An Impact of Self-Recirculation Casing Treatment (SRCT) Configurations on Impeller Stall Margin and the Flow Field

Author(s):  
Yan Ma ◽  
Guang Xi ◽  
Guangkuan Wu

The present paper describes an investigation of stall margin enhancement and a detailed analysis of the impeller flow field due to self-recirculation casing treatment (SRCT) configuration of a high-speed small-size centrifugal impeller. The influence of different SRCT configurations on the impeller flow field at near-stall condition has been analyzed, highlighting the improvement in stall flow ability. This paper also discusses the influence of the SRCT configurations on the inlet flow angle, inlet swirl velocity and loss distribution in the impeller passage to understand the mechanism of the SRCT configurations in enhancing the stall margin of the impeller. The variation of the bleed flow rate at different operating conditions is also presented in this paper. Finally, the time-averaged unsteady simulation results at near-stall point are presented and compared with steady-state solutions.

Author(s):  
Maryam Khelghatibana ◽  
Jean-Yves Trépanier ◽  
Christophe Tribes ◽  
Jason Nichols

A multi-objective and multi-point optimization methodology is developed for aerodynamic design of transonic fan blades. The optimization method aims to increase design efficiency, near stall efficiency and stall margin while maintaining the required design pressure ratio and high speed choke margin. Numerical analyses are performed by solving three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations combined with shear stress turbulence model. A multi-level blade parameterization is employed to modify the blade geometry. The proposed method is applied to redesign NASA rotor 67. First, an optimization case with considering two operating conditions at peak efficiency and near stall is performed to demonstrate the relation between near stall efficiency and stall margin. An investigation on Pareto optimal solutions of this optimization shows that the stall margin is increased with improving near stall efficiency. Then, in order to maintain the required choke margin, an operating point at high speed choked flow is added to the optimization process. A final optimized design is selected by considering the interaction of design requirements at all three operating points. The new design presents higher efficiency and stall margin without any reduction in the chocking mass flow rate.


Author(s):  
Sidharath Sharma ◽  
Jorge García-Tíscar ◽  
John M. Allport ◽  
Martyn L. Jupp ◽  
Ambrose K. Nickson

Ported shroud casing treatment is widely used to delay the onset of surge and thereby enhancing the aerodynamic stability of a centrifugal compressor by recirculating the low momentum fluid in the blade passage. Performance losses associated with the use of recirculation casing treatment are well established in the literature and this is an area of active research. The other, less researched aspect of the casing treatment is its impact on the acoustics of the compressor. This work investigates the impact of ported shroud casing treatment on the acoustic characteristics of the compressor. The flow in two compressor configurations viz. with and without casing treatment operating at the design operating conditions of an iso-speed line are numerically modelled and validated with experimental data from gas stand measurements. The pressure fluctuations calculated as the flow solution are used to compute the spectral signatures at multiple locations to investigate the acoustic phenomenon associated with each configuration. Propagation of the frequency content through the ducts has been estimated with the aid of method of characteristics to enhance the content coming from the compressor. Expected tonal aerodynamic noise sources such as monopole (buzz-saw tones) and dipole (Blade Pass Frequency) are clearly identified in the acoustic spectra of the two configurations. The comparison of two configurations shows higher overall levels and tonal content in the case of a compressor with ported shroud operating at design conditions due to the presence of ‘mid-tones’.


Author(s):  
Xiaohua Liu ◽  
Yanpei Zhou ◽  
Xiaofeng Sun ◽  
Dakun Sun

This paper applies a theoretical model developed recently to calculate the flow instability inception point in axial high speed compressors system. After the mean flow field is computed by steady CFD simulation, a body force approach, which is a function of flow field data and comprises of one inviscid part and the other viscid part, is taken to duplicate the physical sources of flow turning and loss. Further by applying appropriate boundary conditions and spectral collocation method, a group of homogeneous equations will yield from which the stability equation can be derived. The singular value decomposition method is adopted over a series of fine grid points in frequency domain, and the onset point of flow instability can be judged by the imaginary part of the resultant eigenvalue. The first assessment is to check the applicability of the present model on calculating the stall margin of one single stage transonic compressors at 85% rotational speed. The reasonable prediction accuracy validates that this model can provide an unambiguous judgment on stall inception without numerous requirements of empirical relations of loss and deviation angle. It could possibly be employed to check over-computed stall margin during the design phase of new high speed fan/compressors. The following validation case is conducted to study the nontrivial role of tip clearance in rotating stall, and a parameter study is performed to investigate the effects of end wall body force coefficient on stall onset point calculation. It is verified that the present model could qualitatively predict the reduced stall margin by assuming a simplified body force model which represents the response of a large tip clearance on the unsteady flow field.


Fluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
Motoyuki Kawase ◽  
Aldo Rona

A proof of concept is provided by computational fluid dynamic simulations of a new recirculating type casing treatment. This treatment aims at extending the stable operating range of highly loaded axial compressors, so to improve the safety of sorties of high-speed, high-performance aircraft powered by high specific thrust engines. This casing treatment, featuring an axisymmetric recirculation channel, is evaluated on the NASA rotor 37 test case by steady and unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations, using the realizable k-ε model. Flow blockage at the recirculation channel outlet was mitigated by chamfering the exit of the recirculation channel inner wall. The channel axial location from the rotor blade tip leading edge was optimized parametrically over the range −4.6% to 47.6% of the rotor tip axial chord c z . Locating the channel at 18.2% c z provided the best stall margin gain of approximately 5.5% compared to the untreated rotor. No rotor adiabatic efficiency was lost by the application of this casing treatment. The investigation into the flow structure with the recirculating channel gave a good insight into how the new casing treatment generates this benefit. The combination of stall margin gain at no rotor adiabatic efficiency loss makes this design attractive for applications to high-speed gas turbine engines.


Author(s):  
H. Yang ◽  
D. Nuernberger ◽  
E. Nicke ◽  
A. Weber

A conservative mixed-cell approach of second-order accuracy is presented and applied to investigate the mechanisms of a self-recirculating casing treatment coupled with a transonic compressor rotor. The mixed cell is a computational cell that may show up at the zonal interface boundary, the face of which is partially solid and partially fluid, if the azimuthal open area of casing treatment does not fully contact with the whole annulus of blade passage. The mixed-cell approach is essentially an extension of the conservative zonal approach by incorporating special mixed-cell handling at the zonal interface and it allows a great flexibility to the grid generation for the patched zones with the best grid topology. The mixed-cell approach is extremely useful for solving the unsteady interaction problems within turbomachinery and its application for simulating the coupled flow through the rotor and the casing treatment is reported. The calculated results and analysis reveal an effective stall margin extension of the casing treatment herein by weakening or even destroying the tip leakage vortex, and expose the different tip flow topologies between the cases with the casing treatment and with the untreated smooth wall. It is found that the casing treatment only slightly decreases the overall efficiency at the design point, but it is beneficial to the overall efficiency at the off-design operating conditions and it can improve the inflow conditions to the downstream stator blade row as well.


Author(s):  
C. S. Kang ◽  
A. B. McKenzie ◽  
R. L. Elder

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.


2010 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Schnell ◽  
M. Voges ◽  
R. Mönig ◽  
M. W. Müller ◽  
C. Zscherp

A single stage transonic axial compressor was equipped with a casing treatment consisting of 3.5 axial slots per rotor pitch in order to investigate its influence on stall margin characteristics, as well as on the rotor near tip flow field, both numerically and experimentally. Contrary to most other studies, a generic casing treatment (CT) was designed to provide optimal optical access in the immediate vicinity of the CT, rather than for maximum benefit in terms of stall margin extension. The second part of this two-part paper deals with the numerical developments and their validation, carried out in order to efficiently perform time-accurate casing treatment simulations. The numerical developments focus on the extension of an existing coupling algorithm in order to carry out unsteady calculations with any exterior geometry coupled to the main flow passage (in this case a single slot), having an arbitrary pitch. This extension is done by incorporating frequency domain, phase-lagged boundary conditions into this coupling procedure. Whereas the phase lag approach itself is well established and validated for standard rotor-stator calculations, its application to casing treatment simulations is new. Its capabilities and validation will be demonstrated on the given compressor configuration, making extensive use of the detailed particle image velocimetry flow field measurements near the rotor tip. Instantaneous data at all measurement planes will be compared for different rotor positions with respect to the stationary slots in order to evaluate the time-dependent interaction between the rotor and the casing treatment.


