Surge and Rotating Stall in Axial Flow Compressors—Part I: Theoretical Compression System Model

1976 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Greitzer

This paper reports a theoretical study of axial compressor surge. A nonlinear model is developed to predict the transient response of a compression system subsequent to a perturbation from steady operating conditions. It is found that for the system investigated there is an important nondimensional parameter on which this response depends. Whether this parameter is above or below a critical value determines which mode of compressor instability, rotating stall or surge, will be encountered at the stall line. For values above the critical, the system will exhibit the large amplitude oscillatory behavior characteristic of surge; while for values below the critical it will move toward operation in rotating stall, at a substantially reduced flow rate and pressure ratio. Numerical results are presented to show the motion of the compression system operating point during these two basic modes of instability, and a physical explanation is given for the mechanism associated with the generation of surge cycle oscillations.

1976 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Greitzer

This paper reports an experimental study of axial compressor surge and rotating stall. The experiments were carried out using a three stage axial flow compressor. With the experimental facility the physical parameters of the compression system could be independently varied so that their influence on the transient system behavior can be clearly seen. In addition, a new data analysis procedure has been developed, using a plenum mass balance, which enables the instantaneous compressor mass flow to be accurately calculated. This information is coupled to the unsteady pressure measurements to provide the first detailed quantitative picture of instantaneous compressor operation during both surge and rotating stall transients. The experimental results are compared to a theoretical model of the transient system response. The theoretical criterion for predicting which mode of compression system instability, rotating stall or surge, will occur is in good accord with the data. The basic scaling concepts that have been developed for relating transient data at different corrected speeds and geometrical parameters are also verified. Finally, the model is shown to provide an adequate quantitative description of the motion of the compression system operating point during the transients that occur subsequent to the onset of axial compressor stall.


1995 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Gysling ◽  
E. M. Greitzer

Dynamic control of rotating stall in an axial flow compressor has been implemented using aeromechanical feedback. The control strategy developed used an array of wall jets, upstream of a single-stage compressor, which were regulated by locally reacting reed valves. These reed valves responded to the small-amplitude flow-field pressure perturbations that precede rotating stall. The valve design was such that the combined system, compressor plus reed valve controller, was stable under operating conditions that had been unstable without feedback. A 10 percent decrease in the stalling flow coefficient was obtained using the control strategy, and the extension of stable flow range was achieved with no measurable change in the steady-state performance of the compression system. The experiments demonstrate the first use of aeromechanical feedback to extend the stable operating range of an axial flow compressor, and the first use of local feedback and dynamic compensation techniques to suppress rotating stall. The design of the experiment was based on a two-dimensional stall inception model, which incorporated the effect of the aeromechanical feedback. The physical mechanism for rotating stall in axial flow compressors was examined with focus on the role of dynamic feedback in stabilizing compression system instability. As predicted and experimentally demonstrated, the effectiveness of the aeromechanical control strategy depends on a set of nondimensional control parameters that determine the interaction of the control strategy and the rotating stall dynamics.


Author(s):  
Kai Ziegler ◽  
Bernhard Eisenberg ◽  
Klaus Hörmeyer ◽  
Roland Emmrich ◽  
Henning Ressing

An industrial axial compressor has to meet a wide range of operation requirements and therefore must run within the whole compressor map without restrictions at an overall high level of efficiency. Additionally a robust design is required allowing a continuous operation of up to five years under industrial boundary conditions without inspection. These requirements led the industrial turbomachinery market to be generally conservative and sensitive to every single change through modern compressor development. The consequence for industrial compressor designs are, that these have made only moderate development steps during the last 50 years. This paper deals with a novel hybrid axial flow compressor, which combines the advantages of an conventional industrial compressor, such as good operating range and efficiency, with the advantages of gas turbine compressors, mainly the higher power density resulting in a higher stage pressure ratio. Furthermore, the surge robustness of the novel compressor blading has been strongly improved. Starting from scratch, the development began with comprehensive matrix studies in all areas of the design, taking into account aerodynamics, mechanics, rotor dynamics and power density in order to ascertain the overall optimum for this new hybrid generation. State of the art CFD analysis has been intensively used to optimize the compressor blading as well as the flow behavior of inlet and exit for the specified requirements and different compressor control mechanisms. The novel hybrid compressor is designed for a volume flow of 930 000 m3/h and allows a scaling from 100 000 up to 1 500 000 m3/h of air. To verify the design, a rig — downscaled by the factor of 3 — was tested. The rig was intensively instrumented with thermocouples and pressure probes, a torquemeter, strain gauges, tip-timing probes, and transient pressure transducers. Besides the measurement of blading performance, inlet and exit flange-to-flange instrumentation has been used to collect performance data under a variety of industrial operating conditions. The compressor behavior will be presented with a focus on aerodynamic aspects. The analytical and experimental data will be discussed in detail.


