Compressor Flow Field Research Articles

Study on rapid prediction of flow field in a knudsen compressor based on multi-fidelity reduced-order models

The safe and stable operation of a hydrogen Knudsen compressor is essential for transporting hydrogen in microfluidic systems. This study uses proper orthogonal decomposition to identify the coherent structures within the hydrogen flow field during non-equilibrium evolution. A long short-term memory neural network is then used to create a multi-fidelity reduced-order model, connecting two-dimensional and three-dimensional data to uncover transient flow mechanisms and enable rapid flow field prediction. The results show that the coherent structures of hydrogen flow, representing the most energetic modes, retain 99% of the flow energy and significantly influence the evolution of Poiseuille and thermal transpiration flows during non-equilibrium processes. The multi-fidelity reduced-order model effectively captures hydrogen transient flow and instabilities at various stages, achieving a 99.4% reduction in computational time while maintaining a maximum relative error of 0.53%. This approach facilitates the rapid prediction and control of flow states during hydrogen transport.

A Computational Analysis of Turbocharger Compressor Flow Field with a Focus on Impeller Stall

Understanding the flow instabilities encountered by the turbocharger compressor is an important step toward improving its overall design for performance and efficiency. While an experimental study using Particle Image Velocimetry was previously conducted to examine the flow field at the inlet of the turbocharger compressor, the present work complements that effort by analyzing the flow structures leading to stall instability within the same impeller. Experimentally validated three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics predictions are carried out at three discrete mass flow rates, including 77 g/s (stable, maximum flow condition), 57 g/s (near peak efficiency), and 30 g/s (with strong reverse flow from the impeller) at a fixed rotational speed of 80,000 rpm. Large stationary stall cells were observed deep within the impeller at 30 g/s, occupying a significant portion of the blade passage near the shroud between the suction surface of the main blades and the pressure surface of the splitter blades. These stall cells are mainly created when a substantial portion of the inlet core flow is unable to follow the impeller’s axial to radial bend against the adverse pressure gradient and becomes entrained by the reverse flow and the tip leakage flow, giving rise to a region of low-momentum fluid in its wake. This phenomenon was observed to a lesser extent at 57 g/s and was completely absent at 77 g/s. On the other hand, the inducer rotating stall was found to be most dominant at 57 g/s. The entrainment of the tip leakage flow by the core flow moving into the impeller, leading to the generation of an unstable, wavy shear layer at the inducer plane, was instrumental in the generation of rotating stall. The present analyses provide a detailed characterization of both stationary and rotating stall cells and demonstrate the physics behind their formation, as well as their effect on compressor efficiency. The study also characterizes the entropy generation within the impeller under different operating conditions. While at 77 g/s, the entropy generation is mostly concentrated near the shroud of the impeller with the core flow being almost isentropic, at 30 g/s, there is a significant increase in the area within the blade passage that shows elevated entropy production. The tip leakage flow, its interaction with the blades and the core forward flow, and the reverse flow within the impeller are found to be the major sources of irreversibilities.

Experimental study on the blade tip clearance sensitive effect in compressors with different loading levels

Rotor tip clearance has significant influences on both the performances and internal flow fields of compressors. To explore the relationship between these influences and compressor loading levels, four single-stage compressors, with loading levels ranging from 0.36 to 0.59, have been designed for experiments. Compressor characteristics and flow fields at blade row inlet and outlet planes were measured under two rotor tip clearance conditions: 1% and 2.2% blade height. Based on these experimental results, an analysis was conducted to examine the influence of loading levels on the sensitivity to rotor tip clearance. The experimental results indicate that increase in the loading level enhances the sensitivity of compressor stage characteristics to rotor tip clearance. At the design point, an increase of 1% in the rotor tip clearance causes reductions of 1.3% in the stage efficiency and 2.3% in the stage static pressure rise when the loading level is 0.36. However, when the loading level is 0.59, the reductions are 2.9% and 3.4% in stage efficiency and stage static pressure rise, respectively. Increasing the rotor tip clearance brings the static pressure rise at the rotor tip region closer to its limit, resulting in a rapid growth of local loss. This trend becomes increasingly pronounced with higher compressor loading level.

