For a centrifugal compressor with volute, the flow field is circumferentially nonuniform because of the volute asymmetrical structure and leads to a circumferential difference in the tip leakage flow. In this work, the compressor performance and the casing wall static pressure distribution are measured, and the results are compared with the time-averaged results of the unsteady calculation to verify the reliability of the simulation. The results show a relationship between the tip leakage vortex trajectory and the high static pressure region in the diffuser, based on which a prediction model is established for the reverse propagation of pressure waves caused by a volute tongue. Influenced by the volute asymmetric structure, the trajectory, shape, and strength of the tip leakage vortex at different circumferential positions differs significantly. The tip leakage vortex trajectory affected by the high static pressure is more inclined to a circumferential direction because the tip leakage flow velocity flowing out of the suction surface is reduced, and the tip leakage flow with low velocity is subjected to the high-pressure gradient in a passage. Moreover, the tip leakage vortex breakdown in different passages differs significantly. A tip leakage vortex core more inclined towards the streamwise direction is more likely to break down than a tip leakage vortex core inclined towards the circumferential direction because of the larger reverse pressure gradient.

In the automotive turbochargers centrifugal compressor, the volute has a strong potential effect, leading to circumferential nonuniformity of the impeller flow field and compressor stall. In this study, full-annulus unsteady simulations for centrifugal compressors with vaned/vaneless diffusers are carried out. The influence of the diffuser vane on the potential effect of the volute and stall behavior of a centrifugal compressor is studied in detail. Based on the distribution of the casing static pressure, the formation mechanism of the circumferential distribution of static pressure and the reverse propagation process of pressure waves caused by pressure distortion are revealed. The results of this study show that the diffuser vanes can weaken the potential effect of the volute on the impeller flow field by reducing the degree of static pressure distortion. The number of static pressure peaks in the circumferential direction is related to the number of vanes/blades. The diffuser vanes can change the circumferential position of the stall inception, but cannot eliminate the “locking effect” of the volute tongue on the circumferential position of the stall. In other words, the circumferential position of the stall inception is still determined by the volute tongue for a centrifugal compressor with a vaned diffuser. Although the degree of circumferential static pressure distortion inside the impeller is reduced, the stable operating range of the compressor cannot be significantly widened by adjusting the stagger angle of the diffuser vane when the stall first occurs at the impeller inlet.

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In this study, unsteady numerical simulations of centrifugal compressors with and without volute were carried out. The unsteady two-phase region evolution in the centrifugal compressor is obtained. Large coherent perturbations were revealed by the decomposition of the transient flow data using the dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) approach. The results imply that because of the low static pressure strip LP1, the two-phase region presents a triangular distribution at the blade leading edge (LE) of the pressure surface (PS) side in one impeller rotation period for both a low flow rate and the design flow rate. At a high flow rate, the two-phase region displays a double triangle distribution on the PS side of the blade LE, which is correlated with the low static pressure strips LP1 and LP2. The maximum two-phase region on the PS side of the LE of the blade occurs downstream of the LP1 position. The two-phase region in the tip clearance is deflected along the LP1 trajectory. DMD analysis shows that there are four modes related to the two-phase region in the tip clearance: mean flow mode with a frequency of 0 Hz and three modes with frequencies of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 BPF respectively. Furthermore, the circumferential local perturbation region of these four modes has the same deflection trajectory as that of LP1.

Based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations of relative coordinates and the RNG k-e turbulence model, using our SIMPLE algorithm, we performed numerical simulations for an AP1000 nuclear main pump model with water as the medium. By changing the size of the tongue blend in the annular casing, seven different schemes were designed. Three-dimensional numerical simulations were conducted for the flow within the pump under various settings, and the flow characteristics of the annular casing using different tongue blends were obtained. The results show that for different operating conditions, there is a specific tongue blend that optimizes pump performance. Based on the calculation results, a larger tongue blend leads to a larger flow rate. Off-design conditions caused flow instability, which in turn caused the tongue blend to have a certain impact on the performance of the impeller. However, the performance of the pump was not primarily affected by changes in the impeller performance, but was instead affected by the performance of the annular casing, which was itself affected by tongue blend. When changing the tongue blend, the change in static pressure and total pressure of the annular casing was larger under the condition of 0.6Q d and was smaller under the conditions of 1.0Q d and 1.4Q d. The turbulent kinetic energy in the annular casing changed mainly in the tongue impact zone and outlet diffuser under the condition of 1.0Q d ; furthermore, the turbulent kinetic energy in the whole of the annular casing demonstrated significant changes under the conditions of 0.6Q d and 1.4Q d .