Multigrid Computations of Unsteady Rotor–Stator Interaction Using the Navier–Stokes Equations

A Navier-Stokes time-accurate solver has been extended to the analysis of unsteady rotor-stator interaction. In the proposed method, a fully-implicit time discretization is used to remove stability limitations. A four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme is used in conjunction with several accelerating techniques typical of steady-state solvers, instead of traditional time-expensive factorizations. Those accelerating strategies include local time stepping, residual smoothing, and multigrid. Direct interpolation of the conservative variables is used to handle the interfaces between blade rows. Two-dimensional viscous calculations of unsteady rotor-stator interaction in a modern gas turbine stage are presented to check for the capability of the procedure.