Stall Precursor Identification in High Speed Compressor Stages Using Chaotic Time Series Analysis Methods

Author(s):  
Michelle M. Bright ◽  
Helen K. Qammar ◽  
Harald J. Weigl ◽  
James D. Paduano

This paper presents a new technique for precursor identification in high speed compressors. The technique is a pseudo-correlation integral method referred to as the correlation method. To provide a basis for comparison, the traveling wave energy technique, which has been used extensively to study pre-stall data, is also briefly presented and applied. The correlation method has a potential advantage over the traveling wave energy method because it uses a single sensor for detection. It also requires no predisposition about the expected behavior of the data to detect “changes” in the behavior of the compressor. Both methods are used in this study to identify stall procursive events in the pressure fluctuations measured from circumferential pressure transducers located at the front face of the compressor rig. The correlation method successfully identified stall formation or changes in the compressor dynamics from data captured from four different configurations of a NASA Lewis single stage high speed compressor while it was transitioned from stable operation into stall. This paper includes an exposition on the use of nonlinear methods to identify stall precursors, a description of the methodologies used for the study, information on the NASA high speed compressor rig and experimental data acquisition, and results from the four compressor configurations. The experimental results indicate that the correlation method provides ample warning of the onset of rotating stall at high speed, in some tests on the order of 2000 rotor revolutions. Complementary features of the correlation method and the traveling wave energy method are discussed, and suggestions for future developments are made.

1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Bright ◽  
H. K. Qammar ◽  
H. J. Weigl ◽  
J. D. Paduano

This paper presents a new technique for precursor identification in high-speed compressors. The technique is a pseudo-correlation integral method referred to as the correlation method. To provide a basis for comparison, the traveling wave energy technique, which has been used extensively to study prestall data, is also briefly presented and applied. The correlation method has a potential advantage over the traveling wave energy method because it uses a single sensor for detection. It also requires no predisposition about the expected behavior of the data to detect “changes” in the behavior of the compressor. Both methods are used in this study to identify stall precursive events in the pressure fluctuations measured from circumferential pressure transducers located at the front face of the compressor rig. The correlation method successfully identified stall formation or changes in the compressor dynamics from data captured from four different configurations of a NASA Lewis single-stage high-speed compressor while it was transitioned from stable operation into stall. This paper includes an exposition on the use of nonlinear methods to identify stall precursors, a description of the methodologies used for the study, information on the NASA high-speed compressor rig and experimental data acquisition, and results from the four compressor configurations. The experimental results indicate that the correlation method provides ample warning of the onset of rotating stall at high speed, in some tests on the order of 2000 rotor revolutions. Complementary features of the correlation method and the traveling wave energy method are discussed, and suggestions for future developments are made.


1995 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Tryfonidis ◽  
O. Etchevers ◽  
J. D. Paduano ◽  
A. H. Epstein ◽  
G. J. Hendricks

High-speed compressor data immediately prior to rotating stall inception are analyzed and compared to stability theory. New techniques for the detection of small-amplitude rotating waves in the presence of noise are detailed, and experimental and signal processing pitfalls discussed. In all nine compressors examined, rotating stall precedes surge. Prior to rotating stall inception, all the machines support small-amplitude (< 1 percent of fully developed stall) waves traveling about the circumference. Traveling wave strength and structure are shown to be a strong function of corrected speed. At low speeds, a ∼0.5 times shaft speed wave is present for hundreds of rotor revolutions prior to stall initiation. At 100 percent speed, a shaft speed rotating wave dominates, growing as stall initiation is approached (fully developed rotating stall occurs at about 1/2 of shaft speed). A new, two-dimensional, compressible hydrodynamic stability analysis is applied to the geometry of two of the compressors and gives results in agreement with data. The calculations show that, at low corrected speeds, these compressors behave predominantly as incompressible machines. The wave that first goes unstable is the 1/2 shaft frequency mode predicted by the incompressible Moore–Greitzer analysis and previously observed in low-speed compressors. Compressibility becomes important at high corrected speeds and adds axial structure to the rotating waves. At 100 percent corrected speed, one of these hitherto unrecognized compressible modes goes unstable first. The rotating frequency of this mode is constant and predicted to be approximately coincident with shaft speed at design. Thus, it is susceptible to excitation by geometric nonuniformities in the compressor. This new understanding of compressor dynamics is used to introduce the concept of traveling wave energy as a real time measure of compressor stability. Such a wave energy-based scheme is shown consistently to give an indication of low stability for significant periods (100–200 rotor revolutions) before stall initiation, even at 100 percent corrected speed.


