Design of Compressor Endwall Velocity Triangles

Near the endwalls of multi-stage compressor blade rows, there is a spanwise region of low momentum, high entropy fluid which develops due to the presence of annulus walls, leakage flows and corner separations. Off-design this region, known as the endwall flow region, often grows rapidly and in practice sets the compressor’s operating range. By contrast, over the operating range of the compressor, the freestream region of the flow is not usually close to its diffusion limit and has little effect on overall range. In light of these two distinct flow regions within a bladerow, this paper considers how velocity triangles in the endwall region should be designed to give a more balanced spanwise failure across the blade span. In the first part of the paper, the sensitivity of the operating flow range of a single blade row to variations in realistic multistage inlet conditions and endwall geometry is investigated. It is shown that the operating range of the blade row is largely controlled by the size and structure of the endwall ‘repeating stage’ inlet boundary layer and not the detailed local geometry within the blade row. In the second part of the paper the traditional design process is ‘flipped’. Instead of redesigning a blade’s endwall geometry to cope with a particular inlet profile into the blade row, the endwall region is redesigned in the multi-stage environment to ‘tailor’ the inlet profile into downstream blade rows. This is shown to allow an extra degree of freedom not usually open to the designer. This extra degree of freedom is exploited to balance freestream and endwall operating range, resulting in a compressor having an increased operating range of ∼20%. If this increased operating range is traded with reduced blade count, it is shown that a design efficiency improvement of Δη∼0.5% can be unlocked.

Effects of Circumferential Inlet Distortion on the Performance of a Transonic Fan Together With the Impact of Tip Injection

Half-annulus unsteady numerical simulations have been conducted with a 60-deg total pressure circumferential distortion in a transonic axial-flow fan. The effects of inlet distortion on the performance, stability and flow field of the test case are investigated and analyzed. Results show that the incidence angles are reduced when the blades are entering into the distorted region. Conversely, distortion increases the incidence angles onto the blades when they are leaving the distorted section. Results further reveal that the time-averaged flow field at the tip of the blade is similar with and without distortion. However, the distortion applied is found to have detrimental effects on both the stability and performance. The impacts of both annular and discrete tip injection on the endwall flow field are further studied in the current work. It is shown that endwall injection reduces the incidence angles onto the blades. Consequently, the passage shock and the leakage flow are pushed rearward, which postpones stall initiation.

Analysis of the Sources and the Modal Content of the Acoustic Field in a Radial Compressor Outflow

In large modern turbochargers, compressors often constitute the main source of noise, with a frequency spectrum typically dominated by tonal noise at the blade passing frequency (BPF) and its harmonics. In transonic operation, inflow BPF noise is mainly generated by rotor locked shock fronts. These and the resulting acoustic fields can be predicted numerically with reasonable accuracy. Outflow noise, while also dominated by BPF tones, is linked to more complex source mechanisms. Its modal structure and the relationships between sources and modal sound pressure levels (SPL) are less well understood. Perhaps this is linked to the intrinsically non-axisymmetric geometries, which results in the need for full stage simulations if high accuracy is of paramount importance. In order to shed some light on outflow noise generation, a transient simulation of a 360° model of a radial compressor stage, including a vaned diffuser and a volute, was carried out using state-of-the-art CFD. Additionally, experimental data was gathered at a multitude of data points downstream of the volute exit for post processing and modal analysis. The sources and the propagation were calculated directly. Optimized values for tempo-spatial acoustic wave resolution and buffer layer design were chosen, based on extensive studies on simplified models. Two grid refinement levels were used to check grid convergence and time step size independence of the results was ensured. Numerical and experimental data match within 1% for total pressure ratio, volume flow and exit total temperature for the studied operating point. Both show the same modal content at the 1st BPF and indicate the presence of the same single dominating mode. The numerical results underpredict overall sound power levels (PWL) at the 1st BPF by 6.6dB. This difference is expected to decrease with further grid refinement and improved accounting for numerical damping. At the 2nd BPF, the experimental data show a significant broadening of the modal content with homogeneous modal PWL distributions. The multitude of modes leads to the generation of complex interference patterns, which shows that single-point acoustic measurements are often inadequate for component noise qualification and should be substituted by modal techniques. The dominating dipole sound sources are found in narrow areas around the vane leading edges and the rotor blade trailing edges. Because of the non-axisymmetric geometry, vane dipole source strengths become a function of circumferential position. The unsteady shedding of vortices from the vane suction surfaces is identified as a further possible source mechanism. However, the contributions of structural vibrations and mode scattering due to small manufacturing imperfections remain unclear.

