Prediction capabilities of coriolis and gyroscopic effects in current finite element software

Abstract

The progress towards a whole-engine design philosophy and the development of new technologies like open rotors, where coupled behaviour due to Coriolis and gyroscopic effects could be more pronounced, calls for an assessment of the prediction capabilities currently available in commercial FE software packages. Finite element models including these rotational effects are rarely used in simulations of bladed disc-shaft assemblies, and the confidence in FE codes to provide reliable frequency and mode shape data can therefore be improved. Different models were used as benchmark test cases in the evaluation, including the classic Stodola-Green rotor, and a blade-disc-shaft assembly, and the resulting Campbell diagrams were compared to analytical solutions from the literature. The ability of the codes to exploit the cyclic symmetry of bladed discs for computational efficiency was also assessed. The results show that all investigated codes are able to capture the Coriolis-induced frequency splits, but discrepancies arise at high speeds and in the vicinity of instabilities.