Numerical Efforts of Aerodynamic Re-Design in a Transonic Centrifugal Compressor: Part 1 — Basic Approach

Author(s):  
Justin (Jongsik) Oh

Growing demands for higher specific output power in turbomachinery applications have drawn attention to aerodynamic design philosophy for a single-stage transonic centrifugal compressor with higher pressure ratios. As Part 1 of numerical efforts, some fundamental approaches in aerodynamic design were carried out in a classical 6:1 pressure-ratio compressor design of 1970’s which was selected as a baseline. The effects of the impeller blade angle distribution, the addition of the splitter blade, the changes of the tangential divergence angle of the channel-wedge diffuser and some tweaks in diffuser vane shapes near the trailing-edge were investigated in steady-state RANS CFD solutions with the conventional mixing plane interface. New blade angle distributions together with the introduction of splitter blades in the impeller brought significant improvements in the compressor pressure ratio, efficiency and operability, thanks to reduced shock strengths and enhanced blade loadings in the spanwise direction. Helicity contours on the cross sectional planes in the impeller support the benefits observing a power balance among the shroud passage vortex, the blade vortices and the tip leakage vortex. With a reduced tangential divergence in the channel-wedge diffuser passage from the original design, an impressively extended surge margin was obtained. It was confirmed from the helicity contours that a streamwise vortex structure at the entrance region of the diffuser vane plays a key role in the range of operation. A diffuser vane shape with the curved pressure surface near the trailing-edge provided a slightly higher pressure ratio and efficiency around design flow than that with the original cut-off trailing-edge. An elliptical trailing-edge diffuser vane showed rather performance drops because of the counter-clockwise hub vortex breakdown near the suction surface, resulting in less flow diffusion. Through investigations of a set of design cases, two final compressor designs, differing in the diffuser vane shape near the trailing-edge, were obtained within the work scope of the present study. However, selecting one of the two will depend on design duties for the following component because of the level of exit swirls and their rate of changes over the flow rates.

Author(s):  
Xu Yu-dong ◽  
Li Cong ◽  
Lv Qiong-ying ◽  
Zhang Xin-ming ◽  
Mu Guo-zhen

In order to study the effect of the trailing edge sweep angle of the centrifugal impeller on the aerodynamic performance of the centrifugal compressor, 6 groups of centrifugal impellers with different bending angles and 5 groups of different inclination angles were designed to achieve different impeller blade trailing edge angle. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method was used to simulate and analyze the flow field of centrifugal compressors with different blade shapes under design conditions. The research results show that for transonic micro centrifugal compressors, changing the blade trailing edge sweep angle can improve the compressor’s isentropic efficiency and pressure ratio. The pressure ratio of the compressor shows a trend of increasing first and then decreasing with the increase of the blade bending angle. When the blade bending angle is 45°, the pressure ratio of the centrifugal compressor reaches a maximum of 1.69, and the isentropic efficiency is 67.3%. But changing the inclination angle of the blade trailing edge has little effect on the isentropic efficiency and pressure ratio. The sweep angle of blade trailing edge is an effective method to improve its isentropic efficiency and pressure ratio. This analysis method provides a reference for the rational selection of the blade trailing edge angle, and provides a reference for the design of micro centrifugal compressors under high Reynolds numbers.


Author(s):  
A. Hildebrandt ◽  
T. Ceyrowsky

The present paper deals with the numerical and theoretical investigations of the effect of geometrical dimensions and 1D-design parameters on the impeller pressure slope of a transonic centrifugal compressor stage for industrial process application. A database being generated during the multi-objective and multi-point design process of a high flow coefficient impeller, comprising 545 CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) designs is investigated in off-design and design conditions by means of RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes) simulation of an impeller with vaneless diffuser. For high flow coefficients of 0.16 < phi < 0.18, the CFD-setup has been validated against measurement data regarding stage and impeller performance taken from MAN test rig experimental data for a centrifugal compressor stage of similar flow coefficient. The paper aims at answering the question how classical design parameter, such as the impeller blade angle distribution, impeller suction diameter and camber line length affect the local and total relative diffusion and pressure slope towards impeller stall operation. A second order analysis of the CFD database is performed by cross-correlating the CFD data with results from impeller two-zone 1D modelling and a rapid loading calculation process by Stanitz and Prian. The statistical covariance of first order 1D-analysis parameters such as the mixing loss of the impeller secondary flow, the slip factor, impeller flow incidence is analyzed, thereby showing strong correlation with the design and off-design point efficiency and pressure slope. Finally, guide lines are derived in order to achieve either optimized design point efficiency or maximum negative pressure slope characteristics towards impeller stall operation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (Suppl. 2) ◽  
pp. 409-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong-Bo Shi ◽  
Yu-Qi Wang ◽  
Yong-Hui Xie ◽  
Di Zhang

