Using Tip Injection to Stability Enhancement of a Transonic Centrifugal Impeller with Inlet Distortion

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the effects of circumferential inlet distortion and tip injection on a transonic impeller performance and flow field. For distorted inflow, the impeller is subjected to a stationary 120-degrees circumferential total pressure distortion. Full annulus unsteady three-dimensional analysis has been used to study the inlet distortion and tip injection effects on the impeller performance, stability and flow field. The results show that the circumferential inlet distortion reduces the impeller total pressure ratio and adiabatic efficiency; however, it has no significant impact on the safe operating range. Unlike the inlet distortion, the tip injection considerably increases the operating range. According to the results, the distortion and tip injection effect on the compressor performance is mainly due to changes in tip leakage flow. The inlet distortion has unfavorable influences on the flow field, especially near the impeller tip; however, the tip injection ameliorates the flow field in this region. In both the clean and distorted inflow, the tip injection causes downstream shock transmission, weakening the shock-tip leakage interaction. Hence, stall inception is postponed, and the impeller stability is improved in the presence of the tip injection.