Tip Clearance Flow-Shock Interaction in a Transonic Compressor Rotor

1997 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Puterbaugh ◽  
M. Brendel
Keyword(s):  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Shock Interaction ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Transonic Compressor ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Clearance Flow

Characteristics of Tip Clearance Flow Instability in a Transonic Compressor

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunill Hah ◽  
Melanie Voges ◽  
Martin Mueller ◽  
Heinz-Peter Schiffer
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Unsteady Flow ◽  
Flow Instability ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Piv Measurements ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Transonic Compressor ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance Vortex

In the present study, unsteady flow phenomena due to tip clearance flow instability in a modern transonic axial compressor rotor are studied in detail. First, unsteady flow characteristics due the oscillating tip clearance vortex measured with the particle image velocimetry (PIV) and casing-mounted unsteady pressure transducers are analyzed and compared to numerical results with a large eddy simulation (LES). Then, measured characteristic frequencies of the unsteady flow near stall operation are investigated. The overall purpose of the study is to advance the current understanding of the unsteady flow field near the blade tip in an axial transonic compressor rotor near the stall operating condition. Flow interaction between the tip leakage vortex and the passage shock is inherently unsteady in a transonic compressor. The currently applied PIV measurements indicate that the flow near the tip region is unsteady even at the design condition. This self-induced unsteadiness increases significantly as the compressor operates toward the stall condition. PIV data show that the tip clearance vortex oscillates substantially near stall. The calculated unsteady characteristics from LES agree well with the PIV measurements. Calculated unsteady flow fields show that the formation of the tip clearance vortex is intermittent and the concept of vortex breakdown from steady flow analysis does not seem to apply in the current flow field. Fluid with low momentum near the pressure side of the blade close to the leading edge periodically spills over into the adjacent blade passage. The spectral analysis of measured end wall and blade surface pressure shows that there are two dominant frequencies near stall. One frequency is about 40–60% of the rotor rotation and the other dominant frequency is about 40–60% of the blade passing frequency (BPF). The first frequency represents the movement of a large blockage over several consecutive blade passages against the rotor rotation. The second frequency represents traditional tip flow instability, which has been widely observed in subsonic compressors. The LES simulations show that the second frequency is due to movement of the instability vortex.

Role of Tip-Leakage Vortices and Passage Shock in Stall Inception in a Swept Transonic Compressor Rotor

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunill Hah ◽  
Douglas C. Rabe ◽  
Aspi R. Wadia
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Flow Fields ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Stall Inception ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Transonic Compressor ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance Vortex

The current paper reports on investigations aimed at advancing the understanding of the flow field near the casing of a forward-swept transonic compressor rotor. The role of tip clearance flow and its interaction with the passage shock on stall inception are analyzed in detail. Steady and unsteady three-dimensional viscous flow calculations are applied to obtain flow fields at various operating conditions. The numerical results are first compared with available measured data. Then, the numerically obtained flow fields are interrogated to identify the roles of flow interactions between the tip clearance flow, the passage shock, and the blade/endwall boundary layers. In addition to the flow field with nominal tip clearance, two more flow fields are analyzed in order to identify the mechanisms of blockage generation: one with zero tip clearance, and one with nominal tip clearance on the forward portion of the blade and zero clearance on the aft portion. The current study shows that the tip clearance vortex does not break down, even when the rotor operates in a stalled condition. Interaction between the shock and the suction surface boundary layer causes the shock, and therefore the tip clearance vortex, to oscillate. However, for the currently investigated transonic compressor rotor, so-called breakdown of the tip clearance vortex does not occur during stall inception. The tip clearance vortex originates near the leading edge tip, but moves downward in the spanwise direction inside the blade passage. A low momentum region develops above the tip clearance vortex from flow originating from the casing boundary layer. The low momentum area builds up immediately downstream of the passage shock and above the core vortex. This area migrates toward the pressure side of the blade passage as the flow rate is decreased. The low momentum area prevents incoming flow from passing through the pressure side of the passage and initiates stall inception. It is well known that inviscid effects dominate tip clearance flow. However, complex viscous flow structures develop inside the casing boundary layer at operating conditions near stall.

The Effect of Tip Clearance on a Swept Transonic Compressor Rotor

1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. W. Copenhaver ◽  
E. R. Mayhew ◽  
C. Hah ◽  
A. R. Wadia
Keyword(s):  
Turbulence Modeling ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Rotor Aerodynamics ◽  
Transonic Compressor ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Transonic Fan ◽  
Refined Grid

An experimental and numerical investigation of detailed tip clearance flow structures and their effects on the aerodynamic performance of a modern low-aspect-ratio, high-throughflow, axial transonic fan is presented. Rotor flow fields were investigated at two clearance levels experimentally, at tip clearance to tip blade chord ratios of 0.27 and 1.87 percent, and at four clearance levels numerically, at ratios of zero, 0.27, 1.0, and 1.87 percent. The numerical method seems to calculate the rotor aerodynamics well, with some disagreement in loss calculation, which might be improved with improved turbulence modeling and a further refined grid. Both the experimental and the numerical results indicate that the performance of this class of rotors is dominated by the tip clearance flows. Rotor efficiency drops six points when the tip clearance is increased from 0.27 to 1.87 percent, and flow range decreases about 30 percent. No optimum clearance size for the present rotor was indicated. Most of the efficiency change occurs near the tip section, with the interaction between the tip clearance flow and the passage shock becoming much stronger when the tip clearance is increased. In all cases, the shock structure was three dimensional and swept, with the shock becoming normal to the endwall near the shroud.

