Effect of Stator Variability on Axial Compressor Performance

Author(s):  
Kirubakaran Purushothaman ◽  
N. R. Naveen Kumar ◽  
Vidyadheesh Pandurangi ◽  
Ajay Pratap

Abstract Variability in stator vanes is a widely used technique to improve the stability and efficiency of axial flow compressor in gas turbine engines. Most of the modern aircraft jet engines use variable stator vanes in both low pressure and high pressure compressors primarily for off-design performance. This study discusses in detail about the effect of stator variability in a three stage low pressure axial compressor at design and off-design conditions. Computational flow analysis were carried out for the three stage low pressure compressor with variability in inlet guide vane and first stage stator blade. Detailed investigation on flow physics was carried out in rotor blade passages with stator variability. At off-design speeds, the reduction in flow velocity is lower than the reduction in blade tip speed. This leads to mismatch in flow angles and inlet blade angles causing high incidence and large flow separation in blade passage. This results in poor aerodynamic stability of the axial compressor at off-design speeds. In this study, aerodynamic performance of compressor is evaluated from 70% to 100% design speeds with different stagger angle setting of inlet guide vane at each speed. Further, to improve 2nd stage rotor performance, variability was introduced in 1st stage stator blade and performance was evaluated. Compressor test results are compared with CFD data for design and off-design speeds.

1984 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-345
Author(s):  
B. Lakshminarayana ◽  
N. Sitaram

The annulus wall boundary layer inside the blade passage of the inlet guide vane (IGV) passage of a low-speed axial compressor stage was measured with a miniature five-hole probe. The three-dimensional velocity and pressure fields were measured at various axial and tangential locations. Limiting streamline angles and static pressures were also measured on the casing of the IGV passage. Strong secondary vorticity was developed. The data were analyzed and correlated with the existing velocity profile correlations. The end wall losses were also derived from these data.


2012 ◽  
Vol 532-533 ◽  
pp. 474-478
Author(s):  
Wei Hua Cheng ◽  
Mian Chang Li ◽  
Chuan Peng Li

This paper conducts numerical simulation to a 15-stage civil axial flow compressor and obtains its main parameters distribution and performance curve by a full three-dimensional viscid flow computation software. The computation result indicates that, the developed axial flow compressor meets the anticipated design requirements, and satisfies the customers’ indicators. Under the designed compression ratio, the difference between the maximum air supply quantity in summer and the minimum air supply quantity in winter is 22%. By comparing the operating conditions and data analysis, obtained the change trend of axial velocity, static pressure and temperature, and Ma, and discovered that, under opening of 48° and outlet back pressure of 550KPa, flow separation occurred on the section of machine set close to hud, which indicated that operating condition was close to surging condition.


1987 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Dong ◽  
S. J. Gallimore ◽  
H. P. Hodson

Measurements have been performed in a low-speed high-reaction single-stage axial compressor. Data obtained within and downstream of the rotor, when correlated with the results of other investigations, provide a link between the existence of suction surface–hub corner separations, their associated loss mechanisms, and blade loading. Within the stator, it has been shown that introducing a small clearance between the stator blade and the stationary hub increases the efficiency of the stator compared to the case with no clearance. Oil flow visualizaton indicated that the leakage reduced the extensive suction surface–hub corner separation that would otherwise exist. A tracer gas experiment showed that the large radial shifts of the surface streamlines indicated by the oil flow technique were only present close to the blade. The investigation demonstrates the possible advantages of including hub clearance in axial flow compressor stator blade rows.


1987 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Tabakoff

Aircraft engines operating in areas where the atmosphere is polluted by small solid particles are typical examples of jet engines operating under hostile atmospheric environment. The particles may be different kinds of sand, volcanic ashes or others. Under these conditions, the gas and particles experience different degrees of turning as they flow through the engine. This is mainly due to the difference in their inertia. This paper presents the results of an investigation of the solid particle dynamics through a helicopter engine with inlet particle separator. The particle trajectories are computed in the inlet separator which is characterized by considerable hub and tip contouring and radial variation in the swirling vane shape. The nonseparated particle trajectories are determined through the deswirling vanes and the five stage axial flow compressor. The results from this study include the frequency of particle impacts and the erosion distribution on the blade surfaces.