In this paper, based on the thermodynamic design of the supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) centrifugal compressor, the design idea of the flow passage geometries and the method to improve the performance of the sCO2 centrifugal compressor are discussed. With the help of commercial software ANSYS CFX, the influence of the shape of the leading edge and trailing edge is studied, and the elliptical leading edge makes the pressure ratio 10.30% higher and the efficiency 3.95% higher than the square leading edge. By changing the forward-swept angle and backward-swept angle of the leading edge, the effects of aerodynamic swept shape in sCO2 centrifugal compressor are discussed. The effect of the gap between the impeller blade and diffuser blade is discussed, and the 10 mm gap makes the performance best. The pressure ratio is increased by 2.5% compared with the original design, while at the same time the efficiency is slightly improved. In summary, based on thermal design of the sCO2 centrifugal compressor, the effects of different flow geometries are analyzed in detail.


2013 ◽  
Vol 675 ◽  
pp. 103-106
Author(s):  
Gui Hua Zhu ◽  
Tuan Hui Qiu ◽  
Min Xie

With the ANSYS Workbench software,the 3D fluid model of the impeller for the centrifugal compressor is set up,whose design flow is 3.2kg/s,rotating speed is 32473r/min,pressure ratio is 3.8,and then with the method of CFD,the k-ε two equations model is selected as the turbulence model,in the condition of design speed,the fluid region of the impeller is simulated under eight different flow rate,the aerodynamic load of the impeller blade and its distribution is acquired under different flow rate,the results showed that the location of the largest aerodynamic load is in the blade that near the outlet of impeller,under the design flow rate condition,the largest aerodynamic load is 0.1969MPa,the aerodynamic load increases with the flow rate decreases.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 2711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nima Khoshkalam ◽  
Mohammad Mojaddam ◽  
Keith R. Pullen

The performance of an automotive turbocharger centrifugal compressor has been studied by developing a comprehensive one-dimensional (1D) code as verified through experimental results and a three-dimensional (3D) model. For 1D analysis, the fluid stream in compressor is modeled using governing gas dynamics equations and the loss mechanisms have been investigated and added to the numerical model. The objective is to develop and offer a 1D model, which considers all loss mechanisms, slip, blockage and also predicts the surge margin and choke conditions. The model captures all features from inlet duct through to volute discharge. Performance characteristics are obtained using preliminary geometry and the blade characteristics. A 3D numerical model was also created and a viscous solver used for investigating the compressor characteristics. The numerical model results show good agreement with experimental data through compressor pressure ratio and efficiency. The effect of the main compressor dimensions on compressor performance has been investigated for wide operating range and the portions of each loss mechanism in the impeller. Higher pressure ratio is achievable by increasing impeller blade height at outlet, impeller blade angle on inlet, diffuser outlet diameter and by decreasing impeller shroud diameter at inlet and blade angle at outlet. These changes may cause unfavorable consequences such as a lower surge margin or shorter operating range, which should be compromised with favorable changes. At lower rotational speeds, impeller skin friction mainly impacts the performance and at higher rotational speeds, impeller diffusion, blade loading and recirculation losses are more important. The results allow the share of each loss mechanism to be quantified for different mass flow rates and rotational speed, shedding new light on which losses are most important for which conditions. For a turbocharger, which must operate over a wide range of conditions, these results bring new insight to engineers seeking to optimize the compressor design as part of an internal combustion engine system.


