Comprehensive Smith Charts for Axial Compressor Design

Author(s):  
Mark R. Anderson

Abstract The “Smith Chart” has been recognized as an indispensable technique when applied to the initial design of axial compressors and turbines. The Smith Chart offers a simple method to locate the region of optimum efficiency which is achievable as a function of flow and work coefficient. The result is a targeted flow state represented by the velocity triangles that result from these coefficients. The process was originally developed, and is best documented, for axial turbines1. Over the years, several publications, of similar methods for axial compressors have been put forward. The author presented one such work2 which made significant use of optimization to develop an improved Smith chart for moderate Mach number compressor designs. In the current work, these results are expanded to both low Mach number (basically incompressible) to high-speed transonic cases as well. Similar to the previous work, the effort makes extensive use of optimization to systematically explore the optimum 2D profile shapes for a wide range of target flow and work coefficients. The method uses an FNS quasi-3D CFD solver, coupled to an efficiently parameterized geometry generator, combined with an automated optimization process. The process was applied independently to dozens of flow and work coefficient points to generate comprehensive maps of performance. Results are shown for three different relative inflow Mach numbers: 0.2, 0.75, and 1.1. The maps are displayed in classic Smith chart format of islands of stage efficiency as a function of the flow and work coefficient. Specifically, the results are for axial compressor stages of 50% reaction, the theoretical ideal reaction for 2D flow. The results and the implications over varying Mach numbers are discussed. Also included is an expanded discussion of the range and accuracy of various meanline modeling methods, along with their ability to determine the optimum design condition.

Author(s):  
Johan Dahlqvist ◽  
Jens Fridh

The aspect of hub cavity purge has been investigated in a high-pressure axial low-reaction turbine stage. The cavity purge is an important part of the secondary air system, used to isolate the hot main annulus flow from cavities below the hub level. A full-scale cold-flow experimental rig featuring a rotating stage was used in the investigation, quantifying main annulus flow field impact with respect to purge flow rate as it was injected upstream of the rotor. Five operating speeds were investigated of which three with respect to purge flow, namely a high loading case, the peak efficiency, and a high speed case. At each of these operating speeds, the amount of purge flow was varied across a very wide range of ejection rates. Observing the effect of the purge rate on measurement plane averaged parameters, a minor outlet swirl decrease is seen with increasing purge flow for each of the operating speeds while the Mach number is constant. The prominent effect due to purge is seen in the efficiency, showing a similar linear sensitivity to purge for the investigated speeds. An attempt is made to predict the efficiency loss with control volume analysis and entropy production. While spatial average values of swirl and Mach number are essentially unaffected by purge injection, important spanwise variations are observed and highlighted. The secondary flow structure is strengthened in the hub region, leading to a generally increased over-turning and lowered flow velocity. Meanwhile, the added volume flow through the rotor leads to higher outlet flow velocities visible in the tip region, and an associated decreased turning. A radial efficiency distribution is utilized, showing increased impact with increasing rotor speed.


Author(s):  
Shang-Feng Yang ◽  
Je-Chin Han ◽  
Salam Azad ◽  
Ching-Pang Lee

This paper experimentally investigates the effect of rotation on heat transfer in typical turbine blade serpentine coolant passage with ribbed walls at low Mach numbers. To achieve the low Mach number (around 0.01) condition, pressurized Freon R-134a vapor is utilized as the working fluid. The flow in the first passage is radial outward, after the 180 deg tip turn the flow is radial inward to the second passage, and after the 180 deg hub turn the flow is radial outward to the third passage. The effects of rotation on the heat transfer coefficients were investigated at rotation numbers up to 0.6 and Reynolds numbers from 30,000 to 70,000. Heat transfer coefficients were measured using the thermocouples-copper-plate-heater regional average method. Heat transfer results are obtained over a wide range of Reynolds numbers and rotation numbers. An increase in heat transfer rates due to rotation is observed in radially outward passes; a reduction in heat transfer rate is observed in the radially inward pass. Regional heat transfer coefficients are correlated with Reynolds numbers for nonrotation and with rotation numbers for rotating condition, respectively. The results can be useful for understanding real rotor blade coolant passage heat transfer under low Mach number, medium–high Reynolds number, and high rotation number conditions.


