Effect of housing size on the performance of a centrifugal compressor for turbocharger application: An experimental and numerical study

Author(s):  
Ealumalai Karunakaran ◽  
J M Mallikarjuna

Currently, engine downsizing through turbocharging is widespread in the automotive industry to improve fuel economy and emissions. The engine downsizing demands compact and high performance centrifugal compressors for turbochargers. A compressor contains mainly an impeller and housing, which often uses a vaneless diffuser and an overhanging volute. High-speed flow from the impeller is decelerated in the diffuser and volute, to recover static pressure for boosting the engine. The volute flow characteristics and pressure recovery depend on the housing size, which determines the overall compressor performance and size. This study evaluates the effect of four different housing sizes viz., baseline, 12% scaled up, and 12% and 20% scaled-down geometrically, through experimental and numerical analysis. The experiments are conducted using different housing sizes with a given impeller to measure the compressor pressure ratio and efficiency. Also, steady-state numerical simulations are performed to examine the flow mechanisms causing pressure losses due to changes in housing size. Then, the simulation is also done for different volute surface roughness levels in each housing to establish its effect on compressor performance. From the results, it is found that there is no marked change in compressor efficiency between the baseline and 12% scaled-up housing. Whereas, the scaled-down housings (12% and 20%) showed efficiency drop of about 2–5 percentage points at near-choke flow rate. The CFD analyses of these scaled down housings with reduced cross-sectional area indicated substantial increase of meridional velocity, which results in higher swirl velocity in the volute causing more pressure losses. Besides, the increased volute surface roughness is realized to cause extra pressure loss due to higher wall shear stress. It amounts to additional efficiency reduction of 0.5–1 percentage points at the same near-choke flow.

2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742110475
Author(s):  
Ealumalai Karunakaran ◽  
Sanket Mulye ◽  
Jawali Maharudrappa Mallikarjuna

Centrifugal compressor plays a vital role in the performance of a turbocharger. The compressor contains an impeller and housing, including the vaneless diffuser and a volute. The high-speed flow from the impeller is diffused in the diffuser and volute, before being delivered to the engine. Hence, the housing flow characteristics affect the compressor performance and operating range. Generally, housing has noticeable surface roughness, especially in the volute. This study evaluates the effect of the volute surface roughness on the compressor performance by experimental and numerical analysis. The experiments are conducted for three different volute surface roughness levels to measure the overall compressor pressure ratio and efficiency. The uncertainty in the efficiency for experimental results is within ±0.5% pts. Also, steady-state numerical simulations are performed to analyse the flow mechanisms causing pressure losses. Then, a numerical analysis is done to understand the effect of roughness of the diffuser hub and shroud walls on the compressor performance. From the experimental results, it is found that the increase in the roughness level of the volute from the smooth surface by circa 900% and 1400% shows a significant reduction in the compressor efficiency at the design speed (N) and off-design speeds (0.87 and 1.13 N). The reductions of efficiency are about 0.5%–1% pts at the near surge point, 1%–1.5% pts at the peak efficiency point and 2%–2.5% pts at the near choke flow point. The CFD analyses show significantly higher near-wall turbulence and wall shear resulting in additional pressure losses. Also, it is found that the pressure losses are more sensitive to roughness of the diffuser shroud-wall than that of the hub-wall. On the other hand, the diffuser hub-wall roughness increases the radial momentum in the diffuser passage which suppress the flow separation at low flow rates.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Ligrani

The influences of a variety of different physical phenomena are described as they affect the aerodynamic performance of turbine airfoils in compressible, high-speed flows with either subsonic or transonic Mach number distributions. The presented experimental and numerically predicted results are from a series of investigations which have taken place over the past 32 years. Considered are (i) symmetric airfoils with no film cooling, (ii) symmetric airfoils with film cooling, (iii) cambered vanes with no film cooling, and (iv) cambered vanes with film cooling. When no film cooling is employed on the symmetric airfoils and cambered vanes, experimentally measured and numerically predicted variations of freestream turbulence intensity, surface roughness, exit Mach number, and airfoil camber are considered as they influence local and integrated total pressure losses, deficits of local kinetic energy, Mach number deficits, area-averaged loss coefficients, mass-averaged total pressure loss coefficients, omega loss coefficients, second law loss parameters, and distributions of integrated aerodynamic loss. Similar quantities are measured, and similar parameters are considered when film-cooling is employed on airfoil suction surfaces, along with film cooling density ratio, blowing ratio, Mach number ratio, hole orientation, hole shape, and number of rows of holes.


2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulio Lorenzini ◽  
Simone Moretti

High performance heat exchangers represent nowadays the key of success to go on with the trend of miniaturizing electronic components as requested by the industry. This numerical study, based on Bejan’s Constructal theory, analyzes the thermal behavior of heat removing fin modules, comparing their performances when operating with different types of fluids. In particular, the simulations involve air and water (as representative of gases and liquids), to understand the actual benefits of employing a less heat conductive fluid involving smaller pressure losses or vice versa. The analysis parameters typical of a Constructal description (such as conductance or Overall Performance Coefficient) show that significantly improved performances may be achieved when using water, even if an unavoidable increase in pressure losses affects the liquid-refrigerated case. Considering the overall performance: if the parameter called Relevance tends to 0, air prevails; if it tends to 1, water prevails; if its value is about 0.5, water prevails in most of the case studies.


