An Experimental Investigation on Different Radial Loading Distribution and Patterns of Stall Inception in a Single-Stage Low-Speed Axial Compressor
Recent research efforts have focused on the aerodynamic mechanism, identifications, and advanced capturing methods of stall inception. Making use of active control and intelligent casing treatment, all the efforts aim at expanding operational ranges of compressors and at improving their operational stability. It is widely known that the dynamic behavior of stall inception is strongly influenced by occurrence of inlet distortion, radial loading distribution, tip-clearance flow, stage matching, and downstream oscillation from combustion chambers. Therefore, experimental research is imperative to study the interconnection between radial loading distribution of rotor and patterns of stall inception. The following is the main experimental results: 1) With two sets of different pre-whirl order of inlet guide vanes (IGV), the incidences along blade height are modified, which provide different radial loading distribution. 2) It is discovered that spiky stall inception corresponds to high loading distribution near the tip of rotor blade. However modal stall inception is related to low loading distributed near the tip. 3) The different loading conditions near the hub of the rotor do not apparently change the pattern of stall inception. 4) It is also found that adjusting the stagger angles of IGVs can change the steady characteristics and stall inception pattern.