Author(s):  
Justin (Jongsik) Oh

In many aerodynamic design parameters for the axial-flow compressor, three variables of tailored blading, blade lean and sweep were considered in the re-design efforts of a transonic single stage which had been designed in 1960’s NASA public domains. As Part 1, the re-design was limited to the stator vane only. For the original MCA (Multiple Circular Arc) blading, which had been applied at all radii, the CDA (Controlled Diffusion Airfoil) blading was introduced at midspan as the first variant, and the endwalls of hub and casing (or tip) were replaced with the DCA (Double Circular Arc) blading for the second variant. Aerodynamic performance was predicted through a series of CFD analysis at design speed, and the best aerodynamic improvement, in terms of pressure ratio/efficiency and operability, was found in the first variant of tailored blading. It was selected as a baseline for the next design efforts with blade lean, sweep and both combined. Among 12 variants, a case of positively and mildly leaned blades was found the most attractive one, relative to the original design, providing benefits of an 1.0% increase of pressure ratio at design flow, an 1.7% increase of efficiency at design flow, a 10.5% increase of the surge margin and a 32.3% increase of the choke margin.


Author(s):  
Hiroshi Hayami ◽  
Masahiro Hojo ◽  
Norifumi Hirata ◽  
Shinichiro Aramaki

A single-stage transonic centrifugal compressor with a pressure ratio greater than six was tested in a closed loop with HFC134a gas. Flow at the inducer of a rotating impeller as well as flow in a stationary low-solidity cascade diffuser was measured using a double-pulse and double-frame particle image velocimetry (PIV). Shock waves in both flows were clearly observed. The effect of flow rate on a 3D configuration of shock wave at the inducer and a so-called rotor-stator interaction between a rotating impeller and a stationary cascade were discussed based on a phase-averaged measurement technique. Furthermore, the unsteadiness of inducer shock wave and the flow in a cascade diffuser during surge were discussed based on instantaneous velocity vector maps.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. I1RSJ3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Mosdzien ◽  
Martin Enneking ◽  
Alexander Hehn ◽  
Daniel Grates ◽  
Peter Jeschke

Due to the increasing demand for higher efficiencies of centrifugal compressors, numerical optimization methods are becoming more and more relevant in the design process. To identify the beneficial features of a numerical optimized compressor design, this paper analyses the influence of arbitrary blade surfaces on the loss generation in a transonic centrifugal compressor. The paper therefore focuses on an analysis of the secondary flow development within the impeller blade passages. To do this, steady simulations were performed on both a baseline and an optimized blade design. Two distinct design features of the optimized compressor stage were identified, which lead to a more homogenous impeller exit flow and thus to an increase in total-to-static efficiency of 1.76% points: the positive lean in the near-tip region and the positive blade curvature in the rear part of the optimized impeller. Furthermore, through extensive experimental investigations conducted on a large scale test rig it has been possible to prove the particular impeller outflow characteristics of the baseline compressor stage.


1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Harada

The overall performance of two- and three-dimensional impellers of a centrifugal compressor were tested and compared. A closed-loop test stand with Freon gas as the working fluid was employed for the experiments. The inlet and outlet velocity distributions of all impellers were measured using three-hole cobra probes. As a result, it has been revealed that three-dimensional impeller in terms of efficiency, head coefficient, and operating range. Further, it has also been clarified that the impeller slip factor is affected by blade angle distribution.


1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhao Xiaolu ◽  
Qin Lisen

An aerodynamic design method, which is based on the Mean Stream Surface Method (MSSM), has been developed for designing centrifugal compressor impeller blades. As a component of a CAD system for centrifugal compressor, it is convenient to use the presented method for generating impeller blade geometry, taking care of manufacturing as well as aerodynamic aspects. The design procedure starts with an S2m indirect solution. Afterward from the specified S2m surface, by the use of Taylor series expansion, the blade geometry is generated by straight-line elements to meet the manufacturing requirements. Simultaneously, the fluid dynamic quantities across the blade passage can be determined directly. In terms of these results, the designer can revise the distribution of angular momentum along the shroud and hub, which are associated with blade loading, to get satisfactory velocities along the blade surfaces in order to avoid or delay flow separation.


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