Author(s):  
Ce Yang ◽  
Ben Zhao ◽  
C. C. Ma ◽  
Dazhong Lao ◽  
Mi Zhou

Two different inlet configurations, including a straight pipe and a bent pipe, were experimentally tested and numerically simulated using a high-speed, low-mass flow centrifugal compressor. The pressure ratios of the compressor with the two inlet configurations were tested and then compared to illustrate the effect of the bent inlet pipe on the compressor. Furthermore, different circumferential positions of the bent inlet pipe relative to the volute are discussed for two purposes. One purpose is to describe the changes in the compressor performance that result from altering the circumferential position of the bent inlet pipe relative to the volute. This change in performance may be the so-called clocking effect, and its mechanism is different from the one in multistage turbomachinery. The other purpose is to investigate the unsteady flow for different matching states of the bent inlet pipe and volute. Thus, the frequency spectrum of unsteady pressure fluctuation was applied to analyze the aerodynamic response. Compared with the straight inlet pipe, the experimental results show that the pressure ratio is modulated and that the choke point is shifted in the bent inlet pipe. Similarly, the pressure ratio can be influenced by altering the circumferential position of the bent inlet pipe relative to the volute, which may have an effect on the unsteady pressure in the rotor section. Therefore, the magnitude of interest spectral frequency is significantly changed by clocking the bent inlet pipe.


2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raúl Vázquez ◽  
Diego Torre

The effect of surface roughness on the efficiency of low pressure turbines (LPTs) was experimentally investigated in a multistage turbine high-speed rig. The rig consisted of three stages of a state-of-the-art LPT. The stages were characterized by a very high wall-slope angle, reverse cut-off design, very high lift, and very high aspect ratio airfoils. Two sets of airfoils (both stators and rotors) were tested. The first set was made of airfoils with a roughness size of 0.7 μm Ra (25–35 × 10−5 ks/Cm), which was representative of LPT polished airfoils. The surface finish for the second set of airfoils was 1.8 μm Ra for blades and 2.5 μm Ra for stators (approximately 90 × 10−5 in terms of ks/Cm for both stators and blades). The resulting roughness of this set was representative of “as-cast” airfoils of low pressure turbines. The airfoil geometries, velocity triangles, leading and trailing edge locations, and flowpath were maintained between both sets. They were tested with the same instrumentation and at the same operating conditions with the intention of determining the isolated impact of the surface roughness on the overall efficiency. The turbine characteristics: sensitivity to speed, specific work, Reynolds number, and purge flows, were obtained for both sets. The comparison of the results suggests that the efficiency and capacity of both types of airfoils exhibit the same behavior. No significant differences in the results can be distinguished for the range of operating conditions in this study. The results agree with previous studies of distributed roughness in turbines: the use of as-cast rough airfoils in some low pressure turbines at high altitude does not introduce additional pressure losses.


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. H. Smith

Fan and compressor research projects carried out at GE Aircraft Engines under NASA sponsorship are described in this paper. Four 1400-fps-tip-speed rotors designed with different airfoil shapes were found to have comparable stall lines but different efficiency trends. A stator placed behind one of these affected its performance somewhat. Adjustments of variable camber inlet guide vanes placed ahead of a 1500fps stage were found to affect its pumping capability without much affecting its stall line. For the Quiet Engine Program (QEP), two 1160-fps fans and one 1550-fps fan were tested. Development of the high-speed fan revealed the effects on performance of airfoil shape and part-span shroud blockage. The 950-fps variable-pitch fan for the Quiet Clean Short-haul Experimental Engine (QCSEE) demonstrated reverse thrust capabilities and a novel method of avoiding large core inlet pressure losses during reverse thrust operation. The 1350-fps Energy Efficient Engine (E3) fan demonstrated excellent performance with a novel quarter-stage arrangement that eliminated the need for interspool bleed while giving good dirt removal potential. The E3 compressor program employed Low Speed Research Compressor tests to identify the most appropriate blading type. High-speed rig tests and engine tests were then used to develop this 23:1-spool-pressure-ratio compressor. Research on casing boundary layer control through bleeding and blowing led to the discovery that irregular casing geometries usually give stall line enhancements even without auxiliary air circuits. Some of the resulting casing treatment research is reported herein. Instances in which NASA-sponsored research has affected GE Aircraft Engine products are pointed out.


