Transonic Compressor Research Articles

Numerical Investigation on the Influence of Wet Compression Aerodynamic Performance of Multi-Stage Transonic Compressor

Numerical Investigation on the Influence of Wet Compression Aerodynamic Performance of Multi-Stage Transonic Compressor

Mechanism investigation of stability enhancement by slot on a transonic compressor

Abstract As aircraft engine blades develop towards high loads and low aspect ratios, the flow conditions in the tip region of transonic compressor rotors become more complex. The interaction between shock waves and boundary layers tends to induce fluid separation, thereby reducing the stable operating range of the rotor. To enhance the stability margin of the rotor, this study employs numerical simulation techniques to design jet slots on the rotor 37. Research results show that, without compromising the performance of the rotor, the slotted rotor can effectively enhance the stability margin of the rotor at both design and off-design speeds, with increases of 60.9% and 47.9% in surge margins compared to the prototype.

A New Approach to Suppress Tip Leakage Flow Utilizing Induced Shock Wave in Tip Region of a Transonic Compressor Rotor

A New Approach to Suppress Tip Leakage Flow Utilizing Induced Shock Wave in Tip Region of a Transonic Compressor Rotor

Numerical investigation of the influence of suction surface synthetic jet on the performance of transonic axial flow compressor

In order to investigate the effect of suction surface synthetic jet on the aerodynamic performance of transonic axial compressor, Rotor35 was used for numerical simulation. The results show that at four different positions, the stability margin of the compressor is slightly reduced by suction surface excitation, but there is an optimal position that can improve the compressor total pressure ratio and efficiency. At this position, there is little change in the total pressure ratio at the peak efficiency, and the efficiency is improved by 0.58%. The total pressure ratio and efficiency of the design point are increased by 0.18% and 0.55%, respectively. The periodic excitation of synthetic jet can effectively separate the suction surface and reduce the separation loss, which is the reason for the improvement of compressor efficiency. However, for the transonic compressor, synthetic jet on the suction surface obstructs the radial migration vortex that reaches the tip to the exit, but cause it to gather in the tip channel, resulting in the blockage and reduction of the stability margin of the compressor. In order to take into account the stability margin of the compressor, the coupled flow control is carried out by combining the casing treatment with synthetic jet on the suction surface. The results show that the flow margin of the compressor is increased by 8.76%, the total pressure ratio is increased by 1.76%, and the efficiency is only decreased by 0.13%. In coupled flow control, the suction and injection effects of the casing treatment can make up for the negative influence of synthetic jet on the tip flow, effectively improve the tip flow and expand the stable working range of the compressor. Compared with flow control that only carries out casing treatment, coupled flow control can exert the advantages of synthetic jet suppressing suction surface separation, reduce shock loss, outlet loss and casing treatment loss, and make up for the shortage of excessive efficiency reduction after casing treatment, which is the main reason for the improvement of compressor performance.

Study on Rain Absorption Performance and Flow Field of Transonic Compressor under Different Working Conditions

Taking a four-stage transonic compressor as the research object, the Lagrange particle tracking method was used to simulate the multiphase flow by considering the particle fragmentation, collision and evaporation models, and the influence of different inlet conditions (raindrop diameter, velocity, temperature and flow rate) on the compressor’s performance and stable working range was studied. The results show that inlet rain absorption can weaken the clearance leakage vortex make the shock wave move downstream, thus increasing the inlet flow rate, resulting in a decrease in stability margin and the highest efficiency point moving in the direction of flow increase. With the decrease in raindrop diameter, the pressure ratio and wet compression efficiency increase, and the stability margin decreases. With the increase in inlet raindrop velocity, the degree of pneumatic breakage increases and the raindrop diameter becomes smaller, which leads to the decrease in pressure ratio and efficiency. The influence of the mass flow rate of imported raindrops on the stable working range is significant. When the mass flow rate of imported raindrops accounts for 5% of the design flow, the stable working range can be reduced by more than half. Rain absorption increases the reaction force of the compressor and increases the load of the rotor blade.

