Analysis on the unsteady flow structures in the tip region of axial compressor

2021 ◽  
pp. 095765092199511
Author(s):  
Mo-Ru Song ◽  
Bo Yang
Keyword(s):  
Shock Wave ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Main Flow ◽  
The Self ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Low Velocity ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Unsteady Characteristics

The unsteady characteristic in the tip region of an axial compressor has been numerically studied with the help of the dynamic mode decomposition analysis. The characteristics of frequency and dynamic modes are compared and discussed under different operating points and different parameters, such as tip clearance and rotating speeds. For the flowfield structures in the tip region, such as tip leakage flow, separation flow and shock wave, their relationships with the unsteadiness are studied in detail. Except for the unsteadiness caused by the interaction between rotating rotor and the stationary boundaries, it is found that the unsteadiness is attributed to the moving of the low-velocity cell. Based on the generation and the development of the low-velocity cell, the unsteady characteristics in tip region are divided into 4 types: BPF-dominated, shedding-dominated, self-induced and separation-dominated. When the tip leakage flow is weak, the unsteadiness in the tip region is only triggered by the blade sweeping. As the tip leakage flow gets stronger to a certain extent, the low-velocity cell is shed into the flow passage and mixed with the main-flow. When the main-flow is weaker under the low flowrate condition, the interaction between the low-velocity cell and the pressure side occurs and generates a new low-velocity cell near the leading-edge of the neighboring blade. The frequency of the new cell generation is actually the self-induced frequency. In the zero and small clearance model, the low-velocity is shed by the separation in the leading-edge and the casing-suction corner. By understanding these unsteady characteristics, the change tendency of the leading frequency in the rotor tip is easily explained and forecasted. Furthermore, under the transonic operation condition, the low-velocity cell is decelerated and eliminated by the shock wave in the unsteadiness of the self-induced type and the separation-dominated type, respectively. Thus, the leading frequency in the tip flow field is moderated.

scholarly journals Effects of Tip Leakage Flow on the Aerodynamic Performance and Stability of an Axial-Flow Transonic Compressor Stage

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4168
Author(s):  
Botao Zhang ◽  
Xiaochen Mao ◽  
Xiaoxiong Wu ◽  
Bo Liu
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Shock Wave ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Rotating Stall ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Transonic Compressor

To explain the effect of tip leakage flow on the performance of an axial-flow transonic compressor, the compressors with different rotor tip clearances were studied numerically. The results show that as the rotor tip clearance increases, the leakage flow intensity is increased, the shock wave position is moved backward, and the interaction between the tip leakage vortex and shock wave is intensified, while that between the boundary layer and shock wave is weakened. Most of all, the stall mechanisms of the compressors with varying rotor tip clearances are different. The clearance leakage flow is the main cause of the rotating stall under large rotor tip clearance. However, the stall form for the compressor with half of the designed tip clearance is caused by the joint action of the rotor tip stall caused by the leakage flow spillage at the blade leading edge and the whole blade span stall caused by the separation of the boundary layer of the rotor and the stator passage. Within the investigated varied range, when the rotor tip clearance size is half of the design, the compressor performance is improved best, and the peak efficiency and stall margin are increased by 0.2% and 3.5%, respectively.

Stall Inception and Development Process Due to Tip Leakage Flow in Axial Compressor Rotor Blades Row

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Taghavi-Zenou ◽  
S. Abbasi ◽  
S. Eslami
Keyword(s):  
Mass Flow Rate ◽  
Mass Flow ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Compressor Rotor

ABSTRACTThis paper deals with tip leakage flow structure in subsonic axial compressor rotor blades row under different operating conditions. Analyses are based on flow simulation utilizing computational fluid dynamic technique. Three different circumstances at near stall condition are considered in this respect. Tip leakage flow frequency spectrum was studied through surveying instantaneous static pressure signals imposed on blades surfaces. Results at the highest flow rate, close to the stall condition, showed that the tip vortex flow fluctuates with a frequency close to the blade passing frequency. In addition, pressure signals remained unchanged with time. Moreover, equal pressure fluctuations at different passages guaranteed no peripheral disturbances. Tip leakage flow frequency decreased with reduction of the mass flow rate and its structure was changing with time. Spillage of the tip leakage flow from the blade leading edge occurred without any backflow in the trailing edge region. Consequently, various flow structures were observed within every passage between two adjacent blades. Further decrease in the mass flow rate provided conditions where the spilled flow ahead of the blade leading edge together with trailing edge backflow caused spike stall to occur. This latter phenomenon was accompanied by lower frequencies and higher amplitudes of the pressure signals. Further revolution of the rotor blade row caused the spike stall to eventuate to larger stall cells, which may be led to fully developed rotating stall.

