A Method of Stall and Surge Prediction in Axial Compressors Based On Three-Dimensional Body-Force Model

Author(s):  
Hanxuan Zeng ◽  
Xinqian Zheng ◽  
Mehdi Vahdati

Abstract The occurrence of stall and surge in axial compressors has a great impact on the performance and reliability of aero-engines. Accurate and efficient prediction of the key features during these events has long been the focus of engine design processes. In this paper, a new body-force model that can capture the three-dimensional and unsteady features of stall and surge in compressors at a fraction of time required for URANS computations is proposed. To predict the rotating stall characteristics, the deviation of local airflow angle from the blade surface is calculated locally during the simulation. According to this local deviation, the computational domain is divided into stalled and forward flow regions, and the body-force field is updated accordingly; to predict the surge characteristics, the local airflow direction is used to divide the computational domain into reverse flow regions and forward flow regions. A single-stage axial compressor and a three-stage axial compressor are used to verify the proposed model. The results show that the method is capable of capturing stall and surge characteristics correctly. Compared to the traditional fully three-dimensional URANS method (fRANS), the simulation time for multi-stage axial compressors is reduced by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude.

Author(s):  
Jin Guo ◽  
Jun Hu

The aim of this article is to develop a three-dimensional computational model to simulate the traveling process of inlet distortion in fan and compressor with low calculated costs. The model is established based on the body force model in the framework of modern Computational Fluid Dynamics technology. The flow is assumed to be axisymmetric in each meridional blade passage. The impact of the solid blade shapes on airflow is modeled with blade blockage factor and blade body force. The relationships between blade body force and blade inlet Mach number together with attack angle are established with the deviation angle model and loss model. Meanwhile, the effect of the turbulent mixing is also taken into consideration. This developed computational code is then applied to the investigation of a transonic fan rotor and of a four-stage low-speed axial compressor under clean and distorted inlet condition. The predicted performance of both the fan rotor and the four-stage compressor with clean inlet are in line with the experimental results. A quantitative comparison is made between the computational results and the measurement data of the fan rotor with inlet distortion. Additionally, the transfer behavior of inlet distortion in the four-stage compressor is simulated by the model. All results demonstrate the effectiveness and practicability of the model.


Author(s):  
Xue-Qin Ji ◽  
Chen-Jun Yang ◽  
Xiao-Qian Dong

Abstract The pump-jet propulsor consists of a duct, a rotor and stators which are installed upstream of the rotor to provide pre-swirl flow or downstream of rotor to absorb the kinetic energy in the flow. The strong interactions between the three components and the vehicle are closely related to their design and exert great effect on noise and hydrodynamic performance. This paper attempts to develop an effective and efficient method for the optimal design of the duct and the pre-swirl stators under the influence of vehicle and rotor via viscous flow CFD simulations. In this paper, the two key parameters, attack angle of the duct and pitch angle of pre-swirl stators, are investigated. The numerical simulations are based on the solution of the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations using a two-layer realizable k-ε model for turbulence closure. The computational domain is discretized into mixed unstructured cells. The software package STAR-CCM+ is used for both grid generations and flow simulations. The rotor is replaced by the body-force model which is proposed according to the load distribution of the rotor in pump-jet propulsor. Total thrust of body force balances the resistance of a fully-appended underwater vehicle and its propulsor in the self-propulsion simulations and torque is determined by assuming that the propulsive efficiency is 80%. To the end of the optimal design, the total resistance, as the main consideration, and detailed flow field, such as pressure distribution, are numerically investigated for varied attack angles of the duct and pitch angles of pre-swirl stator. It is shown that the two parameters have significant impact on the performance of the propulsor and the recommended design is given.


Author(s):  
Jin Guo ◽  
Jun Hu ◽  
Xuegao Wang ◽  
Rong Xu

Abstract Rotating stall is a natural limit to the stable operating range of compressors due to the inverse pressure gradient of viscous gas. Effective prediction of compressor stall boundary is an important guarantee for the successful development of aeroengine. In this paper, a three-dimensional unsteady through-flow model based on body force theory is developed to reflect the dynamic stall process of multistage axial compressors with acceptable computational costs. The influence of blade geometric parameters is fully considered in blade force source terms. The source terms are related to the attack angle and Mach number of the blade inlet using the deviation angle and loss model in the through-flow theory. Meanwhile, the temporal lag response of the source terms to the upstream flow conditions is taken into account. Therefore, it can be utilized for predicting the off-design performance and rotating stall characteristics of multistage axial compressors. The developed model is validated on a two-stage low-speed axial compressor. The calculated performance line and stall cell speed are in agreement with the experimental results. The unsteady flow behavior of the compressor during stall is presented by the model. The results indicate that the developed model has the potential to be applied to the preliminary evaluation of compressor stability in design stage.


