IN-STALL COMPRESSOR PERFORMANCE AND THE EFFECTS OF REYNOLDS NUMBER

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Jack Hutchings ◽  
Cesare A. Hall

Abstract Previous research into axial compressor stall has mainly focused on stall inception and methods to extend the stable operating range. This paper considers the performance of an axial compressor beyond stall and investigates how the characteristics of stall cells depend on Reynolds number. An experimental study has been conducted using a single-stage axial compressor capable of operating across the Reynolds number range of 10,000 – 100,000. Detailed unsteady measurements have been used to measure the behaviour across a range of in-stall flow coefficients. These measurements have been used to extract the stall hysteresis and to determine the size, speed, number, and spanwise extent of the stall cells. The results show that for the stalled compressor, as Reynolds number increases, the size of the minimum stable stall cell decreases. This means that a larger change in throttle area is needed to reduce the stall cell down to a size where the compressor can recover from stall. At the design Reynolds number, the number of stall cells that form transitions from one, to two, and then to four stall cells as the flow coefficient is reduced. At lower Reynolds numbers, the two-stall-cell state becomes unstable; instead, a single stall cell transitions directly into five stall cells. As the number of stall cells increases, so do the speed of the stall cells and the total size. Further reductions in the flow coefficient cause an increase in the total size and a decrease in the stall cell speed.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Hutchings ◽  
Cesare Hall

Abstract Previous research into axial compressor stall has mainly focused on stall inception and methods to extend the stable operating range. This paper considers the performance of an axial compressor beyond stall and investigates how the characteristics of stall cells depend on Reynolds number. An experimental study has been conducted using a single-stage axial compressor capable of operating across the Reynolds number range of 10,000–100,000. Detailed unsteady measurements have been used to measure the behaviour across a range of install flow coefficients. These measurements have been used to extract the stall hysteresis and to determine the size, speed, number, and spanwise extent of the stall cells. The results show that for the stalled compressor, as Reynolds number increases, the size of the minimum stable stall cell decreases. This means that a larger change in throttle area is needed to reduce the stall cell down to a size where the compressor can recover from stall. At Re = 100,000, the stall hysteresis is six times greater than at Re = 20,000. At the design Reynolds number, the number of stall cells that form transitions from one, to two, and then to four stall cells as the flow coefficient is reduced. At lower Reynolds numbers, the two stall cell state becomes unstable; instead, a single stall cell transitions directly into five cells. In all cases, as the number of stall cells increases, so do the speed of the stall cells and the total size. Further reductions in the flow coefficient cause an increase in the total size of the stall cells and a decrease in the stall cell speed.


1984 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 489-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Simon ◽  
A. Bu¨lska¨mper

This paper summarizes the results of systematic investigations into the Reynolds number effects. It is based on performance map measurements carried out on a compressor test rig which was constructed primarily for this purpose. The measurements were performed for stages with different flow coefficients (0.004 ≦ φ1 ≦ 0.05), with different gases (air, nitrogen, helium, freon) and in the inlet pressure range 0.2 bar ≦ p1 ≦ 40 bar. By analogy with the turbulent flow in technically rough pipes, semi-empirical correlations are derived concerning the effects of the Reynolds number and the relative surface roughness on the characteristic performance parameters (efficiency, flow coefficient, head coefficient, work coefficient). For the detailed design calculation of individual stages, provision is made for the different effects on the hydraulic flow losses and the disk friction losses. Simplified correlations are given for the conversion of characteristics measured during thermodynamic performance tests. The correlations are applied to various single and multistage compressors, and the results compared with measured performance characteristics in the Reynolds number range 6 × 103 ≦ Ret ≦ 1.1 × 107. The good correspondence obtained forms the basis for recommending the application of these simplified relationships for the improvement of centrifugal compressor performance test codes (e.g. ASME PTC-10 and ISO TC 118).


Author(s):  
Jonna Tiainen ◽  
Ahti Jaatinen-Värri ◽  
Aki Grönman ◽  
Jari Backman

The efficiency is reduced in very small centrifugal compressors due to low Reynolds numbers. In the past, the effect of the Reynolds number on centrifugal compressor performance has been studied experimentally, and empirical correction equations for the efficiency have been derived based on those results. There is a lack of numerical investigations into the effect of the Reynolds number on centrifugal compressor performance and losses. This paper aims to compare the numerical results to the efficiencies predicted by the correction equations found in the literature. The loss generation in the impeller blade passages is also studied in order to find out which loss production mechanism has the most potential to be reduced or eliminated. The effect of the Reynolds number on compressor performance is investigated in the chord Reynolds number range varying from 0.8 · 105 to 17 · 105 by simulating numerically the original compressors and downscaled ones. The numerical results are validated against experimental data and the results are compared with the efficiency correction equations used in the literature. The results indicate that the performance of the downscaled compressors follow quite precisely the most recently published correction equation. The results also show that the increased losses in low-Reynolds-number compressors are caused both by the relatively increased boundary layer thickness and by the shear stress resulting from the increased vorticity.


