Experimental and numerical investigation of a subsonic compressor with bend-skewed slot-casing treatment

2006 ◽  
Vol 220 (12) ◽  
pp. 1785-1796 ◽  
Author(s):  
X Lu ◽  
W Chu ◽  
Y Zhang ◽  
J Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Efficiency Gain ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Blade Passage ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Flow Compressor ◽  
Isentropic Efficiency

On the basis of the test results of discrete axial and blade angle slot casing treatment, a new type of casing treatment was designed for a subsonic axial flow compressor rotor by optimizing various geometry parameters. To obtain a wide operating range and to minimize penalties in terms of isentropic efficiency, seven compressor configurations incorporating casing treatments of 0, 16.6, 33.3, 50, 66.6, 83.3, and 100 per cent rotor exposures were experimentally investigated. The results showed that significant improvements in stall margin are possible in all exposures and insignificant isentropic efficiency sacrifices are recorded in some exposures. Nearly 21.43 per cent stall margin improvement in terms of the corrected mass flow-rate was achieved with 33.3 per cent rotor blade tip axial chord exposure. The compressor built with 16.6 per cent rotor exposure was the best configuration in terms of maximum isentropic efficiency gain. The second issue of the paper was to offer a contribution to the understanding of the physical mechanism by which bend-skewed slot-casing treatment improves stall margin under subsonic conditions. By applying a concept similar to ‘Domain scaling’ approach (as often used in multistage turbomachinery flow-fields) to the interface between the rotor blade passage and end-wall treatments, a time-dependent three-dimensional numerical simulation was performed for the subsonic axial-flow compressor rotor with bend-skewed slot-casing treatment. The numerical results agreed well with the available experimental results. Detailed analyses of the coupled flow through bend-skewed slot-casing treatment and rotor blade passage under subsonic conditions led to some preliminary conclusions as to the flow physics involved in the stall margin improvements afforded by the use of bend-skewed slot-casing treatment.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of a Subsonic Compressor With Bend Skewed Slot Casing Treatment

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Wuli Chu ◽  
Junqiang Zhu ◽  
Yanhui Wu
Keyword(s):  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Efficiency Gain ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Blade Passage ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Flow Compressor ◽  
Isentropic Efficiency

Based on the test results of discrete axial and blade angle slot casing treatment, a new type of casing treatment was designed for a subsonic axial flow compressor rotor by optimising various geometry parameters. To obtain a wide operating range and to minimize penalties in terms of isentropic efficiency, seven compressor configurations incorporating casing treatments of 0%, 16.6%, 33.3%, 50%, 66.6%, 83.3% and 100% rotor exposure were experimentally investigated. The results showed that significant improvements in stall margin are possible in all exposures and insignificant isentropic efficiency sacrifices are recorded in some exposures. Nearly 21.43% stall margin improvement in terms of the corrected mass flow rate was achieved with 33.3% rotor blade tip axial chord exposure. The compressor build with 16.6% rotor exposure was the best configuration in terms of maximum isentropic efficiency gain. The second issue of the paper was to offer a contribution to the understanding of the physical mechanism by which bend skewed slot casing treatment improve stall margin under subsonic conditions. By applying a concept similar to “Domain Scaling” approach (as often used in multistage turbomachinery Flow-fields) to the interface between the rotor blade passage and end-wall treatments, a time-dependent 3-dimentional numerical simulation was performed for the subsonic axial-flow compressor rotor with bend skewed slot casing treatment. The numerical results agreed well with experimental results. Detailed analyses of the coupled flow through bend skewed slot casing treatment and rotor blade passage under subsonic conditions led to some preliminary conclusions as to the flow physics involved in the stall margin improvements afforded by the use of bend skewed slot casing treatment.

