In the current study, a modified fast converging, mass-conserving, and robust algorithm is proposed for calculation of the pressure distribution of a cavitated axially grooved journal bearing based on the finite volume discretization of the Adams/Elrod cavitation model. The solution of cavitation problem is shown to strongly depend on the specific values chosen for the lubricant bulk modulus. It is shown how the new proposed scheme is capable of handling the stiff discrete numerical system for any chosen value of the lubricant bulk modulus (β) and hence a significant improvement in the robustness is achieved compared to traditionally implemented schemes in the literature. Enhanced robustness is shown not to affect the accuracy of the obtained results, and the convergence speed is also shown to be considerably faster than the widely used techniques in the literature. Effects of bulk modulus, static load, and mesh size are studied on numerical stability of the system by means of eigenvalue analysis of the coefficient matrix of the discrete numerical system. It is shown that the impact of static load and mesh size is negligible on numerical stability compared to dominant significance of varying bulk modulus values. Common softening techniques of artificial bulk modulus reduction is found to be tolerable with maximum two order of magnitudes reduction of β to avoid large errors of more than 3–40% in calculated results.
Numerical investigation of the optimization of the stall control efficiency for a high speed centrifugal compressor using air injection is presented. External air was injected close to the diffuser entrance at the shroud surface of the vaneless region. Injection was applied with mass flow rates of 0.7%, 1%, and 1.5% of the design inlet mass flow rate with six different angles of 0 deg, 10 deg, 20 deg, 30 deg, 40 deg, and 180 deg measured from the positive tangential direction at the vaneless region. Detailed comparisons were made between the case without using air injection and the different air injection cases by comparing velocity, pressure, and force fluctuations with time. Results showed that as the injection mass flow rate increases, the number of diffuser passages with reversed flow decreases for all cases of injection except for the case of reverse tangent injection. Results indicated that using angle of injection of 30 deg minimized the stall area and provided the least force fluctuations with no reversed flow compared to other injection angles. Finally, it was found that injecting air with mass flow rate of 1.5% of the inlet mass flow rate at an angle of 30 deg resulted in shifting of stall onset to a mass flow rate corresponding to 3.8 kg/s instead of 4 kg/s for a compressor without using air injection control.
This paper presents a computational study for a high-speed centrifugal compressor stage with a design pressure ratio equal to 4, the stage consisting of a splittered unshrouded impeller and a wedged vaned diffuser. The aim of this paper is to investigate numerically the modifications of the flow structure during a surge cycle. The investigations are based on the results of unsteady three-dimensional, compressible flow simulations, using large eddy simulation (LES) model. Instantaneous and mean flow field analyses are presented in the impeller inducer and in the vaned diffuser region through one surge cycle time intervals. The computational data compare favorably with the measured data, from the literature, for the same compressor and operational point. The surge event phases are well detected inside the impeller and diffuser. The time-averaged loading on the impeller main blade is maximum near the trialing edge and near the tip. The amplitude of the unsteady pressure fluctuation is maximum for the flow reversal condition and reaches values up to 70% of the dynamic pressure. The diffuser vane exhibits high-pressure fluctuation from the vane leading edge to 50% of the chord length. High-pressure fluctuation is detected during the forward flow recovery condition as a result of the shock wave that moves toward the diffuser outlet.
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