Investigation on centrifugal impeller in an axial-radial combined compressor with inlet distortion

Assembling an axial rotor and a stator at centrifugal compressor upstream to build an axial-radial combined compressor could achieve high pressure ratio and efficiency by appropriate size augment.Then upstream potential flow and wake effect appear at centrifugal impeller inlet.In this paper,the axial-radial compressor is unsteadily simulated by three-dimensional Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations with uniform and circumferential distorted total pressure inlet condition to investigate upstream effect on radial rotor.The results show that spanwise nonuniform total pressure distribution is generated and radial and circumferential combined distortion is formed at centrifugal rotor inlet.The upstream stator wake deflects to rotor rotation direction and decreases with blade span increases.Circumferential distortion causes different separated flow formations at different pitch positions.The tip leakage vortex is suppressed in centrifugal blade passages.Under distorted inlet condition,flow direction of centrifugal impeller leading edge upstream varies evidently near hub and shroud but varies slightly at mid-span.In addition,compressor stage inlet distortion produces remarkable effect on blade loading of centrifugal blade both along chordwise and pitchwise.     

The role of tip leakage flow in triggering rotating stall of a low speed compressor under inlet distortion

The stall behavior in a single-stage low-speed axial compressor under rotating inlet distortion (RID) is investigated in the first half of this paper. The tests demonstrate that the tip leakage flow (TLF) plays an important role in triggering rotating stall. The tracking of the spike-like disturbances caused by the spillage of TLV indicates that most of such spike-like disturbances will be smeared by non-distorted sector and the growth of the spike-like disturbances actually relate closely to how and how often the path of the propagating disturbances come across the path of the rotating distorted sector. In the second half of this paper, micro air injections are applied to test the effect behavior of TLF on stall inception. Contrasts to without micro air injections, the spike-like disturbances are much fewer, so the possibilities that spike-like disturbances may trigger rotating stall are fewer too. As a result, the compressor gets a lower mass flow rate at stall for both co-rotating inlet distortion and counter-rotating inlet distortion.     

间隙变化对轴流压气机转子近失速工况叶顶流场的影响研究

为研究间隙变化对轴流压气机转子近失速工况下叶顶流场结构的影响,以轴流压气机转子Rotor37为研究对象,对其叶顶流场进行定常和非定常的数值模拟。计算结果表明：随着叶顶间隙的减小,压气机的总压比和等熵效率均有所提高,稳定运行范围扩大;2倍设计间隙下,叶尖泄漏涡经激波作用后发生膨胀破碎,堵塞来流通道,诱发压气机堵塞失速;0.5倍设计间隙下,吸力面流动分离加剧,发生回流,部分回流与来流在压力面前缘上游发生干涉,进口堵塞加剧,致使部分来流从前缘溢出,导致压气机叶尖失速;不同间隙下压气机失速过程的主导因素不同,大间隙下失速由叶尖泄漏涡破碎的非定常波动引起,小间隙下失速主要由流动分离引发的周期性前缘溢流所主导。     

非轴对称进气对燃气轮机压气机性能的影响

为了探索非轴对称进气对轴流压气机运行稳定性的影响,采用数值模拟与实验验证相结合的方式,对周向进气周向畸变、径向畸变对压气机稳定的影响进行了分析和比较;并对畸变与流动失稳的关联及诱发失稳的物理机制进行了研究;为提高压气机抗畸变的能力,在叶顶实施了微喷气措施,取得了明显的拓稳效果.     

来流边界层对跨声速压气机转子流场影响的研究

为了研究来流边界层对跨声速压气机转子气动性能及流场的影响,针对Rotor37进行了不同来流边界层进口条件下的跨声速压气机流场数值模拟。结果表明:来流边界层引起其内部的激波结构变化,进而影响60%叶高以上流场,造成该展向范围内的流量分布发生再分配;在来流边界层具有相同的厚度时,总压亏损越大,以60%～90%叶高激波损失为主体的附加损失越高;来流边界层弱化了叶尖泄漏涡系的强度,通过同时改变叶尖负荷和叶尖泄漏流来源流体能量影响泄漏强度,进而影响泄漏涡系的形成和发展。     