1979 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Greitzer ◽  
J. P. Nikkanen ◽  
D. E. Haddad ◽  
R. S. Mazzawy ◽  
H. D. Joslyn

An experimental investigation has been carried out on the influence of grooved casing treatment on the stall margin of a compressor rotor. Tests were conducted with two rotor builds having different solidities (but all other parameters identical) so that one of the rotors exhibited a wall, or casing, type of stall, while the other showed a blade stall. It was found that the casing treatment, when compared to the solid casing, was very effective in increasing the stall margin of the wall stall configuration, whereas there was little or no change in the stall point of the blade stall configuration. Detailed relative frame measurements of the rotor exit flow field were also taken as part of the program. These showed that in a wall stall situation, the use of casing treatment produced a substantial decrease in the relative total pressure defect, compared with the solid casing, while this was not true for the blade stall type of blading. The results of the experiments, both in overall measurements and in the detailed relative frame traverses, support the hypothesis that casing treatment is effective only in a situation in which a wall stall exists.


Author(s):  
S. E. Gorrell ◽  
P. M. Russler

The stall inception process in high-speed compressor components is important to understand in order to increase stage loading while maintaining stall margin. This paper presents the results of an in depth experimental investigation on the stall inception of a two stage, high-speed, low aspect ratio fan that is representative of current operational commercial and military fan technology. High-response static pressure measurements are presented which detail the stall inception process of the fan under various operating conditions. These conditions include: varied corrected speeds, a smooth case, a circumferential groove casing treatment, and a recirculating cavity casing treatment. Stage pressure characteristics and radial pressure ratio profiles are presented for the different operating conditions. The stage performance data, together with the static pressure data, are analyzed to provide a clear and thorough understanding of the stall inception process and how the process may vary under different conditions. Experimental results show that a stage may stall on the positive, neutral, or negative sloped part of the pressure characteristic. The three casing treatments had a significant effect on the rotor tip flow and these variations changed the stall inception path of the fan. Stall inception was characterized by the formation of a stall inception cell which grew to fully developed rotating stall. Properties affected by the changing tip flow include the stall inception duration, stall inception cell frequency, existence of modal waves, duration of modal waves, and modal wave frequency. In some instances modal waves appear to play a role in stall inception, in others they do not.


Author(s):  
Hao G Zhang ◽  
Fei Y Dong ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Wu L Chu ◽  
Song Yan

This investigation aims to understand the mechanisms of affecting the axial flow compressor performance and internal flow field with the application of self-recirculation casing treatment. Besides, the potentiality of further enhancing the compressor performance and stability by optimizing the geometric structure of self-recirculation casing treatment is discussed in detail. The results show that self-recirculation casing treatment generates about 7.06, 7.89% stall margin improvements in the experiment and full-annulus unsteady calculation, respectively. Moreover, the compressor total pressure and isentropic efficiency are improved among most of operating points, and the experimental and calculated compressor peak efficiencies are increased by 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively. The comparisons between baseline shroud and self-recirculation casing treatment show that the flow conditions of the compressor rotor inlet upstream are improved well with self-recirculation casing treatment, and the degree of the pressure enhancement in the blade top passage for self-recirculation casing treatment is higher than that for baseline. Further, self-recirculation casing treatment can restrain the leading edge-spilled flows made by the blade tip clearance leakage flows and weaken the blade tip passage blockage. Hence, the flow loss near the rotor top passage is reduced after the application of self-recirculation casing treatment. The rotor performance and stability for self-recirculation casing treatment are greater than those for baseline. The flow-field analyses also indicate that the adverse effects caused by the clearance leakage flows of the blades tip rear are greater than those made by the clearance leakage flows of the blades leading edge. When one injecting part of self-recirculation casing treatment is aligned with the inlet of one blade tip passage, the flow-field quality in the passage is not the best among all the passages between two adjacent injecting parts of self-recirculation casing treatment. Further, the flow-field analyses also indicate that the effect of the relative position between the blade and self-recirculation casing treatment on the flows in the self-recirculation casing treatment may be ignored during the optimization of the recirculating loop configuration.


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