An Experimental Study of Vane Clocking Effects on Embedded Compressor Stage Performance

2009 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole L. Key ◽  
Patrick B. Lawless ◽  
Sanford Fleeter

Previous research has shown that vane clocking, the circumferential indexing of adjacent vane rows with similar vane counts, can be an effective means to increase stage performance, reduce discrete frequency noise, and/or reduce the unsteady blade forces that can lead to high cycle fatigue. The objective of this research was to experimentally investigate the effects of vane clocking in an embedded compressor stage, focusing on stage performance. Experiments were performed in the intermediate-speed Purdue three-stage compressor, which consists of an IGV followed by three stages. The IGV, Stator 1, and Stator 2 vane rows have identical vane counts, and the effects of vane clocking were studied on Stage 2. Much effort went into refining performance measurements to enable the detection of small changes in stage efficiency associated with vane clocking. At design loading, the change in stage efficiency between the maximum and minimum efficiency clocking configurations was 0.27 points. The maximum efficiency clocking configuration positioned the Stator 1 wake at the Stator 2 leading edge. This condition produced a shallower and thinner Stator 2 wake compared with the clocking configuration that located the wake in the middle of the Stator 2 passage. At high loading, the change in Stage 2 efficiency associated with vane clocking effects increased to 1.07 points; however, the maximum efficiency clocking configuration was the case where the Stator 1 wake passed through the middle of the downstream vane passage. Thus, impingement of the upstream vane wake on the downstream vane leading edge resulted in the best performance at design point but provided the lowest efficiency at an off-design condition.

Author(s):  
Nicole L. Key ◽  
Patrick B. Lawless ◽  
Sanford Fleeter

Previous research has shown that vane clocking, the circumferential indexing of adjacent vane rows with similar vane counts, can be an effective means to increase stage performance, reduce discrete frequency noise, and/or reduce the unsteady blade forces that can lead to high cycle fatigue. The objective of this research was to experimentally investigate the effects of vane clocking in an embedded compressor stage, focusing on stage performance. Experiments were performed in the intermediate-speed Purdue 3-Stage Compressor, which consists of an IGV followed by three stages. The IGV, Stator 1, and Stator 2 vane rows have identical vane counts, and the effects of vane clocking were studied on Stage 2. Much effort went into refining performance measurements to enable the detection of small changes in stage efficiency associated with vane clocking. At design loading, the change in stage efficiency between the maximum and minimum efficiency clocking configurations was 0.27 points. The maximum efficiency clocking configuration positioned the Stator 1 wake at the Stator 2 leading edge. This condition produced a shallower and thinner Stator 2 wake compared to the clocking configuration that located the wake in the middle of the Stator 2 passage. At high loading, the change in Stage 2 efficiency associated with vane clocking effects increased to 1.07 points; however, the maximum efficiency clocking configuration was the case where the Stator 1 wake passed through the middle of the downstream vane passage. Thus, impingement of the upstream vane wake on the downstream vane leading edge resulted in the best performance at design point but provided the lowest efficiency at an off-design condition.


Author(s):  
Anthony Dent ◽  
Liping Xu ◽  
Roger Wells

In this paper results from steady and unsteady CFD simulations of an industrial transonic compressor are compared, in order to gain a better understanding of the cause of the differences in the predicted efficiencies between the steady and unsteady simulations. Initially the first stage is simulated as an isolated compressor stage with inlet guide vanes in order to analyse the effect of individual blade rows on the stage performance. It is found that the rotor efficiency is lower for steady simulations than for unsteady simulations due to stronger shock waves. The stator efficiency is greater in the steady simulations due to not being able to model the interaction of the rotor wakes with the stator blade leading edge and boundary layers. Greater variation between steady and unsteady predictions is found at higher operating speeds. In the 3-stage unsteady simulations, the front stage efficiency characteristic is the same as the efficiency calculated from the isolated unsteady simulations. This shows that the unsteady pressure potential propagating from the downstream stages has no significant effect on the front stage efficiency meaning that the designer does not need to give great consideration to the downstream blade rows when predicting the characteristics of the front stage.


Author(s):  
Nicole L. Key ◽  
Patrick B. Lawless ◽  
Sanford Fleeter

Vane clocking, the circumferential indexing of adjacent vane rows with similar vane counts, has been shown to affect stage efficiency in compressors and turbines. Steady flow measurements acquired in the embedded stage of the Purdue 3-Stage Compressor showed a change in stage efficiency with vane clocking, as discussed in a companion paper. The optimum efficiency condition at design loading occurred when the upstream vane wake impinged on the downstream vane, as had been reported by other vane clocking studies. However, at high loading, the impingement of the upstream vane wake triggered a vane suction side boundary layer separation and resulted in the worst efficiency condition. The objective of this research is to experimentally investigate the maximum and minimum efficiency clocking configurations with unsteady flow measurements to illuminate the flow physics associated with the measured changes in Stage 2 performance. Vane exit unsteady total pressure, velocity, and flow angle measurements were acquired at 50 pitchwise locations spanning one vane passage. Fourier decomposition is used to identify the impact of the upstream rotor wake on the shedding characteristics of the Stator 2 boundary layer and how the placement of the upstream vane wake affects this phenomenon. For the clocking configuration that located the Stator 1 wake at the leading edge of the Stator 2 vane at design loading, it dampened the boundary layer response to the fluctuating incidence associated with rotor wake chopping, leading to a reduction in the size of the structures shed in the Stator 2 vane wake. At the high loading condition, the placement of the Stator 1 wake at the leading edge of Stator 2 triggered a suction side boundary layer separation, resulting in an absence of the upstream rotor blade pass frequency in the spectrum measured in the Stator 2 wake.


