Forced Response Analysis of an Embedded Compressor Rotor Induced by Stator Disturbances and Rotor–Stator Interactions

Accurate predictions of the blade response in a multi-row compressor is one of the most important tasks within the design process of compressor blades. Some recent studies have shown that the decoupled method considering only the stator disturbances cannot obtain accurate results for cases with strong rotor–stator interactions, especially for the interaction between the rotor and downstream stator, and the coupled method with multi-row configurations is necessary. Factors determine what computational domains to model need to be clarified to find a balance between accuracy requirements and computational costs. To this end, this study conducted full-annulus unsteady calculations with decoupled and coupled configurations to investigate the forced response of an embedded compressor rotor induced by upstream and downstream stator disturbances and rotor–stator interactions, respectively. The results show that the upstream IGV disturbances were dominated by the wake, and the IGV and S1 potential fields had little effect on the R1 response. Meanwhile, the IGV–R1 interactions and S1–R1 interactions were dominated by one cut-on mode, respectively. The comparisons of the blade vibration amplitude and the unsteady pressure field calculated by decoupled and coupled methods revealed the mechanism of the forced response, namely, for the R1 response induced by upstream aerodynamic disturbances, the dominant excitation source was the IGV wake, and the blade vibration amplitude can be predicted by the decoupled method. In terms of the response induced by downstream disturbances, the cut-on S1-R1-interaction mode was dominant and the use of the decoupled method without considering its influence will lead to an inaccurate prediction. This study concluded that the formation process of rotor–stator interactions was the key factor that determines whether the decoupled method or coupled method should be used, and analogized a process independent of the downstream stator disturbance. The results can provide a preliminary configuration for accurate and efficient blade response predictions and explain the reason why including downstream stator vanes is very important.