Author(s):  
Adam R. Hickman ◽  
Scott C. Morris

Flow field measurements of a high-speed axial compressor are presented during pre-stall and post-stall conditions. The paper provides an analysis of measurements from a circumferential array of unsteady shroud static pressure sensors during stall cell development. At low-speed, the stall cell approached a stable size in approximately two rotor revolutions. At higher speeds, the stall cell developed within a short amount of time after stall inception, but then fluctuated in circumferential extent as the compressor transiently approached a stable post-stall operating point. The size of the stall cell was found to be related to the annulus average flow coefficient. A discussion of Phase-Locked Average (PLA) statistics on flow field measurements during stable operation is also included. In conditions where rotating stall is present, flow field measurements can be Double Phase-Locked Averaged (DPLA) using a once-per-revolution (1/Rev) pulse and the period of the stall cell. The DPLA method provides greater detail and understanding into the structure of the stall cell. DPLA data indicated that a stalled compressor annulus can be considered to contained three main regions: over-pressurized passages, stalled passages, and recovering passages. Within the over-pressured region, rotor passages exhibited increased blade loading and pressure ratio compared to pre-stall values.


Author(s):  
Prabhu Balasubramanian ◽  
Satish G. Kandlikar

The use of phase change heat transfer in parallel minichannels and microchannels is one of the solutions proposed for cooling high heat flux systems. The increase in pressure drop in a two phase system is one of the problems, that need to be studied in detail before proceeding to any design phase. The pressure drop fluctuations in a network of parallel channels connected by a common head need to be addressed for stable operation of flow boiling systems. The current work focuses on studying the pressure-drop fluctuations and flow instabilities in a set of six parallel rectangular minichannels, each with 333 μm hydraulic diameter. Demonized and degassed water was used for all the experiments. Pressure fluctuations are recorded and signal analysis is performed to find the dominant frequencies and their amplitudes. These pressure fluctuations are then mapped to their corresponding flow patterns observed using a high speed camera. The results help us to relate pressure fluctuations to different flow characteristics, and their effect on flow instability.


2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlad Hasmatuchi ◽  
Mohamed Farhat ◽  
Steven Roth ◽  
Francisco Botero ◽  
François Avellan

An experimental investigation of the rotating stall in reduced scale model of a low specific speed radial pump-turbine at runaway and turbine brake conditions in generating mode is achieved. Measurements of wall pressure in the stator are performed along with high-speed flow visualizations in the vaneless gap with the help of air bubbles injection. When starting from the best efficiency point (BEP) and increasing the impeller speed, a significant increase of the pressure fluctuations is observed mainly in the wicket gates channels. The spectral analysis shows a rise of a low frequency component (about 70% of the impeller rotational frequency) at runaway, which further increases as the zero discharge condition is approached. Analysis of the instantaneous pressure peripheral distribution in the vaneless gap reveals one stall cell rotating with the impeller at sub-synchronous speed. High-speed movies reveal a quite uniform flow pattern in the guide vanes channels at the normal operating range, whereas at runaway the flow is highly disturbed by the rotating stall passage. The situation is even more critical at very low positive discharge, where backflow and vortices in the guide vanes channels develop during the stall cell passage. A specific image processing technique is applied to reconstruct the rotating stall evolution in the entire guide vanes circumference for a low positive discharge operating point. The findings of this study suggest that one stall cell rotates with the impeller at sub-synchronous velocity in the vaneless gap between the impeller and the guide vanes. It is the result of rotating flow separations developed in several consecutive impeller channels which lead to their blockage.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
O. G. McGee ◽  
K. L. Coleman

