scholarly journals The Role of Tip Leakage Flow in Spike-Type Rotating Stall Inception

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.

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.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4168
Author(s):  
Botao Zhang ◽  
Xiaochen Mao ◽  
Xiaoxiong Wu ◽  
Bo Liu

To explain the effect of tip leakage flow on the performance of an axial-flow transonic compressor, the compressors with different rotor tip clearances were studied numerically. The results show that as the rotor tip clearance increases, the leakage flow intensity is increased, the shock wave position is moved backward, and the interaction between the tip leakage vortex and shock wave is intensified, while that between the boundary layer and shock wave is weakened. Most of all, the stall mechanisms of the compressors with varying rotor tip clearances are different. The clearance leakage flow is the main cause of the rotating stall under large rotor tip clearance. However, the stall form for the compressor with half of the designed tip clearance is caused by the joint action of the rotor tip stall caused by the leakage flow spillage at the blade leading edge and the whole blade span stall caused by the separation of the boundary layer of the rotor and the stator passage. Within the investigated varied range, when the rotor tip clearance size is half of the design, the compressor performance is improved best, and the peak efficiency and stall margin are increased by 0.2% and 3.5%, respectively.


Author(s):  
Leilei Ji ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Weidong Shi

In order to investigate the effect of impeller tip clearance on internal flow fields and the rotating stall inception impacted by tip leakage vortex and inlet unsteady flow in a mixed-flow pump, mixed-flow pump models with tip clearances of 0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, and 1.1 mm were numerically calculated, and then the energy performance curves and internal flow structures were obtained and compared. The results show that the pump efficiency and the internal flow fields of numerical calculation are in good agreement with experimental results at design flow rate and near-stall condition. A portion of the positive slope segment appears in the energy performance curves under different tip clearances. The lowest head of the mixed-flow pump in the positive slope region decreases with the increase of the tip clearance while the highest head shows an opposite situation indicating that mixed-flow pumps are easier to stall under small tip clearance. At the design flow rate condition, the tip leakage vortex is relatively stable under different tip clearances and appears as a “snail shell” shape, whereas in rotating stall conditions, the “snail shell” shape disappear and the tip leakage flow on blade front forms a “flat” vortex structure. The inlet swirl flow not only affects the tip leakage flow in rotating stall conditions under different tip clearances, but also blocks the fluid from the inlet pipe. Under the circumstance of the same tip clearance, the main frequency amplitude of pressure pulsation coefficient gradually shifts away from blade passing frequency (96.67 Hz) to the axial frequency (24.17 Hz) when the pump operates in the stall condition.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Cameron ◽  
Matthew A. Bennington ◽  
Mark H. Ross ◽  
Scott C. Morris ◽  
Juan Du ◽  
...  

Experimental and numerical studies were conducted to investigate tip-leakage flow and its relationship to stall in a transonic axial compressor. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results were used to identify the existence of an interface between the approach flow and the tip-leakage flow. The experiments used a surface-streaking visualization method to identify the time-averaged location of this interface as a line of zero axial shear stress at the casing. The axial position of this line, denoted xzs, moved upstream with decreasing flow coefficient in both the experiments and computations. The line was consistently located at the rotor leading edge plane at the stalling flow coefficient, regardless of inflow boundary condition. These results were successfully modeled using a control volume approach that balanced the reverse axial momentum flux of the tip-leakage flow with the momentum flux of the approach fluid. Nonuniform tip clearance measurements demonstrated that movement of the interface upstream of the rotor leading edge plane leads to the generation of short length scale rotating disturbances. Therefore, stall was interpreted as a critical point in the momentum flux balance of the approach flow and the reverse axial momentum flux of the tip-leakage flow.


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 648-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Storer ◽  
N. A. Cumpsty

A simple model for loss created by the tip clearance flow in axial compressors is presented, based on an experimental program performed in conjunction with the Dawes three-dimensional Navier–Stokes calculation method. The principal mechanism of loss (entropy creation) caused by tip leakage flow has been established to be the mixing of flows of similar speeds but different direction. Calculations show that relative motion of the endwall relative to the tip has a small effect on clearance flow. The simple model correctly predicts the magnitude of tip clearance loss and the trend with changes of tip clearance for the cascade tested. For a given geometry the loss is almost exactly proportional to the ratio of tip clearance to blade span; the loss directly associated with the clearance is smaller than often assumed. The simple model for tip clearance loss has been expressed in terms of conventional nondimensional design variables (for example: solidity, aspect ratio, flow coefficient, loading coefficient) and from these the contribution to the overall loss of efficiency caused by tip leakage flow is conveniently represented. The trends are illustrated for a number of possible compressor design choices. Blade row loss increases more slowly than blade loading (for example, diffusion factor). As a result the decrement in stage efficiency associated with clearance flow decreases as the stage loading is raised in the practical range of flow and loading coefficients.


