Analytical prediction of the unsteady lift on a rotor caused by downstream struts

A two-dimensional, inviscid, incompressible procedure is presented for predicting the unsteady lift on turbomachinery blades caused by the upstream potential disturbance of downstream flow obstructions. Using the Douglas-Neumann singularity superposition potential flow computer program to model the downstream flow obstructions, classical equations of thin airfoil theory are then employed, to compute the unsteady lift on the upstream rotor blades. The method is applied to a particular geometry which consists of a rotor, a downstream stator, and downstream struts which support the engine casing. Very good agreement between the Douglas-Neumann program and experimental measurements was obtained for the downstream stator-strut flow field. The calculations for the unsteady lift due to the struts were in good agreement with the experiments in showing that the unsteady lift due to the struts decays exponentially with increased axial separation of the rotor and the struts. An application of the method showed that for a given axial spacing between the rotor and the strut, strut-induced unsteady lift is a very weak function of the axial or circumferential position of the stator.Copyright © 1987 by ASME