Numerical and Experimental Studies of Reynolds Number and Stator Clocking Effect on Performance of a High-Loaded Two-Stage Compressor With 3.7 Total Pressure Ratio

Author(s):  
V. Mileshin ◽  
I. Druzhinin ◽  
N. Savin ◽  
P. Kozhemyako

One of the vital tasks related to the improvement of the efficiency of turbomachines is an increase in their operating altitude by reducing the influence of Reynolds numbers, Re, on the turbomachine parameters. Therefore, the results presented in this work on the effect of Re on parameters of an axial compressor composed of two high-loaded stages are attractive both from scientific and practical points of view. This work presents the results of experimental investigations of Re effect on gas-dynamic characteristics of a highly-loaded two-stage compressor (HPC-2), simulating the first two stages of the High Pressure Compressor, (HPC), for an advanced engine. The compressor has the following key gasdynamic parameters: – corrected mass flow rate: 31.8 kg/s – total pressure ratio: 3.7 – coefficient of aerodynamic load: 0.421 The experimental study of HPC-2 is carried out at the Central Institute of Aviation Motors, (CIAM), C-3 test facility. Reynolds number is changed by decreasing pressure at the inlet from 1 bar to 0.2 bar and changing the clocking position of stator rows at optimal points of performance for two rotational speeds, 0.7 and 0.88. Tests of HPC-2 compressor show that a stepwise decrease of the inlet pressure from 1.0 0.7, 0.4 down to 0.2 bar (a decrease in Re from 1785000 to 294000) leads to a smooth decrease in maximum compressor efficiency by 1% and a shift of compressor characteristics towards lower air flow rates (by 2%). The experimental studies of compressors for present-day engines show that unsteady processes play a key role in compressor efficiency and stability. One way to control unsteady flow in compressors is clocking effect. Recently clocking of stators and rotors has been investigated in details using the HPC-2 two-stage compressor (total pressure ratio 3.7) in H = 0; M = 0 conditions. The effect of Reynolds number on compressor characteristics is studied in this work for the HPC-2 compressor while also investigating stator clocking effect. The rotor clocking effect is not studied. Tests of HPC-2 compressor show that a decrease in the inlet pressure and changes in Re results in a stronger clocking effect, which is 0.5% in terms of efficiency under atmospheric conditions at the inlet and reaches 1% with a decrease in the inlet pressure from atmospheric pressure down to 0.2 bar.

Author(s):  
Victor Mileshin ◽  
Yaroslav Druzhinin ◽  
Alexander Stepanov ◽  
Nikolay Savin

In recent years, a number of studies in Russia and abroad was completed with the aim of decreasing pressure fluctuations and losses in blade cascades by controlling the unsteady interactions of blade rows (known as “clocking effect”) [1–4]. Tests of individual stages demonstrated that the clocking effect is responsible for 1.5–2.0% in efficiency and 50% in pressure fluctuations [5]. This paper presents the results of experimental and theoretical studies of the clocking effect on gas-dynamic characteristics of a high-loaded two-stage compressor simulating the first two stages of HPC for an advanced engine. The compressor is designed with the help of up-to-date 1D, 2D and 3D direct and inverse problem solutions and distinguished by high aerodynamic loads of stages with πk=3.7 total pressure ratio, 17% stall margin and 88% adiabatic efficiency at Ncor=88% rotational speed that was demonstrated experimentally [6]. The compressor was tested at CIAM’s C-3 test facility in the assembly with d=0.5, 0.75, 1.0-mm tip clearance in both rotors (relative clearance in first stage 4.6·10−3; 6.9·10−3; 9.2·10−3 and relative clearance in second stage 9.1·10−3; 13.7·10−3; 18.3·10−3). When tested, clocking effects were checked up for separate and simultaneous changes in clocking positions of stator and rotor blade rows. Indications of a blade tip-timing system and pressure pulsation sensors were used as experimental data. Earlier, it was shown that physics of the rotor clocking is a wake interaction which modifies the behavior of a boundary layer in Rotor 2 blades. This work studies the mechanism of rotor clocking in combination with changes in angular position of Rotor 2 blades due to interactions with Rotor 1 wakes. Tests showed that changes in the clocking position of the rotor with a multiple number of Rotor 1 and Rotor 2 blades affected the static position of Rotor 2 blades causing re-position of the blades depending on the rotor clocking-position. To confirm this result, 3D unsteady aerodynamic calculation was completed with the help of NUMECA software package simulating one of the test points. This work presents the calculated and experimental data showing that vortex wakes from Rotor 1 blades extend downstream, reach Rotor 2 and cause a variable aerodynamic load and a variable blade pitch.


