Efficient Modeling Strategy of an

Axial Compressor Fan-Stage Under

Inlet Distortion

GT2016-57467
Bryan Lobo Laith Zori
Paul Galpin William Holmes
ANSYS Inc.

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Outlines

Fan Inlet Distortion

Solution Method & Strategy

Results

Summary

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Overview
Inlet Distortion
 Inlet Distortion
o Alters engine performance
o Fan sees once-per-revolution variation
o Often requires full wheel modeling
o Expensive

 Previous work
o GT2013-95059
o Simpler geometry. Fan (alone) under distortion
o Faster solution obtained
 Using Fourier Transformation method
 Only two passages required
 5X faster , 11X less mem. Req., than Full wheel

From GT2013-95059

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Overview
Inlet Distortion
 Current work
o Complex fan-stage configuration
Add nice graphics
 Once per revolution inlet distortion
for full wheel
 22 rotors, 34 stators Rotor/stator
o Fan rotor subjected to:
 Once-per-revolution inlet distortion
 Stator blade passing signals

o Evaluate solution strategy to efficiently compute

the flow and capture both inlet distortion signal Add nice graphics
and the stator blade passing signal while using For only
reduced geometry model Rotor/stator

o How to represent clocking effect of the inlet

distortion on the downstream stator?
 Each stator operating at different flow condition
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ANSYS CFX Solver
R17.0
 Coupled Pressure-based solution method

 Implicit coupled AMG solver

 Unstructured, Element-based FV

 2nd-O spatial & temporal discretization

 Scalable parallelization

 Range of turbulence models: Eddy-viscosity models, Reynolds stress models, LES & DES,
transition and reattachment models
 Wide range of blade row models:
o Steady : Mixing-Plane (MP) , Frozen Rotor (FR)
o Transient: Full-Domain (TRS) , Pitch-change : Profile-Transformation (PT) ,
Time-Transformation (TT) , Fourier-Transformation (FT)

 Transient Periodic Flow: Time-Marching , Harmonic Balance solution method

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Fourier Transformation (FT) Pitch-Change Model
 Based on the Shape-Correction method of
L. He (1989, 1992, 2002)

 Applicable to multi-disturbance

 Double-passage strategy is used

 FCs accumulated between two passages on

the sampling plane

 FCs then used for reconstruction of solution history on pitchwise boundary with
appropriate phase shift

 Applicable for all speed, and ideal for very large pitch-ratio disturbance

 Fan-stage inlet distortion is modeled as multi-disturbance frozen gust analysis

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NASA Rotor 67 Fan-Stage
 Transonic fan-stage
o Stage 67 (22 R/ 34 S)
o 16043 RPM

 Sensitivity Analysis
o Three mesh densities, Steady-State solution
o Medium mesh selected for transient simulation
Mesh Size (R,S) Po ratio To ratio Efficiency
Coarse 0.65M, 0.5M 1.6643 1.1726 91.712
Medium 1.3 M, 1M 1.6747 1.1736 92.271
Fine 2.6 M, 2M 1.6740 1.1732 92.482

 Fan-Stage inlet distortion

o Impose 2% Total pressure variation

Po  101325  (1  0.02Cos )

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R67 Fan-Stage Under Inlet Distortion
Flow Details
 Inlet distortion in Fan-Stage
Figure from Full Wheel
o Both fan and stator will see the pressure Transient solution
variation Showing
o Each passage of the stator operates at Inlet distortion
different pressure level, due to inlet Pressure variation
distortion In Rotor
In Stator

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R67 Fan-Stage Under Inlet Distortion
Flow Details
 Inlet distortion in Fan-Stage
o Both fan and stator will see the pressure
variation
o Each passage of the stator operates at
different pressure level, due to inlet
distortion

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R67 Fan-Stage Under Inlet Distortion
Flow Details
 Inlet distortion in Fan-Stage
o Both fan and stator will see the pressure
variation
o Each passage of the stator operate at
different pressure level, due to inlet
distortion

 To model as frozen gust with multi-

disturbance
o Impose inlet distortion as Po profile
o Impose outlet profile contain
 Stator potential variation
 Distortion pressure variation