The Influence of Tip Clearance Momentum Flux on Stall Inception in a High-Speed Axial Compressor

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Cameron ◽  
Matthew A. Bennington ◽  
Mark H. Ross ◽  
Scott C. Morris ◽  
Juan Du ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Momentum Flux ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Flow Coefficient ◽  
Axial Position ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage

Experimental and numerical studies were conducted to investigate tip-leakage flow and its relationship to stall in a transonic axial compressor. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results were used to identify the existence of an interface between the approach flow and the tip-leakage flow. The experiments used a surface-streaking visualization method to identify the time-averaged location of this interface as a line of zero axial shear stress at the casing. The axial position of this line, denoted xzs, moved upstream with decreasing flow coefficient in both the experiments and computations. The line was consistently located at the rotor leading edge plane at the stalling flow coefficient, regardless of inflow boundary condition. These results were successfully modeled using a control volume approach that balanced the reverse axial momentum flux of the tip-leakage flow with the momentum flux of the approach fluid. Nonuniform tip clearance measurements demonstrated that movement of the interface upstream of the rotor leading edge plane leads to the generation of short length scale rotating disturbances. Therefore, stall was interpreted as a critical point in the momentum flux balance of the approach flow and the reverse axial momentum flux of the tip-leakage flow.

scholarly journals Unsteady flow mechanisms in the last stage of a transonic low pressure steam turbine—multistage effects and tip leakage flows

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. F4IW8S
Author(s):  
Ilias Papagiannis ◽  
Asad Raheem ◽  
Altug Basol ◽  
Anestis Kalfas ◽  
Reza Abhari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shock Wave ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Bow Shock ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Bow Shock Wave ◽  
Last Stage ◽  
Two Stages

Abstract In this paper, an unsteady investigation of the last two stages of a low-pressure steam turbine with supersonic airfoils near the tip of the last stage’s rotor blade is presented. Goal is the investigation of multistage effects and tip leakage flow in the last stage of the turbine and to provide insight on the stator-rotor flow interaction in the presence of a bow-shock wave. This study is unique in a sense of combining experimental data for code validation and comparison with a numerical simulation of the last two stages of a real steam turbine, including tip-cavity paths and seals, steam modelling and experimental data used as inlet and outlet boundary conditions. Analysis of results shows high unsteadiness close to the tip of the last stage, due to the presence of a bow-shock wave upstream of the rotor blade leading edge and its interaction with the upstream stator blades, but no boundary layer separation on stator is detected at any instant in time. The intensity of the shock wave is weakest, when the axial distance of the rotor leading edge from the upstream stator trailing edge is largest, since it has more space available to weaken. However, a phase shift between the maximum values of static pressure along the suction side of the stator blade is identified, due to the shock wave moving with the rotor blades. Additionally, the bow-shock wave interacts with the blade shroud and the tip leakage flow. Despite the interaction with the incoming flow, the total tip leakage mass flow ingested in the tip-cavity shows a steady behaviour with extremely low fluctuations in time. Finally, traces of upstream stage’s leakage flow have been identified in the last stage, contributing to entropy generation in inlet and outlet of last stage’s stator blade, highlighting the importance of performing multistage simulations.

Unsteady Three-Dimensional Flow Phenomena Due to Breakdown of Tip Leakage Vortex in a Transonic Axial Compressor Rotor

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Yamada ◽  
M. Furukawa ◽  
T. Nakano ◽  
M. Inoue ◽  
K. Funazaki
Keyword(s):  
Shock Wave ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Vortex Breakdown ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Vortex ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Compressor Rotor