Author(s):  
Steffen Reising ◽  
Heinz-Peter Schiffer

Secondary flows involving cross flow and three-dimensional separation phenomena in modern axial compressors at high stage loading contribute significantly to a reduction in overall efficiency. This two-part paper presents a numerical study on the potential aerodynamic benefits of using non-axisymmetric end walls in an axial compressor, involving both the rotor and the stator row. This first paper describes the sequential profiling of stator end walls in a transonic compressor at several operating points to suppress separation. An automated multi-objective optimizer connected to a 3-D RANS flow solver was used to find the optimal end wall geometries. As a design exercise, the stator hub end wall of Configuration I of the Darmstadt Transonic Compressor was first optimized at design conditions, keeping the shroud end wall constant. This led to an increase in efficiency of 1.8% due to the suppression of the hub-corner stall. However, this was accompanied by an increased area of reverse flow at the casing, which was even more distinct at off-design conditions near stall. The numerical surge limit of the datum axisymmetric design could no longer be reached and was then determined by the new separation close to the stator casing. A subsequent optimization of the shroud end wall was carried out using the improved profiled hub as the initial design. An operating point near stall with a strongly developed separation was chosen for this purpose. The second optimization resulted in a further improvement in the characteristic speed line over the entire off-design region. Although the shroud contour was designed at off-design conditions, the optimization gained an additional 0.03% in efficiency for the design point. The lower surge limit of the datum design could also be reached again, even at higher efficiency and pressure ratios. The investigations showed that end wall profiling in high loaded compressor stators can be considered as a good supplement to 3-D blading to control separation areas and improve the entire component’s characteristics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (1281) ◽  
pp. 1683-1701 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Righi ◽  
L.E. Ferrer-Vidal ◽  
V. Pachidis

ABSTRACTThis paper describes the application of low-order models to the prediction of the steady performance of axial compressors at sub-idle conditions. An Euler body-force method employing sub-idle performance correlations is developed and presented alongside a mean-line approach employing the same set of correlations. The low-order tools are used to generate the characteristic lines of the compressor in the locked-rotor and zero-torque windmilling conditions. The results are compared against steady-state operating points from three-dimensional (3D) Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The accuracy of the low-order tools in reproducing the results from high-fidelity CFD is analysed, and the trade-off with the computational cost of each method is discussed. The low-order tools presented are shown to offer a fast alternative to traditional CFD which can be used to predict the performance in sub-idle conditions of a new compressor design during early development stages.


Author(s):  
Jin Guo ◽  
Jun Hu

This study aims at establishing a three-dimensional numerical model, compressor aerodynamic performance analysis model, to simulate the impact of complicated distorted flow on multistage axial flow compressor based on the body force model. The model solves the compressible three-dimensional Euler equations, which are modified to include source terms representing the effect of the blade rows. In this study, the association between blade source terms and entry Mach number together with attack angle could be established with the deviation angle model and loss model. In this paper, compressor aerodynamic performance analysis model is used to evaluate the effect of inlet circumferential total pressure distortion and swirl distortion on a five-stage high-pressure compressor. Calculated operating maps for compressor agree well with the experimental results. Meanwhile, the traveling process of inlet distortions in the multistage compressor is correctly revealed. The wide application prospect of the model can be seen in the area of inlet distortion problems.


Author(s):  
Baofeng Tu ◽  
Jun Hu ◽  
Yong Zhao

Rotating stall is one of the unsteady phenomena in multistage axial compressors that will damage both of performance and service life of aero engines. Stall inception is a dynamic process including appearance of pre-stall disturbance, evolvement of disturbances into stall cells, and development of stall cells. The main purpose in researching stall inception is to reveal the origins of disturbances and stall cells, investigate the effects of aerodynamic design variations on stall inception, and find the effective ways to prevent engines from turning into rotating stall or surge. Numerical simulation is an economic, reliable and rapid tool to study stall inception. As stall inception is three-dimensional and unsteady, numerical simulation should be capable of describing these aspects. In this paper, a three dimensional unsteady computational model based on the three-dimensional unsteady Euler equations and the three dimensional multi actuator-disks model has been developed. The computational domain can be divided into two kinds. One is blade-free regions, which consist of upstream duct, the axial gaps among blade rows, and downstream duct. The other one is blade rows. The flows in blade-free regions considered inviscid, unsteady, and can be resolved using three-dimensional unsteady Euler equations. The blade rows are replaced by multi actuator-disks with different total-to-static characteristics. By added the correlation functions of inlet and outlet flow angles, we can compute the flow field by combining the Euler equations and the multi actuator-disks model. A two-stage low-speed compressor in NUAA has been investigated, and the predicted results indicates that the second stage comes out stall cell first, and the full developed stall cell rotates at about 40.4% rotor speed, which coincides with the experimental data.


Author(s):  
ZX Liu ◽  
HZ Diao ◽  
XC Zhu ◽  
ZH Du

In this paper, a three-dimensional body force model for predicting compressor performance and stability is implemented in the Ansys CFX. The influence of the blade rows on the flow field is represented by the source terms of CFX-solver equation. At first, a high-speed and high-pressure-ratio transonic compressor with the clean inlet is investigated. The overall performance and the flow fields are in agreement well with those of the experimental date, so the model is reliable and correct. Then, the effects of the circumferential distortions in the inlet total pressure and the total temperature on the compressor performance and flow field are also illustrated, respectively. In summary, the proposed body force model is suitable to investigate the flow field of the compressor with the inlet distortions.


Author(s):  
R. V. Chima

A three-dimensional unsteady CFD code called CSTALL has been developed and used to investigate compressor stability. The code solved the Euler equations through the entire annulus and all blade rows. Blade row turning, losses, and deviation were modeled using body force terms which required input data at stations between blade rows. The input data was calculated using a separate Navier-Stokes turbomachinery analysis code run at one operating point near stall, and was scaled to other operating points using overall characteristic maps. No information about the stalled characteristic was used. CSTALL was run in a 2-D throughflow mode for very fast calculations of operating maps and estimation of stall points. Calculated pressure ratio characteristics for NASA stage 35 agreed well with experimental data, and results with inlet radial distortion showed the expected loss of range. CSTALL was also run in a 3-D mode to investigate inlet circumferential distortion. Calculated operating maps for stage 35 with 120 degree distortion screens showed a loss in range and pressure rise. Unsteady calculations showed rotating stall with two part-span stall cells. The paper describes the body force formulation in detail, examines the computed results, and concludes with observations about the code.


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