An Analysis System for Blade Forced Response

A frequent cause of turbomachinery blade failure is excessive resonant response. The most common excitation source is the nonuniform flow field generated by inlet distortion, wakes and/or pressure disturbances from adjacent blade rows. The standard method for dealing with this problem is to avoid resonant conditions using a Campbell diagram. Unfortunately, it is impossible to avoid all resonant conditions. Therefore, judgments based on past experience are used to determine the acceptability of the blade design. A new analysis system has been developed to predict blade forced response. The system provides a design tool, over and above the standard Campbell diagram approach, for predicting potential forced response problems. The incoming excitation sources are modeled using a semi-empirical rotor wake/vortex model for wake excitation, measured data for inlet distortion, and a quasi-three-dimensional Euler code for pressure disturbances. Using these aerodynamic stimuli, and the blade's natural frequencies and mode shapes from a finite element model, the unsteady aerodynamic modal forces and the aerodynamic damping are calculated. A modal response solution is then performed. This paper provides a basic description of the system, which includes: (1) models for the wake excitation, inlet distortion, and pressure disturbance; (2) a kernel function solution technique for unsteadymore » aerodynamics; and (3) a modal aeroelastic solution using strip theory. Also, results of the two applications are presented.« less