COMPRESSOR SYSTEM DESIGN METHODOLOGY

A PROGRAM TO FURTHER THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER BASED DESIGN ANALYSIS CODE FOR COMPRESSOR SYSTEMS IS PROPOSED TO ASSIST THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE IDENTIFY NEXT GENERATION ENGINES WITH IMPROVED THRUST TO PERFORMANCE RATIOS. IN PHASE I, A METHODOLOGY FOR THE APPLICATION OF ADVANCED TECHNIQUES TO ACCURATELY DESCRIBE THE EFFECTS OF EXTERNAL FLOW RELATED PHENOMENA ON COMPRESSOR BLADE LIFE IS PRESENTED. PHASE I WILL DEMONSTRATE A METHODOLOGY USED TO CHARACTERIZE THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF COMPRESSOR BLADES TO THE FLOW FORCES OF THE SYSTEM GAS PATH. THE WORK REPRESENTS AN EXTENSION OF A COMPUTER PROGRAM DEVELOPED BY STI WHICH IS CAPABLE OF EVALUATING BLADE DESIGN RELIABILITY BASED ON DESIGN, MATERIALS AND LOADING. PHASE I WILL CONCLUDE WITH A DEMONSTRATION OF A BLADE DYNAMIC RESPONSE CAPABILITY USING AN AIR FORCE COMPRESSOR BLADE DESIGN PRE-PROCESSOR ALSO PREPARED BY STI. BASED ON THE SUCCESS OF THE DEMONSTRATION, PHASE II WILL EXTEND THE CONCEPTS AND TECHNIQUES DEMONSTRATED IN PHASE I BY AUTOMATING THE PROCEDURE AS A MENU-DRIVEN, STAND-ALONE PROGRAM FOR COMPRESSOR BLADE DESIGN EVALUATION AND LIFE PREDICTION. CODE VERIFICATION TECHNIQUES WITH TEST DATA WOULD BE INCLUDED AS PART OF THE SUBSEQUENT PHASE.