Pulsed suction control in a highly-loaded compressor cascade with low suction flow rates

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Hongxin Zhang ◽  
Shaowen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Flow Rate ◽  
Flow Separation ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Compressor Cascade ◽  
Control Effect ◽  
Suction Force ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Suction Control ◽  
Suction Flow ◽  
Highly Loaded

Abstract The influence of pulsed suction (PS) on flow separation and aerodynamic performance in a highly loaded compressor cascade is experimentally studied herein. The excitation frequency is investigated as it determines the effectiveness of PS in flow control. Low suction flow rates are examined to analyze the potential of PS in providing a satisfactory cascade performance. For comparison, the corresponding parameters of steady continuous suction (SCS) are studied as well. Oil flow visualizations and steady and unsteady pressure data are used to characterize the control effects of SCS and PS. The experimental results validate the efficacy of PS in controlling flow separation, even at a reduced suction flow rate of 0.1%. It suppresses passage vortex is suppressed, improving aerodynamic performance. PS provides a better control effect than SCS at different excitation parameters, which can be attributed to twofold main reasons: first, at the same suction flow rate, PS has a larger suction momentum than SCS during the suction phase, resulting in a stronger suction force and having a more profound effect on the flow characteristics; and second, owing to the introduction of pulsed excitation to the suction, PS creates additional vortex structures that energize the boundary layer by transporting high momentum free-stream fluid near the wall. PS is also effective at a higher incidence angle, but its control effect is reduced.

scholarly journals Control and Entropy Analysis of Tip Leakage Flow for Compressor Cascade under Different Clearance Sizes with Endwall Suction

Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Botao Zhang ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Changfu Han ◽  
Hang Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Flow Rate ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Compressor Cascade ◽  
Control Effect ◽  
Tip Leakage Vortex ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Suction Flow

To investigate the influence of the change of tip clearance size on the control effect of the endwall suction, the effects of endwall suction on the aerodynamic performance of the axial compressor cascade were studied numerically. Three tip clearance sizes of 0.5% h, 1.0% h, and 2.0% h (h is the blade height) were mainly considered. The results show that the endwall suction scheme whose coverage range was 8–33% axial chord can reduce the leakage flow and improve the aerodynamic performance by directly influencing the structure of tip leakage vortex. The overall total pressure loss coefficients of the three clearance size schemes at 0° angle of incidence with 0.4 inlet Mach number are reduced by about 10.3%, 10.8%, and 6.0%, respectively, at the suction flow rate of 0.7%. Under the same suction flow rate, the onset position of the tip leakage vortex of the cascade with small clearance is shifted from the 15% of the axial chord length of original to the 48% of the axial chord length, which with large clearance is nearly no changed. The leakage flow rate and the distance from the leakage vortex to the suction slot are the main reasons for the different control effect of the endwall suction under different tip clearance sizes. The difference of the spanwise distribution of flow field parameters may also cause the difference of flow control effect.

A Combined Application of Negative Bowed Blade and Endwall Unsteady Pulsed Holed Suction in a Highly Loaded Compressor Cascade

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaowen Chen ◽  
Hongxin Zhang ◽  
Qinghe Meng ◽  
Songtao Wang ◽  
Zhongqi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Flow Control ◽  
Flow Separation ◽  
Flow Behavior ◽  
Excitation Frequency ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Flow Ratio ◽  
Compressor Cascade ◽  
Aero Engine ◽  
Suction Flow ◽  
Highly Loaded

