Hopf Bifurcations of Moore-Greitzer PDE Model with Additive Noise

Abstract

The Moore-Greitzer partial differential equation (PDE) is a commonly used mathematical model for capturing flow and pressure changes in axial-flow jet engine compressors. Determined by compressor geometry, the deterministic model is characterized by three types of Hopf bifurcations as the throttle coefficient decreases, namely surge (mean flow oscillations), stall (inlet flow disturbances) or a combination of both. Instabilities place fundamental limits on jet-engine operating range and thus limit the design space. In contrast to the deterministic PDEs, the Hopf bifurcation in stochastic PDEs is not well understood. The goal of this particular work is to rigorously develop low-dimensional approximations using a multiscale analysis approach near the deterministic stall bifurcation points in the presence of additive noise acting on the fast modes. We also show that the reduced-dimensional approximations (SDEs) contain multiplicative noise. Instability margins in the presence of uncertainties can be thus approximated, which will eventually lead to lighter and more efficient jet engine design.