Author(s):  
D. L. Gysling ◽  
E. M. Greitzer

Dynamic control of rotating stall in an axial flow compressor has been implemented using aeromechanical feedback. The control strategy developed used an array of wall jets, upstream of a single-stage compressor, which were regulated by locally reacting reed valves. These reed valves responded to flowfield pressure perturbations associated with the small amplitude perturbations that precede rotating stall. The valve design was such that the combined system, compressor plus reed valve controller, was stable under operating conditions that had been unstable without feedback. A 10% decrease in the stalling flow coefficient was achieved using the control strategy, and the stable flow range was extended with no noticeable change in the steady state performance of the compression system. The experimental demonstration is the first use of aeromechanical feedback to extend the stable operating range of an axial flow compressor. It is also the first use of local feedback and dynamic compensation techniques to suppress rotating stall. The design of the experiment was based on a two-dimensional stall inception model which incorporated the effect of the aeromechanical feedback. The physical mechanism for rotating stall in axial flow compressors was examined with focus on the role of dynamic feedback in stabilizing compression system instability. The effectiveness of the aeromechanical control strategy was predicted, and experimentally demonstrated, to depend on a set of non-dimensional control parameters that determine the interaction of the control strategy and the rotating stall dynamics.


Author(s):  
Wangzhi Zou ◽  
Xiao He ◽  
Wenchao Zhang ◽  
Zitian Niu ◽  
Xinqian Zheng

The stability considerations of centrifugal compressors become increasingly severe with the high pressure ratios, especially in aero-engines. Diffuser is the major subcomponent of centrifugal compressor, and its performance greatly influences the stability of compressor. This paper experimentally investigates the roles of vanes in diffuser on component instability and compression system instability. High pressure ratio centrifugal compressors with and without vanes in diffuser are tested and analyzed. Rig tests are carried out to obtain the compressor performance map. Dynamic pressure measurements and relevant Fourier analysis are performed to identify complex instability phenomena in the time domain and frequency domain, including rotating instability, stall, and surge. For component instability, vanes in diffuser are capable of suppressing the emergence of rotating stall in the diffuser at full speeds, but barely affect the characteristics of rotating instability in the impeller at low and middle speeds. For compression system instability, it is shown that the use of vanes in diffuser can effectively postpone the occurrence of compression system surge at full speeds. According to the experimental results and the one-dimensional flow theory, vanes in diffuser turn the diffuser pressure rise slope more negative and thus improve the stability of compressor stage, which means lower surge mass flow rate.


Author(s):  
Adam R. Hickman ◽  
Scott C. Morris

Flow field measurements of a high-speed axial compressor are presented during pre-stall and post-stall conditions. The paper provides an analysis of measurements from a circumferential array of unsteady shroud static pressure sensors during stall cell development. At low-speed, the stall cell approached a stable size in approximately two rotor revolutions. At higher speeds, the stall cell developed within a short amount of time after stall inception, but then fluctuated in circumferential extent as the compressor transiently approached a stable post-stall operating point. The size of the stall cell was found to be related to the annulus average flow coefficient. A discussion of Phase-Locked Average (PLA) statistics on flow field measurements during stable operation is also included. In conditions where rotating stall is present, flow field measurements can be Double Phase-Locked Averaged (DPLA) using a once-per-revolution (1/Rev) pulse and the period of the stall cell. The DPLA method provides greater detail and understanding into the structure of the stall cell. DPLA data indicated that a stalled compressor annulus can be considered to contained three main regions: over-pressurized passages, stalled passages, and recovering passages. Within the over-pressured region, rotor passages exhibited increased blade loading and pressure ratio compared to pre-stall values.


