Flowfield and Performance Measurements in a Vaned Radial Diffuser

1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Dutton ◽  
P. Piemsomboon ◽  
P. E. Jenkins

The flow characteristics of a vaned diffuser typical of those currently used in centrifugal compressors have been determined experimentally by using a static diffuser test rig. The vortex test vehicle (VTV) portion of this rig was used to simulate the essential features of the flow leaving the impeller of an actual compressor. The mean flow phenomena at the diffuser entrance and the static pressure recovery along the diffuser passage have been determined. In addition, the flow angle and Mach number distributions at several key locations throughout the diffuser channel have been obtained. The most notable feature of the diffuser flowfield is the high degree of nonuniformity in the inlet/leading edge region.

Author(s):  
Tarek Mekhail ◽  
Zhaohui Du ◽  
Willem Jansen ◽  
Hanping Chen

The unsteadiness of the flow at the leading edge of a vaned diffuser represents a source of low efficiency and instability in a centrifugal turbomachine. Furthermore, the internal flow of the impeller can be affected by asymmetric downstream conditions, which results in extra flow unsteadiness and instabilities. Numerical and experimental data are obtained. The simulation of impeller diffuser interaction is performed using CFX-Tascflow. A frozen rotor simulation is used for the steady calculation and a rotor-stator simulation is used for the unsteady calculation using the steady results as an initial guess. The unsteady simulation is done not only for one impeller and diffuser blades, but also for the whole impeller and diffuser blades using Unix workstation. For the experimental work, a transparent fan is design and tested at The Turbomachinery Laboratory of SJTU. The test rig consists of a centrifugal, shrouded impeller, diffuser and volute casing all made of plexiglass. A particle image velocimeter (PIV) is used to measure the 2-D instantaneous velocity in the interaction region between impeller, vaned. A series of performance measurements were carried out at different speeds. The first trial of measuring the instantaneous flow field in a part of the impeller and vaned diffuser together at different relative locations between them is presented in this work at different flow rates. Obtaining detailed measurements in the interaction region between the impeller and diffuser can help in understanding the complex flow phenomena and improving centrifugal fan and compressor performance. Finally, the comparison between the unsteady measurements and unsteady calculations showed that the Rotor/Stator Model can predict the basic characteristics of unsteady flow in centrifugal fan but still need improvement to satisfy the true transient simulation for unsteady impeller diffuser interaction.


Author(s):  
Gregory A. Kopp ◽  
Robert J. Martinuzzi

Measurements of the mean velocity vector were conducted to determine the exit angle from an automotive engine cooling fan module. The measurements were made at 15 locations along a radius between the hub and the band. The radius investigated was located in a plane roughly half-way between the blade trailing edge and stator leading edge. A two-component laser Doppler velocimeter and a four-wire hot-wire probe were used to measure the flow fields. It was found that the results obtained from hot-wire anemometry will have significant bias errors when used to measure the velocity vectors between the fan and the stator unless phase-averaged data are obtained with the probe re-oriented by phase. The differences between the techniques occur because the distribution of instantaneous swirl angles is bi-modal. Further, the mean flow angle is close to a local minimum in the probability density function of the swirl angle. This will act to increase errors in measurement devices whose accuracy depends on flow direction (the quantity being measured) such as five-hole probes which are used in industry.


