Experimental and Numerical Investigations on a Rotating Centrifugal Compressor
Controlling the dynamic behavior of turbomachines requires an experimental validation phase to ensure their safety. The application of two experimental techniques to measure the modal properties of a rotating centrifugal compressor impeller is described in this paper. The impeller was tested in a vacuum chamber with excitation provided by piezoelectric actuators mounted on the rear side of the impeller disk. The most common technique used to measure the dynamic behavior of a rotating structure is based on strain gauges and a telemetry system or a slip ring for signal transmission. Nevertheless, in some cases this method is an intrusive technique that could introduce damping and blade mistiming, and it can also be time consuming to prepare. Strain gauge measurement has been compared to measurements performed under the same conditions by Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer associated with a derotator optical system, which allows measurement at fixed points on a rotating part. This work focuses on the study of the dynamic behavior of a centrifugal compressor impeller in view to preparing stator contact interaction tests requiring precise characterization of frequencies and nodal diameters and of the influence of rotation speed and other possible parameters. The advantages and disadvantages of the two methods used have been assessed for this particular application. A correlation between the experiments and the numerical simulations using the finite element method is provided.