A viscous blade body force model for computational fluid dynamics–based throughflow analysis of axial compressors

Abstract

In recent years, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques have attracted enormous interest in the throughflow calculations, and one of the major concerns in the CFD-based throughflow method is the modeling of blade forces. In this article, a viscous blade force model in the CFD-based throughflow program was proposed to account for the loss generation. The throughflow code is based on the axisymmetric Navier–Stokes equations. The inviscid blade force is determined by calculating a pressure difference between the pressure and suction surfaces, and the viscous blade force is related to the local kinetic energy through a skin friction coefficient. The viscous blade force model was validated by a linear controlled diffusion airfoil cascade, and the results showed that it can correctly introduce the loss into the CFD-based throughflow model. Then, the code was applied to calculate the transonic NASA rotor 67, and the calculated results were in good agreement with the measured results, which showed that the calculated shock losses reduce the dependence of the throughflow calculation on the empirical correlation. Last, the 3.5-stage compressor P&W3S1 at 85%, 100%, and 105% of the design speed was performed to demonstrate the reliability of the viscous blade force model in a multistage environment. The results showed that the CFD-based throughflow method can easily predict the spanwise mixing due to the inclusion of the turbulence model, and predicted results were in acceptable agreement with the experimental results. In a word, the proposed viscous blade force model and CFD-based throughflow model can achieve the throughflow analysis with an acceptable level of accuracy and a little time-consuming.