Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Different Unsteady Modes in a Centrifugal Compressor With Variable Vaned Diffuser

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Xue ◽  
Tong Wang ◽  
Yuchang Shao ◽  
Bo Yang ◽  
Chuangang Gu

The flow instability always varies within different compressors; however, even in one compressor, there may be still multiple various unsteady modes. To study the triggering mechanism for these unsteady modes, a detailed experimental research on an industrial centrifugal compressor with variable vaned diffuser is performed from design point to surge. The multiposition dynamic pressure measurement is conducted during the whole valve-adjusting process. The characteristics of pressure fields under some specific operating conditions are focused on, especially the prestall, stall and surge conditions. According to the collected data, the features of different unsteady modes can be obtained, such as the surge pattern and the propagation direction of stall cells. In addition, when the diffuser vane setting angle (DVA) is adjusted, the core factors to trigger total instability will change. To better complement the experimental analysis, a multipassage numerical simulation is carried out. Based on the agreement of performance curves obtained by the two methods, the flow field characteristics in the prestall state shown in the simulation results are indeed a good complement to the dynamic experimental analysis. Meanwhile, with the help of dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) method, a few low-frequency unsteady structures are extracted from the transient numerical result over a long time, which correlate with the experimental result. Through detailed analysis, an insight into the different unsteady modes in a centrifugal compressor with variable vaned diffuser is obtained.

Author(s):  
Xiang Xue ◽  
Tong Wang ◽  
Yuchang Shao ◽  
Bo Yang ◽  
Chuangang Gu

The unsteady flow at small flow rates is always the most important of typical unsteady phenomena in centrifugal compressors, since it is closely related to the operating safety and efficiency. To study the mechanism of stall and surge generation, an experimental research on an industrial centrifugal compressor with variable vaned diffuser is carried out to study the unsteady flow structure from design point to surge. A multi-phase dynamic pressure measurement is conducted, based on 23 dynamic pressure sensors mounted on the shroud side casing surface of the compressor. The sensors are circumferentially distributed in a non-uniform manner at seven different radial positions, including the impeller region, the vaneless region and the diffuser throat region. Real-time data is recorded during the whole valve-adjusting process. The characteristics of pressure fields at some specific operating conditions are focused on, especially the pre-stall, stall precursor, stall and surge conditions. According to the multiphase data association, the originating position of the stall precursor can be determined. The features of the unsteady flow structure are also obtained, such as the surge pattern and the propagation direction of stall cells. In addition, when the diffuser vane setting angle (OGV) is turned up, the core factors to trigger total instability will change. In order to visually show how the tip leakage and separation vortex in the impeller gradually affect the flow structure in the vaned diffuser region and even the whole machine, numerical simulation and dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) method are used to study the flow mechanisms. The numerical simulation result is well matched with the experimental result. With the help of the DMD method, a few low-frequency tip leakage vortex structures are extracted from the unsteady numerical result over a period of time, which correlate with the experimental result. Meanwhile, on this issue, the feasibility of dynamic experimental analysis combined with multi-channel numerical simulation analysis is verified and discussed. Through the two analytic methods, a detailed understanding of the unsteady flow structure in the centrifugal compressor with variable vaned diffuser is obtained.


1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. N. Abdel-Hamid ◽  
U. Haupt ◽  
M. Rautenberg

Self-excited flow oscillations in a high performance centrifugal compressor with vaned diffuser have been experimentally investigated over a wide range of operating conditions. The space and time characteristics of the flow oscillations in the compressor from inlet to outlet were measured using fast response dynamic pressure transducers on the shroud wall and blade mounted straingages. Multi-channel signal analysis techniques in the frequency domain clearly identified the onset of the oscillations and its type. Rotating stall was found to exist in certain regimes of the compressor map but did not necessarily preceed the occurrence of the surge phenomena. At compressor speeds below 13600 rpm the rotating non-uniform flow when it occurred was composed of three lobes and rotated at approximately 5–6 % of the impeller speed. Above 13600 rpm the rotating pattern changed to two lobes and rotated at approximately 16–20 % of the impeller speed. The direction of rotation of both patterns was opposite to that of the impeller. Analysis of the performance characteristics of the compressor components prior to and during flow oscillations indicates that the relative magnitude of the flow fluctuations in the semi-vaneless space downstream of the impeller are the largest which points towards the close relationship between the conditions leading to the onset of the oscillations and the flow details in this region of the compressor. Additional confirmation of this relationship is obtained from comparison between the results obtained in this study and those obtained when the same compressor was operated with a vaneless diffuser.