Effects of Re on blade load temporal-spatial distribution and correlation with flow stability of transonic compressor under inlet distortion

Compressor blade operating conditions and aerodynamic load change periodically owing to inlet distortion. The effects of low Re are often unavoidable when the inlet distortion is encountered in real compressor operation. Blade load distribution and internal flow field are both affected by variations in Re. In this paper, the effects of Re on the blade load distribution patterns under 60° of total pressure distortion is investigated by numerical simulation. The distortion intensity has been set to 0.05, and four cases with Reynolds number index of 1, 0.3, 0.2 and 0.1 are chosen for further analysis. The findings demonstrate that the variation of Re affects the compressor flow field mainly by modifying the aerodynamic profile of the blade, which also results in the change of the temporal and spatial distribution of the aerodynamic load. Furthermore, the aerodynamic blade profile varies significantly by Reynolds number in different spanwise regions. The blade time constant decreases in the mid-span area, while it increases in the tip. This ultimately leads to a delay in the location of the tip maximum load, changing the starting position of the induced stall.

Non-uniform flow characteristics and rotating instability of a transonic high-pressure compressor rotor with cavity bleed

The presence of bleed in an aero engine’s compressor can significantly impact its flow characteristics and contribute to rotating instability. This study focuses on the impact of a typical cavity bleed structure on the internal flow characteristics of a compressor, specifically its circumferential non-uniformity and aerodynamic stability. A numerical simulation involving multiple flow passages was conducted on the transonic high-pressure rotor of the E3 compressor, considering its typical bleed structure. The study delves deep into the non-uniform flow characteristics and the mechanisms behind their generation in the compressor flow field. Furthermore, the influence of bleed on the rotating instability of the compressor is explored by comparing changes in compressor instability and adiabatic efficiency under uniform and non-uniform flow field conditions. The findings indicate that the axial position of the cavity bleed structure plays a crucial role in influencing key parameters such as rotor stall margin, peak efficiency, and total pressure ratio under near-stall conditions. The circumferential non-uniformity, resulting from the presence of the cavity bleed, intensifies with higher bleed air flow rates. For the upstream bleed configuration applied to the rotor, with a total bleed rate of 5%, the maximum variation in absolute flow angle at the inlet of different rotor channels can reach up to 1°. Additionally, the maximum difference in inlet flow coefficient can reach 0.0392. These findings demonstrate that the non-uniformity caused by the typical bleed structure leads to a loss in stall margin for the rotor when compared to a uniform flow field scheme.

Three-Dimensional Optimization of Blade Lean and Sweep for an Axial Compressor to Improve the Engine Performance

Nowadays, optimization methods have been considered as a practical tool to improve the performance of turbo-machines. For this purpose, the numerical study of the aerodynamic flow of the NASA Rotor-67 axial compressor has been investigated, and the results of this three-dimensional simulation show good agreement with experimental data. Then, the blade stacking line is changed using lean and sweep for Rotor-67 to improve the compressor performance. The third-order polynomial is selected to generate the lean and sweep changes from the hub to the shroud. The compressor flow field is solved by a Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes solver. The genetic algorithm, coupled with the artificial neural networks, is implemented to find the optimum values for blade lean and sweep. Considering the three objective functions of pressure ratio, mass flow rate, and isentropic efficiency, the optimized rotor is obtained using the optimization algorithm. Two geometries are obtained using the optimization algorithm. The results of the optimized compressor include improving the isentropic efficiency, pressure ratio, and mass flow equal to 0.57%, 0.93%, and 1.8%, respectively. After compressor optimization, the effect of the changes in the compressor performance parameters is studied on a single spool turbojet engine. The engine is modeled by analyzing the Brayton thermodynamic cycle of the assumed turbojet engine under design point operating conditions. Results show that for the best test case, the engine with the optimized rotor, the thrust, and SFC are improved by 1.86% and 0.21%, respectively.

