This paper presents a description of Detached Eddy Simulations being carried out on a variable stator vane with a penny-cavity in order to determine the secondary flow phenomena in the main flowpath. Variable stator vanes are common in multi-stage compressors to prevent flow separations on rotor and stator blades at off-design operation points. The bearing of the stators at hub and tip generate unavoidable circular-shaped ring gaps, which are called penny-cavities. The aim of this paper is to determine secondary flow phenomena in variable stator vanes on an annular cascade testbed resulting from the throughflow of the penny-cavities. Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes simulations and scale resolving Detached-Eddy-Simulations of a variable stator vane with hub penny-cavity were therefore performed using Ansys CFX. The results of these simulations will be compared to corresponding simulations without penny-cavity. The study shows secondary flow phenomena, which are comparable to the interaction of a transverse jet in a free stream. Due to the low momentum ratio of R = 0.5, the jet immediately veers in the direction of the main flow. The typical vortices which develop from a transverse jet in a free stream are identified. The steady RANS simulation shows an asymmetrical counter-rotating vortex pair. A lack of unsteady secondary flow interaction can be seen in the RANS simulations in contrast to the Detached-Eddy-Simulations, which resolve large turbulent scales. Hence an interaction between the counter-rotating vortex pair and the unsteady shear layer vortices in the stator is visible. In the Detached Eddy Simulations the counter-rotating vortex pair is superimposed by the unsteady shear-layer vortices. The vortices produce significant additional mixing losses, which will be shown in detail. By comparing simulations with and without penny-cavity, the penny-cavity losses are quantified. In conclusion, this paper will help design engineers become more aware of the significance of the penny-cavity with variable stator vanes.

Full annulus midspan URANS simulations are performed to examine wake interaction for rows with different blade counts. The amount of non-uniform flow is studied particularly in the rear stages of a 3.5 stage compressor with a different blade count at all rows. A high-performance cluster was used for the required full annulus URANS simulations. Due to the high numerical effort, three representative operating points are investigated in quasi-3D. The simulations are performed at a midspan stream tube which take into consideration the contracting duct of the compressor. The results indicate two main effects: wake-wake interference and wake-airfoil interaction. Both effects are related to the particular clocking position, which affect each other accordingly. At the aerodynamic design point, non-uniform flow at the rear stage has a significant impact. Intensified unsteady wake-airfoil interaction near the surge line causes circumferential unequal flow separation. Close to choke, the shock strength depends on the Mach number, hence jet and wake inflow affects different losses. The frequently used assumption of periodic flow disregards the deviations shown. Based on the numerical results, the accuracy of performance measurements is presented. Non-uniform flow causes inaccuracy of more than one percentage point for stage and compressor performance measurements, which is more than commonly requested. In summary, interaction of rows with dissimilar blade count leads to non-uniform flow in rear stages that needs to be considered in performance measurements.