Computation ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Senthil Raman ◽  
Heuy Kim

A centrifugal compressor working with supercritical CO 2 (S-CO 2 ) has several advantages over other supercritical and conventional compressors. S-CO 2 is as dense as the liquid CO 2 and becomes difficult to compress. Thus, during the operation, the S-CO 2 centrifugal compressor requires lesser compression work than the gaseous CO 2 . The performance of S-CO 2 compressors is highly varying with tip clearance and vanes in the diffuser. To improve the performance of the S-CO 2 centrifugal compressor, knowledge about the influence of individual components on the performance characteristics is necessary. This present study considers an S-CO 2 compressor designed with traditional engineering design tools based on ideal gas behaviour and tested by SANDIA national laboratory. Three-dimensional, steady, viscous flow through the S-CO 2 compressor was analysed with computational fluid dynamics solver based on the finite volume method. Navier-Stokes equations are solved with K- ω (SST) turbulence model at operating conditions in the supercritical regime. Performance of the impeller, the main component of the centrifugal compressor is compared with the impeller with vaneless diffuser and vaned diffuser configurations. The flow characteristics of the shrouded impeller are also studied to analyse the tip-leakage effect.


Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Liu ◽  
Dongxiao Ding ◽  
Kai Ma ◽  
Kuan Gao

In this study, some important intrinsic dynamics have been captured after analyzing the relationships between the dynamic pressure at an outlet of centrifugal compressor and fractal characteristics, which is one of powerful descriptions in entropy to measure the disorder or complexity in the nonlinear dynamic system. In particular, the fractal dynamics of dynamic pressure of the flow is studied, as the centrifugal compressor is in surge state, resulting in the dynamic pressure of flow and becoming a serious disorder and complex. First, the dynamic pressure at outlet of a centrifugal compressor with 800 kW is tested and then obtained by controlling the opening of the anti-surge valve at the outlet, and both the stable state and surge are initially tested and analyzed. Subsequently, the fractal dynamics is introduced to study the intrinsic dynamics of dynamic pressure under various working conditions, in order to identify surge, which is one typical flow instability in centrifugal compressor. Following fractal dynamics, the Hurst exponent, autocorrelation functions, and variance in measure theories of entropy are studied to obtain the mono-fractal characteristics of the centrifugal compressor. Further, the multi-fractal spectrums are investigated in some detail, and their physical meanings are consequently explained. At last, the statistical reliability of multi-fractal spectrum by modifying the original data has been studied. The results show that a distinct relationship between the dynamic pressure and fractal characteristics exists, including mono-fractal and multi-fractal, and such fractal dynamics are intrinsic. As the centrifugal compressor is working under normal condition, its autocorrelation function curve demonstrates apparent stochastic characteristics, and its Hurst exponent and variance are lower. However, its autocorrelation function curve demonstrates an apparent heavy tail distribution, and its Hurst exponent and variance are higher, as it is working in an unstable condition, namely, surge. In addition, the results show that the multi-fractal spectrum parameters are closely related to the dynamic pressure. With the state of centrifugal compressor being changed from stable to unstable states, some multi-fractal spectrum parameters Δα, Δf(α), αmax, and f(αmin) become larger, but αmin in the multi-fractal spectrum show the opposite trend, and consistent properties are graphically shown for the randomly shuffled data. As a conclusion, the proposed method, as one measure method for entropy, can be used to feasibly identify the incipient surge of a centrifugal compressor and design its surge controller.


Author(s):  
Adesile Ajisafe ◽  
Midhat Talibi ◽  
Andrea Ducci ◽  
Ramanarayanan Balachandran ◽  
Nishant Parsania ◽  
...  

Abstract Liquid fuel spray characterisation is essential for understanding the mechanisms underlying fuel energy release and pollutant formation. Careful selection of operating conditions can promote flow instabilities in the fuel spray which can enhance atomisation and fuel mixing, thereby resulting in more efficient combustion. However, the inherent instabilities present in the spray could have adverse effect on the combustor dynamics. Hence, it is important to better understand the dynamical behaviour of the spray, and particularly at representative operating conditions. This work describes an experimental investigation of dynamical behaviour of pressure-swirl atomisers used in Siemens industrial gas turbine combustors, at a range of chamber pressures and fuel injection pressures, using high speed laser planar imaging. Two modal decomposition techniques — Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) — are applied and compared to assess the spray dynamics. Results indicate that both POD and DMD are able to capture periodic structures occurring in the spray at different spatial length scales. The characteristic frequencies estimated from both the methods are in good agreement with each other. Both techniques are able to identify coherent structures with variable size, shape and level of staggering, which are observed to be dependent on the pressure difference across the atomiser and the chamber pressure. The spatio-temporally resolved data and the results could be used for spray model development and validation. Furthermore, the methods employed could be applied to other fuel atomisers, and more complicated conditions involving cross flow and higher chamber temperatures.


