A Method for Evaluating the Aerodynamic Stability of Multi-Stage Axial-Flow Compressors

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsuguji Nakano ◽  
Andy Breeze-Stringfellow
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Stability Boundary ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
State Density ◽  
Constant Density ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Axial Flow Compressors

A new simple engineering parameter to evaluate the stability of multi-stage axial compressors has been derived. It is based on the stability analysis for a small circumferential disturbance imposed on the steady state flow field. The analytical model assumes that the flow field is two dimensional and incompressible in the ducts between blade rows although the steady state density is permitted to change across the blade rows. The resulting stall parameter contains terms that relate to the slope of the pressure rise characteristic of the blade rows and the inertia effects of the fluid in the blade rows and ducts. The parameter leads to the classical stability criteria based on the slope of the overall total to static pressure rise coefficient in the limit where constant density and constant blade rotational speed are assumed across the compressor. The proposed stall parameter has been calculated for three different multi-stage axial flow compressors and the results indicate that the parameter has a strong correlation with the measured stability of the compressors. The good correlation with the test data demonstrates that the newly derived stall parameter captures much of the fundamental physics of instability inception in multi-stage compressors, and that it can be a good guideline for designers and engineers needing to evaluate the stability boundary of multi-stage machines.

A Method for Evaluating the Effect of Circumferential Inlet Distortion on the Aerodynamic Stability of Multi-Stage Axial-Flow Compressors

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsuguji Nakano ◽  
Andy Breeze-Stringfellow
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Stability Limit ◽  
Rotating Stall ◽  
Classical Dynamic ◽  
Inlet Flow ◽  
Inlet Distortion ◽  
Multi Stage

A simple engineering parameter to evaluate the stability of high-speed multi-stage compressors with distorted inlet flow has been derived based on a simplified semi-compressible linear stability model. The parameter consists of steady-state flow quantities and geometric parameters of the compressor and it indicates that the circumferential integral of the slope of the steady-state individual blade row static pressure rise characteristics is important in the determination of the compressor stability limit in the presence of distortion. The parameter reduces to the author’s rotating stall inception parameter in the limit of non-distorted inlet flow. Since the model includes a downstream plenum and throttle, a condition for pure surge inception with undistorted inlet flow has been deduced. The pure surge conditions can be reduced to the classical dynamic and static instability conditions in the limit of a constant annulus area incompressible compressor. The results indicate that rotating stall always precedes surge instability, as many engineers and researchers would expect from experience. The parameter for instability with inlet distortion was calculated using test data measured in a high-speed 5-stage compressor with two different types of circumferential inlet distortion, and the results show that the parameter has a strong correlation with the data and is an improvement over the classical incompressible stability parameter. The results demonstrate that the parameter captures much of the physics important during the instability inception in a high-speed multi-stage compressor subjected to circumferential inlet distortion. The parameter clearly shows how each compressor component’s characteristics contribute to the overall stability in a high speed axial multi-stage compressor, therefore, it will aid engineers and designers in their understanding and prediction of the aerodynamic instability inception phenomena.

The Design of a Large Diameter Axial Flow Fan for Air-Cooled Heat Exchanger Applications

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Wilkinson ◽  
Johan van der Spuy ◽  
Theodor W. von Backström
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Large Diameter ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Design Procedure ◽  
Axial Flow Fan ◽  
Disk Model ◽  
Actuator Disk ◽  
Static Efficiency ◽  
Air Cooled Heat Exchanger

An axial flow fan design methodology is developed to design large diameter, low pressure rise, rotor-only fans for large air-cooled heat exchangers. The procedure aims to design highly efficient axial flow fans that perform well when subjected to off design conditions commonly encountered in air-cooled heat exchangers. The procedure makes use of several optimisation steps in order to achieve this. These steps include optimising the hub-tip ratio, vortex distribution, blading and aerofoil camber distributions in order to attain maximum total-to-static efficiency at the design point. In order to validate the design procedure a 24 ft, 8 bladed axial flow fan is designed to the specifications required for an air-cooled heat exchanger for a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant. The designed fan is numerically evaluated using both a modified version of the actuator disk model and a three dimensional periodic fan blade model. The results of these CFD simulations are used to evaluate the design procedure by comparing the fan performance characteristic data to the design specification and values calculated by the design code. The flow field directly down stream of the fan is also analysed in order to evaluate how closely the numerically predicted flow field matches the designed flow field, as well as determine whether the assumptions made in the design procedure are reasonable. The fan is found to meet the required pressure rise, however the fan total-to-static efficiency is found to be lower than estimated during the design process. The actuator disk model is found to under estimate the power consumption of the fan, however the actuator disk model does provide a reasonable estimate of the exit flow conditions as well as the total-to-static pressure characteristic of the fan.

