Flutter analysis of a one-and-a-half-stage fan at low speed using nonlinear harmonic method

Abstract

Multirow effects on flutter stability of a 1.5-stage fan at low speed are investigated using nonlinear harmonic method in a one-way coupled fashion. In the first part, the mesh-independence verification and validation of nonlinear harmonic method to simulate multirow effects are performed. In the second part, multirow effects are separated into two parts including acoustic reflection and rotor–stator interaction induced by relative motion between rotor and stators with each part investigated individually. Effect of acoustic reflection from upstream and downstream blade rows is investigated separately using a harmonic truncation method to avoid the change of time-mean flow. The results show that acoustic reflection can have a large effect on flutter stability of rotor blade. The simulation of the rotor–stator interaction effect indicates that the rotor–stator interaction does not significantly affect the flutter stability of rotor blade in this case. Lastly, the variation of aerodynamic modal damping ratio with the size of gap between inlet guide vane and rotor is investigated. Aerodynamic modal damping ratio at a nodal diameter whose fundamental mode is cut-on varies periodically with gap size. Wave splitting method is employed to further investigate the relation between the phase difference between incoming and outgoing wave and aero damping, which can be used to improve the flutter stability at the design stage.