Parametric Study of Tip Clearance – Casing Treatment on Performance and Stability of a Transonic Axial Compressor

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behnam H. Beheshti ◽  
Joao A. Teixeira ◽  
Paul C. Ivey ◽  
Kaveh Ghorbanian ◽  
Bijan Farhanieh
Keyword(s):  
Parametric Study ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Compressor Blades ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Tip Leakage

The control of tip leakage flow (TLF) through the clearance gap between the moving and stationary components of rotating machines is still a high-leverage area for improvement of stability and performance of aircraft engines. Losses in the form of flow separation, stall, and reduced rotor work efficiency are results of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) generated by interaction of the main flow and the tip leakage jet induced by the blade pressure difference. The effects are more detrimental in transonic compressors due to the interaction of shock-TLV. It has been previously shown that the use of slots and grooves in the casing over tip of the compressor blades, known as casing treatment, can substantially increase the stable flow range and therefore the safety of the system but generally with some efficiency penalties. This paper presents a numerical parametric study of tip clearance coupled with casing treatment for a transonic axial-flow compressor NASA Rotor 37. Compressor characteristics have been compared to the experimental results for smooth casing with a 0.356 mm tip clearance and show fairly good agreement. Casing treatments were found to be an effective means of reducing the negative effects of tip gap flow and vortex, resulting in improved performance and stability. The present work provides guidelines for improvement of steady-state performance of the transonic axial-flow compressors and improvement of the stable operating range of the system.

Parametric Study of Tip Clearance—Casing Treatment on Performance and Stability of a Transonic Axial Compressor

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behnam H. Beheshti ◽  
Joao A. Teixeira ◽  
Paul C. Ivey ◽  
Kaveh Ghorbanian ◽  
Bijan Farhanieh
Keyword(s):  
Parametric Study ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Compressor Blades ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Tip Leakage

The control of tip leakage flow through the clearance gap between the moving and stationary components of rotating machines is still a high-leverage area for improvement of stability and performance of aircraft engines. Losses in the form of flow separation, stall, and reduced rotor work efficiency are results of the tip leakage vortex (TLV) generated by interaction of the main flow and the tip leakage jet induced by the blade pressure difference. The effects are more detrimental in transonic compressors due to the interaction of shock TLV. It has been previously shown that the use of slots and grooves in the casing over tip of the compressor blades, known as casing treatment, can substantially increase the stable flow range and therefore the safety of the system but generally with some efficiency penalties. This paper presents a numerical parametric study of tip clearance coupled with casing treatment for a transonic axial-flow compressor NASA Rotor 37. Compressor characteristics have been compared to the experimental results for smooth casing with a 0.356 mm tip clearance and show fairly good agreement. Casing treatments were found to be an effective means of reducing the negative effects of tip gap flow and vortex, resulting in improved performance and stability. The present work provides guidelines for improvement of steady-state performance of the transonic axial-flow compressors and improvement of the stable operating range of the system.

A Proposal for Passive Wall Treatment Applied in High Performance Axial Flow Compressors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Bruno Díaz ◽  
Jesuino Takachi Tomita ◽  
Cleverson Bringhenti ◽  
Francisco Carlos Elizio de Paula ◽  
Luiz Henrique Lindquist Whitacker
Keyword(s):  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Smooth Wall ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Viscous Effects ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Tip Leakage

Abstract Numerical simulations were carried out with the purpose of investigating the effect of applying circumferential grooves at axial compressor casing passive wall treatment to enhance the stall margin and change the tip leakage flow. The tip leakage flow is pointed out as one of the main contributors to stall inception in axial compressors. Hence, it is of major importance to treat appropriately the flow in this region. Circumferential grooves have shown a good performance in enhancing the stall margin in previous researches by changing the flow path in the tip clearance region. In this work, a passive wall treatment with four circumferential grooves was applied in the transonic axial compressor NASA Rotor 37. Its effect on the axial compressor performance and the flow in the tip clearance region was analyzed and set against the results attained for the smooth wall case. A 2.63% increase in the operational range of the axial compressor running at 100%N, was achieved, when compared with the original smooth wall casing configuration. The grooves installed at compressor casing, causes an increase in the flow entropy generation due to the high viscous effects in this gap region, between the rotor tip surface and casing with grooves. These viscous effects cause a drop in the turbomachine efficiency. For the grooves configurations used in this work, an efficiency drop of 0.7% was observed, compared with the original smooth wall. All the simulations were performed based on 3D turbulent flow calculations using Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations, and the flow eddy viscosity was determined using the two-equation SST turbulence model. The details of the grooves geometrical dimensions and its implementation are described in the paper.