Numerical investigation of the unsteady tip leakage flow and rotating stall inception in a transonic compressor

<正>It is well known that tip leakage flow has a strong effect on the compressor performance and stability. This paper reports on a numerical investigation of detailed flow structures in an isolated transonic compressor rotor-NASA Rotor 37 at near stall and stalled conditions aimed at improving understanding of changes in 3D tip leakage flow structures with rotating stall inception.Steady and unsteady 3D Navier-Stokes analyses were conducted to investigate flow structures in the same rotor.For steady analysis,the predicted results agree well with the experimental data for the estimation of compressor rotor global performance.For unsteady flow analysis, the unsteady flow nature caused by the breakdown of the tip leakage vortex in blade tip region in the transonic compressor rotor at near stall condition has been captured with a single blade passage.On the other hand, the time-accurate unsteady computations of multi-blade passage at near stall condition indicate that the unsteady breakdown of the tip leakage vortex triggered the short length-scale-spike type rotating stall inception at blade tip region.It was the forward spillage of the tip leakage flow at blade leading edge resulting in the spike stall inception. As the mass flow ratio is decreased,the rotating stall cell was further developed in the blade passage.     

Numerical investigation of effect of inlet swirl and total-pressure distortion on performance and stability of an axial transonic compressor

This paper represents numerical simulation of flow inside an axial transonic compressor subject to inlet flow distortion, to evaluate its effect on compressor performance and stability. Two types of inlet distortion, namely inlet swirl and total pressure distortion are investigated. To study the effect of combined distortion patterns, different combinations of inlet swirl and total pressure distortion are also studied. Results for cases with total pressure distortion indicate that hub radial distortion improves stability range of the compressor while tip radial distortion deteriorates it. An explanation for this observation is presented based on redistribution of flow parameters caused by distortion and the way it interacts with stall inception mechanisms in a transonic axial compressor. Results also show that while co-swirl patterns slightly improve stability range of the compressor, counter-swirl patterns diminish it. Study of combined distortion cases reveals that superimposition of effects of each individual pattern could predict the effect of a combined pattern on compressor’s performance within an accuracy of 1%. However, it is unable to predict the associated effect on compressor’s stability.     

Effects of Width Variation of Pressure-Side Winglet on Tip Flow Structure in a Transonic Rotor

Tip leakage flow has become one of the major triggers for rotating stall in tip region of high loading transonic compressor rotors.Comparing with active flow control method,it’s wise to use blade tip modification to enlarge the stable operating range of rotor.Therefore,three pressure-side winglets with the maximum width of 2.0,2.5 and 3.0 times of the baseline rotor,are designed and surrounded the blade tip of NASA rotor 37,and the three new rotors are named as RPW1,RPW2,and RPW3 respectively.The numerical results show that the width of pressure-side winglet has significant influence on the stall margin and the minimum throttling massflow of rotor,while it produces less effect on the choking massflow and the peak efficiency of new rotors.As the width of the pressure-side winglet increases from new rotor RPW1 to RPW3,the strength of leakage massflow has been attenuated dramatically and a reduction of 20%in leakage massflow rate has appeared in the new rotor RPW3.By contrast,the extended blade tip caused by winglet has not introduced much more aerodynamic losses in tip region of rotor,and the new rotors with different width of pressure-side winglet have the similar peak efficiency to the baseline.The new shape of the leakage channel over blade tip which replaces of the static pressure difference near blade tip has dominated the behavior of the leakage flow in tip gap.As both the new aerodynamic boundary and throat in tip gap have reshaped by the low-velocity flow near the solid wall of extended blade tip,the discharging velocity and massflow rate of leakage flow have been suppressed obviously in new rotors.In addition,the increasing inlet axial velocity at the entrance of new rotor has increased slightly as well,which is attributed to the less blockage in the tip region of new rotor.In consideration of the increased inlet axial velocity and the weakened leakage flow,the new rotor presents an appropriately linear increase of the stall margin when the width of pressure-side winglet increases,and has a nearly 15%increase in new rotor RPW3.     

