Abstract
This article presents the detailed study of rotor tip leakage related phenomena in a low speed axial compressor rotor passages for three sweep configurations [Unswept (UNS), Tip Chordline Swept (TCS) and Axially Swept (AXS)]. Fifteen domains are numerically studied with 5 sweep configurations (0°, 20°TCS, 30°TCS, 20°AXS, and 30°AXS) and for 3 tip clearances (0.0%, 0.7% and 2.7% of the blade chord). Results were well validated with experimental data. Observations near the tip reveal that UNS rotor shows high sensitivity than the swept rotors in the blade pressure distribution with change in tip clearance. AXS rotor has high loading capability and less tip clearance effect on blade loading at the near stall mass flow. Downstream shift of the vortex rollup along the chord is observed with increased flow coefficient and increment in the tip gap height. In particular, the effect of flow coefficient is more predominant on this effect. Tip vortex-related flow blockage is less with the swept rotors. Among the rotors, the AXS rotor is found to incur low total pressure losses attributable to tip leakage. Effect of incidence is observed on the flow leakage direction.
Highlights
This paper presents the results of a detailed study conducted to investigate various parameters affecting tip leakage phenomena, including the effect when the rotor is given two varieties of forward sweep
This peak corresponds to the lowest static pressure trough seen on the rotor tip pressure distribution contours, which is caused by the leakage flow taking high curvature while entering the tip gap and forcibly spilling out to the other side through the gap
A downstream shift of the vortex rollup along the chord is observed with increased flow coefficient and increase in the tip gap height
Summary
This paper presents the results of a detailed study conducted to investigate various parameters affecting tip leakage phenomena, including the effect when the rotor is given two varieties of forward sweep. More insight on the internal flow physics, especially tip leakage phenomena with the three sweep configurations (UNS, TCS, and AXS), is presented. Literature available on the effect of tip clearance in swept rotors to assess the same for various sweep configurations is not substantial. Notable works on this subject are of: Gallimore et al [3], in which they studied both sweep and dihedral effects through low-speed multistage models for a given constant tip gap.
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