Numerical Simulation of Transonic Compressors with Different Turbulence Models

One of the most commonly used techniques in aerospace engineering is the RANS (Reynolds average Navier–Stokes) approach for calculating the transonic compressor flow field, where the accuracy of the computation is significantly affected by the turbulence model used. In this work, we use SA, SST, k-ɛ, and the PAFV turbulence model developed based on the side-biased mean fluctuations velocity and the mean strain rate tensor to numerically simulate the transonic compressor NASA Rotor 67 to evaluate the accuracy of turbulence modeling in numerical calculations of transonic compressors. The simulation results demonstrate that the four turbulence models are generally superior in the numerical computation of NASA Rotor 67, which essentially satisfies the requirements of the accuracy of engineering calculations; by comparing and analyzing the ability of the four turbulence models to predict the aerodynamic performance of transonic compressors and to capture the details of the flow inside the rotor. The errors of the Rotor 67 clogging flow rate calculated by the SA, SST, k-ɛ, and PAFV turbulence models with the experimental data are 0.9%, 0.8%, 0.7%, and 0.6%, respectively. The errors of the calculated peak efficiencies are 2.2%, 1.6%, 0.9%, and 4.9%. The SA and SST turbulence models were developed for the computational characteristics of the aerospace industry. Their computational stability is better and their outputs for Rotor 67 are comparable. The k-ɛ turbulence model calculates the pressure ratio and efficiency that are closest to the experimental data, but the computation of its details of the flow field near the wall surface is not ideal because the k-ɛ turbulence model cannot accurately capture the flow characteristics of the region of high shear stresses. The PAFV turbulence model has a better prediction of complex phenomena such as rotor internal shock wave location, shock–boundary layer interaction, etc., due to the use of a turbulent velocity scale in vector form, but the calculated rotor efficiency is small.

Vorticity dynamics diagnosis of the internal flow field in a high-load counter-rotating compressor

AbstractA high-load counter-rotating compressor is optimised based on the method of coupling aerodynamic optimisation technology and computational fluid dynamics, and the flow structures in the passage are analysed and evaluated by vorticity dynamics diagnosis. The results show that the aerodynamic performance of optimised compressor are obviously improved at both design point and off-design point. By comparing the distribution characteristics of vorticity dynamics parameters on the blade surface before and after the optimisation, it is found that BVF (boundary vorticity flux) and circumferential vorticity can effectively capture high flow loss regions such as shock waves and secondary flow in the passage. In addition, the BEF (Boundary enstrophy flux) diagnosis method based on the theory of boundary enstrophy flux is developed, which expands the application scenario of the boundary vorticity dynamics diagnosis method. The change of vorticity dynamics parameters shows blade geometric parameters’ influence on the passage’s viscous flow field, which provides a theoretical basis for the aerodynamic optimisation design.

Fast prediction of compressor flow field in nuclear power system based on proper orthogonal decomposition and deep learning

Research and development on digital twins of nuclear power systems has focused on high-precision real-time simulation and the prediction of local complex three-dimensional fluid dynamics. Traditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods cannot take into consideration the efficiency and accuracy of fluid dynamics. In this study, a fast-flow field-prediction framework based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and deep learning is proposed. Compressed data containing the original flow field information are obtained using POD and deep neural network (DNN) is used to construct the POD-DNN flow field reduction model to achieve fast flow field prediction. The calculation accuracy and speed of the reduced-order model are analyzed in detail, considering the flow field of the nuclear compressor and key flow equipment of the nuclear power system as objects. The results show that the average relative deviation of the POD-DNN is <10% and calculation time is <1% when compared to those of CFD. This research shows that the high-fidelity model constructed using model reduction and deep learning is a feasible method for the realization of digital twins of the nuclear power system in engineering.

Pulsed suction towards unsteady active flow control in an axial compressor cascade including clearance leakage effects

Tip leakage flow (TLF) induced by the gap between the stationary and rotating components brings complex flow structures, and this leads to a considerable loss in the compressor. Boundary layer suction is considered an efficient method to compensate the disadvantages brought by the TLF. In this study, the effect of hole-type pulsed suction (PS) on the TLF in a compressor cascade is investigated through a series of wind-tunnel experiment. PS is a more advanced technology over the constant suction (CS), and it considers improving of the compressor flow field from both spatial and frequency domain. The results indicate that the optimal aerodynamic performance is obtained when using PS at 25 % cx with a mass flow rate of 0.66 % and an excitation frequency of 100 Hz. First, flow control mechanisms are analyzed in terms of flow structures based on oil visualization and dynamic pressure results. The PS technique can induce significant periodic features and increase local intermittently momentum exchange. A connection between the local intensity of the excitation frequency and loss reduction at the cascade outlet is observed. Subsequently, the influence of the PS hole axial position is investigated, and the PS is found to contribute further control to the vortex structures than the CS. Finally, the effectiveness of the PS technique at different tip clearance sizes and inlet incidences is assessed to confirm its superiority over the CS technique in controlling TLF.

