The Effect of Gapping on Compressor Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pawel J. Przytarski ◽  
Andrew P. S. Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Method ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Blade Passage ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Fidelity Scale ◽  
Compressor Performance ◽  
Turbulence Production

Abstract In this paper, we study the effect of rotor-stator axial gap on midspan compressor loss using high-fidelity scale-resolving simulations. For this purpose, we mimic the multi-stage environment using a new numerical method that recycles wake unsteadiness from a single blade passage back into the inlet of the computational domain. As a result, a type of repeating-passage simulation is obtained such as observed by an embedded blade-row. We find that freestream turbulence levels rise significantly as the size of the rotor-stator axial gap is reduced. This is because of the effect of axial gap on turbulence production, which becomes amplified at smaller axial gaps and drives increases in dissipation and loss. This effect is found to raise loss by between 5.5% and 9.5% over the range of conditions tested here. This effect significantly outweighs the beneficial effects of wake recovery on loss.

The Effect of Rotor-Stator Gap on Repeating-Stage Compressor Loss

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pawel J. Przytarski ◽  
Andrew P. S. Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Method ◽  
Large Eddy Simulations ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Blade Passage ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Turbulence Production

Abstract In this paper we study the effect of rotor-stator axial gap on midspan compressor loss using high fidelity Large-Eddy Simulations. For this purpose we mimic the multi-stage environment using a new numerical method which recycles wake unsteadiness from a single blade passage back into the inlet of the computational domain. As a result a type of repeating-stage simulation is obtained such as observed by an embedded blade-row. We find that freestream turbulence levels rise significantly as the size of the rotor-stator axial gap is reduced. This is because of the effect of axial gap on turbulence production, which becomes amplified at smaller axial gaps and drives increases in dissipation and loss. This effect is found to raise loss by between 7–9.5% over the range of conditions tested here. This effect significantly outweighs the beneficial effects of wake recovery on loss.

The Unsteady Development of a Turbulent Wake Through a Downstream Low-Pressure Turbine Blade Passage

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 388-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Stieger ◽  
H. P. Hodson
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Boundary Layer Transition ◽  
Production Mechanism ◽  
Blade Passage ◽  
Low Pressure Turbine ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Turbulence Production

This paper presents two-dimensional LDA measurements of the convection of a wake through a low-pressure turbine cascade. Previous studies have shown the wake convection to be kinematic, but have not provided details of the turbulent field. The spatial resolution of these measurements has facilitated the calculation of the production of turbulent kinetic energy, and this has revealed a mechanism for turbulence production as the wake convects through the blade row. The measured ensemble-averaged velocity field confirmed the previously reported kinematics of wake convection while the measurements of the turbulence quantities showed the wake fluid to be characterized by elevated levels of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and to have an anisotropic structure. Based on the measured mean and turbulence quantities, the production of turbulent kinetic energy was calculated. This highlighted a TKE production mechanism that resulted in increased levels of turbulence over the rear suction surface where boundary-layer transition occurs. The turbulence production mechanism within the blade row was also observed to produce more anisotropic turbulence. Production occurs when the principal stresses within the wake are aligned with the mean strains. This coincides with the maximum distortion of the wake within the blade passage and provides a mechanism for the production of turbulence outside of the boundary layer.

scholarly journals Axial Compressor Mean-Line Analysis: Choking Modelling and Fully-Coupled Integration in Engine Performance Simulations

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Ioannis Kolias ◽  
Alexios Alexiou ◽  
Nikolaos Aretakis ◽  
Konstantinos Mathioudakis
Keyword(s):  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Engine Performance ◽  
Engine Model ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Transient Simulations ◽  
Full Knowledge ◽  
Compressor Performance ◽  
First Time ◽  
Performance Calculation ◽  
Fully Coupled

