Stator-Rotor Interactions in a Transonic Compressor: Part 2 — Description of a Loss Producing Mechanism

Author(s):  
Steven E. Gorrell ◽  
Theodore H. Okiishi ◽  
William W. Copenhaver

A previously unidentified loss producing mechanism resulting from the interaction of a transonic rotor blade-row with an upstream stator blade-row is described. This additional loss occurs only when the two blade rows are spaced closer together axially. Time-accurate simulations of the flow and high-response static pressure measurements acquired on the stator blade surface reveal important aspects of the fluid dynamics of the production of this additional loss. At close spacing the rotor bow shock is chopped by the stator trailing edge. The chopped bow shock becomes a pressure wave on the upper surface of the stator that is nearly normal to the flow and that propagates upstream. In the reference frame relative to this pressure wave, the flow is supersonic and thus a moving shock wave that produces an entropy rise and loss is experienced. The effect of this outcome of blade-row interaction is to lower the efficiency, pressure ratio, and mass flow rate observed as blade-row axial spacing is reduced from far to close. The magnitude of loss production is affected by the strength of the bow shock and how much it turns as it interacts with the trailing edge of the stator. At far spacing the rotor bow shock degenerates into a bow wave before it interacts with the stator trailing edge and no significant pressure wave forms on the stator upper surface. For this condition, no additional loss is produced.

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Gorrell ◽  
Theodore H. Okiishi ◽  
William W. Copenhaver

A previously unidentified loss producing mechanism resulting from the interaction of a transonic rotor blade row with an upstream stator blade row is described. This additional loss occurs only when the two blade rows are spaced closer together axially. Time-accurate simulations of the flow and high-response static pressure measurements acquired on the stator blade surface reveal important aspects of the fluid dynamics of the production of this additional loss. At close spacing the rotor bow shock is chopped by the stator trailing edge. The chopped bow shock becomes a pressure wave on the upper surface of the stator that is nearly normal to the flow and that propagates upstream. In the reference frame relative to this pressure wave, the flow is supersonic and thus a moving shock wave that produces an entropy rise and loss is experienced. The effect of this outcome of blade-row interaction is to lower the efficiency, pressure ratio, and mass flow rate observed as blade-row axial spacing is reduced from far to close. The magnitude of loss production is affected by the strength of the bow shock and how much it turns as it interacts with the trailing edge of the stator. At far spacing the rotor bow shock degenerates into a bow wave before it interacts with the stator trailing edge and no significant pressure wave forms on the stator upper surface. For this condition, no additional loss is produced.


Author(s):  
Scott B. Reynolds ◽  
Steven E. Gorrell ◽  
Jordi Estevadeordal

Experiments have been performed to investigate interactions between a loaded stator and transonic rotor. The Blade Row Interaction (BRI) rig is used to simulate an embedded transonic fan stage with realistic geometry (thin trailing edge) which produces a wake through diffusion. Details of the unsteady flow field between the stator and rotor were obtained using PIV. Flow-visualization images and PIV data that facilitate analysis of vortex shedding, wake motion, and wake-shock-interaction phenomena are presented. Stator wake and rotor-bow-shock interactions are analyzed for three stator/rotor axial spacings, and two stator loadings. Specific shed vortices and wake topological features are isolated for each configuration. The data analysis focuses on measuring the vortex size, strength, and location as it forms on the stator trailing edge and propagates downstream into the rotor passage. It was observed that vortex shedding is synchronized to the passing of a rotor bow shock. Results show that the circulation of a vortex increased by 19 to 23% from far to close spacing due to the increased strength of the rotor bow shock impacting the stator trailing edge. Reduction in stator loading decreased shed vortex circulation for the same stator/rotor axial spacing by 20 to 25%. Pitchwise radius of vortices also decreased by 13 to 19% from far to close spacing. Such changes in vortex size and strength should be accounted for to predict the effect of unsteady blade-row interactions on transonic compressor performance.


