Numerical Investigation of the Flow in an Aft-Swept Transonic Compressor Rotor

Abstract

The design of an aft-swept transonic compressor rotor and the investigation of its flow field compared to the radial baseline rotor are reported. Both rotors were designed using a 3D Euler solver with body forces. Through the choice of composite material using carbon fibres, high amounts of sweep and lean could be imparted to the blades without adding mass to the rotor assembly. No compromise between aerodynamic and structural constraints had to be made. The swept design as well as the radial base-line rotor were investigated using the commercial RANS solver CFX-TASCflow to validate the design. Complete speed lines at design speed were computed for both rotors. The analytical results showed similar peak efficiency and indicate that the swept rotor’s stall margin is reduced as compared to the base-line rotor. The resulting flow field of the aft-swept rotor is described in this paper and an attempt is made to discuss the fidelity of the design tools used.