Author(s):  
J. Sans ◽  
J.-F. Brouckaert ◽  
S. Hiernaux

The solidity in a compressor is defined as the ratio of the aerodynamic chord over the peripheral distance between two adjacent blades, the pitch. The choice of this parameter represents a crucial step in the whole design process. Most of the studies addressing this issue are based on low-speed compressor cascade correlations. In that prospect, aiming at updating those correlation data as well as improving the physical understanding of the solidity effect on compressor performance, both experimental and numerical high-speed cascade investigations have been carried out at the von Karman Institute. The profile is a state-of-the-art controlled diffusion blade, representative of a low pressure compressor stator mid-span profile. The performance in terms of total pressure losses and deviation have been measured in the high-speed C3 cascade facility for three different solidities at six incidences and two Mach numbers. Based on the experimental results, a numerical linear cascade model has been built and computations have been run with FINE/Turbo at the same conditions as the measurements. The quality of the numerical predictions is discussed over the whole incidence range and, in particular, big discrepancies are highlighted at off-design incidences. Focusing on the solidity effects at mid-span, both experimental and numerical results are compared with existing correlations. The establishment of updated correlations for such controlled diffusion profile is addressed for both deviation and total pressure losses and at both optimum and off-design conditions.


Author(s):  
Taieb Ben Sghaier ◽  
Ahad Mehdi ◽  
Vassilios Pachidis ◽  
David MacManus

The ingestion or manifestation of a vortical flow can have dramatic effects on an aero engine. It is therefore imperative to quantify these effects and understand their underlying mechanism. This numerical study analyses the response of a transonic compressor stage to the ingestion of different streamwise vortical distortions using steady-state CFD. The vortex is described using a number of features, which are varied and combined together in order to generate a wide range of different swirl disturbances. The initial aim of this research is to identify the vortex features which have the highest impact on compressor performance. A numerical model of a compressor stage is generated which enables prescribed vortical flows to be imposed at the domain inlet. The method is validated against experimental data which was obtained under clean, undistorted conditions. The response of the compressor following the ingestion of a vortex is assessed both in terms of overall compressor performance parameters as well as more detailed aerodynamic characteristics. The results show that the compressor is sensitive to the vortex magnitude, core size, polarity and radial location. Furthermore, co-rotating, high-strength vortices which are ingested in the near-hub region cause the most significant drop in pressure ratio and corrected mass flow. In contrast, counter-rotating vortices cause little change in compressor performance. Overall, the work shows that modest swirl distortions can have a notable impact on the compressor performance and stability, and highlights the growing need to develop methods and an understanding of how this class of distortion can be evaluated during the engine design phase.


1989 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. W. Wang ◽  
V. D. Mattera ◽  
K. Tai ◽  
S. N. G. Chu ◽  
D. D. Roccasecca ◽  
...  

AbstractLong wavelength (l.3pm<X<l.551un) InGaAs/InP multiquantum well (MQW) PIN structures in which the quantum confined Stark effect can be observed, are of particular interest because of their potential for high modulation contrast ratios and high speed operation. The chemistry of trichloride VPE lends itself to the growth of high purity InGaAsP heterostructures which are essential for the realization of high performance optical modulators and switches. In this study, we investigate the application of multi-frit trichloride VPE for the highly uniform epitaxial growth of InGaAs/InP MQW structures on two-inch InP substrates for advanced photonic device applications. The growth of MQW structures with various well thicknesses was studied as was the effect of substrate orientation. The structures have been characterized by infrared absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and double crystal x-ray diffraction.


Author(s):  
Brian Garrett ◽  
Kareem Ahmed

Abstract The UAV industry is booming with investments in research and development on improving UAV systems. Current UAV machines are developed according to the quadcopter design which consists of a rotary propulsion system providing lift needed for flight. This design has some flaws; namely safety concerns and noise/vibration production both of which come stem from the rotary propulsion system. As such, a novel propulsion system using slip stream air passed through high performance slot jets is proposed and an analysis of the fluid characteristics is presented in this report. The test section for the experiment is developed using 3D printed ABS plastic airfoils modified with internal cavities where pressurized air is introduced and then expelled through slot jets on the pressure side of the airfoils. Entrainment processes develop in the system through high momentum fluid introduction into a sedentary secondary fluid. Entrainment is governed by pressure gradients and turbulent mixing and so turbulent quantities that measure these processes are extracted and analyzed according to the independent variable’s effects on these quantities. Pitot probe testing extracted one dimensional fluid information and PIV analysis is used to characterize the two-dimensional flow aspects. High slot jet velocities are seen to develop flows dominated by convection pushing momentum mixing downstream reducing the mixing in the system while low slot jet speeds exhibit higher mass fluxes and thrust development. Confinement spacing is seen to cause a decrease in flow velocity and thrust as the spacing is decreased for high speed runs. The most constricted cross sectional runs showed high momentum mixing and developed combined self-similar flow through higher boundary layer interactions and pressures, but this also hurts thrust development by minimizing secondary flows. The Angle of Attack of the assembly proved to be the most important variable. Outward angling showed the influence of coanda effects but also demonstrated the highest bulk fluid flow with turbulence driven momentum mixing. Inward angling created combined fluid flow downstream with high momentum mixing upstream driven by pressure. Minimal mixing is seen when the airfoils are not angled, and high recirculation zones occur along the boundaries. The optimal setup is seen when the airfoils are angled outwards where the highest thrust and bulk fluid movement is developed driven by the turbulent mixing induced by the increasing cross sectional area of the system.


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