scholarly journals Experimental Investigation of Rotating Instability in an Axial Compressor with a Steady Swirl Distortion Inlet

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 8057
Author(s):  
Rong Xu ◽  
Jun Hu ◽  
Xuegao Wang ◽  
Chao Jiang ◽  
Jiajia Ji

In this paper, an experimental study was carried out on the rotating instability in an axial compressor subjected to inlet steady paired swirl distortion. In order to deepen the understanding of the rotating stall mechanism under inlet steady paired swirl distortion, the dynamic-wall static pressure near the rotor tip was monitored to characterize the flow in the rotor tip region at different circumferential stations. In the experiment, the dynamic characteristics of the rotor tip flow field at a stable operating point and during the process from the stable point to complete stall were measured. The results indicated that for the compressor with a 2 mm rotor tip clearance, the inlet paired swirl distortion induced rotating instability (RI) near the stall point, causing the compressor to enter stall in advance. Compared with the RI intensity of the clean inlet, the distortion with a swirling blade stagger angle (αst) of ±20° increased the RI intensity up to 69.8%, while for αst equal to ±40°, the RI intensity increased at most by 135.8%. As the rotor tip clearance increased to 3 mm, the co-rotating swirl in the paired swirl distortion inhibited the appearance of RI, while the counter-rotating part aggravated the development of RI. At the beginning, the process of the compressor rotating stall involved the alternation of short-scale disturbance and long-scale disturbance. The co-rotating swirl weakened the perturbation propagated from the counter-rotating swirl sector. Once the inhibition was no longer present, the short-scale disturbance rapidly developed into a long-scale disturbance and then entered the rotating stall.

Author(s):  
Joachim März ◽  
Chunill Hah ◽  
Wolfgang Neise

This paper reports on an experimental and numerical investigation aimed at understanding the mechanisms of rotating instabilities in a low speed axial flow compressor. The phenomena of rotating instabilities in the current compressor were first identified with an experimental study. Then, an unsteady numerical method was applied to confirm the phenomena and to interrogate the physical mechanisms behind them. The experimental study was conducted with high-resolution pressure measurements at different clearances, employing a double phase-averaging technique. The numerical investigation was performed with an unsteady 3-D Navier-Stokes method that solves for the entire blade row. The current study reveals that a vortex structure forms near the leading edge plane. This vortex is the result of interactions among the classical tip-clearance flow, axially reversed endwall flow, and the incoming flow. The vortex travels from the suction side to the pressure side of the passage at roughly half of the rotor speed. The formation and movement of this vortex seem to be the main causes of unsteadiness when rotating instability develops. Due to the nature of this vortex, the classical tip-clearance flow does not spill over into the following blade passage. This behavior of the tip-clearance flow is why the compressor operates in a stable mode even with the rotating instability, unlike traditional rotating stall phenomena.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Ma¨rz ◽  
Chunill Hah ◽  
Wolfgang Neise

This paper reports on an experimental and numerical investigation aimed at understanding the mechanisms of rotating instabilities in a low speed axial flow compressor. The phenomena of rotating instabilities in the current compressor were first identified with an experimental study. Then, an unsteady numerical method was applied to confirm the phenomena and to interrogate the physical mechanisms behind them. The experimental study was conducted with high-resolution pressure measurements at different clearances, employing a double phase-averaging technique. The numerical investigation was performed with an unsteady 3-D Navier-Stokes method that solves for the entire blade row. The current study reveals that a vortex structure forms near the leading edge plane. This vortex is the result of interactions among the classical tip-clearance flow, axially reversed endwall flow, and the incoming flow. The vortex travels from the suction side to the pressure side of the passage at roughly half of the rotor speed. The formation and movement of this vortex seem to be the main causes of unsteadiness when rotating instability develops. Due to the nature of this vortex, the classical tip clearance flow does not spill over into the following blade passage. This behavior of the tip clearance flow is why the compressor operates in a stable mode even with the rotating instability, unlike traditional rotating stall phenomena.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Zeyuan Yang ◽  
Yadong Wu ◽  
Hua Ouyang