Author(s):  
Matthew A. Smith ◽  
Randall M. Mathison ◽  
Michael G. Dunn

Heat transfer distributions are presented for a stationary three passage serpentine internal cooling channel for a range of engine representative Reynolds numbers. The spacing between the sidewalls of the serpentine passage is fixed and the aspect ratio (AR) is adjusted to 1:1, 1:2, and 1:6 by changing the distance between the top and bottom walls. Data are presented for aspect ratios of 1:1 and 1:6 for smooth passage walls and for aspect ratios of 1:1, 1:2, and 1:6 for passages with two surfaces turbulated. For the turbulated cases, turbulators skewed 45° to the flow are installed on the top and bottom walls. The square turbulators are arranged in an offset parallel configuration with a fixed rib pitch-to-height ratio (P/e) of 10 and a rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio (e/Dh) range of 0.100 to 0.058 for AR 1:1 to 1:6, respectively. The experiments span a Reynolds number range of 4,000 to 130,000 based on the passage hydraulic diameter. While this experiment utilizes a basic layout similar to previous research, it is the first to run an aspect ratio as large as 1:6, and it also pushes the Reynolds number to higher values than were previously available for the 1:2 aspect ratio. The results demonstrate that while the normalized Nusselt number for the AR 1:2 configuration changes linearly with Reynolds number up to 130,000, there is a significant change in flow behavior between Re = 25,000 and Re = 50,000 for the aspect ratio 1:6 case. This suggests that while it may be possible to interpolate between points for different flow conditions, each geometric configuration must be investigated independently. The results show the highest heat transfer and the greatest heat transfer enhancement are obtained with the AR 1:6 configuration due to greater secondary flow development for both the smooth and turbulated cases. This enhancement was particularly notable for the AR 1:6 case for Reynolds numbers at or above 50,000.


Author(s):  
Sam Ghazi-Hesami ◽  
Dylan Wise ◽  
Keith Taylor ◽  
Peter Ireland ◽  
Étienne Robert

Abstract Turbulators are a promising avenue to enhance heat transfer in a wide variety of applications. An experimental and numerical investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop of a broken V (chevron) turbulator is presented at Reynolds numbers ranging from approximately 300,000 to 900,000 in a rectangular channel with an aspect ratio (width/height) of 1.29. The rib height is 3% of the channel hydraulic diameter while the rib spacing to rib height ratio is fixed at 10. Heat transfer measurements are performed on the flat surface between ribs using transient liquid crystal thermography. The experimental results reveal a significant increase of the heat transfer and friction factor of the ribbed surface compared to a smooth channel. Both parameters increase with Reynolds number, with a heat transfer enhancement ratio of up to 2.15 (relative to a smooth channel) and a friction factor ratio of up to 6.32 over the investigated Reynolds number range. Complementary CFD RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) simulations are performed with the κ-ω SST turbulence model in ANSYS Fluent® 17.1, and the numerical estimates are compared against the experimental data. The results reveal that the discrepancy between the experimentally measured area averaged Nusselt number and the numerical estimates increases from approximately 3% to 13% with increasing Reynolds number from 339,000 to 917,000. The numerical estimates indicate turbulators enhance heat transfer by interrupting the boundary layer as well as increasing near surface turbulent kinetic energy and mixing.


Author(s):  
Fabian Dietmann ◽  
Michael Casey ◽  
Damian M. Vogt

Abstract Further validation of an analytic method to calculate the influence of changes in Reynolds number, machine size and roughness on the performance of axial and radial turbocompressors is presented. The correlation uses a dissipation coefficient as a basis for scaling the losses with changes in relative roughness and Reynolds number. The original correlation from Dietmann and Casey [6] is based on experimental data and theoretical models. Evaluations of five numerically calculated compressor stages at different flow coefficients are presented to support the trends of the correlation. It is shown that the sensitivity of the compressor performance to Reynolds and roughness effects is highest for low flow coefficient radial stages and steadily decreases as the design flow coefficient of the stage and the hydraulic diameter of the flow channels increases.