Study on the Influence of Different Slot Sizes on the Flow Field of Transonic Compressor Rotors

Blade slotting technology is an effective measure to improve the flow structure on the suction surface of a blade and enhance the performance of turbomachinery. To investigate the impact of various slot sizes on the flow field of a single-stage transonic compressor rotor, seven kinds of slot schemes were designed and calculated by numerical simulations. The results show that the above slotting schemes significantly enhance the stability margin of the compressor. In particular, the slotting scheme H9W3 increases the surge margin by 60.9% and slightly reduces peak efficiency by 0.3%, with an almost identical maximum pressure ratio. Slotting promotes high-energy fluid to generate jets from the slot located at the exit of the suction side, effectively controlling blade surface flow separation and reducing channel blockage. Square slots are more effective than elongated slots for controlling separation when using differently shaped slots with equal areas. Increasing slot area gradually decreases outlet total pressure at a constant aspect ratio. A slight increase in the overall blade load causes a backward shift in the front portion load.

Aerodynamic Analysis of Blade Stall Flutter Prediction for Transonic Compressor Using Energy Method

In this study, stall flutter onset prediction in a transonic compressor is carried out using the (uncoupled) energy method with Fourier transform. As the study is conducted computationally using computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based simulations, the energy method was employed due to its higher computational efficiency by implementing the one-way FSI (Fluid Structure Interaction) model. The energy method is relatively uncommon for determining the aerodynamic damping and flutter prediction, specifically in blade stall conditions for the 3D blade passages. The NASA Rotor 67 was chosen for the validation of the study due to the availability of a wide range of experimental data. A flutter prediction analysis was performed computationally using CFD for the two-blade passages of the rotor in the peak efficiency and stall regions. Prior to this, the modal analysis on the prestressed blade was conducted, considering the centrifugal effects. The modal analysis provided accurate blade frequency and amplitude, which were the inputs of the flutter analysis. The first three modes of blade resonance were studied with a range of nodal diameters within near-peak efficiency and stall regions. The energy method implemented in this study for the flutter analysis was successfully able to predict the aerodynamic damping coefficients of the first three modes for a range of nodal diameters from the periodic-unsteady solution of the defined blade oscillation within the regions of interest (peak efficiency and stall point). The results of the study confirm the rotor blade’s stability within the near-peak region and, most importantly, the prediction of the flutter onset in the stall region. The study concluded that the computationally inexpensive and time-efficient energy method is capable of predicting the stall flutter onset. In the future, further validations of the energy method and investigations related to flow mechanism of stall flutter onset are planned.

Application of a novel stall margin improvement indicator in optimizing casing treatment for a transonic compressor

This paper presents a multi-objective design optimization of axial slot casing treatments in a 1.5 stage transonic compressor. To perform the optimization, an in-house optimization design platform is constructed using genetic algorithm and Kriging surrogate model. The optimization objectives are the peak efficiency at the design rotating speed and the stall margin improvements at both design and off-design rotating speeds. Instead of massive unsteady simulations that are required to accurately predict the stall margin, a stall margin improvement indicator is introduced based on the time-averaged axial momentum budget analysis at the rotor tip region. With this indicator, only one steady simulation is needed to evaluate the stall margin enhancement ability of a new casing treatment design at a given rotating speed. The axial slots are parameterized with a total of eight design parameters. The meridional profiles are described with two B-spline curves to define parameters such as the size, axial position, and shape of the slots. Circumferential parameters include the open area ratio and inclination angle. When the optimization finally converges, different optimal variants are selected from the database and their effects are investigated with both experiments and numerical simulations. The detailed flow fields are analyzed in depth with results from unsteady simulations. The application of the optimal casing treatments exerts a suction and re-injection effect, pushes the interface between tip leakage flow and incoming main flow downstream and reduced flow blockage in the blade tip region. Consequently, the stability of the compressor is significantly improved.