Author(s):  
Limin Gao ◽  
Ruiyu Li ◽  
Fang Miao ◽  
Yutong Cai

Contra-rotating axial compressor/fan (CRAC) is a promising technology to meet the future goals aircraft industry. Massive time accurate simulations are performed to investigate rotating stall in CRAC containing two counter-rotating rotors. Particularly, the back pressure increasing with a very small step to avoid missing flow field transition from stability to instability. Due to the canceling of the stator, the instability of downstream rotor is more stronger. The present studies mostly focus on the downstream rotor. The tip leakage flow field is analyzed in detail under near stall condition, which indicates that a secondary leakage flow plays an important role in the unsteadiness of CRAC's unsteady flow field. The frequency analysis in the tip clearance of downstream rotor under multiple near stall conditions captured the transition of the second harmonic frequency which can be used as stall inception signal. Moreover, the rotating stall onset process in real CRAC is simulated on the numerical stall.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Jiang ◽  
Xiangtong Shi ◽  
Qun Zheng ◽  
Qingfang Zhu ◽  
Zhongliang Chen ◽  
...  

AbstractThe onset of spike stall induced by the interaction of hub corner separation flow with the tip leakage flow is investigated in detail by numerical method in this paper. The time resolved results indicate that the remarkable radial secondary flow from hub to tip near the trailing edge is formed when the compressor approaching rotating stall. The radial secondary flow is unstable and cross-passages propagates, which flows in and away out of the tip region periodically. The disturbance caused by radial secondary flow will influence the tip leakage flow directly by reforming the vortexes in blade tip region. A secondary vortex which comes from the radial migration of corner separation and is induced by the tip leakage vortex appears in the tip region. The simulation result demonstrates that the generation of the secondary vortex is an important symbol of blockage growth in the tip region at the stall inception phase. The disturbance produced by secondary vortex is an incentive of the leading edge overflow and the intensity of secondary vortex could be used as a criterion of rotating stall before leading edge spillage.


Author(s):  
J. A. Storer ◽  
N. A. Cumpsty

A simple model for loss created by the tip clearance flow in axial compressors is presented, based on an experimental programme performed in conjunction with the Dawes three-dimensional Navier-Stokes calculation method. The principal mechanism of loss (entropy creation) caused by tip leakage flow has been established to be the mixing of flows of similar speeds but different direction. Calculations who that relative motion of the endwall relative to the tip has a small effect on clearance flow. The simple model correctly predicts the magnitude of tip clearance loss and the trend with changes of tip clearance for the cascade tested. For a given geometry the loss is almost exactly proportional to the ratio of tip clearance to blade span; the loss directly associated with the clearance is smaller than often assumed. The simple model for tip clearance loss has been expressed in terms of conventional non-dimensional design variables (for example; solidity, aspect ratio, flow coefficient, loading coefficient) and from these the contribution to the overall loss of efficiency caused by tip leakage flow is conveniently represented. The trends are illustrated for a number of possible compressor design choices. Blade row loss increases more slowly than blade loading (for example diffusion factor). As a result the decrement in stage efficiency associated with clearance flow decreases as the stage loading is raised in the practical range of flow and loading coefficients.


2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minsuk Choi ◽  
Je Hyun Baek ◽  
Seong Hwan Oh ◽  
Dock Jong Ki

A three-dimensional numerical simulation is conducted to study an effect of the inlet boundary layer thickness on the rotating stall in an axial compressor. The inlet boundary layer thickness has significant effects on the hub-corner-separation in the junction of the hub and suction surface. As the load is increased, the size of the hub-corner-separation is increased dramatically for the thick inlet boundary layer but it is diminished to be indistinguishable from the wake of the blade for the thin inlet boundary layer. The difference induced by different inlet conditions at high load should have affected characteristics of the rotating stall such as the inception process and propagation speed of the stall cells. For two cases of different inlet boundary layers, the numerical simulation is progressed as the flow coefficient is decreased until the rotating stall begins and then effects of the inlet boundary layer thickness on the rotating stall are analyzed by using the axial velocity history and the rotary total pressure distribution. For the thick inlet boundary layer, a pre-stall disturbance arises firstly in the hub-corner-separation and then in the tip leakage flow as the load is increased. For the thin inlet boundary layer, however, an asymmetric disturbance is initially generated in the tip region because of the corner-separation in the junction of the casing and suction surface. The disturbance of the tip leakage flow grows to be a stationary stall cell which is adhered to the blade passage by throttling process in case of the thick inlet boundary layer. When the stationary stall cell reach a critical size, this cell moves along the blade row and becomes a short-length-scale rotating stall. However, the rotating stall is not found at a smaller flow rate for the thin inlet boundary layer because the flow in the tip region is more energetic than that of its counterpart. In addition, it is found that the inlet boundary layer thickness has an effect on the cause of the initial disturbance which collapses the axi-symmetric flow under high load and the internal flow with a thick boundary layer on the casing is susceptible to the rotating stall.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1445
Author(s):  
Moru Song ◽  
Hong Xie ◽  
Bo Yang ◽  
Shuyi Zhang

This paper studies the influence of tip clearance on the flow characteristics related to the performance. Based on full-passage numerical simulation with experimental validation, several clearance models are established and the performance curves are obtained. It is found that there exists an optimum clearance for the stable working range. By analyzing the flow field in tip region, the role of the tip leakage flow is illustrated. In the zero-clearance model, the separation and blockage along the suction side is the main reason for rotating stall. As the tip clearance is increased to the optimum value, the separation is suppressed by the tip leakage flow. However, with the continuing increasing of the tip clearance, the scale and strength of the tip clearance vortex is increased correspondingly. When the tip clearance is larger than the optimum value, the tip clearance vortex gradually dominates the flow field in the tip region, which can increase the unsteadiness in the tip region and trigger forward spillage in stall onset.


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