Numerical Investigations of the Coupled Flow Through a Subsonic Compressor Rotor and Axial Skewed Slot

2008 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Wuli Chu ◽  
Junqiang Zhu ◽  
Yangfeng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Axial Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Flow Compressor

In order to advance the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of axial skewed slot casing treatment and their effects on the subsonic axial-flow compressor flow field, the coupled unsteady flow through a subsonic compressor rotor and the axial skewed slot was simulated with a state-of-the-art multiblock flow solver. The computational results were first compared with available measured data, that showed the numerical procedure calculates the overall effect of the axial skewed slot correctly. Then, the numerically obtained flow fields were interrogated to identify the physical mechanism responsible for improvement in stall margin of a modern subsonic axial-flow compressor rotor due to the discrete skewed slots. It was found that the axial skewed slot casing treatment can increase the stall margin of subsonic compressor by repositioning of the tip clearance flow trajectory further toward the trailing of the blade passage and retarding the movement of the incoming∕tip clearance flow interface toward the rotor leading edge plane.

Effects of a Vane-Recessed Tubular-Passage Passive Stall Control Technique on a Multistage, Axial-Flow Compressor: Results of Tests on the First Stage With the Rear Stages Removed

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Akhlaghi ◽  
R. L. Elder ◽  
K. W. Ramsden
Keyword(s):  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Control Technique ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Stall Margin Improvement ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Flow Compressor

The objective of the current study was to investigate the effect of casing treatment on a multistage axial flow compressor. The main purpose of the investigation was to extend the range and operability of multistage axial compressors. The study seeks to establish whether a vane-recessed tubular-passage casing-treatment could provide beneficial stall margin improvement, without sacrificing the efficiencies of the compressor with the restricted space available for the treatment. A casing treatment that consisted of three parts: an outer casing ring, with a tubular shaped passage on the inside, a set of 120 evenly spaced curved vanes, and then a shroud or inner ring was developed from two initial designs. The casing treatment, manufactured from high quality acrylic, was positioned upstream and partly covering the tip of the first stage rotor blades. The casing treatment was tested on the first stage of a three-stage low-speed compressor with inlet guide vanes with the rear two stages removed. The rotor blade tip axial chord exposure had a significant impact on the effectiveness of the casing treatment. Seven compressor configuration incorporating casing treatments of 23.2%, 33.3%, 43.4%, 53.5%, 63.6%, 73.7% and 83.8% rotor exposure were tested. The results showed significant improvements in stall margin in all exposures and insignificant efficiency sacrifices in some exposures. Nearly 29% of stall margin improvement in terms of the corrected mass flow rate was achieved with 33.3% rotor blade tip axial chord exposure. The compressor build with 53.5% rotor exposure was the best configuration in terms of maximum efficiency gain. In terms of peak pressure rise coefficients the compressor configuration with a casing treatment of 63.6% exposure was the best design. The results also suggest that the vane-recessed tubular-passage casing treatment designed as part of this research, in most instances enabled the stall conditions in the compressor to become progressive rather than abrupt.

The Stability-Limiting Flow Mechanisms in a Subsonic Axial-Flow Compressor and Its Passive Control With Casing Treatment

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Junqiang Zhu ◽  
Chaoqun Nie ◽  
Weiguang Huang
Keyword(s):  
Flow Instability ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Flow Mechanism ◽  
Blade Passage ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Flow Compressor ◽  
The Stability ◽  
End Wall

The phenomenon of flow instability in the compression system such as fan and compressor has been a long-standing “bottle-neck” problem for gas turbines/aircraft engines. With a vision of providing a state-of-the-art understanding of the flow field in axial-flow compressor in the perspective of enhancing their stability using passive means. Two topics are covered in this paper. The first topic is the stability-limiting flow mechanism close to stall, which is the basic knowledge needed to manipulate end-wall flow behavior for the stability improvement. The physical process occurring when approaching stall and the role of complex tip flow mechanism on flow instability in current high subsonic axial compressor rotor has been assessed using single blade passage computations. The second topic is flow instability manipulation with casing treatment. In order to advance the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of casing treatment and determine the change in the flow field by which casing treatment improve compressor stability, systematic studies of the coupled flow through a subsonic compressor rotor and various end-wall treatments were carried out using a state-of-the-art multi-block flow solver. The numerically obtained flow fields were interrogated to identify complicated flow phenomenon around and within the end-wall treatments and describe the interaction between the rotor tip flow and end-wall treatments. Detailed analyses of the flow visualization at the rotor tip have exposed the different tip flow topologies between the cases with treatment casing and with untreated smooth wall. It was found that the primary stall margin enhancement afforded by end-wall treatments is a result of the tip flow manipulation. Compared to the smooth wall case, the treated casing significantly dampen or absorb the blockage near the upstream part of the blade passage caused by the upstream movement of tip clearance flow and weakens the roll-up of the core vortex. These mechanisms prevent an early spillage of low momentum fluid into the adjacent blade passage and delay the onset of flow instability.

