Effects of Inlet Flow Field Conditions on the Performance of Centrifugal Compressor Diffusers: Part 1—Discrete-Passage Diffuser

1998 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. G. Filipenco ◽  
S. Deniz ◽  
J. M. Johnston ◽  
E. M. Greitzer ◽  
N. A. Cumpsty

This is Part 1 of a two-part paper considering the performance of radial diffusers for use in a high-performance centrifugal compressor. Part 1 reports on discrete-passage diffusers (shown in Fig. 1) while Part 2 describes a test of a straight-channel diffuser designed for equivalent duty. Two builds of discrete-passage diffuser were tested, with 30 and 38 separate passages. Both the 30 and 38 passage diffusers investigated showed comparable range of unstalled operation and similar level of overall diffuser pressure recovery. The paper concentrates on the influence of inlet flow conditions on the pressure recovery and operating range of radial diffusers for centrifugal compressor stages. The flow conditions examined include diffuser inlet Mach number, flow angle, blockage, and axial flow nonuniformity. The investigation was carried out in a specially built test facility, designed to provide a controlled inlet flow field to the test diffusers. The facility can provide a wide range of diffuser inlet velocity profile distortion and skew with Mach numbers up to unity and flow angles of 63 to 75 deg from the radial direction. The consequences of different averaging methods for the inlet total pressure distributions, which are needed in the definition of diffuser pressure recovery coefficient for nonuniform diffuser inlet conditions, were also assessed. The overall diffuser pressure recovery coefficient, based on suitably averaged inlet total pressure, was found to correlate well with the momentum-averaged flow angle into the diffuser. Furthermore, the pressure recovery coefficient was found to be essentially independent of the axial distortion at diffuser inlet, and the Mach number, over the wide flow range (from maximum flow to the beginning of flow instabilities) investigated. It is thus shown that the generally accepted sensitivity of diffuser pressure recovery performance to inlet flow distortion and boundary layer blockage can be largely attributed to inappropriate quantification of the average dynamic pressure at diffuser inlet. Use of an inlet dynamic pressure based on availability or mass-averaging in combination with definition of inlet flow angle based on mass average of the radial and tangential velocity at diffuser inlet removes this sensitivity. [S0889-504X(00)00101-X]

Author(s):  
Victor G. Filipenco ◽  
Sabri Deniz ◽  
J. Mark Johnston ◽  
Edward M. Greitzer ◽  
Nicholas A. Cumpsty

This is Part 1 of a two-part paper considering the performance of radial diffusers for use in a high performance centrifugal compressor. Part 1 reports on discrete-passage diffusers (shown in Fig. 1) while Part 2 describes a test of a straight-channel diffuser designed for equivalent duty. Two builds of discrete-passage diffuser were tested, with 30 and 38 separate passages. Both the 30 and 38 passage diffusers investigated showed comparable range of unstalled operation and similar level of overall diffuser pressure recovery. The paper concentrates on the influence of inlet flow conditions on the pressure recovery and operating range of radial diffusers for centrifugal compressor stages. The flow conditions examined include diffuser inlet Mach number, flow angle, blockage, and axial flow non-uniformity. The investigation was carried out in a specially built test facility, designed to provide a controlled inlet flow field to the test diffusers. The facility can provide a wide range of diffuser inlet velocity profile distortion and skew with Mach numbers up to unity and flow angles of 63° to 75° from the radial direction. The consequences of different averaging methods for the inlet total pressure distributions, which are needed in the definition of diffuser pressure recovery coefficient for non-uniform diffuser inlet conditions were also assessed. The overall diffuser pressure recovery coefficient, based on suitably averaged inlet total pressure, was found to correlate well with the momentum-averaged flow angle into the diffuser. Furthermore the pressure recovery coefficient was found to be essentially independent of the axial distortion at diffuser inlet, and the Mach number, over the wide flow range (from maximum flow to the beginning of flow instabilities) investigated. It is thus shown that the generally accepted sensitivity of diffuser pressure recovery performance to inlet flow distortion and boundary layer blockage can be largely attributed to inappropriate quantification of the average dynamic pressure at diffuser inlet. Use of an inlet dynamic pressure based on availability or mass-averaging in combination with definition of inlet flow angle based on mass average of the radial and tangential velocity at diffuser inlet removes this sensitivity.