Effects of bird feather-like convergent–divergent-riblet surfaces on the total pressure loss and wake turbulence of a transonic compressor cascade

The flow loss caused by the fan blades in a turbofan engine with a large bypass ratio is significant, and the wake considerably affects the inlet flow of downstream components. Surfaces with bird feather-like convergent–divergent (C–D) riblets have been proven to modulate the boundary layer flow by inducing counter-rotating rolling modes; however, the effects of these surfaces on the total pressure loss and wake turbulence of transonic compressor cascades remain unexplored. In this study, the effects of C–D-riblet surfaces on the total pressure loss and wake turbulence of a transonic compressor cascade were experimentally investigated using a five-hole probe and hot-wire measurements. The flow-loss-control effects of C–D-riblet surfaces with different characteristic lengths were also analyzed. The most significant reduction in the area-averaged total pressure loss (11.23%) was achieved using a C–D-riblet surface with a characteristic length of 30 μm at a Mach number of 0.94; this total pressure loss reduction corresponded to an increase in the mean velocity and a decrease in the turbulence intensity of the wake profile. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the loss control varied significantly with the spreading position of the C–D riblets. The optimal control effect was observed in the divergence-line region, and the control was slightly less effective as the measurement position neared the convergence line. This paper demonstrates the promising potential of using C–D riblets to achieve flow loss control in transonic compressor cascades.

Position query-guided cross-modal flow field prediction model of a transonic compressor cascade

The gradient of flow parameters in a transonic compressor cascade flow field varies significantly, especially in the region of shock waves, which causes a significant challenge to its high-precision flow field prediction. In this study, the position query-guided cross-modal flow field prediction model (PGCM) is proposed to effectively predict the flow field parameter distribution of a transonic compressor cascade. The PGCM utilizes the self-attention mechanism for the global and deep geometric feature extraction of configurations, which contributes to an in-depth understanding of the spatial relationships between coordinate points within the flow field, accurately capturing and analyzing the structural complexity of a compressor cascade flow. In addition, the PGCM integrates the cross-attention mechanism that establishes correlations between different input sequences, which enhances the performance of the model in querying and interpreting flow parameters at specific coordinates. The flow field prediction models are developed to predict the flow parameter distributions of different cascade geometries at Mach numbers of 0.78 and 0.93, respectively. The validation results indicate that the PGCM performs significantly better than the existing convolutional neural network and vision transformer, especially in the prediction of the pressure coefficient Cp distribution. The PGCM is adaptable to the variation of flow conditions and geometrical configurations efficiently and accurate in predicting the flow field of a compressor cascade. This paper demonstrates the promising potential of conducting the multi-modal information fusion to enhance the capability of flow field prediction.

Uncertainty quantification based on active subspace dimensionality-reduction method for high-dimensional geometric deviations of compressors

Compressors are inevitably exposed to diverse geometric deviations from manufacturing errors and in-service degradation. Consequently, the evaluation of performance uncertainties becomes of utmost importance for compressors in engineering application. However, the presence of high-dimensional and strongly nonlinear geometric deviations poses significant challenges in efficiently and accurately assessing the performance uncertainties of compressors. This study proposes an active subspace-based dimensionality-reduction method for high-dimensional uncertainty quantification (UQ) of compressors. Based on the active subspace (AS) method, a dimensionality-reduction high-precision artificial neural network is raised to solve the dimension disaster problem for high-dimensional UQ. Additionally, a data-driven approach is used to calculate the gradient of the quantity of interest, addressing the issue of high computational cost during the AS dimensionality reduction process. Furthermore, the Shapley method is applied to explore the influence mechanism of geometric uncertainties on performance deviations of compressors. The UQ of one transonic compressor stage at design point and near stall point is conducted by the proposed method. The findings show that the original 24-dimensional uncertainties are reduced to three-dimensional uncertainties by using this method. Consequently, the required sample size is reduced by 75% while maintaining almost unchanged model accuracy. The findings reveal that the sweep and stagger deviation of the rotor are key uncertainties on the performance of the compressor. The dispersion in efficiency is attributed to variations in shock wave position and intensity, while the dispersion in total pressure ratio is primarily affected by changes in rotor work capacity. Moreover, the dispersion at near stall is 50% higher than that at design point. Therefore, when studying UQ, it is important to pay closer attention to the performance dispersion at near stall conditions.