2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott B. Reynolds ◽  
Steven E. Gorrell ◽  
Jordi Estevadeordal

Experiments were performed to investigate interactions between a loaded stator and transonic rotor. The blade row interaction (BRI) rig was used to simulate an embedded transonic fan stage with realistic geometry (thin trailing edge), which produces a wake through diffusion. Details of the unsteady flow field between the stator and rotor were obtained using PIV. Flow-visualization images and PIV data that facilitate analysis of vortex shedding, wake motion, and wake-shock-interaction phenomena are presented. Stator wake and rotor-bow-shock interactions were analyzed for three stator/rotor axial spacings and two stator loadings. Specific shed vortices and wake topological features were isolated for each configuration. The data analysis focuses on measuring the vortex size, strength, and location as it forms on the stator trailing edge and propagates downstream into the rotor passage. It was observed that vortex shedding is synchronized to the passing of a rotor bow shock. Results show that the circulation of a vortex increased by 19% to 23% from far to close spacing due to the increased strength of the rotor bow shock impacting the stator trailing edge. Reduction in stator loading decreased shed vortex circulation for the same stator/rotor axial spacing by 20% to 25%. Pitchwise radius of vortices also decreased by 13% to 19% from far to close spacing. Such changes in vortex size and strength should be accounted for to predict the effect of unsteady blade-row interactions on transonic compressor performance.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Gorrell ◽  
Theodore H. Okiishi ◽  
William W. Copenhaver

Usually less axial spacing between the blade rows of an axial flow compressor is associated with improved efficiency. However, mass flow rate, pressure ratio, and efficiency all decreased as the axial spacing between the stator and rotor was reduced in a transonic compressor rig. Reductions as great as 3.3% in pressure ratio, and 1.3 points of efficiency were observed as axial spacing between the blade rows was decreased from far apart to close together. The number of blades in the stator blade-row also affected stage performance. Higher stator blade-row solidity led to larger changes in pressure ratio efficiency, and mass flow rate with axial spacing variation. Analysis of the experimental data suggests that the drop in performance is a result of increased loss production due to blade-row interactions. Losses in addition to mixing loss are present when the blade-rows are spaced closer together. The extra losses are associated with the upstream stator wakes and are most significant in the midspan region of the flow.


Author(s):  
Steven E. Gorrell ◽  
David Car ◽  
Steven L. Puterbaugh ◽  
Jordi Estevadeordal ◽  
Theodore H. Okiishi

The effects of varying axial gap on the unsteady flow field between the stator and rotor of a transonic compressor stage are important because they can result in significant changes in stage mass flow rate, pressure rise and efficiency. Some of these effects are analyzed with measurements using Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) and with time-accurate simulations using the 3D unsteady Navier-Stokes CFD solver TURBO. Generally there is excellent agreement between the measurements and simulations, instilling confidence in both. Strong vortices of the wake can break up the rotor bow shock and contribute to loss. At close spacing vortices are shed from the trailing edge of the upstream stationary blade row in response to the unsteady, discontinuous pressure field generated by the downstream rotor bow shock. Shed vortices increase in size and strength and generate more loss as spacing decreases, a consequence of the effective increase in rotor bow shock strength at the stationary blade row trailing edge. A relationship for the change in shed vorticity as a function of rotor bow shock strength is presented that predicts the difference between close and far spacing TURBO simulations.


Author(s):  
Steven E. Gorrell ◽  
Theodore H. Okiishi ◽  
William W. Copenhaver

Usually less axial spacing between the blade rows of an axial flow compressor is associated with improved efficiency. However, mass flow rate, pressure ratio, and efficiency all decreased as the axial spacing between the stator and rotor was reduced in a transonic compressor rig. Reductions as great as 3.3% in pressure ratio and 1.3 points of efficiency were observed as axial spacing between the blade-rows was decreased from far apart to close together. The number of blades in the stator blade-row also affected stage performance. Higher stator blade-row solidity led to larger changes in pressure ratio, efficiency, and mass flow rate with axial spacing variation. Analysis of the experimental data suggests that the drop in performance is a result of increased loss production due to blade-row interactions. Losses in addition to mixing loss are present when the blade-rows are spaced closer together. The extra losses are associated with the upstream stator wakes and are most significant in the mid-span region of the flow.


