3D Flow Field Measurement Around a Rotating Stall Cell
Rotating stall is an unsteady phenomenon that arises in axial and radial flow compressors. Under certain operating conditions a more or less regular cell of turbulent flow develops and propagates around the annulus at a speed lower than rotor speed. Recently little work has been devoted to the understanding of the flow field pattern inside a rotating cell. However, this knowledge could be of help in the understanding of the interaction between the cell and the surrounding flow. Such information could be extremely important during the modelling process when some hypothesis have to be made about the cell behaviour. A detailed experimental investigation has been conducted during one cell operation of an isolated low-speed axial flow compressor rotor using a slanted hot wire and an ensemble average technique based on the cell revolution time. The three flow field components have been measured on 9 axial section for 800 circumferential points and on 21 radial stations to give a complete description of the flow field upstream and downstream of the rotor. Interpretation of data can give a description of the mean flow field patterns inside and around the rotating cell.