1988 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 253-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. PENNYCUICK ◽  
HOLLIDAY H. OBRECHT ◽  
MARK R. FULLER

To whom reprint requests should be addressed. Measurements of the body frontal area of some large living waterfowl (Anatidae) and raptors (Falconiformes) were found to vary with the two-thirds power of the body mass, with no distinction between the two groups. Wind tunnel measurements on frozen bodies gave drag coefficients ranging from 0.25 to 0.39, in the Reynolds number range 145 000 to 462 000. Combining these observations with those of Prior (1984), which extended to lower Reynolds numbers, a practical rule is proposed for choosing a value of the body drag coefficient for use in performance estimates.


Author(s):  
Thanesh Deva Asirvatham ◽  
Dara W. Childs ◽  
Stephen Phillips

A flat-plate tester is used to measure the friction-factor behavior for a hole-pattern-roughened surface facing a smooth surface with compressed air as the medium. Measurements of mass flow rate, static pressure drop and stagnation temperature are carried out and used to find a combined (stator + rotor) Fanning friction factor value. In addition, dynamic pressure measurements are made at four axial locations at the bottom of individual holes of the rough plate and at facing locations in the smooth plate. The description of the test rig and instrumentation, and the procedure of testing and calculation are explained in detail in Kheireddin in 2009 and Childs et al. in 2010. Three hole-pattern flat-plates with a hole-pattern diameter of 12.15 mm were tested having depths of 0.9, 1.9, and 2.9 mm. Tests were done with clearances at 0.254, 0.381, and 0.653 mm, and inlet pressures of 56, 70 and 84 bar for a range of pressure ratios, yielding a Reynolds-number range of 100,000 to 800,000. The effects of Reynolds number, clearance, inlet pressure, and hole depth on friction factor are studied. The data are compared to friction factor values of three hole-pattern flat-plates with 3.175 mm diameter holes with hole depths of 1.9, 2.6, and 3.302 mm tested in the same rig described by Kheireddin in 2009. The test program was initiated mainly to investigate a “friction-factor jump” phenomenon cited by Ha et al. in 1992 in test results from a flat-plate tester using facing hole-pattern plates where, at elevated values of Reynolds numbers, the friction factor began to increase steadily with increasing Reynolds numbers. Friction-factor jump was not observed in any of the current test cases.


1977 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Kolansky ◽  
Sheldon Weinbaum ◽  
Robert Pfeffer

In Weinbaum et al. (1976) a simple new pressure hypothesis is derived which enables one to take account of the displacement interaction, the geometrical change in streamline radius of curvature and centrifugal effects in the thick viscous layers surrounding two-dimensional bluff bodies in the intermediate Reynolds number range O(1) < Re < O(102) using conventional Prandtl boundary-layer equations. The new pressure hypothesis states that the streamwise pressure gradient as a function of distance from the forward stagnation point on the displacement body is equal to the wall pressure gradient as a function of distance along the original body. This hypothesis is shown to be equivalent to stretching the streamwise body co-ordinate in conventional first-order boundary-layer theory. The present investigation shows that the same pressure hypothesis applies for the intermediate Reynolds number flow past axisymmetric bluff bodies except that the viscous term in the conventional axisymmetric boundary-layer equation must also be modified for transverse curvature effects O(δ) in the divergence of the stress tensor. The approximate solutions presented for the location of separation and the detailed surface pressure and vorticity distribution for the flow past spheres, spheroids and paraboloids of revolution at various Reynolds numbers in the range O(1) < Re < O(102) are in good agreement with available numerical Navier–Stokes solutions.


Author(s):  
Orest Shardt ◽  
J. J. Derksen ◽  
Sushanta K. Mitra

When droplets collide in a shear flow, they may coalesce or remain separate after the collision. At low Reynolds numbers, droplets coalesce when the capillary number does not exceed a critical value. We present three-dimensional simulations of droplet coalescence in a simple shear flow. We use a free-energy lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and study the collision outcome as a function of the Reynolds and capillary numbers. We study the Reynolds number range from 0.2 to 1.4 and capillary numbers between 0.1 and 0.5. We determine the critical capillary number for the simulations (0.19) and find that it is does not depend on the Reynolds number. The simulations are compared with experiments on collisions between confined droplets in shear flow. The critical capillary number in the simulations is about a factor of 25 higher than the experimental value.


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