Abstract Rotating instability (RI) and rotating stall (RS) are two types of aerodynamic instability in axial compressors. The former features the side-by-side peaks below the blade passing frequency (BPF) in frequency spectra, and the latter represents one or more stall cells rotating in the compressor. This paper presents an experimental on the nearfield pressure and farfield acoustic characteristics of RI phenomenon in a low-speed axial compressor rotor, which endures both RI and RS at several working conditions. In order to obtain the high-order modes of RI and other aerodynamic instability, a total of 9 or 20 Kulites are circumferentially mounted on the casing wall to measure the nearfield pressure fluctuation using a mode order calibration method. Meantime in the farfield 16 microphones are planted to measure the acoustic mode order using the compressive sensing method. Through calibration the experiments acquire the mode orders generated by RI and the interaction between RI and BPF, which is higher than the number of transducers. As for RS, the mode decomposition shows a mode order of 1, indicating one single stall cell rotating in the compressor. This experiment also shows that amplitude of RI modes is decreased when RS occurs, but RS modes and RI modes will both be enhanced if the flow rate is further reduced. This experiment reveals that RI experiences three stages of “strengthen-weaken-strengthen”, and hence RI may not be regarded only as “prestall” disturbance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeyuan Yang ◽  
Yadong Wu ◽  
Hua Ouyang

Abstract Rotating instability (RI) and rotating stall (RS) are two types of aerodynamic instability in axial compressors. The former features the side-by-side peaks below the blade passing frequency (BPF) in frequency spectra, and the latter represents one or more stall cells rotating in the compressor. This paper presents an experimental on the nearfield pressure and farfield acoustic characteristics of RI phenomenon in a low-speed axial compressor rotor, which endures both RI and RS at several working conditions. In order to obtain the high-order modes of RI and other aerodynamic instability, a total of 9 or 20 Kulites are circumferentially mounted on the casing wall to measure the nearfield pressure fluctuation using a mode order calibration method. Meantime in the farfield 16 microphones are planted to measure the acoustic mode order using the compressive sensing method. Through calibration the experiments acquire the mode orders generated by RI and the interaction between RI and BPF, which is higher than the number of transducers. As for RS, the mode decomposition shows a mode order of 1, indicating one single stall cell rotating in the compressor. This experiment also shows that amplitude of RI modes is decreased when RS occurs, but RS modes and RI modes will both be enhanced if the flow rate is further reduced. This experiment reveals that RI experiences three stages of “strengthen-weaken-strengthen”, and hence RI may not be regarded only as “prestall” disturbance.


Author(s):  
Gabriel Margalida ◽  
Antoine Dazin ◽  
Pierric Joseph ◽  
Olivier Roussette

This paper presents experimental unsteady pressure measurements gathered on a single stage axial compressor during pre-stall and transition to stall operations. The aim of this study is to analyze the transition from a stable operating point to the fully developed rotating stall regime, and more specifically, the effect of the throttling process on the development of the instabilities. To do so, experiments have been repeated leading the compressor to stall operations with various throttling speed. On one hand, this paper analyses the effect of the throttling speed on the dynamic of the instability development from the first detection of spike type precursors to completely developed rotating stall. On the other hand, a stall warning signal based on the correlation of the instantaneous pressure signal with a reference pressure signal is built. The influence of the location of the pressure transducer used for the warning signal is first analyzed. Then an analysis of the effect of the throttling process on the time between the warning signal and the effective stall development is proposed.


Author(s):  
L. G. Fre´chette ◽  
O. G. McGee ◽  
M. B. Graf

A theoretical evaluation was conducted delineating how aeromechanical feedback control can be utilized to stabilize the inception of rotating stall in axial compressors. Ten aeromechanical control methodologies were quantitatively examined based on the analytical formulations presented in the first part of this paper (McGee et al, 2003a). The maximum operating range for each scheme is determined for optimized structural parameters, and the various schemes are compared. The present study shows that the most promising aeromechanical designs and controls for a class of low-speed axial compressors were the use of dynamic fluid injection. Aeromechanically incorporating variable duct geometries and dynamically re-staggered IGV and rotor blades were predicted to yield less controllability. The aeromechanical interaction of a flexible casing wall was predicted to be destabilizing, and thus should be avoided by designing sufficiently rigid structures to prevent casing ovalization or other structurally-induced variations in tip clearance. Control authority, a metric developed in the first part of this paper, provided a useful interpretation of the aeromechanical damping of the coupled system. The model predictions also show that higher spatial modes can become limiting with aeromechanical feedback, both in control of rotating stall as well as in considering the effects of lighter, less rigid structural aeroengine designs on compressor stability.


