Modeling and numerical investigation of the inlet circumferential fluctuations of swept and bowed blades

The circumferential fluctuation (CF) source terms induced by the inviscid blade force can affect the inlet distribution of flow parameters and radial equilibrium of swept and bowed blades. However, these phenomena cannot be adequately described by throughflow methods based on the axisymmetric assumption. A transport model for the CF stresses is proposed and correlated to the distribution of circulation to reflect the effect of the inviscid blade force. To investigate the effect of the inlet CFs on swept and bowed blades, the model is integrated into a throughflow model and applied to a series of cascades with different sweep and bow angles. For swept cascades, the CF source terms change the distributions of incidence angles, as well as the radial equilibrium at the inlet of the blade passage. And the influence is enhanced as the absolute value of the sweep angle increases. For bowed cascades, the distributions of incidence angles are also altered. For both cases, the model can offer a good prediction of the inlet CF source terms, and prove to exert a better prediction of blade design key parameters such as flow angles.