Author(s):  
Justin (Jongsik) Oh

In many aerodynamic design parameters for the axial-flow compressor, three variables of tailored blading, blade lean and sweep were considered in the re-design efforts of a transonic single stage which had been designed in 1960’s NASA public domains. As Part 1, the re-design was limited to the stator vane only. For the original MCA (Multiple Circular Arc) blading, which had been applied at all radii, the CDA (Controlled Diffusion Airfoil) blading was introduced at midspan as the first variant, and the endwalls of hub and casing (or tip) were replaced with the DCA (Double Circular Arc) blading for the second variant. Aerodynamic performance was predicted through a series of CFD analysis at design speed, and the best aerodynamic improvement, in terms of pressure ratio/efficiency and operability, was found in the first variant of tailored blading. It was selected as a baseline for the next design efforts with blade lean, sweep and both combined. Among 12 variants, a case of positively and mildly leaned blades was found the most attractive one, relative to the original design, providing benefits of an 1.0% increase of pressure ratio at design flow, an 1.7% increase of efficiency at design flow, a 10.5% increase of the surge margin and a 32.3% increase of the choke margin.


Author(s):  
Senthil Krishnababu ◽  
Vili Panov ◽  
Simon Jackson ◽  
Andrew Dawson

Abstract In this paper, research that was carried out to optimise an initial variable guide vane schedule of a high-pressure ratio, multistage axial compressor is reported. The research was carried out on an extensively instrumented scaled compressor rig. The compressor rig tests carried out employing the initial schedule identified regions in the low speed area of the compressor map that developed rotating stall. Rotating stall regions that caused undesirable non-synchronous vibration of rotor blades were identified. The variable guide vane schedule optimisation carried out balancing the aerodynamic, aero-mechanical and blade dynamic characteristics gave the ‘Silent Start’ variable guide vane schedule, that prevented the development of rotating stall in the start regime and removed the non-synchronous vibration. Aerodynamic performance and aero-mechanical characteristics of the compressor when operated with the initial schedule and the optimised ‘Silent Start’ schedule are compared. The compressor with the ‘Silent Start’ variable guide vane schedule when used on a twin shaft engine reduced the start time to minimum load by a factor of four and significantly improved the operability of the engine compared to when the initial schedule was used.


Author(s):  
C. Palomba ◽  
P. Puddu ◽  
F. Nurzia

Rotating stall is an unsteady phenomenon that arises in axial and radial flow compressors. Under certain operating conditions a more or less regular cell of turbulent flow develops and propagates around the annulus at a speed lower than rotor speed. Recently little work has been devoted to the understanding of the flow field pattern inside a rotating cell. However, this knowledge could be of help in the understanding of the interaction between the cell and the surrounding flow. Such information could be extremely important during the modelling process when some hypothesis have to be made about the cell behaviour. A detailed experimental investigation has been conducted during one cell operation of an isolated low-speed axial flow compressor rotor using a slanted hot wire and an ensemble average technique based on the cell revolution time. The three flow field components have been measured on 9 axial section for 800 circumferential points and on 21 radial stations to give a complete description of the flow field upstream and downstream of the rotor. Interpretation of data can give a description of the mean flow field patterns inside and around the rotating cell.


Author(s):  
S Sarkar

The results presented here are part of a detailed programme measuring the aerodynamics of a high specific speed mixed flow pump impeller over a wide range of operating conditions, including its behaviour in the unsteady stalled regime. The aim is to elucidate the physics of the flow through such an impeller. The noticeable features are the formation of part-span rotating stall cells having no periodicity and organized structure at reduced flow and also the shifting positions of reversal flow pockets as the flowrate changes. Measurements of loss and its variation with span-wise positions and flowrates enable the variation of local efficiency to be determined. The overall flow picture is similar to that expected in an axial flow impeller, though the present impeller displays a narrow stall hysteresis loop almost right through its operating range.


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