Kinetic mesh-free method for flutter prediction in turbomachines

The present paper deals with the development and application of a kinetic theory-based mesh-free method for unsteady flows. The method has the capability to compute on any arbitrary distribution of moving nodes. In general, computation of unsteady flow past multiple moving boundaries using conventional finite volume solvers are quite involved. They invariably require repeated grid generation or an efficient grid movement strategy. This approach becomes more difficult when there are many moving boundaries. In the present work, we propose a simple and an effective node movement strategy for the mesh-free solver. This can tackle the unsteady problems with moving boundaries in a much easier way. Using the present method we have computed unsteady flow in oscillating turbomachinery blades. A simple energy method has been used to predict flutter using the unsteady computations. The results compare well with the available experiments and other computations.