Design and Test of an Aspirated Counter-Rotating Fan

Author(s):  
Jack L. Kerrebrock ◽  
Alan H. Epstein ◽  
Ali A. Merchant ◽  
Gerald R. Guenette ◽  
David Parker ◽  
...  

The design and test of a two-stage, vaneless, aspirated counter-rotating fan is presented in this paper. The fan nominal design objectives were a pressure ratio of 3:1 and adiabatic efficiency of 87%. A pressure ratio of 2.9 at 89% efficiency was measured in the tests. The configuration consists of a counter-swirl-producing inlet guide vane, followed by a high tip speed (1450 feet/sec) non-aspirated rotor, and a counter-rotating low speed (1150 feet/sec) aspirated rotor. The lower tip speed and lower solidity of the second rotor results in a blade loading above conventional limits, but enables a balance between the shock loss and viscous boundary layer loss, the latter of which can be controlled by aspiration. The aspiration slot on the second rotor suction surface extends from the hub up to 80% span, with a conventional tip clearance, and the bleed flow is discharged at the hub. The fan was tested in a short duration blowdown facility. Particular attention was given to the design of the instrumentation to obtain efficiency measurements within 0.5 percentage points. High response static pressure measurements were taken between the rotors and downstream of the fan to determine the stall behavior. Pressure ratio, mass flow, and efficiency on speedlines from 90% to 102% of the design speed are presented and discussed along with comparison to CFD predictions and design intent. The results presented here complement those presented earlier for two aspirated fan stages with tip shrouds, extending the validated design space for aspirated compressors to include designs with conventional unshrouded rotors and with inward removal of the aspirated flow.

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack L. Kerrebrock ◽  
Alan H. Epstein ◽  
Ali A. Merchant ◽  
Gerald R. Guenette ◽  
David Parker ◽  
...  

The design and test of a two-stage, vaneless, aspirated counter-rotating fan is presented in this paper. The fan nominal design objectives were a pressure ratio of 3:1 and adiabatic efficiency of 87%. A pressure ratio of 2.9 at 89% efficiency was measured at the design speed. The configuration consists of a counter-swirl-producing inlet guide vane, followed by a high tip speed (1450ft∕s) nonaspirated rotor and a counter-rotating low speed (1150ft∕s) aspirated rotor. The lower tip speed and lower solidity of the second rotor result in a blade loading above conventional limits, but enable a balance between the shock loss and viscous boundary layer loss; the latter of which can be controlled by aspiration. The aspiration slot on the second rotor suction surface extends from the hub up to 80% span. The bleed flow is discharged inward through the blade hub. This fan was tested in a short duration blowdown facility. Particular attention was given to the design of the instrumentation to measure efficiency to 0.5% accuracy. High response static pressure measurements were taken between the rotors and downstream of the fan to determine the stall behavior. Pressure ratio, mass flow, and efficiency on speed lines from 90% to 102% of the design speed are presented and discussed along with comparison to computational fluid dynamics predictions and design intent. The results presented here complement those presented earlier for two aspirated fan stages with tip shrouds, extending the validated design space for aspirated compressors to include designs with conventional unshrouded rotors and with inward removal of the aspirated flow.


Author(s):  
J. D. Hughes ◽  
G. J. Walker

Data from a surface hot-film array on the outlet stator of a 1.5 stage axial compressor are analyzed to look for direct evidence of natural transition phenomena. An algorithm is developed to identify instability waves within the Tollmien Schlichting (T-S) frequency range. The algorithm is combined with a turbulent intermittency detection routine to produce space∼time diagrams showing the probability of instability wave occurrence prior to regions of turbulent flow. The paper compares these plots for a range of blade loading, with free-stream conditions corresponding to the maximum and minimum inflow disturbance periodicity produced by inlet guide vane clocking. Extensive regions of amplifying instability waves are identified in nearly all cases. The implications for transition prediction in decelerating flow regions on axial turbomachine blades are discussed.


Author(s):  
Botao Zhang ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Xin Sun ◽  
Hang Zhao

Abstract In order to explore the similarities and differences between the flow fields of cantilever stator and idealized compressor cascade with tip clearance, and to extend the cascade leakage model to compressors, the influence of stator hub rotation to represent cascade and cantilever stator on hub leakage flow was numerically studied. On this basis, the control strategy and mechanism of blade root suction were discussed. The results show that there is no obvious influence on stall margin of the compressor whether the stator hub is rotating or stationary. For rotating stator hub, the overall efficiency is decreased while the total pressure ratio is increased. At peak efficiency point and near stall point, the efficiency is reduced by about 0.43% and 0.34% individually, while the total pressure ratio is enlarged by about 0.23% and 0.27%, respectively. The gap leakage flow is promoted due to stator hub rotation, and the structure of the leakage vortex is weakened obviously. In addition, the hub leakage flow originating from the blade leading edge of rotating hub may contribute to double leakage near the trailing edge of the adjacent blade. However, the leakage flow directly out of the blade passage with stationary stator hub. The stator root loading and strength of the leakage flow increase with the rotation of the hub, and the leakage vortex is further away from the suction surface of the blade and is stretched to an ellipse closer to the endwall under the shear action. The rotating hub makes the flow loss near the stator gap increase, while the flow loss in the upper part of the blade root is decreased. Meanwhile, the total pressure ratio in the end area is increased. Blade root suction of cantilever stator can effectively control the hub leakage flow, inhibit the development of hub leakage vortex, and improve the flow capacity of the passage, thereby reducing the flow loss and modifying the flow field in the end zone.