Author(s):  
K. Yamada ◽  
K. Funazaki ◽  
H. Sasaki

The purpose of this study is to have a better understanding of the unsteady behavior of tip clearance flow at near-stall condition from a multi-passage simulation and to clarify the relation between such unsteadiness and rotating disturbance. This study is motivated by the following concern. A single passage simulation has revealed the occurrence of the tip leakage vortex breakdown at near-stall condition in a transonic axial compressor rotor, leading to the unsteadiness of the tip clearance flow field in the rotor passage. These unsteady flow phenomena were similar to those in the rotating instability, which is classified in one of the rotating disturbances. In other words it is possible that the tip leakage vortex breakdown produces a rotating disturbance such as the rotating instability. Three-dimensional unsteady RANS calculation was conducted to simulate the rotating disturbance in a transonic axial compressor rotor (NASA Rotor 37). The four-passage simulation was performed so as to capture a short length scale disturbance like the rotating instability and the spike-type stall inception. The simulation demonstrated that the unsteadiness of tip leakage vortex, which was derived from the vortex breakdown at near-stall condition, invoked the rotating disturbance in the rotor, which is similar to the rotating instability.


Author(s):  
M Künzelmann ◽  
R Urban ◽  
R Mailach ◽  
K Vogeler

The stable operating range of axial compressors is limited by the onset of rotating stall and surge. Mass injection upstream of the tip of an axial compressor rotor is a stability enhancement approach which can be effective in suppressing stall in tip-critical rotors, and thus increasing the operating range of compressors. In this article, investigations on active flow control related to the rotor tip gap sensitivity are discussed. The experiments were performed in a 1.5-stage low-speed research compressor. Measurements at part speed (80 per cent) and full speed (100 per cent) with varying injection rates are discussed. These tests were performed for two rotor tip clearances of 1.3 per cent and 4.3 per cent of rotor blade tip chord. Results on the compressor map, the flow field as well as transient measurements to identify the stall inception are discussed. Supplementary, the numerical results are compared to the experiments based on the configuration with the greatest benefit in operating range enhancement.


Author(s):  
Engin Erler ◽  
Huu Duc Vo ◽  
Hong Yu

This paper presents a computational and analytical study to identify and elucidate fundamental flow features associated with the desensitization of performance and aerodynamic stability of an axial compressor rotor to tip clearance change. Parametric studies of various design change on a baseline double circular arc axial rotor led to the identification of two flow features associated with reducing sensitivity to tip clearance, namely high incoming meridional momentum in the tip region and reduction/elimination of double tip leakage. Numerical experiments were subsequently performed on the baseline rotor geometry to validate these two flow features and explain the associated flow physics by variations in incoming meridional momentum and pitch size. Finally, two designs were proposed, namely full forward chordwise sweep and partially low stagger angle, to exploit these flow features. The results indicated that both designs produce the intended flow effects and exhibit lower performance and aerodynamic stability sensitivity to tip clearance.


Author(s):  
P. V. Ramakrishna ◽  
M. Govardhan

Tip leakage phenomenon in axial compressors is sensitive to the flow incidence, flow coefficient, tip gap height and the pressure gradients. All these geometric/flow features are considerably altered by blade stagger angle. Literature on the stagger angle effects in compressors is scarce; and indeed, such studies for various tip gap heights have not been reported yet. The present paper reports the effect of rotor stagger angle on the performance of subsonic axial compressor rotor with different forward sweep configurations and for various rotor tip clearances. The computational model for the study utilizes finest hexahedral grids. A commercial CFD package ANSYS® CFX 11.0 was used with standard k-ω turbulence model for the simulations. CFD results were well validated with experiments. The following observations were made: At higher stagger angles, flow separates from upstream suction surface locations. Little tip clearance had a positive effect for certain stagger angle increments owing to beneficial interaction of leakage flows with the local flow field. However, severe performance loss was observed at higher stagger settings with large clearances. As the stagger angle was increased, vena contracta effect was highly reduced. At high stagger angles, the flow was observed to leak in a more “axially-reversed” fashion through the tip gap. The deep lowest pressure zones near the pressure surface of the tip are due to the effect of ‘vena contracta.’ Such zones near the suction surface edge of the tip are due to flow acceleration. This particular feature is directly correlated with the tip aerofoil loading and thickness-to-tip gap ratio.


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