Methods of fluid–structure coupling in frequency and time domains using linearized aerodynamics for turbomachinery

Abstract

Two methods of fluid–structure coupling for turbomachinery are presented, the first one in the frequency domain and the second in both frequency and time domains. In both methods, the structure and the fluid are assumed to have circumferential cyclic symmetric properties and the unsteady aerodynamic forces are assumed to be linear in terms of the structural displacements. The motion equation of the reference sector in the travelling wave coordinates is projected on the complex eigenmodes for each phase number. The generalized unsteady aerodynamic forces are computed by solving the Euler equations and by assuming the structural motion to be harmonic with a constant phase angle between two adjacent sectors. In the frequency domain, the complex, nonlinear eigenvalue problem for the aeroelastic stability analysis is solved iteratively either by the double scanning method or by using Karpel's minimum state smoothing of the aerodynamic coefficient matrix. In the time domain, Karpel's smoothing method is used to obtain an approximation of the generalized unsteady aerodynamic forces by means of auxiliary state variables. These coupling methods are tested on a compressor blade row and the good agreement obtained between their results and those of the direct coupling method shows that the proposed numerical methods, already used in aircraft applications, are adapted to turbomachinery.