Influence of Rain Ingestion on the Endwall Treatment in an Axial Flow Compressor

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jichao Li ◽  
Juan Du ◽  
Mingzhen Li ◽  
Feng Lin ◽  
Hongwu Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Water Film ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Water Ingestion ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Flow Compressor ◽  
The Stability

The effects of water ingestion on the performance of an axial flow compressor are experimentally studied with and without endwall treatment. The background to the work is derived from the assessment of airworthiness for an aero-engine. The stability-enhancing effects with endwall treatments under rain ingestion are not previously known. Moreover, all the endwall treatments are designed under dry air conditions in the compressor. Water ingestion at 3% and 5% relative to the design mass flow proposed in the airworthiness standard are applied to initially investigate the effects on the performance under smooth casing (SC). Results show that the water ingestions are mainly located near the casing wall after they move through the rotor blade row. The pressure rise coefficient increases, efficiency declines, and torque increases under the proposed water ingestion. The increase of the inlet water increases the thickness of the water film downstream the rotor blade row and aggravates the adverse effects on the performances. Subsequently, three endwall treatments, namely circumferential grooves, axial slots, and hybrid slots–grooves, are tested with and without water ingestion. Compared with no water ingestion, the circumferential grooves basically have no resistance to the water ingestion. The axial slots best prevent the drop of the pressure rise coefficient induced by water ingestion, and hybrid slots–grooves are the second-best place owing to the contribution of the front axial slots. Therefore, the hybrid slots–grooves can not only extend the stall margin with less efficiency penalty compared with axial slots, but also prevent rain ingestion from worsening the compressor performance.

Water Film Formation on an Axial Flow Compressor Rotor Blade

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theoklis Nikolaidis ◽  
Periclis Pilidis ◽  
J. A. Teixeira ◽  
V. Pachidis
Keyword(s):  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Guide Vane ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Water Film ◽  
Inlet Guide Vane ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Water Ingestion ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Flow Compressor

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.

Numerically Understand the Combined Effect of Tip Clearance and Circumferential Grooves Casing Treatment on the Performance of Single Stage Transonic Axial Flow Compressor

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitesh Goswami ◽  
Dilipkumar Bhanudasji Alone ◽  
Harish S. Choksi
Keyword(s):  
Axial Flow ◽  
Single Stage ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Combined Effect ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Circumferential Groove ◽  
Flow Compressor ◽  
Stage Efficiency

This paper deals with the numerical studies on the combined effect of tip clearance and axisymmetric circumferential grooves casing treatment (CGCT) on the overall performance and stall margin of a single stage transonic axial flow compressor. Steady state numerical analysis was carried out by solving three dimensional Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) Equations using the Shear Stress Transport (SST) k-ω Turbulence Model. The numerical stall inception point was identified from the last converged point by the convergence criteria, and the stall margin was numerically predicted. Additionally, the stall margin and the isentropic peak stage efficiencies of the circumferential casing grooves with various tip clearances were compared and evaluated in order to explore the influence of the tip clearance. Results obtained were compared with those obtained on the baseline compressor with the smooth casing (SC). Further computational studies were conducted to study the role of the tip leakage flow in axial compressor in triggering the stall. The relationship between the tip clearance flow, flow field and surge margin extension from circumferential groove casing treatment with various rotor tip clearances were studied numerically. The application of the circumferential groove casing treatment with varying clearance leads to significant improvement in the operating stability of compressor with slight reduction in the isentropic peak stage efficiency for small tip clearances, whereas there was slight increment in the isentropic peak stage efficiency at higher tip clearance of 2.5 mm.