Author(s):  
Xiaojian Li ◽  
Yijia Zhao ◽  
Zhengxian Liu ◽  
Ming Zhao

To understand the flow dynamic characteristics of a centrifugal compressor, the dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) method is introduced to decompose the complex three-dimensional flow field. Three operating conditions, peak efficiency (OP1), peak pressure ratio (OP2), and small mass flow rate (near stall, OP3) conditions, are analyzed. First, the physical interpretations of main dynamic modes at OP1 are identified. As a result, the dynamic structures captured by DMD method are closely associated with the flow characteristics. In detail, the BPF/2BPF (blade passing frequency) corresponds to the impeller–diffuser interaction, the rotor frequency (RF) represents the tip leakage flow (TLF) from leading edge, and the 4RF is related to the interaction among the downstream TLF, the secondary flow, and the wake vortex. Then, the evolution of the dynamic structures is discussed when the compressor mass flow rate consistently declines. In the impeller, the tip leakage vortex near leading edge gradually breaks down due to the high backpressure, resulting in multi-frequency vortices. The broken vortices further propagate downstream along streamwise direction and then interact with the flow structures of 4RF. As a result, the 8RF mode can be observed in the whole impeller, this mode is transformed from upstream RF and 4RF modes, respectively. On the other hand, the broken vortices show broadband peak spectrum, which is correlated to the stall inception. Therefore, the sudden boost of energy ratio of 14RF mode could be regarded as a type of earlier signal for compressor instability. In the diffuser, the flow structures are affected by the perturbation from the impeller. However, the flow in diffuser is more stable than that in impeller at OP1–OP3, since the leading modes are stable patterns of BPF/2BPF.


2016 ◽  
Vol 802 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd R. Noack

Data-driven low-order modelling has been enjoying rapid advances in fluid mechanics. Arguably, Sirovich (Q. Appl. Maths, vol. XLV, 1987, pp. 561–571) started these developments with snapshot proper orthogonal decomposition, a particularly simple method. The resulting reduced-order models provide valuable insights into flow physics, allow inexpensive explorations of dynamics and operating conditions, and enable model-based control design. A winning argument for proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is the optimality property, i.e. the guarantee of the least residual for a given number of modes. The price is unpleasant frequency mixing in the modes which complicates their physical interpretation. In contrast, temporal Fourier modes and dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) provide pure frequency dynamics but lose the orthonormality and optimality property of POD. Sieber et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 792, 2016, pp. 798–828) bridge the least residual and pure frequency behaviour with an ingenious interpolation, called spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD). This article puts the achievement of the TU Berlin authors in perspective, illustrating the potential of SPOD and the challenges ahead.


1981 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-456
Author(s):  
G. Flueckiger ◽  
A. Melling

Using laser Doppler anemometry, two components of the gas velocity have been measured at the inlet of a centrifugal compressor impeller, operated at speeds typical of service conditions for a medium-sized turbocharger. The flow was found to be unstable, especially adjacent to the suction side of the blades, such that two predominant conditions existed in the flow. The unstable flow is illustrated in the paper by distributions of relative velocity and relative flow angle, and the effects of different operating conditions on these distributions are examined. The instability is believed to be caused by a pre-stall condition as the compressor operating point approaches a fully stalled condition which occurs during surge.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Hollenbeck ◽  
YangQuan Chen

Abstract Digital twins (DT) have become a useful tool in smart manufacturing, engineering and controls. Behavior matching of DTs to their physical twin counterparts is essential for capturing the evolution of key system parameters. Given that environmental gas emissions are governed by partial differential equations, the behavior matching optimization can often be ill posed and computationally expensive. Stochastic models have shown good agreement to deterministic models while having a significant computational cost reduction. This work presents a method for solving the source localization problem using a DT implementation of a stochastic point source emission with a fixed-mesh of gas sensors. The DT source localization is determined through behavior matching process with low frequency modes after dynamic mode decomposition using spatial interpolation on measured time series data. That is, the minimization of the mismatch between the DT and the unknown physical model can given an estimate of the source location.


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