An improved wiener filter-based method for identifying stall inception of transonic compressor

The development of the modern aviation industry poses high demands on the design of aircraft engines recently. However, the stability of compressor flow is one of the key factors affecting further improvements in engine performance. The design of next-generation aircraft engines imposes higher requirements on compressor loading, which leads to the emergence of many new stall inceptions. As a result, the onset and evolution of flow instability become more complex. For accurately capturing stall inceptions of transonic compressors, the strong pressure disturbances caused by shock waves at the blade tip and the complex flow within blade passages result in significant challenges. To address this issue, this study draws inspiration from the design methods of Wiener filters in the field of speech recognition. Based on the characteristic signal mutations during rotating stall in compressors, a Wiener filter approach that uses time-delayed signals as noise estimates during filter training is developed. The method can be used for both offline and online analysis. It was applied to analyze the stall signals of a single rotor from a 1.5-stage transonic axial compressor under distorted inlet conditions at transonic rotational speeds and the entire stage under uniform inlet conditions at subsonic rotational speeds. The results indicate that, under inlet distortion, the compressor generates disturbance signals in the distorted sector before stall, and the earliest spike-inception disturbance occurs at the circumferential position of the rotor leaving the distorted sector. Under uniform inlet conditions, random disturbances could be detected throughout the circumference before stall onset, developing into spike waves at a circumferential location that subsequently triggered stall. Compared to conventional low-pass filters, discrete wavelet transforms, and empirical mode decomposition, the Wiener filter yielded more prominent spike wave structures in the filtered signals. Under distorted inlet conditions, the Wiener-filtered signals showed a 1 % decrease in autocorrelation coefficient and a 3.7 % increase in root mean square (RMS) upon the appearance of spike waves, more pronounced than the 0.5 % decrease in autocorrelation coefficient and 1.8 % increase in RMS achieved by conventional methods. Under uniform inlet conditions, the Wiener filter also detected a 9.7 % increase in RMS upon the appearance of spike waves, more pronounced than the 6.3 % increase observed with conventional methods.

Concurrent and sequential coupled optimization design of a transonic compressor blade with axial slot casing treatment

This paper explores the optimization of the interaction between the rotor and axial slot casing treatment (ASCT) to enhance both efficiency and stability margins. Previous studies primarily focused on rotor tip optimization, often compromising flow in non-tip regions and reducing overall rotor performance. To address these limitations, this study introduces a new optimization framework integrating full-span 3D blade design with a semicircular axial slot, utilizing both sequential and concurrent optimization strategies. The sequential approach first optimizes blade geometries, followed by ASCT adjustments, while the concurrent approach treats the blade and ASCT as a unified aerodynamic system. Compared to prior studies focusing exclusively on tip-only 3D shape optimization, results indicate that sequential coupled optimization improves the stall margin by 13.32% and efficiency by 0.05%, whereas the concurrent strategy further enhances performance, shaping the blades into an inverse S form, reducing efficiency losses from 0.12% to 0.02%, and increasing the stall margin increment from 14.88% to 21.83%. These findings demonstrate the significant performance gains achievable through coordinated rotor and ASCT design.

