On the Need for Thoroughly Validated Unsteady CFD in the Aerodynamic Optimisation of Aero Engine Compressors

Unsteady 3D-Navier-Stokes calculations will more and more enter the aero design process of aero engine compressors, among other things, as there is a strong need to predict the impact of unsteady effects - e.g. rotor-stator interaction, clocking or casing-treatment - already in an early design phase. In this paper first a short review of the actual role of steady as well as unsteady CFD in the design process is given. Then a new research compressor is introduced, which has been especially designed for the validation of unsteady CFD codes, allowing a variation of rotor-stator spacing and vane clocking.