1956 ◽  
Vol 60 (547) ◽  
pp. 459-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. G. Broadbent

SummaryA review is given of developments in the field of aeroelasticity during the past ten years. The effect of steadily increasing Mach number has been two-fold: on the one hand the aerodynamic derivatives have changed, and in some cases brought new problems, and on the other hand the design for higher Mach numbers has led to thinner aerofoils and more slender fuselages for which the required stiffness is more difficult to provide. Both these aspects are discussed, and various methods of attack on the problems are considered. The relative merits of stiffness, damping and massbalance for the prevention of control surface flutter are discussed. A brief mention is made of the recent problems of damage from jet efflux and of the possible aeroelastic effects of kinetic heating.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale E. Van Zante ◽  
John J. Adamczyk ◽  
Anthony J. Strazisar ◽  
Theodore H. Okiishi

Rotor wakes are an important source of loss in axial compressors. The decay rate of a rotor wake is largely due to both mixing (results in loss) and stretching (no loss accrual). Thus, the actual loss associated with rotor wake decay will vary in proportion to the amounts of mixing and stretching involved. This wake stretching process, referred to by Smith (1996) as recovery, is reversible and for a 2-D rotor wake leads to an inviscid reduction of the velocity deficit of the wake. It will be shown that for the rotor/stator spacing typical of core compressors, wake stretching is the dominant wake decay process within the stator with viscous mixing playing only a secondary role. A model for the rotor wake decay process is developed and used to quantify the viscous dissipation effects relative to those of inviscid wake stretching. The model is verified using laser anemometer measurements acquired in the wake of a transonic rotor operated alone and in a stage configuration at near peak efficiency and near stall operating conditions. Results from the wake decay model exhibit good agreement with the experimental data. Data from the model and laser anemometer measurements indicate that rotor wake straining (stretching) is the primary decay process in the stator passage. Some implications of these results on compressor stage design are discussed.


Author(s):  
Simon Coldrick ◽  
Paul Ivey ◽  
Roger Wells

This paper describes preparatory work towards three dimensional flowfield measurements downstream of the rotor in an industrial, multistage, axial compressor, using a pneumatic pressure probe. The probe is of the steady state four hole cobra probe type. The design manufacture and calibration of the probe is described. CFD calculations have been undertaken in order to assess the feasability of using such a probe in the high speed compressor environment where space is limited. This includes effects of mounting the probe in close proximity to the downstream stator blades and whether it is necessary to adjust the calibration data to compensate for these effects.


Author(s):  
Rau´l Va´zquez ◽  
Antonio Antoranz ◽  
David Cadrecha ◽  
Leyre Arman˜anzas

This paper presents an experimental study of the flow field in an annular cascade of Low Pressure Turbine airfoils. The influence of Reynolds number, Mach number and incidence on profile and end wall losses have been investigated. The annular cascade consisted of 100 high lift, high aspect ratio, high turning blades that are characteristic of modern LP Turbines. The investigation was carried out for a wide range of Reynolds numbers, extending from 120k to 315k, exit Mach numbers, from 0.5 to 0.9, and incidences from −20 to +14 degrees. Results clearly indicate a significant effect of incidence and Mach number in secondary loss production; however, the Reynolds number shows it much weaker impact. It has also been found that the profile loss production is strongly influenced by both Reynolds and Mach numbers, being the impact of the incidence weaker. Finally, measured data suggest that, in order to properly reproduce the performance of these types of airfoils, annular cascades can be required as far as linear cascades may miss some essential flow features.


Author(s):  
Tong Zhang ◽  
Chen Yang ◽  
Hu Wu ◽  
Jinguang Li

In order to get a fast performance analysis tool for multi-stage axial compressors, a quasi-two dimensional analysis model based on time-marching method is developed in this paper. The model is based on Euler equation, and several source terms, like inviscid blade force model and viscous force model, are added to simulate different phenomena of compressor internal flow. The flow line in blade area is adjusted to solve the discontinuity problem at blade leading edge. Two test cases-PW3S1, a 3.5-stage axial compressor and a 1.5-stage high-speed axial compressor, are presented to validate the quasi-2D model. The overall performance characteristics of two compressors at different rotation speed are calculated then. The computed results are compared with experimental data or 3D results. The average errors of pressure ratio and efficiency are 0.52% and 0.63% in PW3S1 case, 1.73% and 2.91% in 1.5-stage compressor case, and the model is able to capture shock wave and to predict choke condition.