Author(s):  
Gregory Bloch ◽  
James Loellbach ◽  
Chunill Hah

A numerical investigation of unsteady blade row interaction in a transonic axial compressor was performed. The compressor consists of an upstream wake generator (WG) blade row followed by a rotor blade row. Blade row interaction consists of two main effects: the downstream influence on the rotor flowfield of wakes and unsteady vortices shed from the wake generator, and the upstream influence on the wake generator of the rotor bow shock waves. An unsteady, two-dimensional, Navier-Stokes simulation was performed at the 75% span location of the compressor. Results from the numerical simulation are compared to previously reported numerical results and to experimental measurements from a similar case.


Author(s):  
Simone Rosa Taddei

A new blade force model is coupled to quasi-one dimensional Euler equations for a variable geometry flowpath. After analytical inclusion of the blade force, the flow equations take a strictly one-dimensional form with specific expressions of the convective flux and blade load source terms. Regardless of the flow turning, that is simply achieved by the load source term as an explicit function of the blade camber, the new form describes a perfect analogy between the average flow inside a blade passage and strictly one-dimensional flows, especially concerning wave propagation. This property allows capture of passage choking and shocks. Other types of shock more important for turbomachinery analysis, like leading edge strong shocks in compressors and trailing edge weak shocks in choked turbines, are modelled by properly matching the new set of equations inside blade regions with the standard quasi-one dimensional equations outside. Upon specification of viscous losses and subsonic deviations fitted from experimental results, the model predicts the choke mass flow of a transonic compressor stage (NASA stage 37) at a 0.1% to 0.4% accuracy both in the absence and in the presence of the leading edge shock. This result supports the effectiveness of the leading edge shock model. The accuracy on choke mass flow would decrease to around 1% if empirical input was specified from open-literature experimental correlations. The model captures the typical trend of exit angle with total pressure ratio for a choked turbine (NASA Lewis two-stage). This result involves satisfactory prediction of not only choke mass flow, but also trailing edge shock loss and supersonic deviation. The complete turbine operational map in terms of shaft torque and pressure ratio is also re-obtained with noticeable accuracy except in strong off-design conditions, where experimental correlations likely fail.


Author(s):  
Ding Xi Wang ◽  
Xiuquan Huang

This paper presents an efficient approach for stabilizing solution and accelerating convergence of a harmonic balance equation system for an efficient analysis of turbomachinery unsteady flows due to flutter and blade row interaction. The proposed approach combines the Runge–Kutta method with the lower upper symmetric Gauss Seidel (LU-SGS) method and the block Jacobi method. The LU-SGS method, different from its original application as an implicit time marching scheme, is used as an implicit residual smoother with under-relaxation, allowing big Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) numbers (in the order of hundreds), leading to significant convergence speedup. The block Jacobi method is introduced to implicitly integrate the time spectral source term of a harmonic balance equation system, in order to reduce the complexity of the direct implicit time integration by the LU-SGS method. The implicit treatment of the time spectral source term thus greatly augments the stability region of a harmonic balance equation system in the case of grid-reduced frequency well above ten. Validation of the harmonic balance flow solver was carried out using linear cascade test data. Flutter analysis of a transonic rotor and blade row interaction analyses for a transonic compressor stage were presented to demonstrate the stabilization and acceleration effect by the combination of the LU-SGS and the block Jacobi methods. The influence of the number of Jacobi iterations on solution stabilization is also investigated, showing that two Jacobi iterations are sufficient for stability purpose, which is much more efficient than existing methods of its kind in the open literature.


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