Performance Enhancement of a Low Speed Axial Compressor Utilizing Simultaneous Tip Injection and Casing Treatment of Groove Type

Abstract

Performance of a low speed axial compressor is enhanced through a proper configuration of blade row tip injection and casing treatment of groove type. Air injectors were mounted evenly spaced upstream of the blade row within the casing groove and were all aligned parallel to the compressor axis. The groove, which covers all the blade tip chord length, extends all-round the casing circumference. Method of investigation is based on solution of the unsteady form of the Navier-Stokes equations utilizing k-ω SST turbulence model. Extensive parametric studies have been carried out to explore effects of injectors’ flow momentums and yaw angles on compressor performance, while being run at different throttle valve setting. Emphasis has been focused on situations near to stall condition. Unsteady numerical analyses for untreated casing and no-injection case for near stall condition provided to discover two well-known criteria for spike stall inception, i.e., blade leading edge spillage and trailing edge back-flow. Final results showed that with only 6 injectors mounted axially in the casing groove and at yaw angle of 15 degrees opposite the direction of the blade row rotation, with a total mass flow rate of only 0.5% of the compressor main flow, surprisingly, the stall margin improves by 15.5%.