A mean-line compressor performance calculation method is presented that covers the entire operating range, including the choked region of the map. It can be directly integrated into overall engine performance models, as it is developed in the same simulation environment. The code materializing the model can inherit the same interfaces, fluid models, and solvers, as the engine cycle model, allowing consistent, transparent, and robust simulations. In order to deal with convergence problems when the compressor operates close to or within the choked operation region, an approach to model choking conditions at blade row and overall compressor level is proposed. The choked portion of the compressor characteristics map is thus numerically established, allowing full knowledge and handling of inter-stage flow conditions. Such choking modelling capabilities are illustrated, for the first time in the open literature, for the case of multi-stage compressors. Integration capabilities of the 1D code within an overall engine model are demonstrated through steady state and transient simulations of a contemporary turbofan layout. Advantages offered by this approach are discussed, while comparison of using alternative approaches for representing compressor performance in overall engine models is discussed.

Parametric Studies of Pipe Diffuser on Performance of a Highly Loaded Centrifugal Compressor

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ge Han ◽  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Shengfeng Zhao ◽  
Chengwu Yang ◽  
Junqiang Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Centrifugal Compressor ◽  
Performance Enhancement ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
Flow Distortion ◽  
Flow Solver ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Physical Mechanisms ◽  
Parametric Studies ◽  
Compressor Performance ◽  
Highly Loaded

Pipe diffusers with several different geometries were designed for a highly loaded centrifugal compressor originally using a wedge diffuser. Parametric studies on the effect of pipe diffuser performance of a highly loaded centrifugal compressor by varying pipe diffuser inlet-to-impeller exit radius ratio, throat length, divergence angle, and throat area on centrifugal compressor performance were performed using a state-of-the-art multiblock flow solver. An optimum design of pipe diffuser was obtained from the parametric study, and the numerical results indicate that this pipe diffuser has remarkable advantageous effects on the compressor performance. Furthermore, a detailed comparison of flow visualization between the pipe diffuser and the wedge diffuser was conducted to identify the physical mechanism that account for the beneficial effects of the pipe diffuser on the performance and stability of the compressor. It was found that the performance enhancement afforded by the pipe diffuser is a result of the unique diffuse inlet flow pattern. Alleviating flow distortion in the diffuser inlet and reducing the possibility of a flow separation in discrete passages are the physical mechanisms responsible for improving the highly loaded centrifugal compressor performance.

Analysis of the Effect of Multi-Row and Multi-Passage Aerodynamic Interaction on the Forced Response Variation in a Compressor Configuration: Part 2 — Effects of Additional Structural Mistuning

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann Gross ◽  
Malte Krack ◽  
Harald Schoenenborn
Keyword(s):  
Epistemic Uncertainty ◽  
Element Model ◽  
Forced Response ◽  
Aerodynamic Loading ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Random Mistuning ◽  
Response Variation ◽  
Stage Analysis ◽  
Turbomachinery Design

The prediction of aerodynamic blade forcing is a very important topic in turbomachinery design. Usually, the wake from the upstream blade row and the potential field from the downstream blade row are considered as the main causes for excitation, which in conjunction with relative rotation of neighboring blade rows, give rise to dynamic forcing of the blades. In addition to those two mechanisms so-called Tyler-Sofrin (or scattered or spinning) modes, which refer to the acoustic interaction with blade rows further up- or downstream, may have a significant impact on blade forcing. In particular, they lead to considerable blade-to-blade variations of the aerodynamic loading. In part 1 of the paper a study of these effects is performed on the basis of a quasi 3D multi-row and multi-passage compressor configuration. Part 2 of the paper proposes a method to analyze the interaction of the aerodynamic forcing asymmetries with the already well-studied effects of random mistuning stemming from blade-to-blade variations of structural properties. Based on a finite element model of a sector, the equations governing the dynamic behavior of the entire bladed disk can be efficiently derived using substructuring techniques. The disk substructure is assumed as cyclically symmetric, while the blades exhibit structural mistuning and linear aeroelastic coupling. In order to avoid the costly multi-stage analysis, the variation of the aerodynamic loading is treated as an epistemic uncertainty, leading to a stochastic description of the annular force pattern. The effects of structural mistuning and stochastic aerodynamic forcing are first studied separately and then in a combined manner for a blisk of a research compressor without and with aeroelastic coupling.

