Evolution Process of Diffuser Stall in a Centrifugal Compressor With Vaned Diffuser

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobumichi Fujisawa ◽  
Tetsuya Inui ◽  
Yutaka Ohta

This paper describes in detailed flow field in a centrifugal compressor with a vaned diffuser at off design point. Especially, we conducted both the experimental and numerical analysis in order to investigate the evolution process of a diffuser stall. At the stall point, the diffuser stall was initiated and rotated near the shroud side in the vaneless space. Furthermore, the diffuser stall was developed to a stage stall cell, as the mass flow was decreased. The developed stall cell was rotated within both the impeller and diffuser passages. The evolution process of the diffuser stall had three stall forms. First, the diffuser stall was rotating near the shroud side. Then, the diffuser stall shifted to the hub side and moved into the impeller passages. Finally, a stage stall was generated. From computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, a tornado-type vortex was generated first, near the hub side of the diffuser leading edge, when the diffuser stall was shifted to the hub side. Next, a throat area blockage was formed near the hub side because of the boundary layer separation in the vaneless space. Finally, the blockage within the diffuser passages expanded to the impeller passages and developed into a stage stall. From the pressure measurements along the impeller and diffuser passages, the magnitude of pressure fluctuation on the casing wall of the diffuser throat area also suddenly increased when the diffuser stall shifted to the hub side. Therefore, the evolution area of the diffuser stall was caused by the evolution of the blockage near the throat area of the diffuser passage.

Author(s):  
Nobumichi Fujisawa ◽  
Tetsuya Inui ◽  
Yutaka Ohta

The evolution process of a diffuser rotating stall in a centrifugal compressor with a vaned diffuser was investigated by experimental and numerical analyses. From velocity measurements, it was found that the diffuser stall propagated near the shroud side in the vaneless space. As the mass flow decreased, a stage stall rotated within both the impeller and diffuser passages, instead of a diffuser stall. The evolution process of the diffuser stall had three stall forms. First, the diffuser stall, which was rotating on the shroud side, shifted to the hub side. Then, the diffuser stall moved into the impeller passages and evolved to a stage stall. From computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, a tornado-type vortex was generated first, near the hub side of the diffuser leading edge, when the diffuser stall was shifted to the hub side. Next, a throat area blockage was formed near the hub side because of the boundary layer separation in the vaneless space. Finally, the blockage within the diffuser passages expanded to the impeller passages and developed into a stage stall. From the pressure measurements along the impeller and diffuser passages, the magnitude of pressure fluctuation on the casing wall of the diffuser throat area also suddenly increased when the diffuser stall shifted to the hub side. Therefore, the evolution area of the diffuser stall was caused by the evolution of the blockage near the throat area of the diffuser passage.


Author(s):  
S N Singh ◽  
L Rai ◽  
P Puri ◽  
A Bhatnagar

The effect on aerodynamic drag using a model of a truck has been investigated by controlling the boundary layer separation by the momentum injection method using a rotating cylinder. It involves the use of experiments coupled with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis to validate the theory of momentum injection. Modelling of the truck has been done on the software GAMBIT©. The best suitable turbulence model was selected by comparing the results with the experimental results. The rotational speed and radius of the cylinder are varied to establish the effect of momentum injection on aerodynamic drag. The coefficient of drag reduces by approximately 35 per cent from an initial value of 0.51-0.32 for a cylinder of radius 1 cm with rotational speed of 4000 r/min.


2016 ◽  
Vol 819 ◽  
pp. 356-360
Author(s):  
Mazharul Islam ◽  
Jiří Fürst ◽  
David Wood ◽  
Farid Nasir Ani

In order to evaluate the performance of airfoils with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools, modelling of transitional region in the boundary layer is very critical. Currently, there are several classes of transition-based turbulence model which are based on different methods. Among these, the k-kL- ω, which is a three equation turbulence model, is one of the prominent ones which is based on the concept of laminar kinetic energy. This model is phenomenological and has several advantageous features. Over the years, different researchers have attempted to modify the original version which was proposed by Walter and Cokljat in 2008 to enrich the modelling capability. In this article, a modified form of k-kL-ω transitional turbulence model has been used with the help of OpenFOAM for an investigative CFD analysis of a NACA 4-digit airfoil at range of angles of attack.


2014 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurélien Marsan ◽  
Isabelle Trébinjac ◽  
Sylvain Coste ◽  
Gilles Leroy

The present work aims at evaluating the effect of the impeller–diffuser interaction on the control of a hub corner separation, which develops in the radial vaned diffuser of a centrifugal compressor designed and built by Turbomeca, Safran group. Unsteady numerical simulations of the flow in the aspirated centrifugal compressor are then performed. Numerical results are validated by comparison with the available experimental results. The analysis of the numerical flow field shows that the hub-corner separation is not completely removed by the suction, on the contrary to the steady-state results that were obtained in previous work. The boundary layer separation is only translated downstream. Its location is explained by the scrolling of the pressure waves generated by the impeller–diffuser interaction, which strengthen when crossing the diffuser throat. This result highlights the major role played by the impeller–diffuser interaction, which should be taken into account for developing control strategies in radial vaned diffusers, and stresses the shortcoming of the steady-state numerical model when suction is applied.