Author(s):  
Yohei Morita ◽  
Nobumichi Fujisawa ◽  
Takashi Goto ◽  
Yutaka Ohta

The effects of the diffuser vane geometries on the compressor performance and noise characteristics of a centrifugal compressor equipped with vaned diffusers were investigated by experiments and numerical techniques. Because we were focusing attention on the geometries of the diffuser vane’s leading edge, diffuser vanes with various leading edge geometries were installed in a vaned diffuser. A tapered diffuser vane with the tapered portion near the leading edge of the diffuser’s hub-side could remarkably reduce both the discrete frequency noise level and broadband noise level. In particular, a hub-side tapered diffuser vane with a taper on only the hub-side could suppress the development of the leading edge vortex (LEV) near the shroud side of the diffuser vane and effectively enhanced the compressor performance.


Author(s):  
Guang Xi ◽  
Huijing Zhao ◽  
Zhiheng Wang

The paper investigates the effect of trailing edge filing in the impeller on the performances of impeller and compressor stage. The 3D viscous numerical simulations are carried out under different positions, thicknesses and lengths of filing. The results show that, the filing on the trailing edge has an obvious effect on the pressure ratios of impeller and compressor stage. The trailing edge filing has little effect on the impeller efficiency while the filing on the pressure side is favorable to improving the stage efficiency. Then, through correcting the blade angles at the suction and pressure sides, considering the viscosity and 3D characteristics of the flow, a modified slip factor formula is proposed for the centrifugal impeller with a trailing edge filing. The validation to the proposed formula shows that the proposed formula can be used to predict the slip factors of different filing cases with a good accuracy. It can provide a theoretical guidance for the quantitative calculation when using the filing technology to improve the performance of centrifugal impeller as well as the stage.


Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Hua Ouyang ◽  
Zhao-hui Du

To give insight into the clocking effect and its influence on the wake transportation and its interaction, the unsteady three-dimensional flow through a 1.5-stage axial low pressure turbine is simulated numerically using a density-correction based, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations commercial CFD code. The 2nd stator clocking is applied over ten equal tangential positions. The results show that the harmonic blade number ratio is an important factor affecting the clocking effect. The clocking effect has a very small influence on the turbine efficiency in this investigation. The efficiency difference between the maximum and minimum configuration is nearly 0.1%. The maximum efficiency can be achieved when the 1st stator wake enters the 2nd stator passage near blade suction surface and its adjacent wake passes through the 2nd stator passage close to blade pressure surface. The minimum efficiency appears if the 1st stator wake impinges upon the leading edge of the 2nd stator and its adjacent wake of the 1st stator passed through the mid-channel in the 2nd stator.


Author(s):  
Gaetano Arena ◽  
Rainer Groh ◽  
Alberto Pirrera ◽  
William Scholten ◽  
Darren Hartl ◽  
...  

Exploiting mechanical instabilities and elastic nonlinearities is an emerging means for designing deployable structures. This methodology is applied here to investigate and tailor a morphing component used to reduce airframe noise, known as a slat-cove filler (SCF). The vortices in the cove between the leading edge slat and the main wing are among the important sources of airframe noise. The concept of an SCF was proposed in previous works as an effective means of mitigating slat noise by directing the airflow along an acoustically favorable path. A desirable SCF configuration is one that minimizes: (i) the energy required for deployment through a snap-through event; (ii) the severity of the snap-through event, as measured by kinetic energy, and (iii) mass. Additionally, the SCF must withstand cyclical fatigue stresses and displacement constraints. Both composite and shape memory alloy (SMA)-based SCFs are considered during approach and landing maneuvers because the deformation incurred in some regions may not demand the high strain recoverable capabilities of SMA materials. Nonlinear structural analyses of the dynamic behavior of a composite SCF are compared with analyses of similarly tailored SMA-based SCF and a reference, uniformly thick superelastic SMA-based SCF. Results show that by exploiting elastic nonlinearities, both the tailored composite and SMA designs decrease the required actuation energy compared to the uniformly thick SMA. Additionally, the choice of composite material facilitates a considerable weight reduction where the deformation requirement permits its use. Finally, the structural behavior of the SCF designs in flow are investigated by means of preliminary fluid-structure interaction analysis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subbaramu Shivaramaiah ◽  
Mahesh K. Varpe

Abstract In the present research work, effect of airfoil vortex generator on performance and stability of transonic compressor stage is investigated through CFD simulations. In turbomachines vortex generators are used to energize boundary and generated vortex is made to interact with tip leakage flow and secondary flow vortices formed in rotor and stator blade passage. In the present numerical investigation symmetrical airfoil vortex generator is placed on rotor casing surface close to leading edge, anticipating that vortex generated will be able to disturb tip leakage flow and its interaction with rotor passage core flow. Six different vortex generator configuration are investigated by varying distance between vortex generator trailing edge and rotor leading edge. Particular vortex generator configuration shows maximum improvement of stall margin and operating range by 5.5% and 76.75% respectively. Presence of vortex generator alters flow blockage by modifying flow field in rotor tip region and hence contributes to enhancement of stall margin. As a negative effect, interaction of vortex generator vortices and casing causes surface friction and high entropy generation. As a result compressor stage pressure ratio and efficiency decreases.


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