Detailed Flow Field Measurements Research Articles

Flow Analysis in a Pump Diffuser—Part 1: LDA and PTV Measurements of the Unsteady Flow

This paper describes experimental research aimed at improving our understanding of the complex unsteady three-dimensional flow field associated with the interaction between a pump impeller and its vaned diffuser. The paper provides the results of experiments carried out using Laser Particle Tracking Velocimetry (LPTV) and Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA), in which time-resolved details of the unsteady flow field in a vaned diffuser of a medium specific speed pump have been obtained as a function of the local position of the pump impeller blades. Detailed flow field measurements have been carried out at several measurement positions in the diffuser and at a number of operating points along the pump characteristic. The measurement results have been analyzed to elucidate some interesting flow features observed in this typical pump diffuser. These include three-dimensional flow at the impeller outlet, flow separation in the diffuser channel, unsteady recirculation of the flow from the diffuser into the impeller, the passage of vorticity in the impeller blade wakes through the diffuser, and periodic unsteadiness and turbulence in the diffuser flow channel. The relevance of these flow features to the stability of the pump characteristic is discussed.

Reversal in spreading of a tabbed circular jet under controlled excitation

Detailed flow field measurements have been carried out for a turbulent circular jet perturbed by tabs and artificial excitation. Two “delta tabs” were placed at the nozzle exit at diametrically opposite locations. The excitation condition involved subharmonic resonance that manifested in a periodic vortex pairing in the near flow field. While the excitation and the tabs independently increased jet spreading, a combination of the two diminished the effect. The jet spreading was most pronounced with the tabs but was reduced when excitation was applied to the tabbed jet. The tabs generated streamwise vortex pairs that caused a lateral spreading of the jet in a direction perpendicular to the plane containing the tabs. The excitation, on the other hand, organized the azimuthal vorticity into coherent ring structures whose evolution and pairing also increased entrainment by the jet. In the tabbed case, the excitation produced coherent azimuthal structures that were distorted and asymmetric in shape. The self-induction of these structures produced an effect that opposed the tendency for the lateral spreading of the streamwise vortex pairs. The passage of the distorted vortices, and their pairing, also had a cancellation effect on the time-averaged streamwise vorticity field. These led to the reduction in jet spreading.

NASA Low-Speed Centrifugal Compressor for Three-Dimensional Viscous Code Assessment and Fundamental Flow Physics Research

A low-speed centrifugal compressor facility recently built by the NASA Lewis Research Center is described. The purpose of this facility is to obtain detailed flow field measurements for computational fluid dynamic code assessment and flow physics modeling in support of Army and NASA efforts to advance small gas turbine engine technology. The facility is heavily instrumented with pressure and temperature probes, in both the stationary and rotating frames of reference, and has provisions for flow visualization and laser velocimetry. The facility will accommodate rotational speeds to 2400 rpm and is rated at pressures to 1.25 atm. The initial compressor stage being tested is geometrically and dynamically representative of modern high-performance centrifugal compressor stages with the exception of Mach number levels. Preliminary experimental investigations of inlet and exit flow uniformity and measurement repeatability are presented. These results demonstrate the high quality of the data that may be expected from this facility. The significance of synergism between computational fluid dynamic analyses and experimentation throughout the development of the low-speed centrifugal compressor facility is demonstrated.

Effects of Endwall Suction and Blowing on Compressor Stability Enhancement

An experimental investigation was carried out to examine the effects on stall margin of flow injection into, and flow removal out of, the endwall region of an axial compressor blade row. A primary objective of the investigation was to clarify the mechanism by which casing treatment (which involves both removal and injection) suppresses stall in turbomachines. To simulate the relative motion between blade and treatment, the injection and removal took place through a slotted hub rotating beneath a cantilevered stator row. Overall performance data and detailed (time-averaged) flowfield measurements were obtained. Flow injection and removal both increased the stalling pressure rise, but neither was as effective as the wall treatment. Removal of high-blockage flow is thus not the sole reason for the observed stall margin improvement in casing or hub treatment; injection can also contribute significantly to stall suppression. The results indicate that the increase in stall pressure rise achieved with injection is linked to the streamwise momentum of the injected flow, and it is suggested that this should be the focus of further studies.

Dynamic Total Head Loss Characteristic for an Axial Compressor Rotor

Detailed flow field and pressure measurements during rotating stall operation have been carried out at inlet to and exit from an axial compressor rotor using hot wire anemometers and probes incorporating fast response pressure transducers. An on-line data-acquisition system which employs a phase-lock sampling and averaging technique has been used to obtain ‘phase-lock averaged’ values of flow quantities and pressures. The dynamic total head loss/incidence characteristic for the rotor section at mean diameter has been computed from the above data. The dynamic characteristic exhibits a loop in the stalled region. A simple numerical procedure has been used to obtain the steady-state loss characteristic and the time-lag of this loss. It has been found that the loss time-lag of boundary layer time delay corresponds to a value equal to 1.8 times the time delay due to inertia of fluid in a blade passage. A simple theory for the prediction of this loss time-lag is also presented which shows reasonable agreement with the value determined from measurements.

Double-Row Discrete-Hole Cooling: an Experimental and Numerical Study

Double-row discrete-hole cooling arrangements offer several advantages over single-row systems yet the detailed cooling mechanism is less completely understood than for the single-row. This is partly because there have been fewer studies of this geometry and partly because the flow structure is more complex. The present paper presents detailed flow-field and concentration measurements around the injection holes for double-row injection on a flat plate at 30 deg to the mainstream. The experiments span values of the blowing injection mass velocities from 0.25 to 1.0 times the free stream mass velocity and for two boundary layer thicknesses just upstream of the injection. In contrast to single-row injection the cooling effectiveness rise monotonically with M over the range studied. Computer simulation of these flows and similar experiments of [7] has been made using a three-dimensional finite-difference code that embodies a semi-elliptic treatment of the flow field in the neighborhood of the injection holes in conjunction with a two-equation turbulence model with non-isotropic effective transport coefficients. It emerged from the calculations, that, for injection velocities up to 50 percent of the free stream value, levels of film-cooling effectiveness are extremely well predicted beyond about 10 diameters behind the leading row of holes. Around the holes themselves, however, there are certain discrepancies which become more serious as the injection level is raised.

Gas Velocity Measurements Within a Compressor Rotor Passage Using the Laser Doppler Velocimeter

The laser Doppler velocimeter, a new instrument capable of making nondisturbing gas velocity measurements, was used to investigate the flowfield within the rotating blade row of a low speed axial compressor. The velocimeter operates by measuring the transit time of a seed particle across interference fringes produced at the intersection of a split and crossed laser beam. The velocity (magnitude and direction) measurements made with the laser at the rotor inlet and discharge generally agreed within 2 to 3 per cent with measurements made with a hot film anemometer, pitot-static probe and wedge and tuft angle probes. Detailed flowfield measurements within the rotor passage were then obtained and compared with the analytical results from a potential flow model. This technique shows promise in making detailed flow measurements within high speed fans, compressors, turbines and nozzles, including the mapping of shock structures.