Simulation and experimental research on aerodynamic noise of gas turbine 1.5-stage axial compressor

Abstract

The aerodynamic noise of the axial compressor is one of the significant noise sources of gas turbines, and it has gradually attracted the attention of the majority of researchers. In this paper, the aerodynamic noise characteristics of a 1.5-stage axial compressor were studied through simulations and experiments. A full-channel calculation of a three-dimensional unsteady flow field was computed using the Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) method. Spectral analysis of the static pressure in the tip clearance area was in good agreement with experimental data, which verifies the accuracy of the calculations. The volume and surface sound sources were extracted from computational fluid dynamics calculations to estimate the far-field acoustic characteristics of the compressor. The simulated results of the sound field were verified by a comparison with experimental data. The results show that the sound source intensity of the compressor’s guide vanes is much lower than that originating in the rotor and stator, which indicates that the interaction between the rotor and stator is much stronger than that of the guide vane and rotor. This conclusion is consistent with the unsteady flow field analysis. To investigate the influence of complex geometric structures on sound propagation, three sets of finite element grids were employed for noise prediction. The calculations considering all structures are in the best agreement with the experimental data, which shows that complex structures cannot be ignored when calculating aeroacoustic predictions.