Unsteady three-dimensional flow fields in a transonic axial compressor rotor (NASA Rotor 37) have been investigated by unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations. The simulations show that the breakdown of the tip leakage vortex occurs in the compressor rotor because of the interaction of the vortex with the shock wave. At near-peak efficiency condition small bubble-type breakdown of the tip leakage vortex happens periodically and causes the loading of the adjacent blade to fluctuate periodically near the leading edge. Since the blade loading near the leading edge is closely linked to the swirl intensity of the tip leakage vortex, the periodic fluctuation of the blade loading leads to the periodic breakdown of the tip leakage vortex, resulting in self-sustained flow oscillation in the tip leakage flow field. However, the tip leakage vortex breakdown is so weak and small that it is not observed in the time-averaged flow field at near-peak efficiency condition. On the other hand, spiral-type breakdown of the tip leakage vortex is caused by the interaction between the vortex and the shock wave at near-stall operating condition. The vortex breakdown is found continuously since the swirl intensity of tip leakage vortex keeps strong at near-stall condition. The spiral-type vortex breakdown has the nature of self-sustained flow oscillation and gives rise to the large fluctuation of the tip leakage flow field, in terms of shock wave location, blockage near the rotor tip and three-dimensional separation structure on the suction surface. It is found that the breakdown of the tip leakage vortex leads to the unsteady flow phenomena near the rotor tip, accompanying large blockage effect in the transonic compressor rotor at the near-stall condition.

The Relationship of Spike Stall and Hub Corner Separation in Axial Compressor

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Jiang ◽  
Xiangtong Shi ◽  
Qun Zheng ◽  
Qingfang Zhu ◽  
Zhongliang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Flow ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Rotating Stall ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Separation Flow ◽  
Secondary Vortex ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Corner Separation ◽  
Tip Leakage

AbstractThe onset of spike stall induced by the interaction of hub corner separation flow with the tip leakage flow is investigated in detail by numerical method in this paper. The time resolved results indicate that the remarkable radial secondary flow from hub to tip near the trailing edge is formed when the compressor approaching rotating stall. The radial secondary flow is unstable and cross-passages propagates, which flows in and away out of the tip region periodically. The disturbance caused by radial secondary flow will influence the tip leakage flow directly by reforming the vortexes in blade tip region. A secondary vortex which comes from the radial migration of corner separation and is induced by the tip leakage vortex appears in the tip region. The simulation result demonstrates that the generation of the secondary vortex is an important symbol of blockage growth in the tip region at the stall inception phase. The disturbance produced by secondary vortex is an incentive of the leading edge overflow and the intensity of secondary vortex could be used as a criterion of rotating stall before leading edge spillage.

Numerical Study on Interaction of Tip Synthetic Jet With Tip Leakage Flow in Centrifugal Impeller

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenlin Huang ◽  
Huijing Zhao ◽  
Zhiheng Wang ◽  
Guang Xi ◽  
Haijun Liu
Keyword(s):  
Leading Edge ◽  
Synthetic Jet ◽  
Main Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Centrifugal Impeller ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Injection Angle ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Blade Leading Edge

The synthetic jet, located at the shroud and close to the blade leading edge, is used to control the flow in a typical centrifugal impeller. The effects of the synthetic jet control and the interaction with the tip leakage flow are mainly investigated at the near-stall working point of impeller using the unsteady numerical analysis. The results indicate that, the effect of the synthetic jet with a small injection angle (15deg) is better when the excitation position is located over the main blade leading edge. However, the synthetic jet with a large injection angle (90deg) obtains a better result when the excitation position is located at the downstream of main blade leading edge. The synthetic jet with a larger velocity amplitude has a more remarkable effect on deflecting the main flow/tip leakage flow interface to the downstream direction. With typical parameters, the synthetic jet increases the circumferentially averaged streamwise location of the main flow/tip leakage flow interface by 12.5% compared with the case without a synthetic jet. The interaction between the tip leakage flow and synthetic jet makes the tip leakage flow out of the tip clearance with larger streamwise momentum, which is favorable to restrain the tip leakage flow to spill out the leading edge. Besides, the periodic blade loading drop is deflected to downstream direction and the flow fluctuation near the leading edge decrease significantly with the presence of synthetic jet.

