CFD in Turbomachinery – Harmonic Analysis Methods for Steady-State Applications

There is a lot of talk about the application of harmonic-based methods to turbomachinery CFD analysis. Harmonic methods are used to accelerate CFD simulations of unsteady-state rotor-stator interaction and blade flutter.

Novel use of harmonic methods

In contrast to the mainstream unsteady-state applications this article illustrates a novel use of harmonic methods, namely to provide excellent steady-state rotor-stator interaction simulations. Sounds contradictory, but the seldom explored idea of harmonic analysis for the purpose of obtaining better steady-state turbomachinery simulations is a breath of fresh air after three decades of no choice beyond the industry stalwarts of mixing plane or frozen rotor analysis.

The present article  gives a brief overview of harmonic analysis in the context of turbomachinery CFD simulations, and explores the topic of harmonic steady-state rotor-stator interaction.