scholarly journals The Effect of Hub Leakage Flow on Two High Speed Axial Flow Compressor Rotors

Author(s):  
A. Shabbir ◽  
M. L. Celestina ◽  
J. J. Adamczyk ◽  
A. J. Strazisar

The effect of hub leakage flow on the performance of two high speed transonic rotors is investigated through numerical simulations and experiments. The leakage flow emanates from a small gap between the stationary and rotating parts of the hub flow path upstream of the rotor. Results of both the experiments and CFD simulations show that the introduction of a small leakage flow (0–25% of the main passage flow) can reduce the total pressure rise produced by the rotor across the entire span and generate a significant deficit in the total pressure profile near the hub. Numerical simulations done with a sinusoidal distribution of the leakage flow across the rotor pitch show that this deficit is present even when there is zero net leakage. Particle tracer studies of CFD simulations show that this deficit is due to the flow blockage produced by the radial migration of the low momentum leakage fluid. The performance degradation trends predicted by the simulations are qualitatively confirmed in the experimental investigation.

Author(s):  
P. V. Ramakrishna ◽  
M. Govardhan

There are a number of performance indices for a turbomachine on the basis of which its strength is evaluated. In the case of axial compressors, pressure ratio, efficiency and stall margin are few such indices which are of major concern in the design phase as well as in the evaluation of performance of the machine. In the process of improving the blade design, 3D blade stacking, where the aerofoil sections constituting the blade are moved in relation to the flow. Tilting the blade sections to the flow direction (blade sweep) would increase the operating range of an axial compressor due to modifications in the pressure and velocity fields on the suction surface. On the other hand, blade tip gap, though finite, has great influence on the performance of a turbomachine. The present work investigates the combined effect of these two factors on various flow characteristics in a low speed axial flow compressor. The objective of the present paper is thereby confined to study the collective effects of sweep and tip clearance without attempting to suggest an outright new design. In the present numerical work, the performance of Tip Chordline Sweeping (TCS) and Axial Sweeping (AXS) of low speed axial compressor rotor blades are studied. For this, 15 computational domains were modeled for five rotor sweep configurations and three different clearance levels for each rotor. Through the results, 20°AXS rotor is found to be distinctive among all the rotors with highest pressure rise, higher operating range and less tip clearance loss characteristics. TCS rotors produced improved total pressure rise at the low flow coefficients when the tip gap is increased. Hence there is a chance that an “optimum” tip gap exists for the TCS rotors in terms of total pressure coefficient and operating range, while AXS rotors are at their best with the minimum possible clearance.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 985-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Suryavamshi ◽  
B. Lakshminarayana ◽  
J. Prato ◽  
J. R. Fagan

The results from measurements of the unsteady total pressure field downstream of an embedded stage of a three stage axial flow compressor are presented in this paper. The measurements include area traverses of a high response kulite total pressure probe and a pneumatic five hole probe downstream of stator 2 at the peak efficiency operating point for the compressor. These data indicate that both the shaft-resolved and unresolved fluctuations contribute to the unsteadiness of the total pressure field in multistage compressors. Specifically, regions associated with high levels of unsteadiness and, consequently, high levels of mixing including both the hub and casing end walls and the airfoil wakes have significant levels of shaft resolved and unresolved unsteadiness. Temporal variations of stator exit flow are influenced by both shaft resolved and unresolved unsteadiness distributions. The limitations of state-of-the-art instrumentation for making measurements in moderate and high speed turbomachinery and the decomposition used to analyze these data are also discussed.


Author(s):  
Cengiz Camci ◽  
Debashis Dey ◽  
Levent Kavurmacioglu

This paper deals with an experimental investigation of aerodynamic characteristics of full and partial-length squealer rims in a turbine stage. Full and partial-length squealer rims are investigated separately on the pressure side and on the suction side in the “Axial Flow Turbine Research Facility” (AFTRF) of the Pennsylvania State University. The streamwise length of these “partial squealer tips” and their chordwise position are varied to find an optimal aerodynamic tip configuration. The optimal configuration in this cold turbine study is defined as the one that is minimizing the stage exit total pressure defect in the tip vortex dominated zone. A new “channel arrangement” diverting some of the leakage flow into the trailing edge zone is also studied. Current results indicate that the use of “partial squealer rims” in axial flow turbines can positively affect the local aerodynamic field by weakening the tip leakage vortex. Results also show that the suction side partial squealers are aerodynamically superior to the pressure side squealers and the channel arrangement. The suction side partial squealers are capable of reducing the stage exit total pressure defect associated with the tip leakage flow to a significant degree.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jichao Li ◽  
Juan Du ◽  
Mingzhen Li ◽  
Feng Lin ◽  
Hongwu Zhang ◽  
...  

