Breakdown of the Tip Clearance Vortex in a Rotor Equivalent Cascade and in a Single-Stage Low-Speed Compressor

Author(s):  
Henner Schrapp ◽  
Udo Stark ◽  
Horst Saathoff

The paper describes experimental investigations of the tip clearance vortex in a linear compressor cascade with a tip clearance to one side and a compressor with a rotor tip section represented by the cascade. The aim is to show experimentally that breakdown of the tip clearance vortex can take place in subsonic compressors. As a first step, the flow in the linear compressor cascade has been investigated at different flow angles from the design point up to the stability limit of the cascade. In a second step the flow in the tip region of the rotor in a low-speed single-stage compressor has been investigated from the design point up to the stall limit of the compressor. The analysis of PIV measurements reveal a low momentum fluid area in the passage both in the cascade and the compressor when approaching the stall limit. This area is separated from the main flow by an interface that is characterized by high standard deviations of the velocities. The location of this interface correlates well with the positions at which the analysis of the unsteady pressure signals obtained with several flush mounted high-response pressure transducers reveals a bump of increased amplitude at a certain nondimensional frequency. The results in the compressor are for the most part identical to those obtained in the cascade. When approaching stall a distinct bump shows up in the casing wall pressure spectra at a nondimensional frequency comparable to the nondimensional frequency found in the cascade. At the same time an area of very low momentum fluid accumulates in the vicinity of the original vortex axis, as can be shown by PIV measurements in the rotor of the compressor. Additionally it can be shown, that the blockage that is due to the broken down tip clearance vortex leads to a rotating phenomenon, comparable to the phenomenon of ‘rotating instabilities’.

Author(s):  
H Schrapp ◽  
U Stark ◽  
H Saathoff

From earlier experimental investigations in a single-stage axial-flow pump and different numerical calculations of the flow in single-stage axial-flow compressors, it is known that vortex breakdown of the tip clearance vortex can take place in turbomachines, although an experimental proof for subsonic compressors is lacking. Vortex breakdown, if existent, is a source of high instability in the sensitive tip region of axial-flow pumps and compressors and will also play an important role in the stall inception process. Therefore, the flow in a linear compressor cascade with a 3 per cent tip clearance to one side has been investigated at different flow angles from the design point up to the stability limit of the cascade. The cascade resembles the tip section of a single-stage, axial-flow, low-speed compressor that is also in use at the Technical University of Braunschweig. The measuring techniques used were (a) a commercial particle image velocimetry (PIV) system and (b) a pressure measuring system with several flush mounted high-response pressure transducers at selected locations where the vortex was expected. As the cascade approaches its stall limit, the analysis of the pressure signals in the frequency domain revealed a bump of increased amplitude at a certain non-dimensional frequency for some of the measuring positions. The measuring positions that exhibited the bump correlated very well with a paraboloid-shaped region of high standard deviation enveloping an area of very low momentum fluid. It is shown that the frequency of the striking bump corresponds to the rotational frequency of the vortex calculated from the PIV measurements.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Krug ◽  
Peter Busse ◽  
Konrad Vogeler

An important aspect of the aerodynamic flow field in the tip region of axial compressor rotors is the unsteady interaction between the tip clearance vortex (TCV) and the incoming stator wakes. In order to gain an improved understanding of the mechanics involved, systematic studies need to be performed. As a first step toward the characterization of the dynamic effects caused by the relative movement of the blade rows, the impact of a stationary wake-induced inlet disturbance on a linear compressor cascade with tip clearance will be analyzed. The wakes were generated by a fixed grid of cylindrical bars with variable pitch being placed at discrete pitchwise positions. This paper focuses on experimental studies conducted at the newly designed low-speed cascade wind tunnel in Dresden. The general tunnel configuration and details on the specific cascade setup will be presented. Steady state flow field measurements were carried out using five-hole probe traverses up- and downstream of the cascade and accompanied by static wall pressure readings. 2D-particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements complemented these results by visualizing the blade-to-blade flow field. Hence, the structure of the evolving secondary flow system is evaluated and compared for all tested configurations.


1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kang ◽  
C. Hirsch

Tip leakage flow in a linear compressor cascade of NACA 65-1810 profiles is investigated, for tip clearance levels of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.25 percent of chord at design and off-design flow conditions. Data, velocity and pressures, are collected from three transverse sections inside tip clearance and sixteen sections within flow passage. Tip separation vortex influence is identified from the data. Leakage flow mixing is clearly present inside the clearance and has a significant influence on the internal loss.


Author(s):  
Horst Saathoff ◽  
Udo Stark

The paper describes an investigation of the overtip end-wall flow in a single–stage axial–flow low–speed compressor utilizing an oil flow technique and a periodic multisampling pressure measurement technique. Representative oil flow pictures and ensemble averaged casingwall pressure distributions with standard deviations — supplemented by selected endwall oil flow pictures from a corresponding 2D compressor cascade — are shown and carefully analysed. The results enable the key features of the overtip endwall flow to be identified and changes with flow rate — or inlet angle — to be determined.