Author(s):  
Jinke Chen ◽  
Weilin Zhuge ◽  
Xinqian Zheng ◽  
Yangjun Zhang

As the result of increasingly strict emission regulations and demand of fuel reduction, current light and medium duty engines are being highly boosted with complex two-stage turbocharging systems. The purpose of this work is to investigate the influence of two-stage turbocharging system parameters on the engine performance and the optimization of these parameters. An analytical pre-design model of the series two-stage turbocharging system for an internal combustion engine was developed, which builds the relationship between total pressure ratio, total expansion ratio and other two-stage turbocharging system parameters. Considering total expansion ratio as a function of expansion ratio between HP and LP turbine, minimum total expansion ratio can be determined using this model. The ratio of total pressure ratio to total expansion ratio, engine brake thermal efficiency and total heat exchange of coolers are considered as the parameters for engine performance evaluation. Influence of two-stage turbocharging system parameters, such as efficiency of compressors and turbines, cooling water temperature, cooler efficiency, pressure loss of coolers, EGR rate and bypass gas rate of wastegate, etc., on engine performance was analyzed respectively. Results show that the performance of a two-stage turbocharging engine is impacted mainly by LP turbocharger efficiency, intercooler performance and air filter performance.


Author(s):  
Hailiang Jin ◽  
Donghai Jin ◽  
Fang Zhu ◽  
Ke Wan ◽  
Xingmin Gui

This paper presents the design of a highly loaded transonic two-stage fan using several advanced three-dimensional blading techniques including forward sweep and “hub bending” in rotors and several bowed configurations in stators. The effects of these blading techniques on the performance of the highly loaded transonic two-stage fan were investigated on the basis of three-dimensional Navier-Stokes predictions. The results indicate that forward sweep has insignificant impact on the total pressure ratio and adiabatic efficiency of the fan. The throttling range of the fan is found to be improved by forward sweep because the shock in the forward swept rotor is expelled later upstream to the leading edge than that in the unswept one. Hub bending design technique increases the efficiency in the hub region of R1 due to the reduction of the low momentum zone in the hub region near the trailing edge. The stator vane design has a pronounced impact on the performance of the fan. The total pressure ratio, adiabatic efficiency, and stall margin of the schemes with the bowed vanes are increased significantly compared to the scheme with the straight vanes. The large corner stall in the straight S1 vane is reduced effectively by the bowed S1 vanes. Moreover, the strong corner stall in the straight S2 vane is fully eliminated by the bowed S2 vanes. Among the bowed vane schemes, the scheme with positive bowed (P. B.) hub and negative bowed (N. B.) tip vanes has the best efficiency and stall margin performances thanks to the superiority of the performance over the midspan regions of the bowed vanes.


Author(s):  
Takanori Shibata ◽  
Yasuo Takahashi ◽  
Shigeo Hatamiya

A Water Atomization Cooling (WAC) system is a kind of inlet fogging technique with overspray, which reduces the compression work due to the intra-cooling effect of over-injected droplet evaporation. The WAC system has been successfully applied to mid- and large-sized gas turbines, but its application to small turbines is rare. Hitachi developed a 3.7 MW Advanced Humid Air Turbine (AHAT) plant as a national project from 2004 to 2006. The plant has a two-stage centrifugal compressor with a total-to-total pressure ratio of 8.3 without the WAC system. We compare theoretical and experimental evaporation behaviors of injected droplets into the compressor and their effect on the compressor characteristics, when the WAC system was applied to the AHAT plant.