Author(s):  
Anatoly I. Ruban

This is Part 3 of a book series on fluid dynamics. This is designed to give a comprehensive and coherent description of fluid dynamics, starting with chapters on classical theory suitable for an introductory undergraduate lecture courses, and then progressing through more advanced material up to the level of modern research in the field. This book is devoted to high-Reynolds number flows. It begins by analysing the flows that can be described in the framework of Prandtl’s 1904 classical boundary-layer theory. These analyses include the Blasius boundary layer on a flat plate, the Falkner-Skan solutions for the boundary layer on a wedge surface, and other applications of Prandtl’s theory. It then discusses separated flows, and considers first the so-called ‘self-induced separation’ in supersonic flow that was studied in 1969 by Stewartson and Williams, as well as by Neiland, and led to the ‘triple-deck model’. It also presents Sychev’s 1972 theory of the boundary-layer separation in an incompressible fluid flow past a circular cylinder. It discusses the triple-deck flow near the trailing edge of a flat plate first investigated in 1969 by Stewartson and in 1970 by Messiter. It then considers the incipience of the separation at corner points of the body surface in subsonic and supersonic flows. It concludes by covering the Marginal Separation theory, which represents a special version of the triple-deck theory, and describes the formation and bursting of short separation bubbles at the leading edge of a thin aerofoil.


Author(s):  
Aurélien Marsan ◽  
Isabelle Trébinjac ◽  
Sylvain Coste ◽  
Gilles Leroy

The present work aims at evaluating the effect of the impeller-diffuser interaction on the control of a hub corner separation, which develops in the radial vaned diffuser of a centrifugal compressor designed and built by Turbomeca, Safran group. Unsteady numerical simulations of the flow in the aspirated centrifugal compressor are then performed. Numerical results are validated by comparison with the available experimental results. The analysis of the numerical flow field shows that the hub-corner separation is not completely removed by the suction, on the contrary to the steady-state results that were obtained in previous work. The boundary layer separation is only translated downstream. Its location is explained by the scrolling of the pressure waves generated by the impeller-diffuser interaction, which strengthen when crossing the diffuser throat. This result highlights the major role played by the impeller-diffuser interaction, which should be taken into account for developing control strategies in radial vaned diffusers, and stresses the shortcoming of the steady-state numerical model when suction is applied.


Author(s):  
Nicolas Buffaz ◽  
Isabelle Trébinjac

The results presented in the paper aim at investigating the impact of tip clearance size and rotation speed on the surge onset in a transonic single-stage centrifugal compressor composed of a backswept splittered unshrouded impeller and a vaned diffuser. For that purpose, various slow throttle ramps into surge were conducted from 100% to 60% design speed of the compressor and two different tip clearance heights were investigated. The 1MW LMFA-ECL test rig was used to carry out the tests in the compressor stage. Unsteady pressure measurements up to 150 KHz were carried out in the inducer (i.e. the entry zone of the impeller between the main blade leading edge and the splitter blade leading edge) and in the diffuser thanks to nine and fifteen static pressure sensors respectively. At cruise rotation speed (92.7% of the nominal rotation speed), the surge is triggered by a boundary layer separation on the diffuser vane suction side whatever the tip clearance height may be. No precursor of surge or pre-surge activity has been recorded in the diffuser or in the impeller. The surge reveals a spike-type inception and the tip clearance increase does not change the path into instability. At lower rotation speeds high frequency disturbances (nearly half the BPF) have been recorded in the inducer before surge. These disturbances can be understood as “tip clearance rotating disturbances” because they are generated at the leading edge of the main blades and move along the tip clearance trajectory. These disturbances reveal a very unstable behavior while the compressor runs into a stable operating point even if the flow at the tip of impeller is dramatically affected by these disturbances. But these disturbances do not trigger the surge which always originates in the diffuser.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2593
Author(s):  
Yasir Al-Okbi ◽  
Tze Pei Chong ◽  
Oksana Stalnov

Leading edge serration is now a well-established and effective passive control device for the reduction of turbulence–leading edge interaction noise, and for the suppression of boundary layer separation at high angle of attack. It is envisaged that leading edge blowing could produce the same mechanisms as those produced by a serrated leading edge to enhance the aeroacoustics and aerodynamic performances of aerofoil. Aeroacoustically, injection of mass airflow from the leading edge (against the incoming turbulent flow) can be an effective mechanism to decrease the turbulence intensity, and/or alter the stagnation point. According to classical theory on the aerofoil leading edge noise, there is a potential for the leading edge blowing to reduce the level of turbulence–leading edge interaction noise radiation. Aerodynamically, after the mixing between the injected air and the incoming flow, a shear instability is likely to be triggered owing to the different flow directions. The resulting vortical flow will then propagate along the main flow direction across the aerofoil surface. These vortical flows generated indirectly owing to the leading edge blowing could also be effective to mitigate boundary layer separation at high angle of attack. The objectives of this paper are to validate these hypotheses, and combine the serration and blowing together on the leading edge to harvest further improvement on the aeroacoustics and aerodynamic performances. Results presented in this paper strongly indicate that leading edge blowing, which is an active flow control method, can indeed mimic and even enhance the bio-inspired leading edge serration effectively.


Author(s):  
Yohei Morita ◽  
Nobumichi Fujisawa ◽  
Takashi Goto ◽  
Yutaka Ohta

The effects of the diffuser vane geometries on the compressor performance and noise characteristics of a centrifugal compressor equipped with vaned diffusers were investigated by experiments and numerical techniques. Because we were focusing attention on the geometries of the diffuser vane’s leading edge, diffuser vanes with various leading edge geometries were installed in a vaned diffuser. A tapered diffuser vane with the tapered portion near the leading edge of the diffuser’s hub-side could remarkably reduce both the discrete frequency noise level and broadband noise level. In particular, a hub-side tapered diffuser vane with a taper on only the hub-side could suppress the development of the leading edge vortex (LEV) near the shroud side of the diffuser vane and effectively enhanced the compressor performance.


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