General methodologies are proposed in this two-part paper that further phenomenological understanding of compressible stall inception and aeromechanical control of high-speed axial compressors and engine performance. Developed in Part I are strategies for passive stabilization of compressible rotating stall, using tailored structural design and aeromechanical feedback control, implemented in certain classes of high-speed axial compressors used in research laboratories and by industry. Fundamentals of the stability of various dynamically-compensated, high-speed compressors was set down from linearized, compressible structural-hydrodynamic equations of modal stall inception extended further in this study from previous work. A dimensionless framework for performance-based design of aeromechanically-controlled compression system stall mitigation and engine performance is established, linking specified design flow and work-transfer (pressure) operability to model stages or local blade components, velocity triangle environment, optimum efficiency, extended stall margin and operability loci, and aeromechanical detailed design. A systematic evaluation was made in Part II (Coleman and McGee, 2013, “Aeromechanical Control of High-Speed Axial Compressor Stall and Engine Performance—Part II: Assessments of Methodology,” ASME J. Fluids Eng. (to be published)) on the performance of ten aeromechanical feedback controller schemes to increase the predicted range of stable operation of two laboratory compressor characteristics assumed, using static pressure sensing and local structural actuation to rudimentary postpone high-speed modal stall inception. The maximum flow operating range for each of the ten dynamically-compensated, high-speed compression systems was determined using optimized or “tailored” structural controllers, and the results described in Part II of the companion paper are compared to maximum operating ranges achieved in corresponding low-speed compression systems.


Author(s):  
Jeong-Seek Kang ◽  
Shin-Hyoung Kang

This paper presents an experimental and analytical investigation of a rotating stall inception in a vaneless diffuser of a centrifugal compressor. Eight fast-response pressure transducers are equally spaced around the circumference at the inlet and exit of a parallel vaneless diffuser. Instantaneous pressure data is measured near the stall inception point and characteristics of a rotating stall, a stall-initiating mechanism, a stall precursor and its warning schemes are discussed. It is found that one-cell, two-cell and three-cell structures of small amplitude wave grow and decay repeatedly before they are fully developed to a rotating stall, which is named as “pre-cell.” When it appears, the phase of spatial Fourier coefficient increases linearly and the traveling wave energy increases. The pre-cell travels at, or slightly lower than, the speed of the fully developed rotating stall. Its growing-decaying life span is about several decades of the impeller revolution. Pre-cells of one-cell, two-cell, and three-cell structures are found to interact frequently with their growing and decaying mechanism through transferring energy from one structure to another. Two stall warning schemes are used for the stall in the vaneless diffuser. The first scheme is to detect the linear increase region in the phase of the spatial Fourier coefficient from where the according warning time is about 0.3∼1.4 sec. (300∼700 impeller revs.) The second scheme is to detect the increase of traveling wave energy from where the according warning time is about 0.2∼2.3 sec. (200∼1200 impeller revs.) These warning schemes are useful because their warning time is long enough to be applied in active control of a compressor stall.


Author(s):  
M. Tryfonidis ◽  
O. Etchevers ◽  
J. D. Paduano ◽  
A. H. Epstein ◽  
G. J. Hendricks

High speed compressor data immediately prior to rotating stall inception are analyzed and compared to stability theory. New techniques for the detection of small amplitude rotating waves in the presence of noise are detailed and experimental and signal processing pitfalls discussed. In all nine compressors examined, rotating stall precedes surge. Prior to rotating stall inception, all the machines support small-amplitude (<1% of fully developed stall) waves travelling about the circumference. Travelling wave strength and structure are shown to be a strong function of corrected speed. At low speeds, a −0.5 times shaft speed wave is present for hundreds of rotor revolutions prior to stall initiation. At 100% speed, a shaft speed rotating wave dominates, growing as stall initiation is approached (fully developed rotating stall occurs at about 1/2 of shaft speed). A new, 2-D, compressible hydrodynamic stability analysis is applied to the geometry of two of the compressors and gives results in agreement with data. The calculations show that, at low corrected speeds, these compressors behave predominantly as incompressible machines. The wave which first goes unstable is the 1/2 shaft frequency mode predicted by the incompressible Moore-Greitzer analysis and previously observed in low speed compressors. Compressibility becomes important at high corrected speeds and adds axial structure to the rotating waves. At 100% corrected speed, it is one of these hitherto unrecognized compressible modes which goes unstable first. The rotating frequency of this mode is constant and predicted to be approximately coincident with shaft speed at design. Thus, it is susceptible to excitation by geometric nonuniformities in the compressor. This new understanding of compressor dynamics is used to introduce the concept of travelling wave energy as a measure of compressor stability. Such a wave energy-based scheme is shown to consistently give an indication of low stability for significant periods (100–200 rotor revolutions) before stall initiation, even at 100% corrected speed.


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