Author(s):  
Theoklis Nikolaidis ◽  
Periclis Pilidis ◽  
J. A. Teixeira ◽  
V. Pachidis

A numerical approach was used to evaluate the liquid water film thickness and its motion on an axial flow compressor rotor blade under water ingestion conditions. By post-processing blading data and using computer programs to create the blades and their computational grid, the global computational domain of the first stage of an axial flow compressor was built. The flow field within the domain was solved by CFX-Tascflow, which is a commercial CFD code commonly used in turbomachinery. The computational domain consists of an extended inlet, an inlet guide vane, a rotor and a stator blade. Having solved the flow field at Design Point, the inlet guide vane blade was re-positioned to account for changes in idle speed. At that speed, the effects of water ingestion are expected to be more significant on gas turbine engine performance. Several cases with water ingestion were studied, changing parameters like water mass and compressor rotational speed. A FORTRAN computer program was created to calculate the water film height and speed. The extra torque needed by the compressor to keep running at the same rotational speed, was also calculated. The considerable increase in torque was confirmed by experimental observations according to which water ingestion had a detrimental effect on gas turbine operation.


1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-231
Author(s):  
Heinz E. Gallus

Detailed results of unsteady flow measurements in a stator-rotor-stator assembly of an axial-flow turbine as well as an inlet guide vane-rotor-stator formation of an axial-flow compressor are presented in this paper.The measurements include the time-dependent 3-D velocity vector fields in the axial gaps between the blade rows by means of triple-hot wire-technique, furthermore the total pressure field downstream of the blade rows by means of semiconductor total pressure probes and the unsteady flow field determination in the rotor passages by LDV-technique. Special semiconductor pressure measurements along the casing all over the rotor tip clearance permit detailed discussion of the rotor tip clearance flows.The conclusion of the measured data provides a new and very instructive view of the physics of the unsteady blade-row interaction in axial-flow turbines and compressors.


1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Dong ◽  
S. J. Gallimore ◽  
H. P. Hodson

Measurements have been performed in a low speed high reaction single stage axial compressor. Data obtained within and downstream of the rotor, when correlated with the results of other investigations, provide a link between the existence of suction surface-hub corner separations, their associated loss mechanisms and blade loading. Within the stator, it has been shown that introducing a small clearance between the stator blade and the stationary hub increases the efficiency of the stator compared to the case with no clearance. Oil flow visualisation indicated that the leakage reduced the extensive suction surface-hub corner separation that would otherwise exist. A tracer gas experiment showed that the large radial shifts of the surface streamlines indicated by the oil flow technique were only present close to the blade. The investigation demonstrates the possible advantages of including hub clearance in axial flow compressor stator blade rows.


Author(s):  
Vaclav Cyrus

A detailed investigation of three-dimensional flow was carried out in a low speed rear axial compressor stage with the change of the stator blade row setting. The stator blade stagger change was in the range of (−14) – (23) degree. Measurements were performed by means of both stationary and rotating pressure probes at seven working points. The origin of large regions of separated flow in blade rows at positive incidence angles was analysed with the use of the spanwise diffusion factor distribution. These areas in the rotor and stator rows originated as the diffusion factor exceeded the critial value D = 0.6 within (1/4 – 1/3) of the blade height near one end-wall. The rotating stall in compressor stage arised when large regions of separated flow occured simultaneously in both rotor and stator blade rows.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Manwaring ◽  
S. Fleeter

A series of experiments is performed in an extensively instrumented axial flow research compressor to investigate the fundamental flow physics of wake-generated periodic rotor blade row unsteady aerodynamics at realistic values of the reduced frequency. Unique unsteady data are obtained that describe the fundamental unsteady aerodynamic gust interaction phenomena on the first-stage rotor blades of a research axial flow compressor generated by the wakes from the inlet guide vanes. In these experiments, the effects of steady blade aerodynamic loading and the aerodynamic forcing function, including both the transverse and chordwise gust components, and the amplitude of the gusts, are investigated and quantified.


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