scholarly journals Blockage Development in a Transonic, Axial Compressor Rotor

Author(s):  
Kenneth L. Suder

A detailed experimental investigation to understand and quantify the development of blockage in the flow field of a transonic, axial flow compressor rotor (NASA Rotor 37) has been undertaken. Detailed laser anemometer measurements were acquired upstream, within, and downstream of a transonic, axial compressor rotor operating at 100%, 85%, 80%, and 60% of design speed which provided inlet relative Mach numbers at the blade tip of 1.48, 1.26, 1.18, and 0.89 respectively. The impact of the shock on the blockage development, pertaining to both the shock / boundary layer interactions and the shock / tip clearance flow interactions, is discussed. The results indicate that for this rotor the blockage in the endwall region is 2–3 times that of the core flow region, and the blockage in the core flow region more than doubles when the shock strength is sufficient to separate the suction surface boundary layer.

1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Suder

A detailed experimental investigation to understand and quantify the development of blockage in the flow field of a transonic, axial flow compressor rotor (NASA Rotor 37) has been undertaken. Detailed laser anemometer measurements were acquired upstream, within, and downstream of a transonic, axial compressor rotor operating at 100, 85, 80, and 60 percent of design speed, which provided inlet relative Mach numbers at the blade tip of 1.48, 1.26, 1.18, and 0.89, respectively. The impact of the shock on the blockage development, pertaining to both the shock/boundary layer interactions and the shock/tip clearance flow interactions, is discussed. The results indicate that for this rotor the blockage in the endwall region is 2–3 times that of the core flow region, and the blockage in the core flow region more than doubles when the shock strength is sufficient to separate the suction surface boundary layer.


Author(s):  
K. Yamada ◽  
K. Funazaki ◽  
M. Furukawa

It is known that the tip clearance flow is dominant and very important flow phenomena in axial compressor aerodynamics because the tip clearance flow has a great influence on the stability as well as aerodynamic loss of compressors. Our goal is to clarify the behavior of tip clearance flow at near-stall condition in a transonic axial compressor rotor (NASA Rotor 37). In the present work, steady and unsteady RANS simulations were performed to investigate vortical flow structures and separated flow field near the tip for several different clearance cases. Boundary layer separation on the casing wall and blade suction surface was investigated in detail for near-stall and stall condition. In order to understand such complicated flow field, vortex cores were identified using the critical point theory and a topology of the three-dimensional separated and vortical flows was analyzed. In the nominal clearance case, the breakdown of tip leakage vortex has occurred at a near-stall operating condition because of the interaction of the vortex with the shock wave, leading to a large blockage and unsteadiness in the rotor tip. On the other hand, the calculation with no clearance suggested that the separation on the suction surface was different from that with the nominal clearance. Since the shock wave induced the boundary layer separation on the blade suction surface in the transonic axial compressor rotor, focal-type critical points appeared on the suction surface near the tip at near-stall condition.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Vijaykumar Jain ◽  
Quamber H. Nagpurwala ◽  
Abdul Nassar

Aspiration in an axial compressor is normally regarded as sucking out the low momentum boundary layer from blade suction surface, thus lowering the chances of flow separation and consequently that of stall under off-design operation. However, the suction mass flow does not take part in useful work and leads to loss of engine power output. This paper deals with a new concept of natural aspiration to energize blade suction surface boundary layer by injecting some fluid from pressure to suction side through a part span slot on the blade. The energized boundary layer has lesser tendency to separate, thus enhancing stall margin. Numerical simulations were carried out to study the effect of aspiration slot location and geometry on the performance and stall margin of a transonic axial compressor rotor. The computational results without aspiration slot were in fair agreement with the published experimental data. The modified rotor, with part span aspiration, showed ~3.2% improvement in stall margin at design rotational speed. The pressure ratio and efficiency of the aspirated rotor dropped by ~1.42% and ~2.0%, respectively, whereas the structural analysis did not indicate any adverse effect on the blade stress distribution in the presence of aspiration slot.


Author(s):  
K. Yamada ◽  
K. Funazaki ◽  
H. Sasaki

The purpose of this study is to have a better understanding of the unsteady behavior of tip clearance flow at near-stall condition from a multi-passage simulation and to clarify the relation between such unsteadiness and rotating disturbance. This study is motivated by the following concern. A single passage simulation has revealed the occurrence of the tip leakage vortex breakdown at near-stall condition in a transonic axial compressor rotor, leading to the unsteadiness of the tip clearance flow field in the rotor passage. These unsteady flow phenomena were similar to those in the rotating instability, which is classified in one of the rotating disturbances. In other words it is possible that the tip leakage vortex breakdown produces a rotating disturbance such as the rotating instability. Three-dimensional unsteady RANS calculation was conducted to simulate the rotating disturbance in a transonic axial compressor rotor (NASA Rotor 37). The four-passage simulation was performed so as to capture a short length scale disturbance like the rotating instability and the spike-type stall inception. The simulation demonstrated that the unsteadiness of tip leakage vortex, which was derived from the vortex breakdown at near-stall condition, invoked the rotating disturbance in the rotor, which is similar to the rotating instability.