Flow Mechanism Study on the Effect of Controllable Speed Casing With Different Axial Starting Points on Transonic Compressor Rotor Stability

Abstract The controllable speed casing represents an exploring approach to casing technology, designed to enhance the adaptability of casing in compressors under variable working conditions. This paper developed a numerical study into the effects of the axial starting point of the rotatable ring in the controllable speed casing on stability enhancement and performance. Additionally, the study sought to unveil the action mechanism of the rotating casing on various flow elements within the tip passage. The findings indicated that the optimal axial starting point for achieving the most pronounced stability enhancement effect in each rotating speed of the rotatable ring was located at the tip leading edge. In terms of the flow mechanism, the rotation of the rotatable ring was found to enhance the throughflow of the mainstream and the tip vortex, while exacerbating the backflow of the tip leakage flow, which occurred at middle and rear of the tip clearance and had not evolved into tip vortex.

Stability enhancement using a new combined casing treatment strategy in an ultra-highly loaded transonic compressor rotor

Low-reaction compressors are promising for achieving high loads but face severe flow instability challenges. This study investigates a low-reaction transonic compressor rotor using casing treatment technologies to control unstable flow dynamics precisely. First, a design integrating self-recirculating and circumferential groove casing treatments near the leading edge is implemented. This design enhances flow capacity at the tip passage inlet. However, it causes a “stall transposition” phenomenon. The unstable flow structures shift from shock-tip leakage vortex interactions at the front to corner separation at the rear. Consequently, the stall mechanism transitions from an end-wall stall to a blade stall. To address this issue, a new casing treatment layout is proposed. Grooves are added after the mid-chord of the initial front casing configuration. This adaptation suppresses emerging unstable flow structures and extends the stall margin by approximately 12.07 %. Detailed flow field analysis shows that the rear grooves effectively reduced the trailing edge separation vortex. They also limit downstream corner separation and mitigate disturbances from tip leakage flows in the rear of the passage.

Impact of non-axisymmetric tip clearance on the aerodynamic and aeroelastic stabilities of a transonic compressor

The aerodynamic and flutter effects caused by the circumferential non-uniform tip clearances from the non-axisymmetric casing geometry, which are more representative of real operational conditions, should receive more attention. In this paper, sensitivity analyses on clearance and non-uniformity regarding rotor performance are conducted. The isentropic efficiency, total pressure ratio and stability margin of the rotor are reduced by 1.96%, 1.06% and 6.76% for an increase of tip clearance by 1% tip chord, respectively. The non-axisymmetric configuration reconfigures the interaction between leakage flow and mainstream in each rotor passage and alters the strength and influence range of the low-speed separation region generated by shock wave. The phase lag phenomenon observed in the aerodynamics of the non-axisymmetric layout also manifests in the aeroelastic effects but requires a larger phase shift at the maximum clearance sector, owing to the longer timescales for flow adjustment relative to the local tip gap considering the flow-induced vibration. Clearance sensitivity on flutter stability varies with the direction of the traveling wave: under forward traveling conditions, damping values initially decrease and then increase with increasing rotor tip clearance; while under backward traveling condition, blade damping linearly decreases with increasing rotor tip clearance. Additionally, variations in flow conditions and nodal diameters affect flutter stability by altering the position of shock waves and their work on the suction surface of the rotors. The mechanism responsible for unsteady flows induced by non-axisymmetric clearances from the casing ovalization on flutter stability is discussed for the first time in this paper, which can guide the industry to evaluate its impact.

Sensitivity analysis and robust optimization to high-dimensional uncertainties of compressors with active subspace method

