Low Speed Axial Compressor Stall Margin Improvement by Unsteady Plasma Actuation

This research investigates the use of single dielectric barrier discharge(SDBD) actuators for energizing the tip leakage flow to suppress rotating stall inception and extend the stable operating range of a low speed axial compressor with a single rotor.The jet induced by the plasma actuator adds momentum to the flow in the tip region and has a significant impact on the tip-gap flow.Experiments are carried out on a low speed axial compressor with a single rotor.The static pressure is measured at both the rotor inlet and outlet.The flow coefficient and pressure rise coefficient are calculated.Then the characteristic line is acquired to show the overall performance of the compressor.With unsteady plasma actuation of 18kV and 60W the compressor stability range improvement is realized at rotor speed of 1500 r/min – 2400 r/min.

The Self-induced Unsteadiness of Tip Leakage Flow in an Axial Low-Speed Compressor with Single Circumferential Casing Groove

Numerical investigation on the self-induced unsteadiness of tip leakage flow(TLF) for an axial low-speed compressor with smooth wall and six single grooved casings are presented. A ten-passage numerical scheme is used to solve the unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes(URANS) equations. It is found that the single grooves at various axial locations could have a large impact on the self-induced unsteadiness and the stall margin improvement(SMI) of compressor. The trend of SMI with groove center location demonstrates that the groove located near the mid of blade tip chord generates the best SMI. The worst groove is located about 20% Cax after the blade leading edge. The root-mean-squre of static pressure(RMSP) contours at 99.5% span and fast Fourier transform for the static pressure traces recorded in the tip clearance region for each casing are analyzed. The results demonstrate that the single groove location not only affects the oscillating strength but also the frequency of the unsteady tip leakage flow. At the near-stall point of smooth casing, the self-induced unsteadiness of TLF is enhanced most by the best grooved casing for SMI. While, the self-induced unsteadiness disappears when the worst groove for SMI is added. The characteristic frequency of TLF is about 0.55 blade passing frequency(BPF) with smooth casing. The frequency components become complicated as the single groove moves from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the blade.

Stability management of high speed axial flow compressor stage through axial extensions of bend skewed casing treatment

This paper presents the experimental results to understand the performance of moderately loaded high speed single stage transonic axial flow compressor subjected to various configurations of axial extensions of bend skewed casing treatment with moderate porosity.The bend skewed casing treatment of 33%porosity was coupled with rectangular plenum chamber of depth equal to the slots depth.The five axial extensions of 20%,40%,60%,80%and 100%were used for the experimental evaluations of compressor performance.The main objective was to identify the optimum extension of the casing treatment with reference to rotor leading edge which results in maximum stall margin improvements with minimum loss in the stage efficiency.At each axial extension the compressor performance is distinctive.The improvement in the stall margin was very significant at some axial extensions with 4%–5%penalty in the stage efficiency.The compressors stage shows recovery in terms of efficiency at lower axial extensions of 20%and 40%with increase in the peak stage efficiency.Measurements of flow parameters showed the typical behaviors at near stall flow conditions.Hot wire sensor was placed at the rotor upstream in the tip region to capture the oscillations in the inlet axial and tangential velocities at stall conditions.In the absence of casing treatment the compressor exhibit abrupt stall with very high oscillations in the inlet axial and tangential velocity of the flow.The extents of oscillations reduce with bend skewed casing treatment.Few measurements were also performed in the plenum chamber and salient results are presented in this paper.