A Theory of Rotating Stall of Multistage Axial Compressors: Part III—Limit Cycles

1984 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. K. Moore

A theory of rotating stall, based on single parameters for blades-passage lag and external-flow lag and a given compressor characteristic yields limit cycles in velocity space. These limit cycles are governed by Lienard’s equation with the characteristic playing the role of nonlinear damping function. Cyclic integrals of the solution determine stall propagation speed and the effect of rotating stall on average performance. Solution with various line-segment characteristics and various throttle settings are found and discussed. There is generally a limiting flow coefficient beyond which no solution is possible; this probably represents stall recovery. This recovery point is independent of internal compressor lag, but does depend on external lags and on the height-to-width ratio of the diagram. Tall diagrams and small external lags (inlet and diffusor) favor recovery. Suggestions for future theoretical and experimental research are discussed.

1984 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. K. Moore

An analysis is made of rotating stall in compressors of many stages, finding conditions under which a flow distortion can occur which is steady in a traveling reference frame, even though upstream total and downstream static pressure are constant. In the compressor, a pressure-rise hysteresis is assumed. Flow in entrance and exit ducts yield additional lags. These lags balance to give a formula for stall propagation speed. For small disturbances, it is required that the compressor characteristics be flat in the neighborhood of average flow coefficient. Results are compared with the experiments of Day and Cumpsty. If a compressor lag of about twice that due only to fluid inertia is used, predicted propagation speeds agree almost exactly with experimental values, taking into account changes of number of stages, stagger angle, row spacing, and number of stall zones. The agreement obtained gives encouragement for the extension of the theory to account for large amplitudes.


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

The present paper aims at evaluating the surveillance parameters used for early stall warning in axial compressors, and is based on unsteady pressure measurements at the casing of a single stage axial compressor. Two parameters—Correlation and Root Mean Square (RMS)—are first compared and their relative performances discussed. The influence of sensor locations (in both radial and axial directions) is then considered, and the role of the compressor’s geometrical irregularities in the behavior of the indicators is clearly highlighted. The influence of the throttling process is also carefully analyzed. This aspect of the experiment’s process appears to have a non-negligible impact on the stall warning parameters, despite being poorly documented in the literature. This last part of this research work allow us to get a different vision of the alert parameters compared to what is classically done in the literature, as the level of irregularity that is reflected by the magnitude of the parameters appears to be an image of a given flow rate value, and not a clear indicator of the stall inception.


Author(s):  
A. N. Abdelhamid ◽  
J. Bertrand

Experiments were conducted to determine the characteristics of oscillating flows in a centrifugal compression system with vaneless diffusers. The system was operated without a diffuser and with eight different diffuser configurations to determine the effects of diffuser diameter and width ratios on the unsteady behavior of the system. Mean and fluctuating velocity and static pressure measurements were carried out in the time and frequency domains. The system without a diffuser was found to be stable at all operating conditions. The installation of any of the eight diffusers resulted in the generation of self-excited oscillations at some operating conditions. It was found that the critical flow coefficient at which onset of oscillations was observed increased as the diffuser width ratio was decreased and as the diameter ratio was increased. Comparison between the characteristics of the oscillations observed in the present study and those observed by other investigators indicate that rotating stall in two geometrically similar diffusers can be an order of magnitude different in the non-dimensional rotational speed and level of unsteady pressure fluctuations. These differences point towards the possibility of existence of more than one set of flow conditions which could lead to the occurrence of the unsteady phenomena.