Stall Margin Improvement in a Transonic Compressor With a Casing Treatment: Flow Mechanism

Abstract A compressor casing treatment with circumferential casing grooves (CCGs) is studied in detail. The primary objective of the current paper is to unearth the main driving fluid mechanism that changes the stall margin in a transonic compressor with CCGs. Large eddy simulation (LES) is applied to calculate the transonic compressor flow fields with and without CCGs. The present investigation shows that CCGs reduce the mass flow through the tip gap by about 16% near the stall condition. Calculated flow fields show that most of this reduction of tip leakage flow occurs near the CCGs. Reinjected flow from the CCGs pushes the tip leakage flow radially inward below the casing and changes how the tip leakage flow collides with the incoming main passage flow. However, a detailed examination of the calculated flow in the tip region shows that the reinjected flow does not contribute to the reduction of the overall blockage generation. The primary driver for reducing blockage generation with CCGs is the reduction of overall mass flowrate through the tip gap. In the present investigation, measurements show a very small decrease in efficiency with CCGs at the design flow condition, although the difference in efficiency is within the measurement uncertainty. Results from the LES simulation at the design condition with CCGs show that the tip leakage vortex (TLV) is pulled toward the blade suction side and double leakage flow is eliminated. The result is that the simulated efficiencies with and without CCGs are almost the same.

Study on the effect of rotor tip fillet edge in axial compressor

The compressor flowfield is sensitive to the small geometry in the tip region. The blade tip edge, which was usually idealized as “sharp” edge in the numerical simulation, had been actually filleted during the process of machining, coating, and wearing. However, the fillet edge was completely neglected in the compressor performance estimation. Thus, in this paper, the effect of the fillet edge is evaluated by establishing several models with tip fillet edges as well as tip sharp edge in a transonic axial compressor. By the comparison of the flowfield between models with fillet edge and sharp edge, it was found that the tip fillet edge can eliminate the separation bubble at the pressure side of the tip clearance. Also, it can affect the tip clearance outflow by changing the reversed flow. As a result, the leakage flow is increased and the compressor performance is decreased in efficiency and pressure ratio. The local leakage mass flow rate along the camber line can be increased up to 40% when the fillet radius is as much as 20% of the tip clearance size. The flowfield in the downstream is also affected by the fillet edge. By the comparing among the models with different working conditions, it is found that the sensitivity of the performance to the fillet edge is different between design and off-design conditions. Furthermore, the effect of the tip fillet edge on the leakage flow is qualified and compared with the effect of the tip clearance.

Active Flow Control Based Bleed in an Axial Compressor Cascade Using Large Eddy Simulation

The performance of the compressor is of great importance in developing advanced engine technology, and it dramatically influences the cycle efficiency and safety of the engine. The compressor bleed requires a part of the main flow extraction from the passage, and the removal of the airflow plays an essential role in the performance of the compressor. The influence of the constant suction and pulsed suction on the flow structures and the aerodynamic performance in a compressor cascade, and the control mechanisms are numerically studied using large eddy simulation. At a suction mass flow rate of 0.25% of the main flow rate, constant suction leads to a 9.36% reduction in Cpt, while pulsed suction gains 24% more benefit in Cpt reduction on the basis of the constant suction with an excitation frequency of 100 Hz. It indicates that the pulsed suction has more significant potential to control the loss generation in the compressor. Afterward, the flow field of the baseline, constant suction, and pulsed suction are compared to find out the flow control mechanisms of the constant suction and pulsed suction. Two different formation mechanisms of the passage vortex are found due to the excitation effect of the pulsed suction. Besides, the results of proper orthogonal decomposition and dynamic mode decomposition show that the pulsed suction can simplify and stabilize the compressor flow field, which could lead to a further benefit in Cpt.