On Understanding the Effect of Plenum Chamber of a Bend Skewed Casing Treatment on the Performance of a Transonic Axial Flow Compressor

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilipkumar B. Alone ◽  
Subramani Satish Kumar ◽  
Shobhavathy Thimmaiah ◽  
Janaki Rami Reddy Mudipalli ◽  
A. M. Pradeep ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Axial Flow ◽  
Single Stage ◽  
Compressor Stage ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Plenum Chamber ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Chamber Volume ◽  
Stable Operating ◽  
Flow Compressor

Bend skewed casing treatment was designed to improve the stable operating range of single stage transonic axial flow compressor and also to understand the effects of its plenum chamber volume on the performance. This paper presents the original experimental research work undertaken to study the effect of plenum chamber depth and thus its volume on the performance of single stage transonic axial flow compressor coupled with the bend skewed casing treatment. The bend skewed casing treatment with porosity of 33% was selected for the present experimental study. The bend skewed casing treatment has slot width equal to the maximum thickness of the rotor blade. The casing treatment geometry has an axial front segment and a 45° staggered rear segment following the blade tip stagger. Both the segments were skewed by 45° in the radial plane, in such a way that the flow emerging from the casing slots would do so with swirl contrary to the direction of rotor rotation. The plenum chamber which can also be called as stagnation zone exists above the skewed slots. The plenum chamber has an axial length equal to the axial length of the casing treatment slots. The maximum depth of the plenum chamber was 11 mm and which was equal to the depth of bend skewed casing slots. The depth of plenum chamber was varied from zero, half the slot depth, and equal to slot depth in order to get variable volume. The porosity and axial location of the casing treatment relative to the rotor tip chord were chosen from the earlier experimental programs on effect of bend skewed casing treatment porosities and axial coverages for the present compressor stage. Optimum performance of the transonic compressor stage was obtained at 20% and 40% axial coverages and for 33% porosity configurations. The axial coverages of 20% and 40% were chosen for the present study to understand the effects of plenum chamber volume on the performance of single stage transonic axial flow compressor. The performance of the compressor stage with solid casing and casing treatment with different plenum volume was obtained and compared at different operating speeds. The compressor performance was derived for the fixed casing treatment porosity of 33% and for three different configurations of plenum chamber volumes at two different axial coverages. Experimental investigations reveal that the plenum chamber volume does have an impact on the stable operating range of the compressor. The compressor stall margin improves with increase in the plenum chamber volume. Bend skewed casing treatment coupled with plenum chamber of depths equal to the slots depth results in maximum stall margin improvement of 37.62% as compared to 26.40% without plenum chamber over the solid casing at 40% axial coverage. For this combination 0.8% improvement in the peak stage efficiency above the solid casing was noticed at 60% design speed.

An Experimental Investigation About the Effect of the Partial Casing Treatment on a Transonic Axial-Flow Compressor Performance Under Inlet Distortion

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maoyi Li ◽  
Wei Yuan ◽  
Xizhen Song ◽  
Yajun Lu ◽  
Zhiping Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Total Pressure ◽  
Pressure Ratio ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Peak Efficiency ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Inlet Distortion ◽  
Flow Compressor ◽  
Total Pressure Ratio

The traditional annulus casing treatment often pays the price of lowered efficiency for improving the stall margin of a compressor under inlet distortion. In view of the unsymmetry of the inlet flow-field of compressors, partial casing treatment was used to control the flow in a transonic axial-flow compressor with arc-skewed-slots deployed at different circumferential positions under inlet distortion. The experimental results indicate that when the partial casing treatment is arranged on the undistorted and distorted sectors, the stall margin is enhanced by 8.02%, with the relative peak efficiency improved simultaneously by 2.143%, compared with the case of solid casing at 98% rotating speed. By contrast, the traditional casing treatment increases the stall-margin by 23.13%, but decreases the relative peak efficiency by 0.752%. By analyzing dynamic and static experimental data, the mechanism underlying the partial casing treatment was also studied in detail here. The disturbances of inlet flow were restrained by annulus casing treatment, nevertheless the total pressure ratio was decreased obviously in the distorted sector. As a result, the stall-margin is improved, but the relative peak efficiency is decreased too. When the partial casing treatment was arranged on the undistortded and distorted sectors, the stall disturbances was thereby restrained. So the stall margin was enhanced. In addition, the total pressure ratio was improved by the partial casing treatment in the distorted and transition sectors, and thus the relative peak efficiency was also increased markedly.

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