跨音轴流压气机动叶的三维弯掠设计研究

对一单级跨音轴流压气机中的动叶分别进行了前掠和正弯设计的参数研究,并根据研究得到的弯、掠动叶气动性能变化规律对动叶进行了前掠和正弯联合的三维设计,同时对动叶中部截面的叶型进行了二维设计以弥补弯掠动叶中部性能的降低.最终设计的跨音级性能显著提高,级最大效率提高3%,失速裕度提高40%,同时压比有所增加.数值计算结果表明,前掠和正弯叶片都可以使叶顶激波位置移向下游,降低激波强度,减轻叶顶激波与边界层和泄漏涡的作用.弯掠动叶控制激波强度和端壁流动的能力更加突出.     

Influence of Hub Contouring on the Performance of a Transonic Axial Compressor Stage with Low Hub-Tip Ratio

The rotor blade height with low hub-tip ratio is relatively longer,and the aerodynamic parameters change drastically from hub to tip.Especially the organization of flow field at hub becomes more difficult.This paper takes a transonic 1.5-stage axial compressor with low hub-tip ratio as the research object.The influence of four types of rotor hub contouring on the performance of transonic rotor and stage is explored through numerical simulation.The three-dimensional numerical simulation results show that different hub contourings have obvious influence on the flow field of transonic compressor rotor and stage,thus affecting the compressor performance.The detailed comparison is conducted at the rotor peak efficiency point for each hub contouring.Compared with the linear hub contouring,the concave hub contouring can improve the flow capacity,improve the rotor working capacity,and increase the flow rate.The flow field near blade root and efficiency of transonic rotor is improved.The convex hub contouring will reduce the mass flow rate,pressure ratio and efficiency of the transonic rotor.Full consideration should be given to the influence of stator flow field by hub contouring.     

Rotating Stall and Stall-Controlled Performance of a Single Stage Subsonic Axial Compressor

Activities by various authors on aerodynamics and control dynamics of rotating stall in axial compressor are first traced. Then, a process of stall cell evolution in a subsonic stage is discussed based on a 2-D CFD. A few numbers of vortices grow ahead of the rotor accumulating vorticity ejected from lightly stalled blades, and eventually organize a cell of circumferentially aligned huge vortices, which merge and recess repeatedly during the rotation. Such stall disturbance is intensified on trailing side of a circumferential inlet distortion and decays on the leading side. Considering these features, a new algorithm for stall warning is developed based on a correlation between pressure waveforms at each passing of a fixed blade. A remarkable change in the correlation level at near-stall provides a warning signal prior to the stall onset with sufficiently large time margin. This scheme is applied to achieve rotating stall prevention by actuating flaps installed on the hub. The last issue is on characteristics of forward swept blade which has much increased throttle margin with decreased tip loss. A 3-D computation shows that a secondary vortex generated in suction surface mid span interacts to reduce the tip leakage vortex that initiates the stall.     

Low speed axial compressor stall margin improvement by unsteady plasma actuation

This research investigates the use of single dielectric barrier discharge(SDBD) actuators for energizing the tip leakage flow to suppress rotating stall inception and extend the stable operating range of a low speed axial compressor with a single rotor.The jet induced by the plasma actuator adds momentum to the flow in the tip region and has a significant impact on the tip-gap flow.Experiments are carried out on a low speed axial compressor with a single rotor.The static pressure is measured at both the rotor inlet and outlet.The flow coefficient and pressure rise coefficient are calculated.Then the characteristic line is acquired to show the overall performance of the compressor.With unsteady plasma actuation of 18kV and 60W the compressor stability range improvement is realized at rotor speed of 1500 r/min – 2400 r/min.     

