Investigation of the influence of aerodynamic coupling on response levels of mistuned bladed discs with weak structural coupling

The paper summarises the results of a study investigating the correlation between the aerodynamic blade-to-blade coupling in mistuned bladed disc assemblies and the level of forced response. The focus was placed on the torsional mode of vibration, where blades' coupling through the disc is weak, exposing the effects of aerodynamic coupling. The forced response of a large number of mistuned discs was computed, using whole-annulus finite element (FE) models. The unsteady aerodynamic forces that act upon the disc were calculated using a three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes CFD code. The results show the difference in response with and without aerodynamic coupling, exposing higher blade-to-blade interaction in the latter case. The statistical results show the change of the forced response distribution curves with the introduction of aero-coupling and their deviation from Gaussian distribution