Author(s):  
Botao Zhang ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Xin Sun ◽  
Hang Zhao

Abstract In order to explore the similarities and differences between the flow fields of cantilever stator and idealized compressor cascade with tip clearance, and to extend the cascade leakage model to compressors, the influence of stator hub rotation to represent cascade and cantilever stator on hub leakage flow was numerically studied. On this basis, the control strategy and mechanism of blade root suction were discussed. The results show that there is no obvious influence on stall margin of the compressor whether the stator hub is rotating or stationary. For rotating stator hub, the overall efficiency is decreased while the total pressure ratio is increased. At peak efficiency point and near stall point, the efficiency is reduced by about 0.43% and 0.34% individually, while the total pressure ratio is enlarged by about 0.23% and 0.27%, respectively. The gap leakage flow is promoted due to stator hub rotation, and the structure of the leakage vortex is weakened obviously. In addition, the hub leakage flow originating from the blade leading edge of rotating hub may contribute to double leakage near the trailing edge of the adjacent blade. However, the leakage flow directly out of the blade passage with stationary stator hub. The stator root loading and strength of the leakage flow increase with the rotation of the hub, and the leakage vortex is further away from the suction surface of the blade and is stretched to an ellipse closer to the endwall under the shear action. The rotating hub makes the flow loss near the stator gap increase, while the flow loss in the upper part of the blade root is decreased. Meanwhile, the total pressure ratio in the end area is increased. Blade root suction of cantilever stator can effectively control the hub leakage flow, inhibit the development of hub leakage vortex, and improve the flow capacity of the passage, thereby reducing the flow loss and modifying the flow field in the end zone.


Author(s):  
Zijing Chen ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Xiaoxiong Wu

Abstract In order to further improve the effectiveness of design(inverse) issue of S2 surface of axial compressor, a design method of optimization model based on real-coded genetic algorithm is instructed, with a detailed description of some important points such as the population setting, the fitness function design and the implementation of genetic operator. The method mainly takes the pressure ratio, the circulation as the optimization variables, the total pressure ratio and the overall efficiency of the compressor as the constraint condition and the decreasing of the diffusion factor of the compressor as the optimization target. In addition, for the propose of controlling the peak value of some local data after the optimization, a local optimization strategy is proposed to make the method achieve better results. In the optimization, the streamline curvature method is used to perform the iterative calculation of the aerodynamic parameters of the S2 flow surface, and the polynomial fitting method is used to optimize the dimensionality of the variables. The optimization result of a type of ten-stage axial compressor shows that the pressure ratio and circulation parameters have significant effect on the diffusion factor’s distribution, especially for the rotor pressure ratio. Through the optimization, the smoothness of the mass-average pressure ratio distribution curve of the rotors at all stages of the compressor is improved. The maximum diffusion factors in spanwise of rotor rows at the first, fifth and tenth stage of the compressor are reduced by 1.46%, 12.53% and 8.67%, respectively. Excluding the two calculation points at the root and tip of the blade because of the peak value, the average diffusion factors in spanwise are reduced by 1.28%, 3.46%, and 1.50%, respectively. For the two main constraints, the changes of the total pressure ratio and overall efficiency are less than 0.03% and 0.032%, respectively. In the end, a 3-d CFD numerical result is given to testify the effects of the optimization, which shows that the loss in the compressor is decreased by the optimization algorithm.