轮毂泄漏流对跨声速压气机转子性能影响的数值研究

为揭示转子前缘轮毂间隙泄漏流对高负荷压气机气动性能影响的物理机制，采用轮毂间隙边界条件模化处理方法，开展了轮毂泄漏流对跨声速压气机转子性能影响的三维定常数值模拟，分析了不同轮毂泄漏流量下压气机轮毂壁面流场结构与流态变化特征。研究结果表明：轮毂泄漏流会恶化压气机流通能力，影响程度随着泄漏量增加而逐渐增大。在近峰值效率工况下，当泄漏流量达到0.50%时，压气机流量约减小0.74%。当轮毂泄漏流达到一定强度后，反而呈现出部分正面效果，使得压气机压比或效率得到一定程度改善。轮毂泄漏流通过影响轮毂壁面流场结构空间分布来对压气机气动性能施加影响，尤其是鞍点的位置决定着轮毂间隙下游回流区和顺流区的影响范围以及轮毂壁面横向潜流强度。     

Effects of axial non-uniform tip clearances on aerodynamic performance of a transonic axial compressor

This paper presents a numerical investigation of effects of axial non-uniform tip clearances on the aerodynamic performance of a transonic axial compressor rotor （NASA Rotor 37）. The three-dimensional steady flow field within the rotor passage was simulated with the datum tip clearance of 0.356 mm at the design wheel speed of 17188.7 rpm. The simulation results are well consistent with the measurement results, which verified the numeri- cal method. Then the three-dimensional steady flow field within the rotor passage was simulated respectively with different axial non-uniform tip clearances. The calculation results showed that optimal axial non-uniform tip clearances could improve the compressor performance, while the efficiency and the pressure ratio of the com- pressor were increased. The flow mechanism is that the axial non-uniform tip clearance can weaken the tip leak- age vortex, blow down low-energy fluids in boundary layers and reduce both flow blockage and tip loss.     

Entropy Generation Analysis in a Mixed-Flow Compressor with Casing Treatment

Casing treatments(CT) can effectively extend compressors flow ranges with the expense of efficiency penalty. Compressor efficiency is closely linked to loss. Only revealing the mechanisms of loss generation can design a CT with high aerodynamic performance. In the paper, a highly-loaded mixed-flow compressor with tip clearance of 0.4 mm was numerically studied at a rotational speed of 30,000 r/min to reveal the effects of axial slot casing treatment(ASCT) on the loss mechanisms in the compressor. The results showed that both isentropic efficiency and stall margin were improved significantly by the ASCT. The local entropy generation method was used to analyze the loss mechanisms and to quantify the loss distributions in the blade passage. Based on the axial distributions of entropy generation rate, for both the cases with and without ASCT, the peak entropy generation rate increased in the rotor domain and decreased in the stator domain during throttling the compressor. The peak entropy generation in rotor was mainly caused by the tip leakage flow and flow separations near the rotor leading edge for the mixed-flow compressor no matter which casing was applied. The radial distributions of entropy generation rate showed that the reduction of loss in the rotor domain from 0.4 span to the rotor casing was the major reason for the efficiency improved by ASCT. The addition of ASCT exerted two opposite effects on the losses generated in the compressor. On the one hand, the intensity of tip leakage flow was weakened by the suction effect of slots, which alleviated the mixing effect between the tip leakage flow and main flow, and thus reduced the flow losses; On the other hand, the extra losses upstream the rotor leading edge were produced due to the shear effect and to the heat transfer. The aforementioned shear effect was caused by the different velocity magnitudes and directions, and the heat transfer was caused by temperature gradient between the injected flow and the incoming flow. For case with smooth casing(SC), 61.61% of the overall loss arose from tip leakage flow and casing boundary layer. When the ASCT was applied, that decreased to 55.34%. The loss generated by tip leakage flow and casing boundary layer decreased 20.54% relatively by ASCT.     