Blade-Row Interactions in an LP Turbine at Design and Strong Off-Design Operation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lipfert ◽  
Jan Habermann ◽  
Martin G. Rose ◽  
Stephan Staudacher ◽  
Yavuz Guendogdu
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Suction Side ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Joint Project ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Wake Interactions

In a joint project between the Institute of Aircraft Propulsion Systems (ILA) and MTU Aero Engines a two-stage low pressure turbine is tested at design and strong off-design conditions. The experimental data taken in the altitude test-facility aims to study the effect of positive and negative incidence of the second stator vane. A detailed insight and understanding of the blade row interactions at these regimes is sought. Steady and time-resolved pressure measurements on the airfoil as well as inlet and outlet hot-film traverses at identical Reynolds number are performed for the midspan streamline. The results are compared with unsteady multi-stage CFD predictions. Simulations agree well with the experimental data and allow detailed insights in the time-resolved flow-field. Airfoil pressure field responses are found to increase with positve incidence whereas at negative incidence the magnitude remains unchanged. Different pressure to suction side phasing is observed for the studied regimes. The assessment of unsteady blade forces reveals that changes in unsteady lift are minor compared to changes in axial force components. These increase with increasing positive incidence. The wake-interactions are predominating the blade responses in all regimes. For the positive incidence conditions vane 1 passage vortex fluid is involved in the midspan passage interaction leading to a more distorted three-dimensional flow field.

On the Application of Frequency-Domain Methods to Multistage Turbomachinery

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Junge ◽  
Graham Ashcroft ◽  
Peter Jeschke ◽  
Christian Frey
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Domain ◽  
Time Domain ◽  
Harmonic Balance ◽  
Axial Compressor ◽  
Harmonic Balance Method ◽  
Nonlinear Frequency ◽  
Solution Quality ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Frequency Domain Methods ◽  
Blade Row

Due to the relative motion between adjacent blade rows the aerodynamic flow fields within turbomachinery are normally dominated by deterministic, periodic phenomena. In the numerical simulation of such unsteady flows (nonlinear) frequency-domain methods are therefore attractive as they are capable of fully exploiting the given spatial and temporal periodicity, as well as capturing or modelling flow nonlinearity. Central to the efficiency and accuracy of such frequency-domain methods is the selection of the frequencies and the circumferential modes to be resolved in simulations. Whilst trivial in the context of the simulation of a single compressor- or turbine-stage, the choice of solution modes becomes substantially more involved in multi-stage configurations. In this work the importance of mode scattering, in the context of the unsteady aerodynamic field, is investigated and quantified. It is shown that scattered modes can substantially impact the unsteady flow field and are essential for the accurate modelling of wake propagation within multistage configurations. Furthermore, an iterative approach is outlined, based on the spectral analysis of the circumferential modes at the interfaces between blade rows, to identify the dominant solution modes that should be resolved in the adjacent blade row. To demonstrate the importance of mode scattering and validate the approach for their identification the unsteady blade row interaction within a 4.5 stage axial compressor is computed using both the harmonic balance method and, based on a full annulus midspan simulation, a time-domain method. Through the inclusion of scattered modes it is shown that the solution quality of the harmonic balance results is comparable to that of the nonlinear time-domain simulation.

scholarly journals An Eulerian finite element method for PDEs in time-dependent domains

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 585-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Lehrenfeld ◽  
Maxim Olshanskii
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element Method ◽  
Finite Element ◽  
Finite Difference ◽  
Numerical Method ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Physical Domain ◽  
Finite Element Approximations ◽  
Additional Stabilization ◽  
Background Mesh ◽  
Element Method