The performance of compressors often deviates significantly from the design value due to the substantial geometric deviations arising from manufacturing errors and in-service degradation. Robust design optimization (RDO) plays a crucial role in ensuring the high performance and reliability of compressors. The study proposes an active subspace-based dimensionality-reduction RDO method for high-dimensional uncertainties of compressors. By employing the active subspace (AS) method, a dimensionality-reduction artificial neural network (ANN) is raised to solve the "dimension disaster" problem for high-dimensional uncertainty quantification (UQ) analysis. Additionally, to decrease the computation cost of the original AS method, a data-driven method is utilized to calculate the gradient of the quantity of interest (QoI) within the AS dimensionality-reduction framework. Furthermore, Shapley method is applied to study the sensitivity of geometric variables and their variation direction on the mean and variance of the performance, and the robustness improvement method by only modifying key geometric variables based on Shapley results is discussed. The RDO of high dimensional geometrical uncertainties of a transonic compressor stage is studied by using this method. The results demonstrate a reduction from the original 24-dimensional uncertainties to a 4-dimensional space, achieved through this method. Consequently, the required sample size is reduced by 75 % while maintaining nearly unchanged model accuracy. Furthermore, the findings reveal that after RDO, the mean efficiency increases by 1.04 %, with a 42 % reduction in variance. Compared to RDO, which requires simultaneous optimization of all 24 geometric variables, the robustness improvement based on Shapley only necessitates modifying 4 key geometric variables, resulting in a substantial increase in both the mean and variance of efficiency.

Unsteady measurement in a transonic axial compressor with optimized axial slot casing treatment

Casing treatment has been widely adopted to enhance the operating range of compressors by extending the stall margin. In this article, a high-precision experimental investigation was conducted in a transonic compressor. Unsteady pressure is measured in the casing wall using a cluster of time-resolved transducers with axial and circumferential spatial resolution. The experimental data show that the optimized axial slot casing treatment improves the stall margin without peak efficiency penalty for all measured speedlines. A comprehensive flow field analysis indicates that the surge boundary of transonic compressor is sensitive to the position of shock wave and tip leakage flow. After the application of optimized axial slot casing treatment, the flow structure can be significantly modified, which specifically manifests as both the mitigation in shock wave detachment and redistribution of tip leakage flow trajectory toward the trailing edge of the blade. Furthermore, power spectral density analysis is conducted to examine the unsteady effect. The amplitude of characteristic frequency band induced by the unsteady fluctuation of tip leakage flow and shock wave is considerably suppressed, which can also be regard as the stability enhancement mechanism of casing treatment.

Numerical investigation into rotating instability and the vortex structure near the tip in a transonic compressor rotor

An unsteady simulation with a full-annular computed domain was conducted to explore the flow unsteadiness near the tip region and the mechanism of rotating instability (RI) in the transonic rotor. The numerical static pressure signals were monitored at the tip region. RI was identified by a frequency hump in the spectrum of the static pressure signal in a small mass flow coefficient with a narrow range of 0.9510–0.9174. The cross-power spectrum of two static pressure signals obtained in adjacent passages showed that the circumferential propagation speed of RI decreased with the decrease in the mass flow coefficient. The relative circumferential propagation speed of RI of the prominent mode order was −0.65 to −0.61 times the rotor speed. Details of the flow field near the tip showed that a new vortex structure was induced by the interaction of the tip leakage vortex and the shock wave, which was called as tip secondary vortex (TSV). The TSV was the key parameter to the formation of RI. The impact of the TSV on the pressure side surface generated a low-pressure area and changed the tip load of the adjacent blade. RI is result of the propagation of the interaction between the TSV and the tip load.

Enhancing transonic compressor rotor efficiency by flow analysis-driven blade section modification

Abstract Transonic axial compressors are widely used in aero-engines and gas turbines, and their efficiency has a significant influence on the equipment energy utilization rate and fuel cost. In this research, blade section modification based on flow analysis is carried out on the Rotor 67 for improving efficiency. First, the numerical calculation method used is verified with experimental data to ensure the accuracy of the simulation. Then, according to the analysis of simulated flow field and shock structure, the blade section shapes are altered to optimize the blade passage wide distribution for the sections from hub to mid-span. In addition, the blade surface angle is altered to reduce the supersonic flow expansion angle for decreasing shock strength. With these optimizations, the efficiency of modified transonic rotor increases by 0.9 percentage at the design point and 1.0 percentage at near stall point (N = 1.0), respectively. Slightly higher efficiency at off-design speeds (N = 0.9 and 0.8) are also obtained, with maintaining the stall margin.