Extensive Experimental Study of Circumferential Single Groove in an Axial Flow Compressor

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jichao Li ◽  
Feng Lin ◽  
Sichen Wang ◽  
Juan Du ◽  
Chaoqun Nie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Unsteady Flow ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Good Tool ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Tip Leakage

Circumferential single-groove casing treatment becomes an interesting topic in recent few years, because it is a good tool to explore the interaction between the groove and the flow in blade tip region. The stall margin improvement (SMI) as a function of the axial groove location has been found for some compressors, such a trend cannot be predicted by steady high-fidelity CFD simulations. Recent efforts show that to catch such a trend, multi-passage, unsteady flow simulations are needed as the stalling mechanism itself involves cross-passage flows and unsteady dynamics. This indicates a need to validate unsteady numerical simulation results. In this paper, an extensive experimental study of a total of fifteen single casing grooves in a low-speed axial compressor rotor is presented, the groove location varies from 0.4% to 98.3% of axial tip chord are tested. The unsteady pressure data both at casing and at the blade wake with different groove locations are measured and processed, including the movement of trajectory of tip leakage flow, the evolution of unsteadiness of tip leakage flow (UTLF), the unsteady spectrum signature during the stall process, and the outlet unsteady flow characteristic along the span. These data provide a case study for validation of the unsteady CFD results, and may be helpful for further interpretation on the stalling mechanism affected by circumferential casing grooves.

Numerical Study on the Effects of Casing Treatment on Unsteadiness of Tip Leakage Flow in an Axial Compressor

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoojun Hwang ◽  
Shin-Hyoung Kang
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Study ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Operating Range ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Flow Through

A low speed axial compressor with casing treatment of axial slots was numerically investigated. Time-accurate numerical calculations were performed to simulate unsteady flow in the rotor tip region and the effects of casing treatment on the flow. Since the compressor rotor had a large tip clearance, it was found that the tip leakage flow had an inherent unsteady feature that was not associated with rotor rotation. The unsteadiness of the tip leakage flow was induced by changes in the blade loading due to the pressure distribution formed by the tip leakage flow. This characteristic is called rotating instability or self-induced unsteadiness. The frequency of the flow oscillation was found to decrease as the flow rate was reduced. On the other hand, as expected, the operating range was improved by casing treatment, as shown by calculations in good agreement with the experimentally measured data. The unsteadiness of the tip leakage flow was alleviated by the casing treatment. The interaction between the flow in the tip region and the re-circulated flow through the axial slots was observed in detail. The removal and injection of flow through the axial slots were responsible not only for the extension of the operating range but also for the alleviation of the unsteadiness. Analyses of instantaneous flow fields explained the mechanism of the interaction between the casing treatment and the unsteady oscillation of the tip leakage flow. Furthermore, the effects of changes in the amount of re-circulation and the location of the removal and injection flow on the unsteadiness of the tip leakage flow were examined.

scholarly journals Effects of Tip Leakage Flow on the Aerodynamic Performance and Stability of an Axial-Flow Transonic Compressor Stage

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4168
Author(s):  
Botao Zhang ◽  
Xiaochen Mao ◽  
Xiaoxiong Wu ◽  
Bo Liu
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Shock Wave ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Rotating Stall ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Transonic Compressor

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.

scholarly journals Effect of Tip Clearance on Helico-Axial Flow Pump Performance at Off-Design Case

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1653
Author(s):  
Nengqi Kan ◽  
Zongku Liu ◽  
Guangtai Shi ◽  
Xiaobing Liu
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Design ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Hydraulic Loss ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Axial Flow Pump ◽  
Flow Pump

To reveal the effect of tip clearance on the flow behaviors and pressurization performance of a helico-axial flow pump, the standard k-ε turbulence model is employed to simulate the flow characteristics in the self-developed helico-axial flow pump. The pressure, streamlines and turbulent kinetic energy in a helico-axial flow pump are analyzed. Results show that the tip leakage flow (TLF) forms a tip-separation vortex (TSV) when it enters the tip clearance and forms a tip-leakage vortex (TLV) when it leaves the tip clearance. As the blade tip clearance increases, the TLV moves along the blade from the leading edge (LE) to trailing edge (TE). At the same time, the entrainment between the TLV and the main flow deteriorates the flow pattern in the pump and causes great hydraulic loss. In addition, the existence of tip clearance also increases the possibility of TLV cavitation and has a great effect on the pressurization performance of the helico-axial flow pump. The research results provide the theoretical basis for the structural optimization design of the helico-axial flow pump.