2003 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 643-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. Malzacher ◽  
J. Gier ◽  
F. Lippl

Future turbo systems for aircraft engines need very compact geometry, low weight, and high efficiency components. The geared turbofan enables the engine designer to decouple the speed of the fan and the LP turbine to combine a low speed fan with a high speed LP turbine. The low pressure turbine is a key component for this concept. The technological challenge is very much driven by the very high low-spool speed. Resulting as well from high inlet temperatures, the LP turbine needs cooling of the first stage. A new MTU LPT concept for such a high speed turbine has been developed and tested in a turbine rig. The concept consists of a two-stage turbine for extremely high speed and high stage pressure ratio (ER 2.3). This leads to extra high mechanical loading and an exotic combination of high Mach numbers (transonic) and very low Reynolds numbers. In this paper some design features are described. Some elements of the airfoil design were also tested in additional cascade tests. The two-stage turbine was tested at the Altitude Test Facility of the ILA, Stuttgart. The test setup is described including details of the instrumentation. Test data shows a good turbine performance. Measurements are also compared to 3D CFD, which is used to analyze local effects.


Author(s):  
Hong Wu ◽  
Qiushi Li ◽  
Sheng Zhou

This paper presents an optimization method for fan/compressor which couples throughflow model solving axisymmetric Euler equations with adaptive simulated annealing (ASA) algorithm. One of the advantages of this optimization method is that it spends much less time than 3D optimization due to the rapid solving of throughflow model. In addition, the optimization space is quite extensive because more design variables can be adjusted in throughflow phase, such as swirl distribution, hub curve and sweep. To validate this optimization method, a highly loaded fan rotor with pressure ratio of 3.06 as a baseline is optimized. During the optimization process, the objective function is total pressure ratio, moreover, mass flow and efficiency are selected as the constraint conditions. Three important design variables including swirl distribution, hub curve and sweep are parameterized using Bezier curve, and then optimized in throughflow model independently, finally the optimum designs are validated using 3D viscous CFD solver. It is shown that pressure ratio and rotor loading can be improved further through optimizing swirl distribution, however, hub and sweep curves take more effects on mass flow and efficiency respectively. The optimization results demonstrate the advantage and feasibility of this optimization method.


Author(s):  
Stephen Guillot ◽  
Wing F. Ng ◽  
Hans D. Hamm ◽  
Ulrich E. Stang ◽  
Kevin T. Lowe

Analysis and testing were conducted to optimize an axial diffuser–collector gas turbine exhaust. Two subsonic wind tunnel facilities were designed and built to support this program. A 1/12th scale test rig enabled rapid and efficient evaluation of multiple geometries. This test facility was designed to run continuously at an inlet Mach number of 0.41 and an inlet hydraulic diameter-based Reynolds number of 3.4 × 105. A 1/4th geometric scale test rig was designed and built to validate the data in the 1/12th scale rig. This blow-down rig facilitated testing at a nominally equivalent inlet Mach number, while the Reynolds number was matched to realistic engine conditions via back pressure. Multihole pneumatic pressure probes, particle image velocimetry (PIV), and surface oil flow visualization were deployed in conjunction with computational tools to explore physics-based alterations to the exhaust geometry. The design modifications resulted in a substantial increase in the overall pressure recovery coefficient of +0.07 (experimental result) above the baseline geometry. The optimized performance, first measured at 1/12th scale and obtained using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was validated at the full scale Reynolds number.


Author(s):  
Wei Wang ◽  
Wuli Chu ◽  
Haoguang Zhang ◽  
Yanhui Wu

Discrete tip injection upstream of the rotor tip is an effective technique to extend stability margin for a compressor system in an aeroengine. The current study investigates the effects of injectors’ circumferential coverage on compressor performance and stability using time-accurate three-dimensional numerical simulations for multi passages in a transonic compressor. The percentage of circumferential coverage for all the six injectors ranges from 6% to 87% for the five investigated configurations. Results indicate that circumferential coverage of tip injection can greatly affect compressor stability and total pressure ratio, but has little influence on adiabatic efficiency. The improvement of compressor total pressure ratio is linearly related with the increasing circumferential coverage. The unsteady flow fields show that there exists a non-ignorable time lag of the injection effects between the passage inlet and outlet, and blade tip loading will not decline until the injected flow reaches the passage outlet. Stability improves sharply with the increasing circumferential coverage when the coverage is less than 27%, but increases flatly for the rest. It is proven that the injection efficiency which is a measurement of averaged blockage decrement in the injected region is an effective guideline to predict the stability improvement.


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