With the increasing continually of blade load, a serious three-dimensional (3D) unsteady flow separation is caused in the design of modern advanced aero-engine compressor. The flow separation has a strong influence on the aerodynamic behavior of the flow in the compressor passage such as reducing the pressure rise capability and overall efficiency, and even resulting in stall and surge. Consequently, it is very necessary to apply some effective techniques for suppressing the 3D flow separation in order to improve the aerodynamic performance of aero-engine compressors. The endwall unsteady pulsed holed suction (EUPHS) is first developed. Additionally, the negative bowed blade is a convention passive flow control method. It can make the flow of the midspan move toward the endwall by changing the radial pressure distribution and improve flow behavior of the midspan. Therefore, with the aim of further improving the aerodynamic performance and flow behavior, the EUPHS combined with the negative bowed blade as a new promising compound flow control (CFC) technique is proposed. In this study, only two bleeding holes on the endwalls (one on the upper endwall and another on the lower endwall) are used to achieve suction in a highly loaded compressor cascade. The improvements in aerodynamic performance by endwall steady constant holed suction (ESCHS), EUPHS and CFC are investigated and compared firstly. Some related parameters such as suction-to-inlet time-averaged suction flow ratio and excitation frequency are also discussed and analyzed in detail. The results show that CFC has more potential advantages than ESCHS and EUPHS in reducing the total pressure loss coefficient and is a promising flow control technology to further enhance aerodynamic performance. Based on the optimal suction-to-inlet time-averaged suction flow ratio and excitation frequency, the total pressure loss coefficients for CFC are reduced by 17.7%.

Effects of Boundary Layer Suction on the Performance of Compressor Cascades

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fu Chen ◽  
Yanping Song ◽  
Huanlong Chen ◽  
Zhongqi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Flow Behavior ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Compressor Cascade ◽  
Suction Surface ◽  
Boundary Layer Suction ◽  
Suction Flow ◽  
Suction Slot ◽  
Highly Loaded

The effects of boundary layer suction on the aerodynamic performance of compressor cascade are mainly determined by: (1) the location of the suction slot; (2) the suction flow rate; (3) the suction slot geometry; and (4) the aerodynamic parameters of the cascade (e.g. solidity and incidence). In this paper, an extensive numerical study has been carried out to investigate the effects of these influencing factors in a highly-loaded compressor cascade by comparing the aerodynamic performance of the cascade in order to give guidance for the application of boundary layer suction to improve the performance of modern highly-loaded compressors. The results show that boundary layer suction alleviates the accumulation of low-energy fluid at suction surface corners and enhances the ability of flow turning, and this improvement in flow behavior depends on the location of the suction slot and the suction flow rate. When the location of the suction slot and the suction flow rate are fixed, as the cascade solidity decreases from 1.819 to 1.364 and 1.091, the cascade total pressure loss is reduced at most by 25.1%, 27.7% and 32.9% respectively, and the cascade exit flow deviation is decreased by 3.1°, 4.2° and 5.0° accordingly. Moreover, boundary layer suction also has the largest effect in the cascade with smaller solidity at large positive incidences, which means that boundary layer suction is an effective way to widen the stable operating range of the highly-loaded compressor cascade. The suction slot geometry is described by the suction slot width and the suction slot angle with respect to the direction normal to the blade suction surface. The results show that the flow behavior is improved and the endwall loss is reduced further as the increase of the suction slot width. The suction slot angle has an obvious influence on the pressure inside the slot, therefore, should be considered in the design of the suction slot since the maximum pressure inside the slot is usually required.

Numerical Study of Unsteady Pulsed Suction through Endwall Bleed Holes in a Highly Loaded Compressor Cascade

2018 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongxin Zhang ◽  
Shaowen Chen ◽  
Songtao Wang ◽  
Zhongqi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Flow Control ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Compressor Cascade ◽  
Skew Angle ◽  
Unsteady Aerodynamic ◽  
Aerodynamic Parameters ◽  
Suction Flow ◽  
Highly Loaded