Author(s):  
T. Ch. Siva Reddy ◽  
G. V. Ramana Murty ◽  
Prasad Mukkavilli ◽  
D. N. Reddy

Numerical simulation of impeller and low solidity vaned diffuser (LSD) of a centrifugal compressor stage is performed individually using CFX- BladeGen and BladeGenPlus codes. The tip mach number for the chosen study was 0.35. The same configuration was used for experimental investigation for a comparative study. The LSD vane is formed using standard NACA profile with marginal modification at trailing edge. The performance parameters obtained form numerical studies at the exit of impeller and the diffuser have been compared with the corresponding experimental data. These parameters are pressure ratio, polytropic efficiency and flow angle at the impeller exit where as the parameters those have been compared at the exit of diffuser are the static pressure recovery coefficient and the exit flow angle. In addition, the numerical prediction of the blade loading in terms of blade surface pressure distribution on LSD vane has been compared with the corresponding experimental results. Static pressure recovery coefficient and flow angle at diffuser exit is seen to match closely at higher flows. The difference at lower flows could be due to the effect of interaction between impeller and diffuser combinations, as the numerical analysis was done separately for impeller and diffuser and the effect of impeller diffuser interaction was not considered.


2013 ◽  
Vol 444-445 ◽  
pp. 1345-1349
Author(s):  
Si Yin Zhou ◽  
Wan Sheng Nie ◽  
Bo He ◽  
Xue Ke Che ◽  
Xue Min Tian

How to enhance the combustion and reduce the total pressure loss in scramjet combustor are very critical for the practical application of hypersonic aircraft. Based on the dominant thermal mechanism of arc plasma, the plasma generated in combustor is regarded as a promising method to improve the combustion. As a result, the combustor model with transverse fuel jet and plasma generated by two discharge modes at the upstream of flameholding cavity is established and it is used to study the mechanism of fuel mixing enhancement through numerical investigation. The results show that an oblique shock wave would be formed at the upstream of the pseudo small plasma hump, and interact with the separation shock wave induced by the transverse jet. This results in the recirculation zone at the upstream of fuel jet being enlarged obviously. Besides that, under the non-reaction flow conditions, the total pressure recovery coefficient increases due to the plasma generated. However, the total pressure recovery coefficient varies apparently and the shear layer above the cavity is fluctuant when the plasma is generated by periodical discharge mode. While under the reaction flow conditions, the shear layer develops thicker and the total pressure recovery coefficient decreases. And due to the existing of plasma, the mole fraction of product water increases. But compared with the steady discharge mode, the level of water is lower and the total pressure recovery coefficient decreases more under the periodical discharge mode. Though the plasma generated by steady discharge mode shows better performance in assisting combustion and reducing the pressure loss, considering the energy saving and the use of different parameters of the periodical discharge, the same effects of enhancing the fuel mixing through enlarging the recirculation zone located at the upstream of fuel jet and promoting the mass exchange of cavity can be reached. More numerical experiments have to be done to optimize the parameters of periodical discharge plasma to receive a best improvement on the performance of scramjet combustor.