The effects of water ingestion on the performance of an axial flow compressor are experimentally studied with and without endwall treatment. The background to the work is derived from the assessment of airworthiness for an aero-engine. The stability-enhancing effects with endwall treatments under rain ingestion are not previously known. Moreover, all the endwall treatments are designed under dry air conditions in the compressor. Water ingestion at 3% and 5% relative to the design mass flow proposed in the airworthiness standard are applied to initially investigate the effects on the performance under smooth casing (SC). Results show that the water ingestions are mainly located near the casing wall after they move through the rotor blade row. The pressure rise coefficient increases, efficiency declines, and torque increases under the proposed water ingestion. The increase of the inlet water increases the thickness of the water film downstream the rotor blade row and aggravates the adverse effects on the performances. Subsequently, three endwall treatments, namely circumferential grooves, axial slots, and hybrid slots–grooves, are tested with and without water ingestion. Compared with no water ingestion, the circumferential grooves basically have no resistance to the water ingestion. The axial slots best prevent the drop of the pressure rise coefficient induced by water ingestion, and hybrid slots–grooves are the second-best place owing to the contribution of the front axial slots. Therefore, the hybrid slots–grooves can not only extend the stall margin with less efficiency penalty compared with axial slots, but also prevent rain ingestion from worsening the compressor performance.


Author(s):  
Tian Liang ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Stephen Spence ◽  
Liying Jiao

To extend the current understanding of the circumferential groove casing suction applied to a counter-rotating axial flow compressor, the impact of different axial locations of the circumferential suction groove on the characteristics of the tip leakage flow (TLF) and the corresponding physical mechanisms producing the stability enhancement have been studied based on validated numerical simulations. The results show that the optimal location for the suction groove is at around 20% axial chord, which demonstrated a high potential for reducing additional stall mass flow coefficient with about 8.4% increment in the stall margin. After the casing suction groove was applied, the interface between the incoming main flow and TLF was pushed significantly downstream in the second rotor. The blade loading in the region below the groove, the tip leakage flow angle and the reversed axial momentum flux injected into main flow passage through the tip gap were all reduced, which contributed to the stall margin improvement. Detailed analysis of the tip leakage flow structures showed that the TLF originating from different chord locations played different roles in the stall inception process. It was found to be more effective to improve stall margin and adiabatic efficiency by controlling the front part of the TLF, which was most sensitive.


1990 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEVEN GORRELL ◽  
WILLIAM COPENHAVER ◽  
WALTER O'BRIEN

Author(s):  
Michael Casey ◽  
Christof Zwyssig ◽  
Chris Robinson

The specific speed and specific diameter of radial, mixed and axial flow compressors can be plotted in a Cordier diagram, and the best compressors then lie in a relatively narrow band, known as the Cordier or Balje line. This line exhibits a distinctive s-shape, and it is shown in this paper that this is due to the variation of the centrifugal effect on the pressure rise of the different compressor types. A new equation for the Cordier line in the mixed flow region based on the pressure rise coefficient is developed and calibrated with data from mixed flow pumps and ventilators. Together with other empirical relationships for the expected efficiency as a function of the specific speed this provides some useful new guidelines for the preliminary design of mixed flow compressors. These guidelines are then examined by carrying out a preliminary design of a high-speed mixed-flow micro-compressor that is analyzed using CFD and tested to justify the approach.


Author(s):  
Yanhui Wu ◽  
Wuli Chu ◽  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Junqiang Zhu

The current paper reports on investigations with an aim to advance the understanding of the flow field near the casing of a small-scale high-speed axial flow compressor rotor. Steady three dimensional viscous flow calculations are applied to obtain flow fields at various operating conditions. To demonstrate the validity of the computation, the numerical results are first compared with available measured data. Then, the numerically obtained flow fields are analyzed to identify the behavior of tip leakage flow, and the mechanism of blockage generation arising from flow interactions between the tip clearance flow, the blade/casing wall boundary layers, and non-uniform main flow. The current investigation indicates that the “breakdown” of the tip leakage vortex occurs inside the rotor passage at the near stall condition. The vortex “breakdown” results in the low-energy fluid accumulating on the casing wall spreads out remarkably, which causes a sudden growth of the casing wall boundary layer having a large blockage effect. A low-velocity region develops along the tip clearance vortex at the near stall condition due to the vortex “breakdown”. As the mass flow rate is further decreased, this area builds up rapidly and moves upstream. This area prevents incoming flow from passing through the pressure side of the passage and forces the tip leakage flow to spill into the adjacent blade passage from the pressure side at the leading edge. It is found that the tip leakage flow exerts little influence on the development of the blade suction surface boundary layer even at the near stall condition.


1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-231
Author(s):  
Heinz E. Gallus

Detailed results of unsteady flow measurements in a stator-rotor-stator assembly of an axial-flow turbine as well as an inlet guide vane-rotor-stator formation of an axial-flow compressor are presented in this paper.The measurements include the time-dependent 3-D velocity vector fields in the axial gaps between the blade rows by means of triple-hot wire-technique, furthermore the total pressure field downstream of the blade rows by means of semiconductor total pressure probes and the unsteady flow field determination in the rotor passages by LDV-technique. Special semiconductor pressure measurements along the casing all over the rotor tip clearance permit detailed discussion of the rotor tip clearance flows.The conclusion of the measured data provides a new and very instructive view of the physics of the unsteady blade-row interaction in axial-flow turbines and compressors.


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