The paper introduces a new finite element numerical method for the solution of partial differential equations on evolving domains. The approach uses a completely Eulerian description of the domain motion. The physical domain is embedded in a triangulated computational domain and can overlap the time-independent background mesh in an arbitrary way. The numerical method is based on finite difference discretizations of time derivatives and a standard geometrically unfitted finite element method with an additional stabilization term in the spatial domain. The performance and analysis of the method rely on the fundamental extension result in Sobolev spaces for functions defined on bounded domains. This paper includes a complete stability and error analysis, which accounts for discretization errors resulting from finite difference and finite element approximations as well as for geometric errors coming from a possible approximate recovery of the physical domain. Several numerical examples illustrate the theory and demonstrate the practical efficiency of the method.

scholarly journals Design of Compressor Endwall Velocity Triangles

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiran Auchoybur ◽  
Robert J. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Flow Region ◽  
Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Diffusion Limit ◽  
Local Geometry ◽  
High Entropy ◽  
Operating Range ◽  
Leakage Flows ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Inlet Conditions

Near the endwalls of multi-stage compressor blade rows, there is a spanwise region of low momentum, high entropy fluid which develops due to the presence of annulus walls, leakage flows and corner separations. Off-design this region, known as the endwall flow region, often grows rapidly and in practice sets the compressor’s operating range. By contrast, over the operating range of the compressor, the freestream region of the flow is not usually close to its diffusion limit and has little effect on overall range. In light of these two distinct flow regions within a bladerow, this paper considers how velocity triangles in the endwall region should be designed to give a more balanced spanwise failure across the blade span. In the first part of the paper, the sensitivity of the operating flow range of a single blade row to variations in realistic multistage inlet conditions and endwall geometry is investigated. It is shown that the operating range of the blade row is largely controlled by the size and structure of the endwall ‘repeating stage’ inlet boundary layer and not the detailed local geometry within the blade row. In the second part of the paper the traditional design process is ‘flipped’. Instead of redesigning a blade’s endwall geometry to cope with a particular inlet profile into the blade row, the endwall region is redesigned in the multi-stage environment to ‘tailor’ the inlet profile into downstream blade rows. This is shown to allow an extra degree of freedom not usually open to the designer. This extra degree of freedom is exploited to balance freestream and endwall operating range, resulting in a compressor having an increased operating range of ∼20%. If this increased operating range is traded with reduced blade count, it is shown that a design efficiency improvement of Δη∼0.5% can be unlocked.

Computation and Simulation of Wake-Generated Unsteady Pressure and Boundary Layers in Cascades: Part 1 — Description of the Approach and Validation

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Fan ◽  
B. Lakshminarayana
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Unsteady Flow ◽  
Flat Plate ◽  
Boundary Layers ◽  
Guide Vane ◽  
Numerical Procedure ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Unsteady Pressure ◽  
Blade Row ◽  
Euler Solver

The unsteady pressure and boundary layers on a turbomachinery blade row arising from periodic wakes due to upstream blade rows are investigated in this paper. A time accurate Euler solver has been developed using an explicit four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme. Two dimensional unsteady non-reflecting boundary conditions are used at the inlet and the outlet of the computational domain. The unsteady Euler solver captures the wake propagation and the resulting unsteady pressure field, which is then used as the input for a 2-D unsteady boundary layer procedure to predict the unsteady response of blade boundary layers. The boundary layer code includes an advanced k-ε model developed for unsteady turbulent boundary layers. The present computational procedure has been validated against analytic solutions and experimental measurements. The validation cases include unsteady inviscid flows in a flat plate cascade and a compressor exit guide vane (EGV) cascade, unsteady turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate subject to a traveling wave, unsteady transitional boundary layer due to wake passing and unsteady flow at the mid-span section of an axial compressor stator. The present numerical procedure is both efficient and accurate in predicting the unsteady flow physics resulting from wake/blade-row interaction, including wake induced unsteady transition of blade boundary layers.

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