Author(s):  
Garth V. Hobson ◽  
Anthony J. Gannon ◽  
Scott Drayton

A new design procedure was developed that uses commercial-off-the-shelf software (MATLAB, SolidWorks, and ANSYS-CFX) for the geometric rendering and analysis of a transonic axial compressor rotor with splitter blades. Predictive numerical simulations were conducted and experimental data were collected in a Transonic Compressor Rig. This study advanced the understanding of splitter blade geometry, placement, and performance benefits. In particular, it was determined that moving the splitter blade forward in the passage between the main blades, which was a departure from the trends demonstrated in the few available previous transonic axial compressor splitter blade studies, increased the mass flow range with no loss in overall performance. With a large 0.91 mm (0.036 in) tip clearance, to preserve the integrity of the rotor, the experimentally measured peak total-to-total pressure ratio was 1.69 and the peak total-to-total isentropic efficiency was 72 percent at 100 percent design speed. Additionally, a higher than predicted 7.5 percent mass flow rate range was experimentally measured, which would make for easier engine control if this concept were to be included in an actual gas turbine engine.


Author(s):  
A. R. Wadia ◽  
P. N. Szucs ◽  
D. W. Crall

The recent trend in using aerodynamic sweep to improve the performance of transonic blading has been one of the more significant technological evolutions for compression components in turbomachinery. This paper reports on the experimental and analytical assessment of the pay-off derived from both aft and forward sweep technology with respect to aerodynamic performance and stability. The single stage experimental investigation includes two aft-swept rotors with varying degree and type of aerodynamic sweep and one swept forward rotor. On a back-to-back test basis, the results are compared with an unswept rotor with excellent performance and adequate stall margin. Although designed to satisfy identical design speed requirements as the unswept rotor, the experimental results reveal significant variations in efficiency and stall margin with the swept rotors. At design speed, all the swept rotors demonstrated a peak stage efficiency level that was equal to that of the unswept rotor. However, the forward-swept rotor achieved the highest rotor-alone peak efficiency. At the same time, the forward-swept rotor demonstrated a significant improvement in stall margin relative to the already satisfactory level achieved by the unswept rotor. Increasing the level of aft sweep adversely affected the stall margin. A three-dimensional viscous flow analysis was used to assist in the interpretation of the data. The reduced shock/boundary layer interaction, resulting from reduced axial flow diffusion and less accumulation of centrifuged blade surface boundary layer at the up, was identified as the prime contributor to the enhanced performance with forward sweep. The impact of tip clearance on the performance and stability for one of the aft-swept rotors was also assessed.


1986 ◽  
Vol 52 (484) ◽  
pp. 3980-3986
Author(s):  
Masahiro INOUE ◽  
Motoo KUROUMARU ◽  
Minoru FUKUHARA ◽  
Toshihlko BEKKI

1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Suder ◽  
M. L. Celestina

Experimental and computational techniques are used to investigate tip clearance flows in a transonic axial compressor rotor at design and part-speed conditions. Laser anemometer data acquired in the endwall region are presented for operating conditions near peak efficiency and near stall at 100 percent design speed and at near peak efficiency at 60 percent design speed. The role of the passage shock/leakage vortex interaction in generating endwall blockage is discussed. As a result of the shock/vortex interaction at design speed, the radial influence of the tip clearance flow extends to 20 times the physical tip clearance height. At part speed, in the absence of the shock, the radial extent is only five times the tip clearance height. Both measurements and analysis indicate that under part-speed operating conditions a second vortex, which does not originate from the tip leakage flow, forms in the end-wall region within the blade passage and exits the passage near midpitch. Mixing of the leakage vortex with the primary flow downstream of the rotor at both design and part-speed conditions is also discussed.


Author(s):  
Hui Zhang ◽  
Hongwei Ma

This paper presents a numerical investigation of effects of sloped trench casing treatment over the rotor tip on the aerodynamic performance and stability of a transonic axial compressor rotor (NASA Rotor 37). The axially cutting tip of blade is the marked characteristic of the casing treatment which is differ with casing treatments without adjustment of the blade tip. The numerical method has been verified by experimental results in the case of the smooth casing with the tip clearance of 0.356 mm at the design wheel speed (17188.7 rpm). The simulation results are well consistent with the measurement results. The experiment results of NASA Rotor 37 cite from NASA Lewis Research Center. The simulation results show a performance improvement of the compressor on the sloped trench casing. The flow fields of the smooth and sloped trench casings were compared, and results show the sloped trench geometry provides a barrier to minimize the forward flow from the tip clearance vortex. In addition, the sloped trench allows the forward facing step at the aft end to be replaced by an aerodynamically smooth transition to guide the flow from the recess into the mainstream. These results show a performance improvement of the compressor.


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