Computational Analysis of Stall and Separation Control in Centrifugal Compressors

Stein, A.; Niazi, Saeid; Sankar, Lakshmi N.

doi:10.2514/2.5532

Cited by 37 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…For the most part, the stall in these cases has been located in the diffuser. The results by Stein 13 and Iwakiri et al 14 are both for unshrouded impellers that show a similar type of tip stall to that present in axial compressors. Simulation results of full-span impeller rotating stall cannot be found in the literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Prediction of impeller rotating stall onset using numerical simulations of a centrifugal compressor. Part 1: Detection of rotating stall using fixed-flow transient simulations

Vagani

Engeda

Cave³

2013

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A:

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Rotating stall is an unsteady flow phenomenon that appears in both axial and centrifugal compressors. It is detrimental to the performance of the compressor, significantly narrowing its operating range. Numerical modeling of this phenomenon has been a major area of investigation for axial compressors with some success. While stall occurs less often in centrifugal compressors than axial ones, it can be much harder to predict. Some preventive measures are known but are mostly rules of thumb developed through experimental experience. This work focuses on the detection of impeller rotating stall using computational fluid dynamics. A compressor was chosen that has demonstrated rotating stall instabilities with different diffuser lengths and return vanes. Unsteady numerical simulations were performed on full 360 models of this geometry. The transient simulations were conducted using distributed processing on high-performance servers. The objective was to determine the accuracy in which rotating stall can be captured in simulations. For this purpose, simulation results were compared to experimental results for the same compressor and show a good correlation between the experimental and numerical tests.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Prediction of impeller rotating stall onset using numerical simulations of a centrifugal compressor. Part 1: Detection of rotating stall using fixed-flow transient simulations

Vagani

Engeda

Cave³

2013

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A:

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“…The flow to the compressor inlet was assumed normal to the inlet cross-section. The non-slip condition was imposed on all the solid walls and surface roughness of the compressor housing During the unsteady simulation, an assumption was made that the flow from volute housing outlet exhausted into a constant volume plenum chamber [17,18] (Fig. 2).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical simulations of stall inside a centrifugal compressor

Guo

Chen²,

Zhu

et al. 2007

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A:

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This paper presents a numerical simulation of stall flow phenomenon inside a turbocharger centrifugal compressor with vaneless diffuser. Three-dimensional Reynolds averaged compressible Navier-Stokes equations were solved with k-ε turbulence model using computational fluid dynamics software CFX. Entire geometry of the compressor, including the impeller, vaneless diffuser, and volute housing were included in the simulation. The stage performance curve was obtained using steady and unsteady calculations and compared with experimental results. The unsteady flow simulation was performed at reduced mass flowrates (compressor stall region) with a plenum chamber model added at the compressor housing outlet. The results show that there is a distinct stall frequency at the given compressor speed. The amplitude of the static pressure oscillation at this frequency in the diffuser is increased with reduction in compressor mass flow. The stall frequency is only marginally affected by the compressor mass flowrate. Time varying flow fields in the diffuser and in the volute indicate that there is a circumferential standing wave inside the volute. It is proposed that the volute behaves like a tuned pipe resonator and this dictates the stall frequency. The stall is also characterized by a periodically reversing flow at the centre of the volute discharge cross-section.

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“…In subsonic centrifugal compressors, the TLF was a major source of loss and blockage, and they enhanced with the reduction of mass flow rate. 10,11 Schleer 12 experimentally investigated the TLF structures in a subsonic centrifugal compressor. As the mass flow rate decreased, the TLV trajectory moved away from the suction side and migrated towards pressure side of the adjacent blade.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical investigations on tip leakage flow characteristics and vortex trajectory prediction model in centrifugal compressor

Zhao

Wang

et al. 2016

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A:

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To better understand the characteristics of tip leakage flow and interpret the correlation between flow instability and tip leakage flow, the flow in the tip region of a centrifugal impeller is investigated by using the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes solver technique. With the decrease of mass flow rate, both the tip leakage vortex trajectory and the mainflow/ tip leakage flow interface are shifted towards upstream. The mainflow/tip leakage flow interface finally reaches the leading edge of main blade at the near-stall condition. A prediction model is proposed to track the tip leakage vortex trajectory. The blade loading at blade tip and the averaged streamwise velocity of main flow within tip clearance height are adopted to determine the tip leakage vortex trajectory in the proposed model. The coefficient k in Chen's model is found to be not a constant. Actually, it is correlated with h/b (the ratio of blade tip clearance height to blade tip thickness), because h/b will significantly influence the flow structure across the tip clearance. The effectiveness of the proposed prediction model is further demonstrated by tracking the tip leakage vortex trajectories in another three centrifugal impellers characterized with different h/b (s).

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Computational Analysis of Stall and Separation Control in Centrifugal Compressors

Cited by 37 publications

References 11 publications

Prediction of impeller rotating stall onset using numerical simulations of a centrifugal compressor. Part 1: Detection of rotating stall using fixed-flow transient simulations

Prediction of impeller rotating stall onset using numerical simulations of a centrifugal compressor. Part 1: Detection of rotating stall using fixed-flow transient simulations

Numerical simulations of stall inside a centrifugal compressor

Numerical investigations on tip leakage flow characteristics and vortex trajectory prediction model in centrifugal compressor

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