The Impact of Surface Roughness on Axial Compressor Performance Deterioration

Abstract

Axial compressor deterioration due to removable deposits is a major concern in the operation of gas turbines. It is important to fully understand the flow mechanisms in order to successfully monitor and clean the engine. A test program on the GE J85-13 jet engine quantified the increased surface roughness and the distribution of salt deposits in an axial compressor. The test data showed good agreement with published data for stage performance deterioration. This paper compares the GE J85-13 test data on surface roughness to previously published work on surface roughness in compressors. The effect of surface roughness on the stage characteristics is modeled using theory for frictional losses, blockage and deviation. The results are compared to test data. The most significant effect of increased roughness is found to be the variation in the flow coefficient.

An Integrated Particle-Tracking Impact/Adhesion Model for the Prediction of Fouling in a Subsonic Compressor

“…In the last decade, numerical simulations (i.e., computational fiuid dynamic (CFD)) have been extensively used to study the effect of fouling in compressor performances, but mainly focused on studying the effect of blade surface roughness. For instance, Gbadebo et al [5] compared experiments with numerical predictions performed, imposing a roughness value equal to 25 ^m; Morini et al [6,7] presented a three-dimensional simulation of fouling on axial compressor stages, imposing both uniform and nonuniform surface roughness; and other very interesting works on the same subject are those of Syverud et al and Syverud and Bakken [8,9]. Saeidi et al [10] performed a simulation of a whole 16 stages compressor by allocating a surface roughness experimentally measured.…”

Effects of Reynolds Number and Surface Roughness Magnitude and Location on Compressor Cascade Performance

“…Schreiber et al [7] reported performance dependence of a roughened controlled-diffusion airfoil (CDA) on Reynolds numbers ranging from 100,000 to 3 Â 10 6 . Analytical models to predict performance deterioration of gas turbine compressors have been developed by many researchers including Millsaps et al [8], Aker and Saravanamottoo [9], Massardo [10], Syverud and Bakken [11], and Song et al [12]. More recently, Back et al [13] measured the effects of roughness on loss and deviation in a lowspeed compressor cascade with blades representative of modern industrial gas turbines.…”

Gas turbine upgrading and renovation with respect to pollution and degradation

“…However, less deterioration in the compressor's efficiency is observed [15,[19][20][21]. This is particularly true for gas turbines that have been subject to regular condition-based online cleaning processes such as water or detergent washing combined with good inlet filtration.…”