Author(s):  
R B Anand ◽  
L Rai ◽  
S N Singh

The effect of the turning angle on the flow and performance characteristics of long S-shaped circular diffusers (length-inlet diameter ratio, L/Di = 11:4) having an area ratio of 1.9 and centre-line length of 600 mm has been established. The experiments are carried out for three S-shaped circular diffusers having angles of turn of 15°/15°, 22.5°/22.5° and 30°/30°. Velocity, static pressure and total pressure distributions at different planes along the length of the diffusers are measured using a five-hole impact probe. The turbulence intensity distribution at the same planes is also measured using a normal hot-wire probe. The static pressure recovery coefficients for 15°/15°, 22.5°/22.5° and 30°/30° diffusers are evaluated as 0.45, 0.40 and 0.35 respectively, whereas the ideal static pressure recovery coefficient is 0.72. The low performance is attributed to the generation of secondary flows due to geometrical curvature and additional losses as a result of the high surface roughness (~0.5 mm) of the diffusers. The pressure recovery coefficient of these circular test diffusers is comparatively lower than that of an S-shaped rectangular diffuser of nearly the same area ratio, even with a larger turning angle (90°/90°), i.e. 0.53. The total pressure loss coefficient for all the diffusers is nearly the same and seems to be independent of the angle of turn. The flow distribution is more uniform at the exit for the higher angle of turn diffusers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Shuili Ren ◽  
Peiqing Liu

For turboprop engine, the S-shaped intake affects the engine performance and the propeller is not far in front of the inlet of the S-shaped intake, so the slipstream inevitably affects the flow field in the S-shaped intake and the engine performance. Here, an S-shaped intake with/without propeller is studied by solving Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation employed SST k-ω turbulence model. The results are presented as time-averaged results and transient results. By comparing the flow field in S-shaped intake with/without propeller, the transient results show that total pressure recovery coefficient and distortion coefficient on the AIP section vary periodically with time. The time-averaged results show that the influence of propeller slipstream on the performance of S-shaped intake is mainly circumferential interference and streamwise interference. Circumferential interference mainly affects the secondary flow in the S-shaped intake and then affects the airflow uniformity; the streamwise interference mainly affects the streamwise flow separation in the S-shaped intake and then affects the total pressure recovery. The total pressure recovery coefficient on the AIP section for the S-shaped intake with propeller is 1%-2.5% higher than that for S-shaped intake without propeller, and the total pressure distortion coefficient on the AIP section for the S-shaped intake with propeller is 1%-12% higher than that for the S-shaped intake without propeller. However, compared with the free stream flow velocity ( Ma = 0.527 ), the influence of the propeller slipstream belongs to the category of small disturbance, which is acceptable for engineering applications.


Author(s):  
Sabri Deniz ◽  
Edward M. Greitzer ◽  
Nicholas A. Cumpsty

This is Part 2 of an examination of influence of inlet flow conditions on the performance and operating range of centrifugal compressor vaned diffusers. The paper describes tests of straight-channel type diffuser, sometimes called a wedge-vane diffuser, and compares the results with those from the discrete-passage diffusers described in Part 1. Effects of diffuser inlet Mach number, flow angle, blockage, and axial flow non-uniformity on diffuser pressure recovery and operating range are addressed. The straight-channel diffuser investigated has 30 vanes and was designed for the same aerodynamic duty as the discrete-passage diffuser described in Part 1. The ranges of the overall pressure recovery coefficients were 0.65–0.78 for the straight-channel diffuser and 0.60–0.70 for the discrete-passage diffuser; the pressure recovery of the straight-channel diffuser was roughly 10% higher than that of the discrete-passage diffuser. Both types of the diffusers showed similar behavior regarding the dependence on diffuser inlet flow angle and the insensitivity of the performance to inlet flow field axial distortion and Mach number. The operating range of the straight-channel diffuser, as for the discrete-passage diffusers was limited by the onset of rotating stall at a fixed momentum-averaged flow angle into the diffuser, which was for the straight-channel diffuser, αcrit = 70° ±0.5°. The background, nomenclature and description of the facility and method are all given in Part 1.


