Suppression of Nonsynchronous Vibration Through Intentional Aerodynamic and Structural Mistuning

Nonsynchronous vibrations (NSVs) arising near the stall boundary of compressors are a recurring and potentially safety-critical problem in modern axial compressors and fans. Recent research has improved predictive capabilities and physical understanding of NSV, but prevention measures are still lacking. This article addresses this by systematically studying the influence of aerodynamic and structural mistuning on NSV. This is achieved by incorporating mistuning effects in a validated linear model, in which individual blade modes are modeled as single-degree-of-freedom mass oscillators coupled by a convected aerodynamic disturbance term. The results demonstrate that both structural and aerodynamic mistuning are effective. While structural mistuning improves stability by preventing aero-structure lock-in, aerodynamic mistuning, which locally reduces the tip blockage and attenuates the aerodynamic disturbance causing NSV. In the latter case, the circumferentially averaged conditions are shown to be most influential, while the pattern plays a minor role. A combination of moderate aerodynamic and structural mistuning (1%) was also found to be effective. These findings are relevant for design decisions, demonstrating that small blade-to-blade variations can suppress NSV.

Automated summary

This article systematically studies the influence of aerodynamic and structural mistuning on nonsynchronous vibrations (NSVs) and finds that both factors are effective in suppressing NSV. The results have important implications for design decisions.