The Effect of Tip Clearance on a Swept Transonic Compressor Rotor

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Copenhaver ◽  
Ellen R. Mayhew ◽  
Chunill Hah
Keyword(s):  
Turbulence Modeling ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Rotor Aerodynamics ◽  
Transonic Compressor ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Through Flow ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Transonic Fan

An experimental and numerical investigation of detailed tip clearance flow structures and their effects on the aerodynamic performance of a modern low-aspect-ratio, high-through-flow, axial transonic fan is presented. Rotor flow fields were investigated at two clearance levels experimentally, at tip clearance to tip blade chord ratios of 0.27 and 1.87 percent, and at four clearance levels numerically, at ratios of zero, 0.27, 1.0, and 1.87 percent. The numerical method seems to calculate the rotor aerodynamics well, with some disagreement in loss calculation which might be improved with improved turbulence modeling and a further refined grid. Both the experimental and the numerical results indicate that the performance of this class of rotors is dominated by the tip clearance flows. Rotor efficiency drops six points when the tip clearance is increased from 0.27 to 1.87 percent, and flow range decreases about 30 percent. No optimum clearance size for the present rotor was indicated. Most of the efficiency change occurs near the tip section, with the interaction between the tip clearance flow and the passage shock becoming much stronger when the tip clearance is increased. In all cases, the shock structure was three-dimensional and swept, with the shock becoming normal to the endwall near the shroud.

Effect of tip clearance size on the performance of a low-reaction transonic axial compressor rotor

2019 ◽  
Vol 234 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-142
Author(s):  
Wei Zhu ◽  
Songtao Wang ◽  
Longxin Zhang ◽  
Jun Ding ◽  
Zhongqi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Dynamic Balance ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Flow Phenomena

This study aimed to enhance the understanding of flow phenomena in low-reaction aspirated compressors. Three-dimensional, multi-passage steady and unsteady numerical simulations are performed to investigate the performance sensitivity to tip clearance variation on the first-stage rotor of a multistage low-reaction aspirated compressor. Three kinds of tip clearance sizes including 1.0τ, 2.0τ and 3.0τ are modeled, in which 1.0τ corresponds to the designed tip clearance size of 0.2 mm. The steady numerical simulations show that the overall performance of the rotor moves toward lower mass flow rate when the tip clearance size is increased. Moreover, energy losses, efficiency reduction and stall margin decrease are also observed with increasing tip clearance size. This can be mostly attributed to the damaging impact of intense tip clearance flow. For unsteady simulation, the result shows periodical oscillation of the tip leakage vortex and a “two-passage periodic structure” in the tip region at the near-stall point. The occurrence of the periodical oscillation is due to the severe interaction between the tip clearance flow and the shock wave. However, the rotor operating state is still stable at this working point because a dynamic balance is established between the tip clearance flow and incoming flow.

Numerical Investigation of Tip Clearance Flow Induced Flutter in an Axial Research Compressor

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Möller ◽  
Maximilian Jüngst ◽  
Felix Holzinger ◽  
Christoph Brandstetter ◽  
Heinz-Peter Schiffer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Blade Vibration ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Transonic Compressor ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Fluctuation Pattern ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Pass Through

A flutter phenomenon was observed in a 1.5-stage configuration at the Darmstadt transonic compressor. This phenomenon is investigated numerically for different compressor speeds. The flutter occurs for the second eigenmode of the rotor blades and is caused by tip clearance flow which is able to pass through multiple rotor gaps at highly throttled operating points. The vibration pattern during flutter is accompanied by a pressure fluctuation pattern of the tip clearance flow which is interacting with the blade motion causing the aeroelastic instability. The velocity of the tip clearance flow fluctuation is about 50% of the blade tip speed for simulation and experiment and also matches the mean convective velocity inside the rotor gap. This is consistent for all compressor speeds. From this investigations, general guidelines are drawn which can be applied at an early stage during compressor design to evaluate the susceptibility to this kind of blade vibration.

Numerical Investigations of the Coupled Flow Through a Subsonic Compressor Rotor and Axial Skewed Slot

2008 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Wuli Chu ◽  
Junqiang Zhu ◽  
Yangfeng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Axial Flow ◽  
Tip Clearance ◽  
Stall Margin ◽  
Tip Clearance Flow ◽  
Casing Treatment ◽  
Axial Flow Compressor ◽  
Compressor Rotor ◽  
Clearance Flow ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Flow Compressor

In order to advance the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of axial skewed slot casing treatment and their effects on the subsonic axial-flow compressor flow field, the coupled unsteady flow through a subsonic compressor rotor and the axial skewed slot was simulated with a state-of-the-art multiblock flow solver. The computational results were first compared with available measured data, that showed the numerical procedure calculates the overall effect of the axial skewed slot correctly. Then, the numerically obtained flow fields were interrogated to identify the physical mechanism responsible for improvement in stall margin of a modern subsonic axial-flow compressor rotor due to the discrete skewed slots. It was found that the axial skewed slot casing treatment can increase the stall margin of subsonic compressor by repositioning of the tip clearance flow trajectory further toward the trailing of the blade passage and retarding the movement of the incoming∕tip clearance flow interface toward the rotor leading edge plane.

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