Author(s):  
Jun Hu ◽  
Leonhard Fottner

In the present paper calculations are presented to predict the post stall transient behavior and the onset of flow instabilities in axial compression systems with rotating inlet circumferential total pressure distortion. The effects of system parameters and the compressor characteristic are taken into account, and the effects on the boundaries of rotating stall and surge are investigated. It has been found that both the inlet distortion amplitude and rotating frequency have a strong effect on the stability and post stall transient behavior, and the rotating frequency has the same strong influence on the onset of surge as the influence on the onset of rotating stall. But the resonant response frequency (i.e., the rotating frequency of inlet distortion at which the greatest loss of stability occurs) strongly depends on the frequency at which the stall cell rotates. The study of the effects of system parameters shows that the loading and the flow coefficient of the compressor at the design point have a significant effect on the onset of instability, but they have little effect on the propagation speed of rotating stall and the resonant response frequency. The Greitzer B-parameter affects the onset of rotating stall, but it has little effect on the onset of surge. Some qualitative comparisons with available experimental results are made in this paper and show that the results are reliable.


2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saad A. Ahmed

The operation of centrifugal compressor systems is limited at low-mass flow rates by fluid flow instabilities leading to rotating stall or surge. These instabilities limit the flow range in which the compressor can operate. They also lower the performance and efficiency of the compressor. Experiments were conducted to investigate a model of radial vaneless diffuser at stall as well as stall-free operating conditions. The speed of the impeller was kept constant at 2000 RPM, while the mass flow rate was reduced gradually to scan the steady and unsteady operating conditions of the compressor. The flow rate through the compressor was gradually decreased until flow instability is initiated at the diffuser. The flow rate was further reduced to study the characteristics of rotating stall. These measurements were reported for diffuser diameter ratios, Do/Di, of 2.0 with diffuser width ratio, b/Di, of 0.055. At lower flow rates than the critical, the rotating stall pattern with one stall cell was dominant over the pattern with two cells. In addition, the instability in the diffuser was successfully delayed to a lower flow coefficient when rough surfaces were attached to one or both sides of the diffuser with the lowest values achieved by attaching the rough surface to the shroud. Results show that the roughness has no significant effect on stall cell characteristics.


2013 ◽  
Vol 431 ◽  
pp. 155-160
Author(s):  
Saad Ahmed

The function of centrifugal blowers/compressors is limited at low-mass flow rates by fluid flow instabilities leading to rotating stall. These instabilities limit the flow range in which they can operate. An experimental investigation was conducted to investigate a model of radial vaneless diffuser at stall as well as stall-free operating conditions. The speed of the blower was kept constant at 2000 RPM, while the mass flow rate was reduced gradually to investigate the steady and unsteady flow characteristics of the diffuser. These measurements were reported for diffuser diameter ratios, Do / Di, of 1.5, 1.75 and 2.0 with diffuser width ratio, b / Di, of 0.055. The rotating stall pattern with one stall cell was dominant over the pattern with two cells which appeared at flow rates lower than the critical. In addition, the instability in the diffuser was delayed to a lower flow coefficient when rough surfaces were attached to one or both walls of the diffuser with the lowest values achieved by attaching the rough surface to the shroud wall. Results show that the roughness has no significant effect on stall cell frequencies.


Author(s):  
M. Hewkin-Smith ◽  
G. Pullan ◽  
S. D. Grimshaw ◽  
E. M. Greitzer ◽  
Z. S. Spakovszky

This paper describes the role of tip leakage flow in creating the leading edge separation necessary for the onset of spike-type compressor rotating stall. A series of unsteady multi-passage simulations, supported by experimental data, are used to define and illustrate the two competing mechanisms that cause the high incidence responsible for this separation: blockage from a casing-suction-surface corner separation and forward spillage of the tip leakage jet. The axial momentum flux in the tip leakage flow determines which mechanism dominates. At zero tip clearance, corner separation blockage dominates. As the clearance is increased, the leakage flow reduces the blockage, moving the stall flow coefficient to lower flow, i.e., giving a larger unstalled flow range. Increased clearance, however, means an increase in leakage jet momentum and the contribution to leakage jet spillage. There is thus a clearance above which jet spillage dominates in creating incidence, so the stall flow coefficient increases and the flow range decreases with clearance. As a consequence there is a clearance for maximum flow range; for the two rotors in this study, the value was approximately 0.5% chord. The chord-wise distribution of the leakage axial momentum is also important in determining stall onset. Shifting the distribution towards the trailing edge increases the flow range of a leakage jet dominated geometry and reduces the flow range of a corner separation dominated geometry. Guidelines are developed for flow range enhancement through control of tip leakage flow axial momentum magnitude and distribution. An example is given of how this might be achieved.