Author(s):  
Ritesh Gaur ◽  
Vimala Narayanan ◽  
S. Kishore Kumar

Performance of intake duct with fixed inlet trajectory and different area distributions have been analyzed using a commercial CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software. The performance have been evaluated for fixed boundary conditions. The area distributions studied are defined by varying cross sectional area at different locations of intake duct by keeping the inlet and exit area same. The performance of the intake ducts are studied in terms of the pressure recovery coefficient, total pressure loss, pressure recovery factor and distortion coefficient in the present work. The motion caused by the change in centerline curvature is analyzed. The objective of the work is to derive a shape of the duct with minimum distortion of the flow and maximum pressure recovery.


Author(s):  
Chao Huo ◽  
Zhenhua Yang ◽  
Zhengze Zhang ◽  
Peijin Liu

Based on the equal-intensity shock theory, this article designed a supersonic inlet working in Mach number 3.0∼5.5 with the background of an air-breathing engine. The inlet applied the four-shock train mixed compression configuration and inserted a sidewall compression at the beginning of the isolator. Through developing effective 3D RANS computations validated by current experiments, the performance of the designed inlet was identified. The designed inlet self-starts at freestream Mach number Ma∞ = 3.0 under which the total pressure recovery coefficient has dramatic increment, and the aerodynamic choking at the inlet throat no longer presents; the inlet keeps working at all studied flight states with zero angle of attack (AoA) and achieves shock-on-lip at the design point Ma∞ = 5.0. Both positive and negative AoAs can disrupt the equal-intensity shock allocations, which degrade the inlet performance. The inlet obtains maximum total pressure recovery coefficient at zero AoA. The maximum back pressure at Ma∞ = 3.0∼5.5 obtained by the inlet surpasses the requirements and keeps a certain margin. The inlet performance basically meets all the goals proposed by the engine.


1998 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Deniz ◽  
E. M. Greitzer ◽  
N. A. Cumpsty

This is Part 2 of an examination of the influence of inlet flow conditions on the performance and operating range of centrifugal compressor vaned diffusers. The paper describes tests of a straight-channel type diffuser, sometimes called a wedge-vane diffuser, and compares the results with those from the discrete-passage diffusers described in Part 1. Effects of diffuser inlet Mach number, flow angle, blockage, and axial flow nonuniformity on diffuser pressure recovery and operating range are addressed. The straight-channel diffuser investigated has 30 vanes and was designed for the same aerodynamic duty as the discrete-passage diffuser described in Part 1. The ranges of the overall pressure recovery coefficients were 0.50–0.78 for the straight-channel diffuser and 0.50–0.70 for the discrete-passage diffuser, except when the diffuser was choked. In other words, the maximum pressure recovery of the straight-channel diffuser was found to be roughly 10 percent higher than that of the discrete-passage diffuser investigated. The two types of diffuser showed similar behavior regarding the dependence of pressure recovery on diffuser inlet flow angle and the insensitivity of the performance to inlet flow field axial distortion and Mach number. The operating range of the straight-channel diffuser, as for the discrete-passage diffusers, was limited by the onset of rotating stall at a fixed momentum-averaged flow angle into the diffuser, which was for the straight-channel diffuser, αcrit=70±0.5 deg. The background, nomenclature, and description of the facility and method are all given in Part 1. [S0889-504X(00)00201-4]


2012 ◽  
Vol 246-247 ◽  
pp. 446-450
Author(s):  
Yue Feng Li ◽  
Qing Zhen Yang ◽  
Xue Jiao Deng

Generally, the shape index n is selected in a form when design the inlet-exhaust system using traditional super-ellipse method. Unfortunately, this selection process is time-consuming and not precise enough, so the cross-section designed by super-ellipse method may get distortions easily, which influences the inner flow and the total pressure of the inlet-exhaust system greatly. Associating the shape index n with the variation pattern of the inlet-exhaust cross-section, an improved super-ellipse method is developed to design the inlet-exhaust system. This method ensures the precision and uniqueness of shape index n for any cross-section in an adaptive way. The numerical simulation results show that the S-shape inlet designed using this method has high total pressure recovery coefficient and lower distortion coefficient, the S-shaped nozzle has high total pressure recovery coefficient and thrust coefficient.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document