Author(s):  
Lu Yang ◽  
Hai Zhang ◽  
Aqiang Lin

The tip region of compressor rotors may be filled with water when aircraft is flying in heavy rain environment. In order to explore the effects of water ingestion on the compressor performance and the characteristics of tip clearance flow, the Euler–Lagrange method has been utilized to simulate the two-phase flow inside a transonic rotor (NASA rotor 35). The typical trajectory of water droplet in compressor has been introduced firstly to simply understand the situation of water ingestion and to verify the reliability of some special droplet breakup models. The simulation results show that water droplets will change the distribution of airflow parameters along the span direction, which leads to the decrease of mass flow rate and the increase of attack angle at the tip region, as well as the separation of boundary layer on the suction surface. Furthermore, the momentum losses caused by droplet impingement and breakup directly causes a sharp increase in the static entropy at the blade tip region. On the other hand, the ingestion of droplet brings an external disturbance to airflow, and although it has some dissipated effects on the turbulence kinetic energy, it aggravates the unsteady characteristics of turbulent flow seriously at the tip region. Finally, by comparing the compressor performance under wet and dry states, it can be concluded that the pressure ratio and adiabatic efficiency of compressor decrease after water ingestion, and the compression efficiency drops by 1–2% on the whole while the operating point moves forward and the stable working boundary becomes narrow.


2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
William Riéra ◽  
Lionel Castillon ◽  
Julien Marty ◽  
Francis Leboeuf

In the present study, the influence of the inlet condition on the tip clearance flow of an axial compressor is investigated. Two different zonal detached eddy simulations (ZDES) computations are carried out and compared to Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and unsteady RANS (URANS) computations as well as to experimental data. A rotating distortion map of the flow cartography is set as inlet condition for the first ZDES computation. An azimuthally averaged inlet condition is used for the second one and uncouples the rotor tip-leakage vortex flutter phenomenon, which stems from the arrival of the inlet guide vane wake from the behavior inherent to the rotor tip-leakage vortex. In the studied configuration, the inlet guide vane tip vortex reveals to lower the effects from double leakage on the rotor. The topology of the rotor tip-leakage vortex is described, and its development is analyzed.


Author(s):  
I. Kassens ◽  
M. Rautenberg

In a centrifugal compressor adjustable inlet guide vanes (IGV) in front of the impeller are used to regulate the pressure ratio and the mass flow. The stationary measurement of the velocity profile in front of the impeller with different angles of the IGV displays shock losses at the inlet edge of blade of the impeller. In the partial-load region (e.g. partial-load efficiency) the radial distribution of the flow influences considerably the performance of the impeller. The tested compressor consists of an adjustable IGV with straight vanes, a shrouded impeller and a vaneless, parallel diffuser. In the first measurement location, behind the IGV, total pressure, static pressure and flow angle were measured with a 5-hole cylinder probe. In the second measurement location, in front of the impeller, the measurement of the total pressure was carried out with a Kiel probe and the flow angle with a Cobra probe accordingly the static wall pressure was measured. Taking into consideration the fundamental thermodynamical equations it was possible to determine the velocity profiles because of the measured distributions of the flow angle in these two measurement locations. For different angles of the IGV and with various mass flows the distributions of the deflection defect behind the IGV are described. Starting with the measured distributions of the flow in front of the impeller the flow angles at the impeller inlet are calculated and the distributions of the incidence angle at the impeller inlet are figured out.


Author(s):  
T. W. Von Backström

The three-dimensional viscous transonic time marching Denton code L0SS3D, and Dawes code BTOB3D are applied to the first stage rotor of the NACA 5-stage transonic compressor. Computing time per solution on a mini-supercomputer was about 9 hours for a mesh of 65 000 points. LOSS3D predicted pressure ratio and loss distributions reasonably well at design point, but did not quite satisfy the convergence criteria. BT0B3D tended to overpredict the total pressure ratio over the outer half of span due to an underprediction of loss in the complicated separated flow region triggered by shock boundary layer interaction on the suction surface, but prediction was good at 90% speed where shock boundary layer interaction was less severe. The use of a computationally convenient excessively large tip clearance is not recommended when shock-boundary layer interaction is expected, especially at off-design conditions.


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.


Author(s):  
Hans Ma˚rtensson ◽  
Jo¨rgen Burman ◽  
Ulf Johansson

As the first design in a demonstration program for future fighter engine fans a 400 mm 1-1/2 stage fan has been designed and built. A new method including mechanical constraints for designing the blades and gas path is used for the first time on a new design. The approach closely integrates CFD for performance and FE methods for the structure. By this, advanced computational analyses affect the design from the early stages. A design that is successful in achieving good efficiency based on CFD as well as reasonable aeromechanical properties based on FE is derived. The fan incorporates a front frame (FF), variable inlet guide vane (VIGV), rotor 1 (R1) and stator 1 (S1).


Author(s):  
Levi André B. Vigdal ◽  
Lars E. Bakken

The introduction of variable inlet guide vanes (VIGVs) upfront of a compressor stage affects performance and permits tuning for off-design conditions. This is of great interest for emerging technology related to subsea compression. Unprocessed gas from the wellhead will contain liquid condensate, which affects the operational condition of the compressor. To investigate the effect of guide vanes on volume flow and pressure ratio in a wet gas compressor, VIGVs are implemented upfront of a centrifugal compressor stage to control the inlet flow direction. The guide vane geometry and test rig setup have previous been presented. This paper documents how changing the VIGV setting affects compressor performance under dry and wet operating conditions. The reduced performance effect and operating range at increased liquid content are of specific interest. Also documented is the change in the VIGV effect relative to the setting angle.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document