AbstractUnsteady pulsed suction (UPS) was applied as an unsteady flow control (UFC) technique in a certain highly loaded compressor cascade to control the flow separations. Only two bleed holes symmetrically mounted on the endwalls (one on the upper endwall and another on the lower endwall) were set up to achieve steady constant suction (SCS) and UPS. The improvements in aerodynamic performance by SCS and UPS under different time-averaged suction flow rates are firstly investigated and compared. The related unsteady aerodynamic parameters of UPS such as excitation frequency, excitation location, pitch angle, and skew angle are discussed and analyzed in detail. The results show that UPS can provide a better flow control effect than SCS with the same time-averaged dimensionless suction flow rate in the control of flow separation. The aerodynamic performance of compressor cascades can be significantly enhanced by UPS when unsteady aerodynamic parameters are in their optimum ranges. Based on the optimum parameters for UPS, the total pressure loss coefficient is reduced by 19 % only with the time-averaged dimensionless suction flow ratems=0.4 %.

Effect of Blade Aspiration Slot Configuration on the Aerodynamic Performance of a Highly Loaded Aspirated Compressor Cascade

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longxin Zhang ◽  
Le Cai ◽  
Bao Liu ◽  
Jun Ding ◽  
Songtao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Flow Control ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Active Flow Control ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Flow Path ◽  
Compressor Cascade ◽  
Flow Loss ◽  
Highly Loaded

As a promising active flow control method, boundary layer suction (BLS) can be used to enhance the aerodynamic performance of the highly-loaded compressor effectively, and due to this reason, extensive studies have been carried out on it. However, contrast to those abundant studies focusing on the flow control effects of BLS, little attention has been paid on the design method of the aspiration flow path. This work presents a 3-D steady numerical simulation on a highly-loaded aspirated compressor cascade. The aspiration slot is implemented at its best location based on the previous experimental studies and the aspiration flow rate is fix to 1.5% of the inlet massflow. The plenum configuration follows the blade shape and remains unchanged. One-side-aspiration manner is adopted to simplify the aspiration devices. Two critical geometry parameters, slot angle and slot width, are varied to study the effects of blade aspiration slot configuration on the cascade loss, radial distribution of the aspiration flow rate and inner flow structures within the aspiration flow path. Results show that the slot configuration does affect the cascade performance. In comparison with the throughflow performance, it is especially true once the flow loss caused by the aspiration flow path is also taken into account, and higher flow loss will be generated within the aspiration flow path if an inappropriate scheme is adopted. In the present investigation, apart from the cases with larger negative slot angle, a wider slot is more preferable to a narrower one, since it could enhance the aspiration capacity near the endwall regions and lower the dissipation loss within the aspiration flow path. In terms of the slot angle, a larger negative value, i.e., the slot direction more aligned with the incoming flow, is not beneficial to improve the throughflow performance, while concerning the flow loss yield by the aspiration flow path, a proper negative slot angle is always optimal.

Effects of a slotted diffuser on the aerodynamic performance of a highly loaded centrifugal compressor

2019 ◽  
Vol 233 (19-20) ◽  
pp. 6879-6891
Author(s):  
Yingjie Zhang ◽  
Yanfeng Zhang ◽  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Ge Han ◽  
Ziliang li
Keyword(s):  
Flow Separation ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
Suction Surface ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Operating Range ◽  
Pressure Surface ◽  
Large Flow ◽  
Highly Loaded

High-pressure ratio centrifugal compressors usually adopt vaned diffusers to reach high efficiency. Nevertheless, the compressor operating range might be narrow on account of the diffuser stall resulting from the large flow separations in diffuser passages at low flow rates. Flow control techniques, aimed at expanding the compressor operating range, are required to suppress these flow separations. In this paper, the flow control strategy, in terms of the slotted diffuser was used to widen the operating range for a highly loaded centrifugal compressor. The main focus of the research is to address the effects of the slotted diffuser vane on the aerodynamic performance, including the underlay flow physics of the compressor. In the case of the baseline compressor, a large flow separation exists near the pressure surface between the hub and approximately 40% of the span inside diffuser passages over the entire flow range. In addition, flow separation appears at the junction of hub and suction surface at low flow rates, which promotes compressor stall. Therefore, a hub-side slotted diffuser is utilized to mitigate the flow separations inside diffuser passages. Through application of the slotted diffuser, the stall margin is improved a lot without performance decline as a result of the improvement of the flow field within diffuser passages. The flow separation on the suction surface is suppressed by a vortex induced by the leakage flow. Additionally, the flow angle at the diffuser inlet becomes more circumferential owing to the leakage flow passing through the slot; thus, the incidence angle is increased, which results in mitigation of the flow separation at the junction of hub and pressure surface. As a result, a 13.5% stall margin increment is gained in the presence of the slotted diffuser vane.