1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Kang ◽  
Charles Hirsch

A Navier-Stokes solver is applied to investigate the 3D viscous flow in a low speed linear compressor cascade with tip clearance at design and off-design conditions with two different meshes. The algebraic turbulence model of Baldwin-Lomax is used for closure. Relative motion between the blades and wall is simulated for one flow coefficient. Comparisons with experimental data, including flow structure, static and total pressures, velocity profiles, secondary flows and vorticity, are presented for the stationary wall case. It is shown that the code predicts well the flow structure observed in experiments and shows the details of the tip leakage flow and the leading edge horseshoe vortex.


Author(s):  
Gherardo Zambonini ◽  
Xavier Ottavy ◽  
Jochen Kriegseis

This paper considers the inherent unsteady behavior of the three dimensional separation in the corner region of a subsonic linear compressor cascade equipped of thirteen NACA 65-009 profile blades. Detailed experimental measurements were carried out at different sections in spanwise direction achieving, simultaneously, unsteady wall pressure signals on the surface of the blade and velocity fields by time-resolved PIV measurements. Two configurations of the cascade were investigated with an incidence of 4° and 7°, both at Re = 3.8 * 105 and Ma = 0.12 at the inlet of the facility. The intermittent switch between the two statistical preferred sizes of separation, large and almost suppressed, is called bimodal behaviour. The existence of such oscillation, reported at first in previous experimental and numerical works on the same test rig, is confirmed for both incidences. Additionally, the present PIV measurements provide, for the first time, time-resolved flow visualizations of the size switch of the separation with an extended field of view covering the entire blade section. The interaction of random large structures of the incoming boundary layer with the blade is found to be a predominant element that destabilizes the separation boundary. The recirculation region enlarges when these high vorticity perturbations blend with larger eddies situated in the aft part of the blade. Such massive separation persists until the blockage in the passage causes the breakdown of the largest structures in the aft part of the blade. The flow starts again to accelerate and the separation is almost suppressed. Finally, POD analysis is carried out to decompose flow modes and to contribute to the clarification of underlying cause-effect-relations, which predominate the dynamics of the present flow scenario.


Author(s):  
Jinwoo Bae ◽  
Kenneth S. Breuer ◽  
Choon S. Tan

Natural and forced responses of the tip clearance vortex are measured in a linear compressor cascade to characterize periodic unsteadiness of the tip clearance vortex. There exists a natural frequency at which the tip clearance vortex is the most receptive to external forcing, thus resulting in mixing enhancement and flow blockage reduction. A physical explanation of the source of the observed periodic unsteadiness is suggested based on the trailing vortex instability theory. Observations of the time scale for the unsteadiness from different compressor geometries and flow conditions are shown to scale with a reduced frequency based on convective time through the blade passage.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Liesbeth Konrath ◽  
Dieter Peitsch ◽  
Alexander Heinrich

Abstract Tandem blades have often been under investigation, experimentally as well as numerically, but most studies have been about tandem blade stators without tip gap. This work analyzes the influence of a tip gap on the flow field of a tandem blade for engine core compressors. Experiments have been conducted in a high-speed linear compressor cascade on a tandem and a reference geometry. The flow is analyzed using five-hole probe measurements in the wake of the blades and oil flow visualization to show the near surface stream lines. First, the results for design conditions (tandem and conventional blade) are compared to measurements on corresponding blades without tip gap. Similarities and differences in the flow topology due to the tip clearance are analyzed, showing that the introduction of the tip clearance has a similar influence on the loss and turning development for the tandem and the conventional blade. The tandem blade features two tip clearance vortices with a complex flow interaction and the possible formation of a third counter-rotating vortex between them. An incidence variation from 0deg to 5deg for both blades indicates at first a similar behavior. After a separation of the flow field into gap and non-gap half it becomes apparent that the tandem blade shows higher losses on the gap side, while featuring a close-to-constant behavior on the non-gap side. Further investigation of the flow on the gap side shows indicators of the front blade exhibiting tip clearance vortex break down.


1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 492-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kang ◽  
C. Hirsch

A Navier–Stokes solver is applied to investigate the three-dimensional viscous flow in a low-speed linear compressor cascade with tip clearance at design and off-design conditions with two different meshes. The algebraic turbulence model of Baldwin–Lomax is used for closure. Relative motion between the blades and wall is simulated for one flow coefficient. Comparisons with experimental data, including flow structure, static and total pressures, velocity profiles, secondary flows and vorticity, are presented for the stationary wall case. It is shown that the code predicts well the flow structure observed in experiments and shows the details of the tip leakage flow and the leading edge horseshoe vortex.


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