Effects of Air Injection on Performance of Highly-Loaded Compressor Cascades

Abstract

The effects of air injection on the performance of highly-loaded straight blade compressor cascade and compound lean blade cascade were investigated numerically. Air injection was implemented via the hole/slot penetrating through the pressure and suction surfaces under the effect of the pressure difference between the two sides. Various injection configurations including one-hole, multi-hole and slot configurations were studied in the straight blade cascade first to find the optimum injection configuration in this case. Then the mechanism of the injection slot on the performance improvement of the straight blade cascade was discussed in detail. The results show that air injection provides the low-momentum fluid near the suction surface with kinetic energy, to enhance its ability to withstand the adverse pressure gradient within the compressor cascade. Among the hole/slot configurations, the slot configuration (the radial width of 4.0mm) has the most favorable results in through-flow capacity enhancement and total loss reduction, and is used in the compound lean cascade study. The effects of air injection on the performance improvement in the compound lean blade cascade are less significant than those in the straight blade cascade though the compound lean blade cascade with the injection slot has the most improvement in the aerodynamic performance when the slot is placed at an appropriate location in this study.