Numerical and experimental study of bleed impact in multistage axial compressors

In this study, the influence of inter-stage bleeding on the compressor performance and inter-stage flow field of a multistage axial compressor is investigated by both experimental and numerical methods. The experiment is conducted on a four-stage low-speed axial compressor, and a specific computational model is built to simulate the experiment environment accurately. To illuminate the fluid mechanisms of bleeding effect in detail, both the experiment and the simulation are carried out twice, i.e., in the first time, the mass flow rate upstream the bleed location is constant under different bleed rate conditions; while in the second time, the mass flow rate downstream the bleed location is constant under different bleed rate conditions. The results demonstrate that inter-stage bleeding has little influence on upstream compressor characteristics, and affects the upstream flow field only in the rear half of the stator. The bleed effect on the downstream flow field is embodied in the variation of an incoming flow profile, an increase as the compressor inlet flow coefficient decreases. Therefore, such an effect is only significant on compressor characteristics at small flow coefficient conditions. In multistage compressors, the variation of compressor characteristics and flow field caused by inter-stage bleeding is the comprehensive result of the bleeding and the variation of the upstream working condition. In addition, the comparison between numerical and experimental results shows that the flow moves towards top half of span through the downstream rotor passage in the numerical simulation, whereas the trend of flow field variation with different bleed rates at the outlet of the downstream rotor and stator is the same with that at the inlet of the downstream rotor in the experiment, which means that the numerical method has overestimated the radial mixing intensity of the flow.

Flow characteristics of impeller backside cavity and its effects on the centrifugal compressor for compressed air energy storage

In order to improve the accuracy of numerical simulation for compressor aerodynamic performance, and to understand the interaction and internal flow characteristics of each compressor component, this paper numerically calculates all mainstream channels coupled impeller backside cavity (IBC) in a centrifugal compressor for compressed air energy storage (CAES). The internal flow field in IBC and the coupling characteristics of the compressor are analyzed under variable operating conditions. Furthermore, the influences of variable rotating speeds of the upstream coupled impeller and variable angles of the downstream coupled adjustable vaned diffusers (AVDs) are studied. The results show that IBC has a unique airflow field structure and vortex flow characteristics. The velocity field, pressure field, temperature field, and other aerodynamic parameters in IBC are different from the mainstream. Due to its coupling relationships with upstream and downstream, variable rotating speeds or AVDs’ angles will affect the overall performance of the compressor and internal flow field characteristics in IBC.

The Effects of Reynolds Number on the Stall and Pre-Stall Behavior of Compact Axial Compressors

Abstract Compact axial compression systems are of interest to the domestic appliance industry. The associated low Reynolds number leads to high losses compared to large-scale compressors due to a transitional flow field with large regions of separation. This paper investigates how Reynolds number variations affect the three-dimensional and unsteady flow field in a compact compressor both pre-stall and in stall. An experimental study has been conducted using a scaled-up single-stage axial compressor across a Reynolds number range of 104–105. Steady and unsteady casing static pressure measurements, along with rotor upstream and downstream unsteady velocity measurements, have been used to observe the rotor flow field. As the Reynolds number is reduced below a critical value, 60,000 in the case of the compressor studied, the pressure rise coefficient of the compressor rapidly decreases. The exact value of the critical Reynolds number is expected to vary with the compressor geometry. This fall-off in performance corresponds to an increase in the compressor rotor secondary flows. Prior to stall, a broadband hump at around 50% of the blade passing frequency is present in the near-field casing static pressure spectra. At Reynolds numbers below the critical value, multiple equally spaced peaks also appear around the peak of the broadband hump. The spacing of these peaks has been found to be exactly equal to the measured stall cell speed once rotating stall is established. When operating in stall, the stall cell is found to increase in circumferential size and slow down as Reynolds number decreases. The measured spectra and observed flow structures show that disturbances exist prior to stall at frequencies consistent with the frequencies within stall. The size and shape of the stall cells that form are related to the extent of the three-dimensional flow field present prior to stall. Below a critical value, all of these flow features are highly sensitive to Reynolds number.

