Optimization of the Efficiency of Stall Control Using Air Injection for Centrifugal Compressors

Author(s):  
Taher Halawa ◽  
Mohamed S. Gadala ◽  
Mohamed Alqaradawi ◽  
Osama Badr

Numerical investigation of the optimization of the stall control efficiency for a high speed centrifugal compressor using air injection is presented. External air was injected close to the diffuser entrance at the shroud surface of the vaneless region. Injection was applied with mass flow rates of 0.7%, 1%, and 1.5% of the design inlet mass flow rate with six different angles of 0 deg, 10 deg, 20 deg, 30 deg, 40 deg, and 180 deg measured from the positive tangential direction at the vaneless region. Detailed comparisons were made between the case without using air injection and the different air injection cases by comparing velocity, pressure, and force fluctuations with time. Results showed that as the injection mass flow rate increases, the number of diffuser passages with reversed flow decreases for all cases of injection except for the case of reverse tangent injection. Results indicated that using angle of injection of 30 deg minimized the stall area and provided the least force fluctuations with no reversed flow compared to other injection angles. Finally, it was found that injecting air with mass flow rate of 1.5% of the inlet mass flow rate at an angle of 30 deg resulted in shifting of stall onset to a mass flow rate corresponding to 3.8 kg/s instead of 4 kg/s for a compressor without using air injection control.

Author(s):  
Taher Halawa

This study presents additional important findings to the results of the research paper; “Optimization of the efficiency of stall control using air injection for centrifugal compressors” published in the Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power in 2015 (Halawa, T., Gadala, M. S., Alqaradawi, M., and Badr, O., 2015, “Optimization of the Efficiency of Stall Control Using Air Injection for Centrifugal Compressors,” ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 137(7), p. 072604). The aim of this study is to make a fine determination of the injection angle, which provides the best stable condition when the compressor operates close to stall condition. A relatively narrower range of injection angles with smaller intervals was selected comparing to the results of the referred published paper, which clarified that the best injection angle is 30 deg. External air was injected close to the diffuser entrance at the shroud surface. Injection was applied with mass flow rate equals 1.5% of the design compressor inlet mass flow rate with injection angles ranged from 16 deg to 34 deg measured from the tangential direction at the vaneless region. It was found that both of injection angles of 28 deg and 30 deg achieved the best results in terms of compressor stabilization but each one of them has a specific advantage comparing to the other one. Using injection angle of 28 deg provided the lowest kinetic energy losses while the best orientation of the fluid through diffuser resulted when using an injection angle of 30 deg.


Author(s):  
C. Samuel Martin

Careful experiments have been conducted for the purpose of investigating the phenomenon of condensation-induced waterhammer in an ammonia refrigeration system. To initiate a waterhammer event warm ammonia gas was introduced over static subcooled ammonia liquid placed in a horizontal 146.3 mm diameter carbon steel pipe 6.0 m in length. By means of fast response piezoelectric pressure transducers and a high speed data acquisition system rapid dynamic pressures were recorded whenever a shock event occurred. The occurrence of condensation-induced waterhammer depended upon three major variables; namely, (1) initial liquid depth, (2) liquid temperature, and (3) mass flow rate of warm gas. For given liquid depth and temperature, once the warm gas threshold conditions were exceeded shocks occurred with greater magnitude as the mass flow rate of gas input was increased. With adequate subcooling condensation-induced waterhammer occurred for initial liquid depths ranging from 25% to 95% of internal pipe diameter. The threshold mass flow rate of warm gas necessary to initiate waterhammer was greater as the initial liquid was lowered.


2012 ◽  
Vol 224 ◽  
pp. 352-357
Author(s):  
Islem Benhegouga ◽  
Ce Yang

In this work, steady air injection upstream of the blade leading edge was used in a transonic axial flow compressor, NASA rotor 37. The injectors were placed at 27 % upstream of the axial chord length at blade tip, the injection mass flow rate is 3% of the chock mass flow rate, and 3 yaw angles were used, respectively -20°, -30°, and -40°. Negative yaw angles were measured relative to the compressor face in opposite direction of rotational speeds. To reveal the mechanism, steady numerical simulations were performed using FINE/TURBO software package. The results show that the stall mass flow can be decreased about 2.5 %, and an increase in the total pressure ratio up to 0.5%.


