller before rotating stall

To get an insight into the occurrence and the mechanism of flow unsteadiness in the tip region of centrifugal compressor impellers, the flow in Krain’s impeller is investigated by using both steady and unsteady RANS solver techniques. It is found that the flow unsteadiness on the pressure side is much stronger than that on the suction side. The periodical frequency of the unsteady flow is around half of the blade passing frequency. The originating mechanism of the flow unsteadiness is illustrated with the time-dependent tip leakage flow and blade loading at the tip region. Due to the blockage caused by the joint effects of broken-downed tip leakage vortex, separated fluids and tip leakage flow at downstream, a low pressure region is formed on the pressure side, consequently the blade loadings is altered. In turn, the changed blade loadings will alter the intensity of tip leakage flow. Such alternative behavior finally results in the periodic process. By comparing the calculated flow field in the cases of single-passage and four-passage models, it is confirmed that the investigated flow unsteadiness is confined in each single passage, as no phase differences are found in the model of four passages. This is different from the situation in axial compressor when the rotating instability is encountered. The flow unsteadiness only occurs at the working conditions with small mass flow rates, and the oscillation intensity will be enhanced with the decrease of mass flow rate. When the mass flow rate is too small, the flow unsteadiness in a single passage may trigger rotating stall, as the disturbance propagates in the circumferential direction.

Topology optimization of turbine disk considering maximum stress prediction and constraints

For the stress-constrained topology optimization of a turbine disk under centrifugal loads,the jagged boundaries of the mesh and the gray densities on the solid/void interfaces could make the calculated stress field inconsistent with the actual value.It may result in overestimating the maximum stress and thus affect the effectiveness of stress constraints.This paper proposes a new method for predicting the maximum stress to overcome the difficulty.In the process,a predicted density is newly defined to obtain stable boundaries with thin layers of gray elements,a transition factor is innovatively proposed to evaluate the effects of intermediate-density elements,two different stiffness penalty schemes are flexibly used to calculate the elastic modulus of elements,and a linear stress penalty is further adopted to relax the stress field of the structure.The proposed approach for predicting the maximum stress value is verified by the analysis of a structure with smooth boundaries and the topology optimization of a turbine disk.An updating scheme of the stress constraint in the topology optimization is also developed using the predicted maximum stress.Some key ingredients affecting the optimization results are discussed in detail.The results prove the effectiveness and efficacy of the proposed maximum stress prediction and developed stress constraint methods.