Author(s):  
Yang Zhao ◽  
Jiayi Zhao ◽  
Zhiheng Wang ◽  
Guang Xi

The diffuser rotating stall in a centrifugal compressor with vaned diffuser is one of important unsteady flow phenomena, which limits the operating range of the compressor. In this paper, the unsteady CFD analysis on a low-speed centrifugal compressor has been performed to investigate the flow characteristic in the diffuser and the propagation of the diffuser rotating stall. The flow behaviors at the outlet of the impeller at design and off-design conditions are firstly investigated. It is found that a reversal flow, induced by the tip leakage flow, exists near the shroud at the impeller outlet and becomes serious with the mass flow rate reduced. Due to the span-wise variation of the flow angle at the diffuser inlet and the inversed pressure gradient in the passage, the leading-edge vortex (LEV) generates on the diffuser leading edge. The LEV then induces the secondary flow in the diffuser passage and then causes the hub-corner separation. Furthermore, the propagation of the diffuser rotating stall is presented in details. The suction-side separation near the hub induces the blockage in the passage. And the shedding vortex from the suction side moves toward the leading edge of the adjacent blade. When the vortex reaches to the leading edge of the adjacent blade, the incidence increase and a new separation occurs on the suction side. With the development of the new separation, the passage becomes blocked gradually and the upstream stalled passage recovers to a normal condition. The rotating stall propagates along the direction of the impeller rotation at about 4.5% of the impeller rotational speed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Firas F. Siala ◽  
Alexander D. Totpal ◽  
James A. Liburdy

An experimental study was conducted to explore the effect of surface flexibility at the leading and trailing edges on the near-wake flow dynamics of a sinusoidal heaving foil. Midspan particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were taken in a closed-loop wind tunnel at a Reynolds number of 25,000 and at a range of reduced frequencies (k = fc/U) from 0.09 to 0.20. Time-resolved and phase-locked measurements are used to describe the mean flow characteristics and phase-averaged vortex structures and their evolution. Large-eddy scale (LES) decomposition and swirling strength analysis are used to quantify the vortical structures. The results demonstrate that trailing edge flexibility has minimal influence on the mean flow characteristics. The mean velocity deficit for the flexible trailing edge and rigid foils remains constant for all reduced frequencies tested. However, the trailing edge flexibility increases the swirling strength of the small-scale structures, resulting in enhanced cross-stream dispersion. Flexibility at the leading edge is shown to generate a large-scale leading edge vortex (LEV) for k ≥ 0.18. This results in a reduction in the swirling strength due to vortex interactions when compared to the flexible trailing edge and rigid foils. Furthermore, it is shown that the large-scale LEV is responsible for extracting a significant portion of energy from the mean flow, reducing the mean flow momentum in the wake. The kinetic energy loss in the wake is shown to scale with the energy content of the LEV.


Author(s):  
Firas F. Siala ◽  
Alexander D. Totpal ◽  
James A. Liburdy

An experimental study was conducted to explore the effect of surface flexibility at the leading and trailing edges on the near-wake flow dynamics of a sinusoidal heaving foil. Mid-span particle image velocimetry measurements were taken in a closed loop wind tunnel at a Reynolds number of 25,000 and at a range of reduced frequencies (k = fc/U) from 0.09–0.20. Time resolved and phase locked measurements were used to describe the mean flow characteristics and phase averaged vortex structures and their evolution throughout the oscillation cycle. Large eddy scale decomposition and swirl strength analysis were used to quantify the effect of flexibility on the vortical structures. The results demonstrate that flexibility at the trailing edge has a minimal influence on the mean flow characteristics when compared to the purely rigid foil. The mean velocity deficit for the flexible trailing edge and rigid foils is shown to remain constant for all reduced frequencies tested. However, the trailing edge flexibility increases the swirl strength of the small scale structures, which results in enhanced cross stream dispersion of the mean velocity profile. Flexibility at the leading edge is shown to generate a large scale leading edge vortex for k ≥ 0.18. This results in a reduction in the swirl strength due to the complex vortex interactions when compared to the flexible trailing edge and rigid foils. Furthermore, it is shown that the large scale leading edge vortex is responsible for extracting a significant portion of the energy from the mean flow, resulting in a substantial reduction of mean flow momentum in the wake. The kinetic energy loss in the wake is shown to scale well with the energy content of the leading edge vortex.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 106377
Author(s):  
Mohammed Faheem ◽  
Aqib Khan ◽  
Rakesh Kumar ◽  
Sher Afghan Khan ◽  
Waqar Asrar ◽  
...  