Author(s):  
Sibel Tas ◽  
Sertac Cadirci ◽  
Hasan Gunes ◽  
Kemal Sarioglu ◽  
Husnu Kerpicci

The aim of this experimental study is to investigate the mass flow rate of the lubricating oil in a hermetic reciprocating compressor. Essential parameters affecting the performance of the lubrication are the rotational speed of the crankshaft, the viscosity of the oil, the operating temperature and the submersion depth of the crankshaft. An experimental setup was built as to measure the oil mass flow rate with respect to the oil temperature variation during different operating conditions. The influence of the governing parameters such as the rotational speed, temperature (viscosity) and the submersion depth on the mass flow rate from crankshaft outlet are studied in detail. In addition, the oil flow visualization from the upper hole of the crankshaft is performed using a high-speed camera in order to observe the effectiveness of the lubrication of the various parts of the compressor. This study reveals that with increasing rotational speed, the submersion depth of the crankshaft and with decreasing viscosity of the lubricant, the mass flow rate from the crankshaft increases.


2016 ◽  
Vol 797 ◽  
pp. 604-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Im ◽  
D. Baccarella ◽  
B. McGann ◽  
Q. Liu ◽  
L. Wermer ◽  
...  

The unstart phenomena in a model scramjet with a free stream Mach number of 4.5 were investigated at an arc-heated hypersonic wind tunnel. High-speed schlieren imaging and high resonance frequency pressure measurements were used to capture the flow features during the unstart process. Three unstart conditions were tested: (i) a low-enthalpy free stream with mass loading, (ii) a high-enthalpy free stream with mass loading and (iii) a high-enthalpy free stream with mass loading and heat release. It was revealed that the unstart threshold and the time from the onset to the completion of unstart depended strongly on the mass loading rate and the heat exchange. The negative heat addition (cooling) significantly increased the threshold of mass flow rate triggering unstart. The decrement of the mass flow rate threshold for unstart was observed in the presence of heat release by combustion. The observed transient and quasi-steady behaviours of the unstart shockwave system and the jet motion were similar in all of the test conditions. On the other hand, at the lip of inlet model, the unstart shockwave under the cold free stream condition exhibited a relatively steady behaviour while severe oscillatory flow motions of the jet and the unstart shockwave were observed in the combustion-driven unstart process. The different unstarted flow behaviours between the three flow conditions were explained using a simplified one-dimensional flow choking analysis and use of the Korkegi criterion.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deb Banerjee ◽  
Rick Dehner ◽  
Ahmet Selamet ◽  
Kevin Tallio ◽  
Keith Miazgowicz ◽  
...  

Abstract The flow field at the inlet of a turbocharger compressor has been studied through stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) experiments under different operating conditions. It is found that the flow field is quite uniform at high mass flow rates; but as the mass flow rate is reduced, flow reversal from the impeller is observed as an annular ring at the periphery of the inlet duct. The inception of flow reversal is observed to occur in the mid-flow operating region, near peak efficiency, and corresponds to an incidence angle of about 15.5 deg at the inducer blade tips at all tested speeds. This reversed flow region is marked with high tangential velocity and rapid fluctuations. It grows in strength with reducing mass flow rate and imparts some of its angular momentum to the forward flow due to mixing. The penetration depth of the reversed flow upstream from the inducer plane is found to increase quadratically with decreasing flow rate.


Author(s):  
Alex Yeung ◽  
Nagabhushana Rao Vadlamani ◽  
Tom Hynes ◽  
Sumit Sarvankar

This paper studies the computational modelling of the flow separation over the engine nacelle lips under the off-design condition of significant crosswind. A numerical framework is set up to reproduce the general flow characteristics under crosswinds with increasing engine mass flow rate, which include: low-speed separation, attached flow and high speed shock-induced separation. A quasi-3D (Q3D) duct extraction method from the full 3D (F3D) simulations has been developed. Results obtained from the Q3D simulations are shown to largely reproduce the trends observed (isentropic Mach number variations and high-speed separation behaviour) in the 3D intake, substantially reducing the simulation time by a factor of 50. The agreement between the F3D and Q3D simulations is encouraging when the flow either fully attached or with modest levels of separation but degrades when the flow fully detaches. Results are shown to deviate beyond this limit since the captured streamtube shape (and hence the corresponding Q3D duct shape) changes with the mass flow rate. Interestingly, the drooped intake investigated in the current study is prone to earlier separation under crosswinds when compared to an axisymmetric intake. Implications of these results on the industrial nacelle lip design are also discussed.


Author(s):  
N. A. Ahmed ◽  
R. L. Elder

The paper describes experimental results obtained using laser velocimetry in a small high speed centrifugal impeller. The formation of wakes and the effect of varying speed and mass flow rate on the flow within the impeller passages are presented. In addition, an indication of the three dimensional nature of the impeller flow is discussed (the three dimensional results being obtained using a novel Doppler anemometer).


2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rae-Joon PARK ◽  
Kwang-Soon HA ◽  
Jae-Cheol KIM ◽  
Seong-Wan HONG ◽  
Sang-Baik KIM

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