Characteristics of the Tip Leakage Vortex in a Low-Speed Axial Compressor With Different Rotor Tip Gaps

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhibo Zhang ◽  
Xianjun Yu ◽  
Baojie Liu
Keyword(s):  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Vortex ◽  
Low Speed ◽  
Tip Leakage

The detailed evolutionary processes of the tip leakage flow/vortex inside the rotor passage are still not very clear for the difficulties of investigating of them by both experimental and numerical methods. In this paper, the flow fields near the rotor tip region inside the blade passage with two tip gaps, 0.5% and 1.5% blade height respectively, were measured by using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) in a large-scale low speed axial compressor test facility. The measurements are conducted at four different operating conditions, including the design, middle, maximum static pressure rise and near stall conditions. In order to analyze the variations of the characteristics of the tip leakage vortex (TLV), the trajectory, concentration, size, streamwise velocity, and the blockage parameters are extracted from the ensemble-averaged results and compared at different compressor operating conditions and tip gaps. The results show that the formation of the TLV is delayed with large tip clearance, however, its trajectory moves much faster in an approximately linear way from the blade suction side to pressure side. In the tested compressor, the size of the tip gap has little effects on the scale of the TLV in the spanwise direction, on the contrary, its effects on the pitch-wise direction is very prominent. Breakdown of the TLV were both found at the near-stall condition with different tip gaps. The location of the initiation of the TLV breakdown moves downstream from the 60% chord to 70% chord as the tip gap increases. After the TLV breakdown occurs, the flow blockage near the rotor tip region increases abruptly. The peak value of the blockage effects caused by the TLV breakdown is doubled with the tip gap size increasing from 0.5% to 1.5% blade span.

Behavior of Tip Leakage Flow in an Axial Flow Compressor Rotor

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhui Wu ◽  
Wuli Chu ◽  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Junqiang Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Vortex Breakdown ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Pressure Side ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Flow Compressor

The current paper reports on investigations with an aim to advance the understanding of the flow field near the casing of a small-scale high-speed axial flow compressor rotor. Steady three dimensional viscous flow calculations are applied to obtain flow fields at various operating conditions. To demonstrate the validity of the computation, the numerical results are first compared with available measured data. Then, the numerically obtained flow fields are analyzed to identify the behavior of tip leakage flow, and the mechanism of blockage generation arising from flow interactions between the tip clearance flow, the blade/casing wall boundary layers, and non-uniform main flow. The current investigation indicates that the “breakdown” of the tip leakage vortex occurs inside the rotor passage at the near stall condition. The vortex “breakdown” results in the low-energy fluid accumulating on the casing wall spreads out remarkably, which causes a sudden growth of the casing wall boundary layer having a large blockage effect. A low-velocity region develops along the tip clearance vortex at the near stall condition due to the vortex “breakdown”. As the mass flow rate is further decreased, this area builds up rapidly and moves upstream. This area prevents incoming flow from passing through the pressure side of the passage and forces the tip leakage flow to spill into the adjacent blade passage from the pressure side at the leading edge. It is found that the tip leakage flow exerts little influence on the development of the blade suction surface boundary layer even at the near stall condition.

The Influence of Tip Clearance Momentum Flux on Stall Inception in a High-Speed Axial Compressor

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Cameron ◽  
Matthew A. Bennington ◽  
Mark H. Ross ◽  
Scott C. Morris ◽  
Juan Du ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Momentum Flux ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Flow Coefficient ◽  
Axial Position ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage

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.

The Effects on Stability, Performance, and Tip Leakage Flow of Recirculating Casing Treatment in a Subsonic Axial Flow Compressor

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Wang ◽  
Wuli Chu ◽  
Haoguang Zhang ◽  
Yanhui Wu
Keyword(s):  
Axial Flow ◽  
Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Flow ◽  
Tip Leakage Vortex ◽  
Stall Inception ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Tip Leakage ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Flow Compressor

Recirculating casing treatment (RCT) was studied in a subsonic axial flow compressor experimentally and numerically. The RCT was parameterized with the injector throat height and circumferential coverage percentage (ccp) to investigate its influence on compressor stability and on the overall performance in the experimentation. The injector throat height varied from 2 to 6 times the height of the rotor tip clearance, and the ccp ranged from 8.3% to 25% of the casing perimeter. Various RCT configurations were achieved with a modular design procedure. The rotor casing was instrumented with fast-response pressure transducers to detect the stall inception, rotational speed of stall cells, and pressure flow fields. Whole-passage unsteady simulations were also implemented for the RCT and solid casing to understand the flow details. Results indicate that both the compressor stability and overall performance can be improved through RCT with appropriate geometrical parameters. The effect of injector throat height on the stability depends on the choice of ccp, i.e., interaction effect exists. In general, the RCT with a moderate injector throat height and a large circumferential coverage is the optimal choice. Phase-locked pattern of the casing wall pressure reveals a weakened tip leakage vortex under the effect of RCT compared with the solid casing. The numerical results show that the RCT has a substantial effect on tip blockage even when the blade passages break away from the domain of RCT. The reduction of tip blockage induced by the tip leakage vortex is the main reason for the extension of stable operation range. The unsteadiness of double-leakage flow is detected both in the experiment and in numerical simulations. The pressure fluctuations caused by double-leakage flow are depressed with RCT. This observation indicates reduced losses related with the double-leakage flow. Although the stall inception is not changed by implementing RCT, the stall pattern is altered. The stall with two cells is detected in RCT compared with the solid casing with only one stall cell.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document