Alleviation of Shock-Wave Effects on a Highly Loaded Axial Compressor Through Novel Blade Shaping

This paper describes the use of the Free-Form-Deformation [1] parameterisation method to create a novel blade shape for a highly loaded, transonic axial compressor. The novel geometry makes use of pre-compression (via an S-shaping of the blade around mid-span) to weaken the shock and improve the aerodynamic performance. It has been known for some time that reducing the pre-shock Mach number of transonic compressors (via pre-compression) can improve their efficiency [2]. However, early attempts at this in the 60s [3] showed undesirable results (such as bi-stable operation), leading the design community to shy away from using pre-compression [4]. This issue is re-addressed here. It is shown that using modern simulation, optimisation and a 3D design, large amounts of pre-compression may be employed without the negative effects that plagued early attempts. This paper shows how Free-Form-Deformation offers superior flexibility over traditionally used parameterisation methods. The novel design (produced via an efficient optimisation method) is presented and the resulting flow analysed in detail. The efficiency benefit is over 2%, surpassing other results in the literature for the same geometry. The pre-compression effect of the S-shape is analysed and explained, and the entropy increase across the shock (along the mid-blade line) is shown to be reduced by almost 80%. Adjoint surface sensitivity analysis of the datum and optimised designs is presented, showing that the S-shape is located in the region predicted to be most significant for changes in efficiency. Finally the off-design performance of the blade is analysed across the rotor characteristics at various speeds.

Detecting Transition in Flat Plate Flow With Laser Interferometric Vibrometry (LIV)

Flow in turbomachines is generally highly turbulent. The boundary layers, however, often exhibit laminar-to-turbulent transition. Relaminarization from turbulent to laminar flow may also occur. The state of the boundary layer is important since it strongly influences transport processes like skin friction and heat transfer. It is therefore vitally important for the designer to understand the process of laminar-to-turbulent transition and to determine the position of transition onset and the length of the transitional region. In order to better understand transition and relaminarization it is helpful to study simplified test cases first. Therefore, in this paper the flow along a flat plate is experimentally studied to investigate laminar-to-turbulent transition. Measurements were performed for the different free-stream velocities of 5 m/s and 10 m/s. Several measurement techniques were used in order to reliably detect the transitional zone: the Preston tube, hot wire anemometry, thermography and Laser Interferometric Vibrometry (LIV). The first two measurement techniques are extensively in use at the institute ITTM and by other research groups. They are therefore used as a reference for validating the LIV measurement results. An advantage of the LIV technique is that it does not need any seeding of the fluid and that it is non-intrusive. Therefore this measurement technique does not influence the flow, and it can be used in narrow flow passages since there is no blockage, in contrast to probe-based measurement techniques. Further to the measurements, computational simulations were performed with the Fluent® and CFX® codes from ANSYS®, as well as with the in-house code Linars. The Menter SST k-ω turbulence model with the γ-ReΘ transition model was used in order to test its capability to predict the laminar-to-turbulent transition.

Numerical Investigation of Intermittent Corner Separation in a Linear Compressor Cascade

Recently bimodal phenomenon in corner separation has been found by Ma et al. (Experiments in Fluids, 2013, doi:10.1007/s00348-013-1546-y). Through detailed and accurate experimental results of the velocity flow field in a linear compressor cascade, they discovered two aperiodic modes exist in the corner separation of the compressor cascade. This phenomenon reflects the flow in corner separation is high intermittent, and large-scale coherent structures corresponding to two modes exist in the flow field of corner separation. However the generation mechanism of the bimodal phenomenon in corner separation is still unclear and thus needs to be studied further. In order to obtain instantaneous flow field with different unsteadiness and thus to analyse the mechanisms of bimodal phenomenon in corner separation, in this paper detached-eddy simulation (DES) is used to simulate the flow field in the linear compressor cascade where bimodal phenomenon has been found in previous experiment. DES in this paper successfully captures the bimodal phenomenon in the linear compressor cascade found in experiment, including the locations of bimodal points and the development of bimodal points along a line that normal to the blade suction side. We infer that the bimodal phenomenon in the corner separation is induced by the strong interaction between the following two facts. The first is the unsteady upstream flow nearby the leading edge whose angle and magnitude fluctuate simultaneously and significantly. The second is the high unsteady separation in the corner region.

Design of an Intermediate Turbine Duct Downstream of a High Pressure Turbine

The flow leaving the high pressure turbine should be guided to the low pressure turbine by an annular diffuser, which is called as the intermediate turbine duct. Flow separation, which would result in secondary flow and cause great flow loss, is easily induced by the negative pressure gradient inside the duct. And such non-uniform flow field would also affect the inlet conditions of the low pressure turbine, resulting in efficiency reduction of low pressure turbine. Highly efficient intermediate turbine duct cannot be designed without considering the effects of the rotating row of the high pressure turbine. A typical turbine model is simulated by commercial computational fluid dynamics method. This model is used to validate the accuracy and reliability of the selected numerical method by comparing the numerical results with the experimental results. An intermediate turbine duct with eight struts has been designed initially downstream of an existing high pressure turbine. On the basis of the original design, the main purpose of this paper is to reduce the net aerodynamic load on the strut surface and thus minimize the overall duct loss. Full three-dimensional inverse method is applied to the redesign of the struts. It is revealed that the duct with new struts after inverse design has an improved performance as compared with the original one.