1984 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 109-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. Atassi

It is shown that for a thin airfoil with small camber and small angle of attack moving in a periodic gust pattern, the unsteady lift caused by the gust can be constructed by linear superposition to the Sears lift of three independent components accounting separately for the effects of airfoil thickness, airfoil camber and non-zero angle of attack to the mean flow. This is true in spite of the nonlinear dependence of the unsteady flow on the mean potential flow of the airfoil. Specific lift formulas are derived and analysed to assess the importance of mean flow angle of attack and airfoil camber on the gust response.


Author(s):  
C. R. Hedlund ◽  
P. M. Ligrani ◽  
H.-K. Moon ◽  
B. Glezer

Heat transfer and fluid mechanics results are given for a swirl chamber whose geometry models an internal passage used to cool the leading edge of a turbine blade. The Reynolds numbers investigated, based on inlet duct characteristics, include values which are the same as in the application (18000–19400). The ratio of absolute air temperature between the inlet and wall of the swirl chamber ranges from 0.62 to 0.86 for the heat transfer measurements. Spatial variations of surface Nusselt numbers along swirl chamber surfaces are measured using infrared thermography in conjunction with thermocouples, energy balances, digital image processing, and in situ calibration procedures. The structure and streamwise development of arrays of Görtler vortex pairs, which develop along concave surfaces, are apparent from flow visualizations. Overall swirl chamber structure is also described from time-averaged surveys of the circumferential component of velocity, total pressure, static pressure, and the circumferential component of vorticity. Important variations of surface Nusselt numbers and time-averaged flow characteristics are present due to arrays of Görtler vortex pairs, especially near each of the two inlets, where Nusselt numbers are highest. Nusselt numbers then decrease and become more spatially uniform along the interior surface of the chamber as the flows advect away from each inlet.


1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Arcoumanis ◽  
R. F. Martinez-Botas ◽  
J. M. Nouri ◽  
C. C. Su

The performance and exit flow characteristics of two mixed-flow turbines have been investigated under steady-state conditions. The two rotors differ mainly in their inlet angle geometry, one has a nominal constant incidence (rotor B) and the other has a constant blade angle (rotor C), but also in the number of blades. The results showed that the overall peak efficiency of rotor C is higher than that of rotor B. Two different volutes were also used for the tests, differing in their cross-sectional area, which confirm that the new larger area volute turbine has a higher efficiency than the old one, particularly at lower speeds, and a fairly uniform variation with velocity ratio.The flow exiting the blades has been quantified by laser Doppler velocimetry. A difference in the exit flow velocity for rotors B and C with the new volute was observed which is expected given their variation in geometry and performance. The tangential velocities near the shroud resemble a forced vortex flow structure, while a uniform tangential velocity component was measured near the hub. The exit flow angles for both rotor cases decreased rapidly from the shroud to a minimum value in the annular core region before increasing gradually towards the hub. In addition, the exit flow angles with both rotors were reduced with increasing rotational speeds. The magnitude of the absolute flow angle was reduced in the case of rotor C, which may explain the improved steady state performance with this rotor. The results also revealed a correlation between the exit flow angle and the performance of the turbines; a reduction in flow angle resulted in an increase in the overall turbine efficiency.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Hamidifar ◽  
Alireza Keshavarzi ◽  
Paweł M. Rowiński

Trees have been used extensively by river managers for improving the river environment and ecology. The link between flow hydraulics, bed topography, habitat availability, and organic matters is influenced by vegetation. In this study, the effect of trees on the mean flow, bed topography, and bed shear stress were tested under different flow conditions. It was found that each configuration of trees produced particular flow characteristics and bed topography patterns. The SR (single row of trees) model appeared to deflect the maximum velocity downstream of the bend apex toward the inner bank, while leading the velocity to be more uniformly distributed throughout the bend. The entrainment of sediment particles occurred toward the area with higher values of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). The results showed that both SR and DR (double rows of trees) models are effective in relieving bed erosion in sharp ingoing bends. The volume of the scoured bed was reduced up to 70.4% for tests with trees. This study shows the effectiveness of the SR model in reducing the maximum erosion depth.


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