The blade thickness distribution is an important geometric parameter of a compressor rotor blade. It determines the aerodynamic performance of a rotor, which should be carefully designed. However, the manufacturing inaccuracies cause the blade thickness distribution to deviate from the ideal design. These geometric deviations alter the flow field near the blade surface, which affects the aerodynamic performance of the rotor. Therefore, it is of great significance to quantitatively investigate the effects of blade thickness deviation on the aerodynamic performance. In this paper, the influence of blade thickness deviation on the flow field is analyzed based on a transonic compressor rotor, and an uncertainty quantification process is performed to study the effects of blade thickness deviation on the aerodynamic performance. Cases with different geometry features are checked in the current study using 3-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations. Results show that the blade thickness deviation leads to changes in the intensities of the expansion wave in the upper part of the blade suction and the passage shock wave, which affects the supercharging process of the rotor. The influence of thickness deviation on the strength of the tip leakage vortex changes the isentropic efficiency of the rotor. The results of the uncertainty quantitative analysis indicate that the linear correlation between the variation of rotor performance and the thickness deviation is strong when the machining accuracy is high, whereas the linear correlation between the two is weakened when the tolerance range is larger.

The deviation between the actual processed blade and the designed blade shape inevitably occurs in the process of compressor blade manufacturing. Rotor37 was used as the research object and a three-dimensional steady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes simulation method was adopted in order to study the influence mechanism of blade thickness deviation on blade performance. The blade was parameterized and the blade thicknesses were increased or decreased uniformly, with changes of 0.06mm and 0.1mm respectively. Results illustrate that the blade thickness deviation affects the total pressure ratio, isentropic efficiency and stability margin of the single-stage rotor. Increasing the blade thickness will inhibit the transport of low speed airflow from blade root area to blade tip area along the radial direction. In the peak efficiency condition, this inhibit will cause low speed airflow to converge in the middle of the blade and increase the flow separation loss; while in the reference near stall condition, the inhibition of low speed airflow transport will weaken the accumulation of low energy airflow in the tip area, reduce the loss in the corner area, and expand the stable working range of the blade. Further, increasing the blade thickness causes the shock wave position to move backward and the shock wave intensity will decrease.