Numerical analysis of the tip leakage flow field in a transonic axial compressor with circumferential casing treatment

This paper reports on numerical investigations aimed at understanding the influence of
circumferential casing grooves on the tip leakage flow and its resulting vortical structures.The results
and conclusions are based on steady state 3D numerical simulations of the well-known transonic axial
compressor NASA Rotor 37 near stall operating conditions.The calculations carried out on the casing
treatment configuration reveal an important modification of the vortex topology at the rotor tip
clearance.Circumferential grooves limit the expansion of the tip leakage vortex in the direction
perpendicular to the blade chord,but generate a set of secondary tip leakage vortices due to the
interaction with the leakage mass flow.Finally,a deeper investigation of the tip leakage flow is
proposed.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of the unsteady tip leakage flow in axial compressor cascade

For convenience of both measurement and adjusting the clearance size and incidence, the current research is mainly conducted by experiments on an axial compressor linear cascade. The characteristics and the condition under which the unsteadiness of tip leakage flow would occur were investigated by dynamic measuring in different clearances, inlet velocities and incidences. From the experiment it is found that increasing tip clearance size or reducing rotor tip incidence can affect the strength of the tip clearance flow. Then the experimental results also indicate the tip leakage shows instability in certain conditions, and the frequency of unsteadiness is great influenced by inflow angle. The condition of occurrence of tip leakage flow unsteadiness is when the leakage flow is strong enough to reach the pressure side of the adjacent blade. The main cause of tip leakage flow unsteadiness is the tip blade loading.     

叶根倒角对轴流压气机转子两端区流动结构的影响研究

为了揭示叶根倒角对跨音速转子的气动性能影响规律,以NASA的Rotor67转子为研究对象,采用数值方法研究了叶根倒角对跨音速轴流压气机角区分离和工作裕度的影响机制。结果表明：叶根倒角的引入改善了叶片倒角区前缘附近的来流攻角适应性及该区域的叶型几何曲率分布特征,进而提升叶根吸力面的抗分离能力。带有倒角结构的转子叶片在其叶根倒角未覆盖区的叶型中后段周向压力梯度大于原型叶片,有利于克服气流沿吸力面流动时产生的离心力,进而抑制了尾缘附近的分离现象,使得该区域效率提升了3.9%以上。倒角的存在借助于径向平衡约束,重塑了叶尖区域的沿程叶表静压分布,并减小了尖区的入口轴向速度,直接导致叶尖区域主流流体的通流能力明显削弱,并诱发相对更强的间隙泄漏流,从而使得跨音转子提前发生失速,压气机工作裕度降低了19%以上。     

Investigation on multiple cylindrical holes casing treatment for transonic axial compressor stability enhancement

Casing treatment is one possible way of regaining axial compressor operating range. However, most of casing treatments extend the operating range with the cost of efficiency penalty. A new form of multiple cylindrical holes casing treatment (MHCT) with pre-swirl blowing for the NASA Rotor-37 has been designed based on profound understanding of the stall inception. Unsteady numerical simulations have been performed for Rotor-37 with and without MHCT. Parametric studies of the total extraction holes area and their axial locations show that the compressor performance deteriorates as the area ratio increases but the stall margin is extended and there is an optimum extraction holes axial location for stall margin extending. The better configuration of MHCT could extend the stall margin by 6.2% with only 0.23% peak efficiency reduction. Detailed analysis of the physical mechanism behind the stall margin improvement shows that the casing treatment could eliminate the passage blockage by suppressing breakup of tip leakage vortex and decrease the blade load in tip region, which both contribute to improve stall margin of transonic axial compressors.     

Instability Inception of a Single Rotor Embedded in a Transonic Stage with Partial Surge Inception

Partial surge is a type of instability inception discovered in our previous studies.It has been confirmed that partial surge is localized in the blade hub region,and the flow oscillation it caused will lead to the stall cells in the rotor tip.While since all information about partial surge is obtained from the compressor stage experiments,what will happen to the stall process after the stators are removed is also an issue that worth investigating.So,in this paper,a series of experiments are carried out on the single rotor embedded in the transonic compressor stage with partial surge inception.First,the experimental results under uniform inlet conditions show that,although partial surge appears at high rotor speed in the stage case,it does not occur at any speed in the single rotor case.Then,it is found by numerical simulation that the absence of partial surge may be due to the insufficient rotor hub loading,so an experiment with increased hub loading is carried out,but still fails to trigger partial surge.Finally,the reason why partial surge doesn’t occur in the single rotor is discussed.From these results,it can be concluded that partial surge cannot occur in the single rotor case,and the large-scale comer separation in the stator hub is considered to play an important role in the formation of partial surge.