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R67 Fan-Stage Under Inlet Distortion
Flow Details
 Inlet distortion in Fan-Stage
o Both fan and stator will see the pressure
variation
o Each passage of the stator operates at
different pressure level, due to inlet
distortion

 To model as frozen gust with multi-

disturbance
o Impose inlet distortion as Po profile
XY-Plot show that
Pressure variation in Stator
o Impose outlet profile representing
 Stator potential variation
 Distortion pressure variation

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Multiple Mixing Plane (MMP) Steady Approach
Basic Concept
Fan-Stage MMP is used to capture Multi-disturbance
Under Inlet Distortion Stator Pressure Variation Frozen Gust Model

Stator pressure profile

Combination of
1- Once-per-revolution P variation
2- Stator potential field variation

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Multiple Mixing Plane (MMP) Steady Approach
Basic Concept
 Based on Stein GT2015-42632
o Rotor/ Stator coupling established via MMP
o Each MP connect multiple rotor blades to corresponding stator blades
o Capture local potential pressure variation and circumferential variation due to
inlet distortion
o Steady-state MP calculation not expensive

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Multiple Mixing Plane (MMP) Approach
Implementation on R67 Fan-stage
 11 MP used to capture pressure profile
variation in the stator row
o Note the profile difference between 1, 5
and 11 MMP

profile

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Multiple Mixing Plane (MMP) Approach
Implementation on R67 Fan-stage
 11 MP used to capture pressure profile
variation in the stator row
o Note the profile difference between 1, 5
and 11 MMP
o Trend between MMP profile and the
instantaneous solution from FWT is in
good agreement

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Transient simulation
FWT vs. Reduced Geometry Model
 Transient simulation
o Full wheel transient FWT 56 blades
 22 R + 34 S
o Reduced geometry 2 passage
 Use FT pitch-change

 30 time-step per stator blade passing

o 1020 time-step per revolution
o Considered coarse

 Can FT provide similar solution to

FWT?
On Inlet On Exit:
Impose distortion Impose profile from
Profile MMP

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Transient simulation
FWT vs. Reduced Geometry Model

Static Pressure History Comparison Static Pressure History Comparison

FWT vs. FT @ three LE locations FWT vs. FT @ three TE locations
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Transient simulation
FWT vs. Reduced Geometry Model
 Full wheel transient (FWT)
o Requires 7 revolution
o Some monitors not fully convergence at
end of 7th revolution

 Reduced geometry model

o multi-disturbance frozen gust
o FT pitch-change Axial Velocity Comparison
FWT vs. FT @midspan at TE
o Required 14 revolution

 But overall reduced geometry model was:

o 16 X faster than FWT
o 28 X less memory than FWT

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Transient simulation
FWT vs. Reduced Geometry Model

Circumferential average Static Pressure Circumferential average Static Pressure

(top) and Mach number (Bottom) (top) and Mach number (Bottom)
Along rotor span @ LE Along rotor span @ TE

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Transient simulation
FWT vs. Reduced Geometry Model

FFT monitor near Rotor LE FFT monitor near Rotor TE

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Transient simulation
FWT vs. Reduced Geometry Model

Pressure Total Pressure Total Temperature

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Summary
 Strategy to model fan-stage under inlet distortion using frozen gust analysis

 The multiple mixing plane (MMP) concept was shown to be capable of

capturing the stator pressure profile
o Stator pressure profile is combination of stator potential pressure field
variation and inlet distortion variation

 Multi-disturbance Fourier-Transformation pitch-change method was then

used to model the fan-Stage under inlet distortion

 The reduced geometry FT model matched the full wheel model

 The reduced geometry model was 16X faster and required about 28X less
memory than full wheel modeling

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 Thank You
For
Your Attention

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Blade Row Methods
 Steady-State Mixing-Plane model (MP) MP

o Single-passage per row

o Implicit interface discretization
o Conservative circumferential
averaging procedure

 Transient Rotor/Stator (Ref)

o Modeling all blades
o Fully implicit and conservative
discretization
o Sliding interface account for accurate
circumferential position of rotor
Replace this figure with R67stage
relative to stator.
Full wheel

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