Effects of Circumferential Inlet Distortion on the Performance of a Transonic Fan Together With the Impact of Tip Injection

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Khaleghi ◽  
Reza Jalaly
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Inlet Distortion ◽  
Distorted Region ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Tip Injection ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Transonic Fan ◽  
The Impact

Half-annulus unsteady numerical simulations have been conducted with a 60-deg total pressure circumferential distortion in a transonic axial-flow fan. The effects of inlet distortion on the performance, stability and flow field of the test case are investigated and analyzed. Results show that the incidence angles are reduced when the blades are entering into the distorted region. Conversely, distortion increases the incidence angles onto the blades when they are leaving the distorted section. Results further reveal that the time-averaged flow field at the tip of the blade is similar with and without distortion. However, the distortion applied is found to have detrimental effects on both the stability and performance. The impacts of both annular and discrete tip injection on the endwall flow field are further studied in the current work. It is shown that endwall injection reduces the incidence angles onto the blades. Consequently, the passage shock and the leakage flow are pushed rearward, which postpones stall initiation.

Influence of Rain Ingestion on the Endwall Treatment in an Axial Flow Compressor

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jichao Li ◽  
Juan Du ◽  
Mingzhen Li ◽  
Feng Lin ◽  
Hongwu Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Water Film ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Water Ingestion ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Flow Compressor ◽  
The Stability

The effects of water ingestion on the performance of an axial flow compressor are experimentally studied with and without endwall treatment. The background to the work is derived from the assessment of airworthiness for an aero-engine. The stability-enhancing effects with endwall treatments under rain ingestion are not previously known. Moreover, all the endwall treatments are designed under dry air conditions in the compressor. Water ingestion at 3% and 5% relative to the design mass flow proposed in the airworthiness standard are applied to initially investigate the effects on the performance under smooth casing (SC). Results show that the water ingestions are mainly located near the casing wall after they move through the rotor blade row. The pressure rise coefficient increases, efficiency declines, and torque increases under the proposed water ingestion. The increase of the inlet water increases the thickness of the water film downstream the rotor blade row and aggravates the adverse effects on the performances. Subsequently, three endwall treatments, namely circumferential grooves, axial slots, and hybrid slots–grooves, are tested with and without water ingestion. Compared with no water ingestion, the circumferential grooves basically have no resistance to the water ingestion. The axial slots best prevent the drop of the pressure rise coefficient induced by water ingestion, and hybrid slots–grooves are the second-best place owing to the contribution of the front axial slots. Therefore, the hybrid slots–grooves can not only extend the stall margin with less efficiency penalty compared with axial slots, but also prevent rain ingestion from worsening the compressor performance.

Deficiencies in Turbulence Modelling for the Prediction of the Stability Boundary in Highly Loaded Compressors

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Moreno ◽  
John Dodds ◽  
Mehdi Vahdati ◽  
Sina Stapelfeldt
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Stability Boundary ◽  
Turbulence Models ◽  
Stability Limit ◽  
Major Effect ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
The Stability

Abstract Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are employed for aerodynamic and aeroelastic modelling in axial compressors. Their solutions are highly dependent on the turbulence models for closure. The main objective of this work is to assess the widely used Spalart-Allmaras model’s suitability for compressor flows. For this purpose, an extensive investigation of the sources of uncertainties in a high-speed multi-stage compressor rig was carried out. The grid resolution near the casing end wall, which affects the tip leakage flow and casing boundary layer, was found to have a major effect on the stability limit prediction. Refinements in this region led to a stall margin loss prediction. It was found that this loss was exclusively due to the destruction term in the SA model.

Stability of Multi-Stage Axial Flow Compressors

1964 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 328-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. T. Howell
Keyword(s):  
Axial Flow ◽  
Rotational Frequency ◽  
Oscillatory Instability ◽  
Operating Point ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Surge Line ◽  
Flow Compressor ◽  
The Stability

SummaryThe following theoretical investigation is concerned with the stability of the flow through a system composed of a multi-stage axial flow compressor followed by a throttle.Such an investigation was carried out by Pearson and Bowmer in 1949. In 1962 Pearson’s work on the analysis of axial flow compressor characteristics, and the accumulation of empirical data regarding factors affecting the surge line, re-awakened interest in the possibility of predicting the surge line of a multi-stage axial flow compressor-throttle system.In this paper the equations governing the stability of flow at any operating point in such a system are obtained by applying Kirchhoff’s laws to the associated electric circuit at that operating point, and the analysis is applied to a wide range of flows of the calculated characteristics of a seven-stage axial flow compressor.A study of the simplest compressor-throttle system is given, in which the equations of motion of the system are derived mechanically and electrically, and the range of validity of the equations and their stability are discussed in order to bring out the relation between the mathematics and physics of the simple system before applying these methods to multi-stage axial flow compressors.For the relatively simple electrical representation used in this paper for an axial compressor of n stages, there are shown to be 2n possible values of p, the transient rotational frequency, and these are determined over a sufficiently wide range of flows on the seven-stage compressor studied.As a result, a region of the compressor characteristic map can be marked out in which all the values of the transient rotational frequency have their real parts less than zero, corresponding to stability of operation, a region where at least one of the values of p is real and positive corresponding to non-oscillatory instability of operation, and an intermediate region where some of the values of the rotational frequency p are complex with positive real part, corresponding to oscillatory instability of operation.It is suggested that the non-oscillatory instability found here is associated with the surge and the line of inception of non-oscillatory instability with the surge line.

