A review of computational aeroelasticity of civil fan blades

Abstract

This paper presents a review of aeroelasticity research concerning fan blades in modern civil aircraft engines. It summarises the research carried out at the Rolls-Royce Vibration University Technology Centre (VUTC) at Imperial College over the past 25 years. The purpose of this paper is to gather information on all the aeroelastic issues observed for civil aero-engine fan blades into one document and provide a useful synopsis for other researchers in the field. The results presented here are based on numerical methods but wherever possible data from experiments are used to verify the numerical findings. For cases where such datasets do not exist fundamental principles, engine observations and engineering judgement are used to support the numerical results. Numerical methods offer a cheaper alternative to rig tests, especially in cases of blade failure, and can also provide more information about the nature of instabilities, which can be useful in the design of future civil aircraft engines. In fact, in cases such as crosswind testing that use smaller rig-scale blades, such results can even be more representative of real engine flows.