Investigation of control effects of end-wall selfadaptive jet on three-dimensional corner separation of a highly loaded compressor cascade

To overcome the limitations posed by three-dimensional corner separation,this paper proposes a novel flow control technology known as passive End-Wall(EW)self-adaptive jet.Two single EW slotted schemes(EWS1 and EWS2),alongside a combined(COM)scheme featuring double EW slots,were investigated.The results reveal that the EW slot,driven by pressure differentials between the pressure and suction sides,can generate an adaptive jet with escalating velocity as the operational load increases.This high-speed jet effectively re-excites the local low-energy fluid,thereby mitigating the corner separation.Notably,the EWS1 slot,positioned near the blade leading edge,exhibits relatively low jet velocities at negative incidence angles,causing jet separation and exacerbating the corner separation.Besides,the EWS2 slot is close to the blade trailing edge,resulting in massive low-energy fluid accumulating and separating before the slot outlet at positive incidence angles.In contrast,the COM scheme emerges as the most effective solution for comprehensive corner separation control.It can significantly reduce the total pressure loss and improve the static pressure coefficient for the ORI blade at 0°-4° incidence angles,while causing minimal negative impact on the aerodynamic performance at negative incidence angles.Therefore,the corner stall is delayed,and the available incidence angle range is broadened from -10°--2°to -10°-4°.This holds substantial promise for advancing the aerodynamic performance,operational stability,and load capacity of future highly loaded compressors.

Using tandem blades to break loading limit of highly loaded axial compressors

It is confirmed that tandem-blade configurations have potential to enlarge the flow turning in two-dimension(2D) studies. However, the potential of tandem blades to enlarge the design space for highly loaded axial compressors was rarely investigated in open literatures. The present work aims to show the capability of tandem blades to break the loading limit of conventional blades for highly loaded compressors. The 2D models of the maximum static pressure rise derived in previous work were validated by a large amount experimental data, which showed a good agreement. An E parameter was defined to evaluate the stall margin of compressor based on the theoretical models, which indicated that the tandem blade was able to increase the loading limit of axial compressors. A single-blade stage with a loading coefficient of 0.46(based on the blade tip rotating speed) was designed as the baseline case under the guidance of the E parameter. A tandem-blade stage was then designed by ensuring that the velocity triangles were similar to the single-blade stage. The performances of both stages were investigated experimentally. The results showed that the maximum efficiency of the tandem-blade stage was 92.8%, 1% higher than the single;the stall margin increased from 16.9% to 22.3%. Besides, the maximum pressure rise of tandem rotors was beyond the loading limit of 2D single-blade cascades, which confirmed the potential of tandem blades to break the loading limit of axial compressors.

Enhancing Aerodynamic Performances of Highly Loaded Compressor Cascades via Air Injection

This article experimentally studies the effects of air injection near the blade trailing edge on flow separation and losses in a highly loaded linear compressor cascade. Aerodynamic parameters of eight cascades with different air injection slot configura- tions are measured by using a five-hole probe at the cascade outlets. Ink-trace flow visualization is performed to obtain the flow details around the air injection slots. The static pressure distribution is clarified with pressure taps on the endwalls. The...

Experimental Research of Surface Roughness Effects on Highly-Loaded Compressor Cascade Aerodynamics

Aircraft engines deteriorate during continuous operation under the action of external factors including fouling, corrosion, and abrasion. The increased surface roughness of compressor passage walls limits airflow and leads to flow loss. However, the partial increase of roughness may also restrain flow separation and reduce flow loss. It is necessary to explore methods that will lower compressor deterioration, thereby improving the overall performance. The experimental research on the effects of surface roughness on highly loaded compressor cascade aerodynamics has been conducted in a low-speed linear cascade wind tunnel. The different levels of roughness are arranged on the suction surface and pressure surface, respectively. Ink-trace flow visualization has been used to measure the flow field on the walls of cascades, and a five-hole probe has been traversed across one pitch at the outlet. By comparing the total pressure loss coefficient, the distributions of the secondary-flow speed vector, and flow fields of various cases, the effects of surface roughness on the aerodynamics of a highly loaded compressor cascade are analyzed and discussed. The results show that adding surface roughness on the suction surface and pressure surface make the loss decrease in most cases. Increasing the surface roughness on the suction surface causes reduced flow speed near the blade, which helps to decrease mixing loss at the cascades outlet. Meanwhile, adding surface roughness on the suction surface restrains flow separation, leading to less flow loss. Various levels of surface roughness mostly weaken the flow turning capacity to various degrees, except in specific cases.