Numerical Investigation of Passive Flow Control Using Wavy Blades in a Highly-Loaded Compressor Cascade

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Wang ◽  
Yanhui Wu ◽  
Kai Liu
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Investigation ◽  
Flow Structure ◽  
Cross Flow ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Control Flow ◽  
Streamwise Vortices ◽  
Compressor Cascade ◽  
Control Effect ◽  
Suction Surface ◽  
Highly Loaded

Driven by the need to control flow separations in highly loaded compressors, a numerical investigation is carried out to study the control effect of wavy blades in a linear compressor cascade. Two types of wavy blades are studied with wavy blade-A having a sinusoidal leading edge, while wavy blade-B having pitchwise sinusoidal variation in the stacking line. The influence of wavy blades on the cascade performance is evaluated at incidences from −1° to +9°. For the wavy blade-A with suitable waviness parameters, the cascade diffusion capacity is enhanced accompanied by the loss reduction under high incidence conditions where 2D separation is the dominant flow structure on the suction surface of the unmodified blade. For well-designed wavy blade-B, the improvement of cascade performance is achieved under low incidence conditions where 3D corner separation is the dominant flow structure on the suction surface of the baseline blade. The influence of waviness parameters on the control effect is also discussed by comparing the performance of cascades with different wavy blade configurations. Detailed analysis of the predicted flow field shows that both the wavy blade-A and wavy blade-B have capacity to control flow separation in the cascade but their control mechanism are different. For wavy blade-A, the wavy leading edge results in the formation of counter-rotating streamwise vortices downstream of trough. These streamwise vortices can not only enhance momentum exchange between the outer flow and blade boundary layer, but also act as the suction surface fence to hamper the upwash of low momentum fluid driven by cross flow. For wavy blade-B, the wavy surface on the blade leads to a reduction of the cross flow upwash by influencing the spanwise distribution of the suction surface static pressure and guiding the upwash flow.

Effects of Inlet Mass Flow Distribution and Magnitude on Reactant Distribution for PEM Fuel Cells

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. McGarry ◽  
L. Grega
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Mass Flow ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Flow Separation ◽  
Flow Distribution ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Local Flow ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Large Active Area ◽  
Mass Flow Rates

The mass flow distribution and local flow structures that lead to areas of reactant starvation are explored for a small power large active area PEM fuel cell. A numerical model was created to examine the flow distribution for three different inlet profiles; blunt, partially developed, and fully developed. The different inlet profiles represent the various distances between the blower and the inlet to the fuel cell and the state of flow development. The partially and fully developed inlet profiles were found to have the largest percentage of cells that are deficient, 20% at a flow rate of 6.05 g/s. Three different inlet mass flow rates (stoichs) were also examined for each inlet profile. The largest percent of cells deficient in reactants is 27% and occurs at the highest flow rate of 9.1 g/s (3 stoichs) for the partially and fully developed turbulent profiles. In addition to the uneven flow distribution, flow separation occurs in the front four channels for the blunt inlet profile at all flow rates examined. These areas of flow separation lead to localized reactant deficient areas within a channel.