LES Predictions of Jet Noise for a Pylon-Mounted Dual Stream Nozzle and Jet Surface Interactions

An end-to-end LES/FW-H noise prediction model has been demonstrated and validated with acoustic and flowfield data from a dual stream nozzle with pylon experiment conducted at NASA GRC using their Jet Engine Simulator (JES) geometry. Results show a large region of high turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in the wake of the pylon. Acoustic Source Localization (ASL) studies using our numerical phased array methodology show this wake region to be the principle location of low frequency noise sources while higher frequency sources occur nearer to the nozzle lips. Numerical simulations have also been conducted on Jet-Surface Interaction (JSI) effects of a supersonic jet exhausting parallel to a finite surface. Time-averaged LES data and far-field noise predictions have been obtained for multiple surface locations as well as for an isolated jet nozzle. For upstream observers located below the surface, results show an increase in low-frequency noise over what was predicted for the isolated nozzle due to JSI effects and decrease in high-frequency noise due to shielding. This was significantly more pronounced for an over-expanded jet than for an under-expanded jet, an effect that was primarily attributed to the shorter core length of the over-expanded jet.

Active Flow Control on a Highly Loaded Compressor Stator Cascade With Synthetic Jets

Numerical investigations on the control effects of synthetic jets are conducted upon a highly loaded compressor stator cascade. The influence of forcing parameters including actuation frequency, jet amplitude and slot location are analyzed in detail with the single-slit synthetic jet. Besides, a new slot arrangement is put forward for the purpose of effectively controlling flow separation. Simulation results validate the remarkable effectiveness of the single-slit synthetic jet on controlling flow separation. Owing to the coupling effect between the jet and the main flow, the actuation appears to be most efficient under the characteristic frequency of the main flow passing through the airfoil. Additionally, with the increase of jet momentum coefficient, the control effect is enhanced at first and then decreased, depending on the two aspects: the improvements of aerodynamic performance by momentum injection and the additional flow losses caused by the jet. Compared to other actuator configurations, the segment synthetic jet with three sections can more effectively deflect the end-wall cross flow and thus impede the development of corner vortex, which helps to restrain the accumulation of low momentum fluid towards the corner, emphasizing the importance of slot arrangement. Accordingly, under the optimum condition, the total pressure loss coefficient gains a 15.8% reductions and the static pressure rise coefficient is increased by 5.01%.

Experimental Investigation of Aspiration in a Multi-Stage High-Speed Axial-Compressor

Reducing the fuel consumption is a main objective in the development of modern aircraft engines. Focusing on aircraft for mid-range flight distances, a significant potential to increase the engines overall efficiency at off-design conditions exists in reducing secondary flow losses of the compressor. For this purpose, Active Flow Control (AFC) by aspiration or injection of fluid at near wall regions is a promising approach. To experimentally investigate the aerodynamic benefits of AFC by aspiration, a 4½-stage high-speed axial-compressor at the Leibniz Universitaet Hannover was equipped with one AFC stator row. The numerical design of the AFC-stator showed significant hub corner separations in the first and second stator for the reference configuration at the 80% part-load speed-line near stall. Through the application of aspiration at the first stator, the numerical simulations predict the complete suppression of the corner separation not only in the first, but also in the second stator. This leads to a relative increase in overall isentropic efficiency of 1.47% and in overall total pressure ratio of 4.16% compared to the reference configuration. To put aspiration into practice, the high-speed axial-compressor was then equipped with a secondary air system and the AFC stator row in the first stage. All experiments with AFC were performed for a relative aspiration mass flow of less than 0.5% of the main flow. Besides the part-load speed-lines of 55% and 80%, the flow field downstream of each blade row was measured at the AFC design point. Experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical predictions. The use of AFC leads to an increase in operating range at the 55% part-load speed-line of at least 19%, whereas at the 80% part-load speed-line no extension of operating range occurs. Both speed-lines, however, do show a gain in total pressure ratio and isentropic efficiency for the AFC configuration compared to the reference configuration. Compared to the AFC design point, the isentropic efficiency ηis rises by 1.45%, whereas the total pressure ratio Πtot increases by 1.47%. The analysis of local flow field data shows that the hub corner separation in the first stator is reduced by aspiration, whereas in the second stator the hub corner separation slightly increases. The application of AFC in the first stage further changes the stage loading in all downstream stages. While the first and third stage become unloaded by application of AFC, the loading in terms of the De-Haller number increases in the second and especially in the fourth stage. Furthermore, in the reference as well as in the AFC configuration, the fourth stator performs significantly better than predicted by numerical results.