Effect of Non-Axisymmetric End Wall on a Highly Loaded Compressor Cascade in Multi-Conditions

As an effective method to influence end wall flow field,non-axisymmetric profiled end wall can improve the aerodynamic performance of compressor cascades.For a highly loaded low pressure compressor cascade,called V103,the study found the optimal non-axisymmetric profiled end wall decreases total pressure loss coefficient by 4.57%,5.48%and 3.04%under incidences of–3°,0°,and 3°,respectively,compared with those of the planar end wall.The optimal non-axisymmetric profiled end wall changes the structure of secondary flow in hub region,generating a corner vortex near suction surface,inhibiting the development of the passage vortex towards suction surface and reducing flow separation.When the inlet Mach numbers are 0.62 and 0.72,the total pressure loss coefficient decreases by 3.19%and 4.58%for optimal non-axisymmetric profiled end wall compared with those of the planar end wall.Though optimal non-axisymmetric profiled end wall increases total pressure loss near hub region in blade passage under different inlet Mach numbers,the peak value and region of high loss coefficient above 10%span in blade passage significantly decrease.In addition,different incidences affect the secondary flow streamlines and vortex structure near the cascade hub region,however,different inlet Mach numbers hardly change the secondary flow streamlines and vortex structure.In short,the optimal non-axisymmetric profiled end wall shows better aerodynamic performance than the planar end wall for the highly loaded compressor cascade in multi-conditions.

Aerodynamic Performance Improvement of a Highly Loaded Compressor Airfoil with Coanda Jet Flap

Coanda jet flap is an effective flow control technique,which offers pressurized high streamwise velocity to eliminate the boundary layer flow separation and increase the aerodynamic loading of compressor blades.Traditionally,there is only single-jet flap on the blade suction side.A novel Coanda double-jet flap configuration combining the front-jet slot near the blade leading edge and the rear-jet slot near the blade trailing edge is proposed and investigated in this paper.The reference highly loaded compressor profile is the Zierke&Deutsch double-circular-arc airfoil with the diffusion factor of 0.66.Firstly,three types of Coanda jet flap configurations including front-jet,rear-jet and the novel double-jet flaps are designed based on the 2D flow fields in the highly loaded compressor blade passage.The Back Propagation Neural Network(BPNN)combined with the genetic algorithm(GA)is adopted to obtain the optimal geometry for each type of Coanda jet flap configuration.Numerical simulations are then performed to understand the effects of the three optimal Coanda jet flaps on the compressor airfoil performance.Results indicate all the three types of Coanda jet flaps effectively improve the aerodynamic performance of the highly loaded airfoil,and the Coanda double-jet flap behaves best in controlling the boundary layer flow separation.At the inlet flow condition with incidence angle of 5°,the total pressure loss coefficient is reduced by 52.5%and the static pressure rise coefficient is increased by 25.7%with Coanda double-jet flap when the normalized jet mass flow ratio of the front jet and the rear jet is equal to 1.5%and 0.5%,respectively.The impacts of geometric parameters and jet mass flow ratios on the airfoil aerodynamic performance are further analyzed.It is observed that the geometric design parameters of Coanda double-jet flap determine airfoil thickness and jet slot position,which plays the key role in supressing flow separation on the airfoil suction side.Furthermore,there exists an optimal combination of front-jet and rear-jet mass flow ratios to achieve the minimum flow loss at each incidence angle of incoming flow.These results indicate that Coanda double-jet flap combining the adjust of jet mass flow rate varying with the incidence angle of incoming flow would be a promising adaptive flow control technique.

Inducer/Exducer Matching Characteristics inside Tandem Impellers of a Highly Loaded Centrifugal Compressor

A centrifugal compressor usually operates with low isentropic efficiency and a terrible stable operating range, resulting from the complex impeller flow structure companied with the intense interaction among the impeller and the diffuser downstream. In many studies, the potential of centrifugal compressor tandem-impeller configurations for improving the compressor has been demonstrated. Whereas, compared with the convincing results on the tandem-designed axial compressors, the results on tandem impellers are limited and contradictory. Very little insight has been provided into the flow mechanisms inside tandem impellers, which is considered to be the primary reason for the confusion in tandem impeller design and application. Tandem impellers are expected to exhibit a totally different behavior due to the intense aerodynamic interaction between the inducer and the exducer, which substantially contributes to the flow structure and the compressor performance change. In the present study, a numerical study of a highly-loaded centrifugal compressor with various tandem designs was conducted to explore the inducer/exducer matching characteristics and the underlying flow mechanism inside tandem impellers. Two tandem impeller design parameters, namely, the inducer/exducer clocking fraction and the axial gap(overlap), were considered in the tandem impeller design process. The tandem impeller was also compared to the existing conventional impeller which the tandem impeller was redesigned for. The results demonstrated that the tandem-designed impeller can improve the centrifugal compressor stage performance and intense inducer/exducer interaction can be observed with changes in the clocking fraction and the axial gap(overlap). The tandem impeller performance is sensitive to changes in axial gap(overlap) when the suction side of the exducer blade is circumferentially close to the inducer blade. The fundamental reason for the performance variation in the inducer and the exducer lies in the inducer pressure change in the blade trailing edge that is determined by the Kutta condition. Additionally, the correlation between the tandem impeller slip effect and the discharge flow quality should be emphasized in the inducer/exducer gap jet analysis, in which the jet injection angle and the Coanda effect of the exducer suction surface critically affect the discharge flow characteristics.