Effects analysis on aerodynamic noise reduction of centrifugal compressor used for gasoline engine

Miniaturization of gasoline engines equipped with turbochargers is an effective way to alleviate energy shortages and reduce emissions, whereas its compressor noise has become an issue. In order to research the effects of particular blade tip clearance and blade number on noise reduction of high-speed (100,500 rpm) centrifugal compressor used for gasoline engine under actual working conditions, the aerodynamic noise of a turbocharger compressor mounted on a passenger car engine is analyzed by using turbulence numerical simulation, aero-acoustic simulation and acoustic boundary element method (BEM). On the basis of the transient large eddy simulation calculation of the compressor flow field, the aero-acoustic analogy noise model and the acoustic boundary element method are used to calculate the aerodynamic noise of the compressor. The frequency spectrum of compressor BPF noise is analyzed, and the influence of different blade tip clearances and blade numbers on the broadband noise and BPF noise of the compressor at high speed is studied. The research of compressor related structural parameters on aerodynamic noise plays an important role in reducing compressor noise and improving compressor acoustic quality.

Two stall stages in a centrifugal compressor with a vaneless diffuser

A sufficient understanding of the stall behavior is crucial to improve the stability of a compressor. The stall development process and its sensitive locations in a centrifugal compressor with a volute and a vaneless diffuser are investigated by unsteady simulations and an experiment in this study. During the throttling process, two stall stages are observed: stall I and stall II. During stall I, the mass flow rate has a small fluctuation and a local stall occurs at the impeller inlet. The local stall region is caused by a local spillage flow due to the tip leakage vortex, which results in a static pressure fluctuate at low-frequency and a blade loading reduction in the main blade fore part. During stall II, the mass flow rate fluctuates violently and reduces dramatically, accompanied by a significant reduction in the pressure ratio and efficiency in the experiment. Stall II is the whole-annulus stall caused by the large reverse flow at the impeller inlet region, leading to a large low-frequency signal and a large reduction in the blade loading at the main and splitter blade fore parts. However, stall II also has an effect on the impeller downstream and the diffuser. Due to the influence of the volute, stall I needs to locally extend to a certain size at the impeller leading edge; stall II then appears and causes an abrupt variation in the compressor flow field.

Interacting Effects in a Multistage Axial Compressor Using Shrouded and Cantilevered Stators

This paper describes the analysis of the flowfield in a four-stage low-speed axial compressor at the design point investigated both numerically and experimentally, with particular emphasis on the impact of stator hub flow leakage in a section of the machine featuring a change of stator configuration. The goal of the work is to give insight into the effect of the stator hub configuration on the aerodynamic performance in terms of loss and efficiency of downstream blade rows as well as the resulting stage matching effects. The investigation is focused on aerodynamic behavior and stage interaction, which the stator hub configuration of a given stage induces in a downstream stage with respect to its performance and flowfield. Two shrouded and one cantilevered stator hub configurations, such as those commonly employed in industry, are investigated and discussed with respect to local flow phenomena and stagewise aerodynamic effects. The results show that the stator hub configuration of a given stage has a drastically high impact on the downstream rotor aerodynamic performance, whereas the downstream stator as well as the upstream rotor are only slightly influenced by the stator hub configuration.

Numerical Investigation on Flow Field Distribution of Eccentric Compressors Based on Steady and Unsteady CFD Methods

The tip clearance has an important effect on the performance of an engine compressor. While the impact of tip clearance on a concentric compressor has been widely explored in previous research, the flow field distribution of an eccentric compressor has only been minimally explored. Both the steady and unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods have been widely used in the studies of concentric axial-compressors, and they have similar simulation results in terms of flow field. However, they have been rarely applied to axial-compressors with non-uniform tip clearance to investigate their flow field. In this paper, ANSYS CFX is used as CFD software, and both steady and unsteady CFD methods are applied to study a single rotor of ROTOR67 to investigate the compressor characteristic line and flow field under different eccentricity conditions. The results show that non-uniform tip clearance creates a non-uniform flow field at the inlet and tip regions over the whole operating range. The circumferential position where the flow coefficient and the axial velocity are the smallest occurs at a position close to the maximum tip clearance and is located on the side deviating toward the direction of rotation of the rotor. Compared with steady CFD, unsteady CFD has better predictive capability for the flow field distribution in axial compressors with non-uniform tip clearance.