Implementation of a CFD-Based Aeroelastic Analysis Toolbox for Turbomachinery Applications

The understanding of aeroelastic phenomena is fundamental for the structural integrity of many applications in aerospace and mechanical engineering and even in some other disciplines (e.g. civil engineering) where flexible structures possibly undergo unsteady fluid-dynamic loads. Therefore the availability of accurate analysis tools for the study of the aeroelastic interaction between aerodynamic and elastic forces is an important asset for the design of modern, high performance turbomachinery. Together with the more and more powerful computing resources, current trends pursue the adoption of high-fidelity tools and state-of-the-art technology within the research fields of Computational Structural Dynamics (CSD) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). This choice is somehow obliged when dealing with highly non-linear aeroservoelastic phenomena. The approach typically used for turbomachinery aeroelastic analysis features the so-called “one-way coupling”, i.e. the loads predicted by the aerodynamic model are transferred to the structural model to evaluate relevant stresses and displacements. The objective of the present work is to illustrate the design and implementation of a platform for solving multidisciplinary non-linear Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) problems with a “two-way coupling” or fully coupled approach, that is linking together high-fidelity state-of-the-art CSD and CFD tools by means of a robust, flexible aeroelastic interface scheme. The credibility of the proposed aeroservoelastic analysis toolbox is assessed by tackling a set of aeronautical and turbomachinery-oriented benchmark test problems such as: the evaluation of the fully coupled non-linear aeroelastic trim of HIRENASD (HIgh REynolds Number AeroStructural Dynamics) wing and the identification of the aerodynamic damping coefficient of Standard Configuration 10, high subsonic/transonic, 2D/3D compressor cascade. The results are compared with reference experimental and numerical data available in literature.