1984 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. K. Moore

A small-disturbance theory of rotating stall in axial compressors is extended to finite amplitude, assuming the compressor characteristic is a parabola over the range of the disturbance. An exact solution is found which requires the operating point to be at the minimum or maximum of the parabola. If the characteristic is flat in a deep-stall regime, the previous harmonic solution applies with neither reverse flow or “unstalling.” If the characteristic is concave upward in deep stall, the disturbance has a skewed shape, steeper at the stall-zone trailing edge as experiment shows. Propagation speed is only slightly affected by this nonlinearity. Near stall inception, negative curvature in combination with multiple stall zones can limit the nonlinear oscillation, in the manner of “progressive” stall. If, as seems likely, lag at stall inception is negative (opposite to inertia), propagation speed exceeds 1/2 wheel speed, as experiments suggest.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hewkin-Smith ◽  
G. Pullan ◽  
S. D. Grimshaw ◽  
E. M. Greitzer ◽  
Z. S. Spakovszky

This paper describes the role of tip leakage flow in creating the leading edge separation necessary for the onset of spike-type compressor rotating stall. A series of unsteady multipassage simulations, supported by experimental data, are used to define and illustrate the two competing mechanisms that cause the high incidence responsible for this separation: blockage from a casing-suction-surface corner separation and forward spillage of the tip leakage jet. The axial momentum flux in the tip leakage flow determines which mechanism dominates. At zero tip clearance, corner separation blockage dominates. As clearance is increased, the leakage flow reduces blockage, moving the stall flow coefficient to lower flow, i.e., giving a larger unstalled flow range. Increased clearance, however, means increased leakage jet momentum and contribution to leakage jet spillage. There is thus a clearance above which jet spillage dominates in creating incidence, so the stall flow coefficient increases and flow range decreases with clearance. As a consequence, there is a clearance for maximum flow range; for the two rotors in this study, the value was approximately 0.5% chord. The chordwise distribution of the leakage axial momentum is also important in determining stall onset. Shifting the distribution toward the trailing edge increases flow range for a leakage jet dominated geometry and reduces flow range for a corner separation dominated geometry. Guidelines are developed for flow range enhancement through control of tip leakage flow axial momentum magnitude and distribution. An example is given of how this might be achieved.


2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 695-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. de Vries ◽  
J. D. Opsteegh

Abstract Optimal perturbations are constructed for a two-layer β-plane extension of the Eady model. The surface and interior dynamics is interpreted using the concept of potential vorticity building blocks (PVBs), which are zonally wavelike, vertically confined sheets of quasigeostrophic potential vorticity. The results are compared with the Charney model and with the two-layer Eady model without β. The authors focus particularly on the role of the different growth mechanisms in the optimal perturbation evolution. The optimal perturbations are constructed allowing only one PVB, three PVBs, and finally a discrete equivalent of a continuum of PVBs to be present initially. On the f plane only the PVB at the surface and at the tropopause can be amplified. In the presence of β, however, PVBs influence each other’s growth and propagation at all levels. Compared to the two-layer f-plane model, the inclusion of β slightly reduces the surface growth and propagation speed of all optimal perturbations. Responsible for the reduction are the interior PVBs, which are excited by the initial PVB after initialization. Their joint effect is almost as strong as the effect from the excited tropopause PVB, which is also negative at the surface. If the optimal perturbation is composed of more than one PVB, the Orr mechanism dominates the initial amplification in the entire troposphere. At low levels, the interaction between the surface PVB and the interior tropospheric PVBs (in particular those near the critical level) takes over after about half a day, whereas the interaction between the tropopause PVB and the interior PVBs is responsible for the main amplification in the upper troposphere. In all cases in which more than one PVB is used, the growing normal mode configuration is not reached at optimization time.


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