A time-linearized Navier-Stokes analysis of stall flutter

Abstract

A computational method for accurately and efficiently predicting unsteady viscous flow through two-dimensional cascades is presented. The method is intended to predict the onset of the aeroelastic phenomenon of stall flutter. In stall flutter, viscous effects significantly impact the aeroelastic stability of a cascade. In the present effort, the unsteady flow is modeled using a time-linearized Navier-Stokes analysis. Thus, the unsteady flow field is decomposed into a nonlinear spatially varying mean flow plus a small-perturbation harmonically varying unsteady flow. The resulting equations that govern the perturbation flow are linear, variable coefficient partial differential equations. These equations are discretized on a deforming, multiblock, computational mesh and solved using a finite-volume Lax-Wendroff integration scheme. Numerical modelling issues relevant to the development of the unsteady aerodynamic analysis, including turbulence modelling, are discussed. Results from the present method are compared to experimental stall flutter data, and to a nonlinear time-domain Navier-Stoke analysis. The results presented demonstrate the ability of the present time-linearized analysis to model accurately the unsteady aerodynamics associated with turbomachinery stall flutter.