Behavior of Secondary Flow in a Low Solidity Tandem Cascade Diffuser

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisaku Sakaguchi ◽  
Hironobu Ueki ◽  
Masahiro Ishida ◽  
Hiroshi Hayami
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Flow ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Flow Separation ◽  
Lift Coefficient ◽  
Pressure Recovery ◽  
Suction Surface ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Blade Loading ◽  
Small Flow Rate ◽  
Small Flow

Low solidity circular cascade diffuser abbreviated by LSD was proposed by Senoo et al. showing a high blade loading or a high lift coefficient without stall even under small flow rate conditions. These high performances were achieved by that the flow separation on the suction surface of the LSD blade was successfully suppressed by the secondary flow formed along the side walls. The higher performance of the LSD was achieved in both pressure recovery and operating range by adopting the tandem cascade because the front blade of the tandem cascade was designed suitably for small flow rates while the rear blade of the tandem cascade was designed suitably for large flow rates. In order to clarify the reason why the tandem cascade could achieve a high pressure recovery in a wide range of flow rate, the flow in the LSD with the tandem cascade is analyzed numerically in the present study by using the commercial CFD code of ANSYS-CFX 13.0. The behavior of the secondary flow is compared between the cases with the single cascade and the tandem one. It is found that the high blade loading of the front blade is achieved at the small flow rate by formation of the favorable secondary flow which suppresses the flow separation on suction surface of the front blade, and the flow separation on pressure surface of the front blade appeared at the design flow rate can be suppressed by the accelerated flow in the gap between the trailing edge of the front blade and the leading edge of the rear blade, resulting in the positive lift coefficient in spite of a large negative angle of attack.

A comparison of different unsteady flow control techniques in a highly loaded compressor cascade

2018 ◽  
Vol 233 (6) ◽  
pp. 2051-2065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongxin Zhang ◽  
Shaowen Chen ◽  
Yun Gong ◽  
Songtao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Unsteady Flow ◽  
Flow Control ◽  
Flow Separation ◽  
Synthetic Jet ◽  
Control Technique ◽  
Compressor Cascade ◽  
Optimum Result ◽  
Control Techniques ◽  
Constant Suction ◽  
Highly Loaded

A numerical research is applied to investigate the effect of controlling the flow separation in a certain highly loaded compressor cascade using different unsteady flow control techniques. Firstly, unsteady pulsed suction as a new novel unsteady flow control technique was proposed and compared to steady constant suction in the control of flow separation. A more exciting effect of controlling the flow separation and enhancing the aerodynamic performance for unsteady pulsed suction was obtained compared to steady constant suction with the same time-averaged suction flow rate. Simultaneously, with the view to further exploring the potential of unsteady flow control technique, unsteady pulsed suction, unsteady pulsed blowing, and unsteady synthetic jet (three unsteady flow control techniques) are analyzed comparatively in detail by the related unsteady aerodynamic parameters such as excitation location, frequency, and amplitude. The results show that unsteady pulsed suction shows greater advantage than unsteady pulsed blowing and unsteady synthetic jet in controlling the flow separation. Unsteady pulsed suction and unsteady synthetic jet have a wider range of excitation location obtaining positive effects than unsteady pulsed blowing. The ranges of excitation frequency and excitation amplitude for unsteady pulsed suction gaining favorable effects are both much wider than that of unsteady pulsed blowing and unsteady synthetic jet. The optimum frequencies of unsteady pulsed suction, unsteady pulsed blowing, and unsteady synthetic jet are found to be different, but these optimum frequencies are all an integer multiple of the natural frequency of vortex shedding. The total pressure loss coefficient is reduced by 16.98%, 16.55%, and 17.38%, respectively, when excitation location, frequency, and amplitude are all their own optimal values for unsteady pulsed suction, unsteady pulsed blowing, and unsteady synthetic jet. The optimum result of unsteady synthetic jet only slightly outperforms that of unsteady pulsed suction and unsteady pulsed blowing. But unfortunately, there is no advantage from the standpoint of overall efficiency for the optimum result of unsteady synthetic jet because the slight improvement has to require a greater power consumption than the unsteady pulsed suction and unsteady pulsed blowing methods.

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