Three-dimensional flow field in the tip region of a compressor rotor passage. I - Mean velocity profiles and annulus wall boundary layer
A rotating three-sensor, hot-wire probe has been used along with rotor blade static pressure measurements to investigate the complex inviscid and viscid effects in the annulus wall flowfield, including the three components of mean velocity, turbulence intensity, and turbulence stress inside the rotor blade passage. It is found that the tip leakage flow originates near quarter-chord, with peak values occurring near mid-chord. The leakage flow, which is in the form of a jet within the blade row, is augmented by the blade rotation and travels further away from the suction surface than that observed in stationary blade rows and cascades. This leakage flow tends to roll up between the mid-passage and the pressure surface near the tip region; the vortex formation does not occur within the passage in this particular case.