Characteristic changes in the stall inception in a single-stage transonic axial compressor with an axial skewed slot casing treatment were investigated experimentally. A rotating stall occurred intermittently in a compressor with an axial skewed slot, whereas spike-type rotating stalls occurred in the case of smooth casing. The axial skewed slot suppressed stall cell growth and increased the operating range. A mild surge, the frequency of which is the Helmholtz frequency of the compressor system, occurred with the rotating stall. The irregularity in the pressure signals at the slot bottom increased decreasing flow rate. An autocorrelation-based stall warning method was applied to the measured pressure signals. Results estimate and warn against the stall margin in a compressor with an axial skewed slot.

No abstract

Centrifugal compressors can suffer from rotordynamic instability. While individual components (e.g., seals, shrouds) have been previously investigated, an integrated experimental or analytical study at the compressor system level is scarce. For the first time, non-axisymmetric pressure distributions in a statically eccentric shrouded centrifugal compressor with eye-labyrinth seals have been measured for various eccentricities. From the pressure measurements, direct and cross-coupled stiffness coefficients have been determined. Thus, the contributions of the pressure perturbations in the shroud cavity and labyrinth seals have been simultaneously investigated. The cross-coupled stiffness coefficients in the shroud and labyrinth seals are both positive and one order of magnitude larger than the direct stiffness coefficients. Furthermore, in the tested compressor, contrary to the common assumption, the cross-coupled stiffness in the shroud is 2.5 times larger than that in the labyrinth seals. Thus, not only eye-labyrinth seals but also shrouds need to be considered in rotordynamic analysis.

Numerical simulations on a single stage transonic compressor which is developed by Korea Aerospace Research Institute are carried out and their results are compared with experimental data for cross validations. Comparisons between experimental data and numerical simulation results show good agreements on a performance curve, static pressure and total pressure distributions.CFD results show that there is a clear interaction between tip leakage flow and normal shock in the rotor passage. Tip leakage flows are almost dissipated after the strong normal shock and it forms a strong recirculation near the blade tip. Also a large separation region grows on the suction surface just after the normal shock. As the pressure ratio and blade loading increase, the normal shock line moves upstream and it starts to deviate from the blade leading edge. Then the tip leakage flow does not overcome the strong adverse pressure gradient and flow blockage originated from the tip recirculation region. As a result, the tip leakage flow heads for the neighboring blade leading edge, which results in a compressor stall.

In this study, characteristics of stall inception in a single-stage transonic axial compressor with circumferential grooves casing treatment were investigated experimentally. Additionally, the characteristic of increasing irregularity in the pressure inside circumferential grooves as the compressor approaches the stall limit was applied to the stall warning method. Spike-type rotating stall was observed in the single-stage transonic axial compressor with smooth casing. When circumferential grooves were applied, the stall inception was suppressed and the operating point of the compressor moved to lower flow rate than the stall limit. A spike-like disturbance was developed into a rotating stall cell and then the Helmholtz perturbation was overlapped on it at N = 80%. At N = 70 %, the Helmholtz perturbation was observed first and the amplitude of the wave gradually increased as mass flow rate decreased. At N = 60%, spike type stall inceptions were observed intermittently and then developed into continuous rotating stall at lower mass flow rate. Pressure measured at the bottom of circumferential grooves showed that the level of irregularity of pressure increased as flow rate decreased. Based on the characteristic of increasing irregularity of the pressure signals inside the circumferential grooves as stall approaches, an autocorrelation technique was applied to the stall warning. This technique could be used to provide warning against stall and estimate real-time stall margins in compressors with casing treatments.