Numerical Investigation on the Self-Induced Unsteadiness in Tip Leakage Flow for a Transonic Fan Rotor

2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Du ◽  
Feng Lin ◽  
Hongwu Zhang ◽  
Jingyi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Investigation ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Main Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
The Self ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Blade Loading ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Transonic Fan

A numerical investigation on the self-induced unsteadiness in tip leakage flow is presented for a transonic fan rotor. NASA Rotor 67 is chosen as the computational model. It is found that under certain conditions the self-induced unsteadiness can be originated from the interaction of two important driving “forces:” the incoming main flow and the tip leakage flow. Among all the simulated cases, the self-induced unsteadiness exists when the size of the tip clearance is equal to or larger than the design tip clearance. The originating mechanism of the unsteadiness is clarified through time-dependent internal flow patterns in the rotor tip region. It is demonstrated that when strong enough, the tip leakage flow impinges the pressure side of neighboring blade and alters the blade loading significantly. The blade loading in turn changes the strength of the tip leakage flow and results in a flow oscillation with a typical signature frequency. This periodic process is further illustrated by the time-space relation between the driving forces. A correlation based on the momentum ratio of tip leakage flow over the incoming main flow at the tip region is used as an indicator for the onset of the self-induced unsteadiness in tip leakage flow. It is discussed that the interaction between shock wave and tip leakage vortex does not initiate the self-induced unsteadiness, but might be the cause of other types of unsteadiness, such as broad-banded turbulence unsteadiness.

Numerical study of the unsteady behaviors and rotating stall inception process in a counter-rotating axial compressor

2016 ◽  
Vol 230 (14) ◽  
pp. 2716-2727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochen Mao ◽  
Bo Liu
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Study ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Rotating Stall ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Suction Surface ◽  
Trailing Edge ◽  
Stall Inception ◽  
Tip Leakage

Unsteady computations of a counter-rotating axial compressor are performed and analyzed to investigate the unsteady behaviors in the compressor and the role of the tip leakage flow together with the rotating stall inception process. The results show that the oscillation on the pressure side is much stronger than that on the suction surface for both rotors, especially near the tip region where the trajectory of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) interacts with the blades most often. There exists a periodical leading edge spillage of the interface in rotor2 due to the unsteadiness of tip leakage flow (TLF) at near-stall condition. The blockage generated by the TLV increases dramatically due to the increasing strength of the TLV and the backflow phenomenon as the mass flow decreased. The appearance of the frequency components of 0.5 blade passing frequency (BPF) and 1.5BPF from 0.64BPF can be viewed as the rotating stall inception warning. The fluctuation strength of oscillation frequencies of 0.5BPF and 1.5BPF decreases rapidly from leading edge to trailing edge in rotor2, which indicates that the unsteady fluctuation of TLF at the leading edge in rotor2 is responsible for the stall inception of the compressor. Additionally, both the leading edge spillage and trailing edge backflow phenomena are observed for spike initiated rotating stall at stall point.

Numerical Investigation on the Originating Mechanism of Unsteadiness in Tip Leakage Flow for a Transonic Fan Rotor

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Du ◽  
Feng Lin ◽  
Hongwu Zhang ◽  
Jingyi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Computational Model ◽  
Numerical Investigation ◽  
Main Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
The Self ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Leakage Flows ◽  
Tip Leakage Flows

Despite the fact that the importance of steady tip leakage flows in rotor efficiency and stability has been long recognized and extensively studied, the unsteadiness of tip leakage flows became an interesting research topic only about 10 years ago. Many issues, such as its onset conditions, its role in compressor instability, etc. need to be further explored. In this paper, we present a numerical investigation on the influences of two important driving “forces”, the incoming main flow and the tip leakage flow, to clarify the originating mechanism of self-induced unsteadiness in transonic compressors. NASA Rotor 67 is chosen as the computational model. It is found that among all the simulated cases, the self-induced unsteadiness exists when the size of the tip clearance equals or larger than design tip clearance of the computational model. The time-dependent flow pattern in the rotor tip region is provided to illustrate that the main unsteady regions are on the blade’s pressure side that happens to be under the alternate influence of tip leakage flow and the incoming main flow. It is found the self-induced unsteady mechanism in the transonic rotor is the same as that in previously studied low-speed rotor. The interaction between shock wave and tip leakage vortex does not initiate the self-induced unsteadiness, but might be the cause of other unsteadiness, such as turbulent unsteadiness. A correlation based on the momentum ratio of tip leakage flow over the main incoming flow at the tip region is used as an indicator for the onset of the self-induced unsteadiness in tip leakage flow.

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