Influence of Rotor-Stator Interaction and Reflecting Boundary Conditions on Compressor Forced Response

This paper focuses on the rotor forced response behavior in a 3.5-stage compressor rig. The aim is to provide an accurate prediction of forced response with the less computational effort. Previous research indicates that by reducing the computation domain from 7-row to a 3-row stator-rotor-stator (S1-R2-S2) configuration, the forcing function is over-predicted by 60%. To address this over prediction, an investigation of boundary conditions and a study with additional rows are conducted. The influence of reflecting boundary conditions on the blade modal force is studied by preventing wave reflection. Additionally, a 5-row simulation is studied to take an extra source of excitation force, the IGV row with the same blade count as the other stators, into consideration. Three conclusions were drawn from this study: 1) boundary reflection has a significant influence on unsteady simulation and the modal force, thus should be avoided by using mesh treatment up and down stream; 2) the IGV wake contributes to the forcing function and cannot be ignored; 3) the clocking feature of IGV, S1, and S2 leads to a transfer of energy from 1st harmonic to other higher harmonics. This research provides a guidance of forced response modeling and can be employed for industrial forced response analysis.