Effect of Rotor Tip Gap Variation at the Rear Stages of an Axial Flow Compressor

2012 ◽  
Vol 225 ◽  
pp. 233-238
Author(s):  
A.M. Pradeep ◽  
R.N. Chiranthan ◽  
Debarshi Dutta ◽  
Bhaskar Roy
Keyword(s):  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Cross Flow ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Suction Surface ◽  
Design Point ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Multi Stage

In this paper, detailed analysis of the tip flow of an axial compressor rotor blade has been carried out using the commercial CFD package ANSYS CFX. The rotor blade was designed such that it is reminiscent of the rear stages of a multi-stage axial compressor. The effects of varying tip gaps are studied using CFD simulations for overall pressure rise and flow physics of the tip flow at the design point and near the peak pressure point. Rig tests of a low speed research compressor rotor with 3% tip clearance provided characteristics plots for validation of the CFD results. With increase in clearance from 1% to 4%, the rotor pressure rise at the design point was observed to decrease linearly. Increase in the clearance increases the cross flow across the tip; however, the magnitude of the average jet velocity crossing the tip decreases. The tip leakage vortex was observed to stay close to the suction surface with increase in clearance.

scholarly journals Recessed Casing Treatment Effects on Fan Performance and Flow Field

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. S. Kang ◽  
A. B. McKenzie ◽  
R. L. Elder
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Operating Efficiency ◽  
Flow Measurements ◽  
Blade Loading ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Stall Margin Improvement ◽  
Blade Tip

An experimental investigation to examine the influence of the vaned recess casing treatment on stall margin, operating efficiency and the flow field of a low speed axial flow fan with aerospace type blade loading is presented. Different geometrical designs of the vaned passages were examined. The best configuration resulted in a stall margin improvement of 67%, a significantly higher pressure rise in the stall region and insignificant change in peak efficiency. Detailed 3-D flow measurements in the endwall region and in the casing recess were carried out with a slanted hot-wire, providing some insight to the operation of the device. The results revealed that the stall margin improvement was largely due to the removal of flow from the blade tip to the recess, and the elimination of the growth of the stall region at the tip, which occurs at stall in the solid casing build.

Slender-body analysis of the motion and stability of a vortex filament containing an axial flow

1971 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila E. Widnall ◽  
Donald B. Bliss
Keyword(s):  
Travelling Waves ◽  
Stability Boundary ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Vortex Pair ◽  
Force Balance ◽  
Slender Body ◽  
Vortex Filament ◽  
Core Radius ◽  
Single Filament ◽  
The Stability

Previous results concerning the effects of axial velocity on the motion of vortex filaments are reviewed. These results suggest that a slender-body force balance between the Kutta–Joukowski lift on the vortex cross-section and the momentum flux within the curved filament will give some insight into the behaviour of the filament. These simple ideas are exploited for both a single vortex filament and a vortex pair, both containing axial flow. The stability of a straight vortex filament containing an axial flow to long wave sinusoidal displacements of its centre-line is investigated and the stability boundary obtained. The effect of axial flow on the stability of a vortex pair is explored. It is shown that to lowest order (in the ratio of vortex core radius to distance between the vortices) the effect of axial flow is to reduce the self-induced rotation of a single filament and that this effect can be considered as a change in effective core radius. To the next order, travelling waves appear in the instability, the instability mode for the vortex pair becomes non-planar but the amplification rate of the instability is not affected.

Steady State and Dynamic Analyses of Supercritical CO2 Natural Circulation Loop

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Jain ◽  
Rizwan Uddin
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Natural Circulation ◽  
Stability Boundary ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Circulation Loop ◽  
Steady State Flow ◽  
Natural Circulation Loop ◽  
Dynamic Analyses ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Flow Power

Numerical studies have been carried out to investigate supercritical flow instabilities in a CO2 natural circulation loop. For the steady state and dynamic analyses of the loop under supercritical conditions, a single-channel, one-dimensional model is developed. In this model, equations for the conservation of mass, momentum and energy are discretized using an implicit finite difference scheme. A computer code called FIASCO (Flow Instability Analysis under SuperCritical Operating conditions) is developed in FORTRAN90 to simulate the dynamics of natural circulation loops with supercritical fluid. Results obtained for the stability boundary substantially deviate from the results reported by previous investigators, and thus contradict some of the reported findings. The disagreement in results is most likely due to the undesirable dissipative and dispersive effects produced from the large time steps used in previous studies, thereby leading to a larger stable region than those found using smaller time step. Results presented here suggest that the stability boundary of a natural circulation loop with supercritical fluid, is not confined to the near-peak region of the (steady state) flow-power curve. Additional and more extensive experimental data are needed to resolve the differences between results obtained here and those reported earlier. However, results obtained for the range of parameter values used in this investigation always predict the stability threshold to be in the positive slope region of the (steady state) flow-power curve. Parametric studies for different operating conditions reveal the similarity of stability characteristics under supercritical conditions with those in two-phase flows.

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