Author(s):  
D. J. Dorney ◽  
D. L. Sondak ◽  
P. G. A. Cizmas ◽  
V. E. Saren ◽  
N. M. Savin

Axial compressors have inherently unsteady flow fields because of relative motion between rotor and stator airfoils. This relative motion leads to viscous and inviscid (potential) interactions between blade rows. As the number of stages increases in a turbomachine, the buildup of convected wakes can lead to progressively more complex wake/wake and wake/airfoil interactions. Variations in the relative circumferential positions of stators or rotors can change these interactions, leading to different unsteady forcing functions on airfoils and different compressor efficiencies. In addition, as the Mach number increases the interaction between blade rows can be intensified due to potential effects. It has been shown, both experimentally and computationally, that airfoil clocking can be used to improve the efficiency and reduce the unsteadiness in multiple-stage axial turbomachines with equal blade counts in alternate blade rows. While previous investigations have provided an improved understanding of the physics associated with airfoil clocking, more research is needed to determine if airfoil clocking is viable for use in modern gas-turbine compressors. This paper presents the results of a combined experimental/computational research effort to study the physics of airfoil clocking in a high-speed axial compressor. Computational simulations have been performed for eight different clocking positions of the stator airfoils in a 1-1/2 stage high-speed compressor. To accurately model the experimental compressor, full-annulus simulations were conducted using 34 IGV, 35 rotor and 34 stator airfoils. It is common practice to modify blade counts to reduce the computational work required to perform turbomachinery simulations, and this approximation has been made in all computational clocking studies performed to date. A simulation was also performed in the present study with 1 inlet guide vane, 1 rotor airfoil, and 1 stator airfoil to model blade rows with 34 airfoils each in order to examine the effects of this approximation. Time-averaged and unsteady data (including performance and boundary layer quantities) were examined. The predicted results indicate that simulating the full annulus gives better qualitative agreement with the experimental data, as well as more accurately modeling the interaction between adjacent blade rows.


2019 ◽  
Vol 213 ◽  
pp. 02033
Author(s):  
Tomáš Jelínek ◽  
Erik Flídr ◽  
Martin Němec ◽  
Jan Šimák

A new test facility was built up as a part of a closed-loop transonic wind tunnel in VZLU´s High-speed Aerodynamics Department. The wind tunnel is driven by a twelve stage radial compressor and Mach and Reynolds numbers can be changed by the compressor speed and by the total pressure in the wind tunnel loop by a set of vacuum pumps, respectively. The facility consists of an axisymmetric subsonic nozzle with an exit diameter de = 100 mm. The subsonic nozzle is designed for regimes up to M = 1 at the nozzle outlet. At the nozzle inlet there is a set of a honeycomb and screens to ensure the flow stream laminar at the outlet of the nozzle. The subsonic nozzle can be supplemented with a transonic slotted nozzle or a supersonic rigid nozzle for transonic and supersonic outlet Mach numbers. The probe is fixed in a probe manipulator situated downstream of the nozzle and it ensures a set of two perpendicular angles in a wide range (±90°). The outlet flow field was measured through in several axial distances downstream the subsonic nozzle outlet. The total pressure and static pressure was measured in the centreline and the total pressure distribution in the vertical and horizontal plane was measured as well. Total pressure fluctuations in the nozzle centreline were detected by a FRAP probe. From the initial flow measurement in a wide range of Mach numbers the best location for probe calibration was chosen. The flow field was found to be suitable for probe calibration.


Author(s):  
Daniel Hernández ◽  
Antonio Antoranz ◽  
Raúl Vázquez

The configuration of an axial compressor, including the mean radius, the annulus lines, stage loading or number of stages, flow parameter, work split and stage reactions, are all of them selected in the preliminary design phase. For the success of the final design, to attain the proper selection is mandatory. A representative geometry of the airfoils is not available at this early stage of the design process. Therefore the former parameters use to be selected based only on the designer prior experience and/or empirical correlations. Under these circumstances, the so called Smith Chart is a valuable tool that can provide simple guidelines to the designer and a preliminary assessment of the compressor efficiency. The use of this chart can be also extended to get the main features of the airfoils, like flow angles, turning, Mach and Reynolds number, diffusion factor, aspect ratio, etc. as well as to compare different design candidates. Several authors have produced their own diagrams by analytical or semi-empirical approach. The repeating stage hypothesis, which has been usually assumed, implies no change in inlet and outlet absolute flow angles and constant axial velocity throughout the stage. The density rise through the stage is compensated by reducing the annulus height and so the annulus wall slope along the compressor is directly obtained from the continuity equation, being in most of the cases not representative of real compressors. In order to have a more representative annulus, in the present work, the repeating stage hypothesis has not been assumed. The annulus shape (height and slope wall angle) is therefore defined by the designer and in order to close the equations of the problem, the absolute exit flow angle of every stage is required. The optimization of the compressor by the novel proposed method is more complicate because of the higher number of variables. However the method has the advantage to reduce the design iterations due to its more reliable results. The aim of this paper is to introduce the novel method of non-repeating stages and to show how this approach can be used in the preliminary design of an axial compressor.


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