Design and fabrication of a high-performance Brayton-cycle compressor research package Final report
Advanced aerodynamic design and specifications of high efficiency Brayton cycle compressor for monatomic gas operation
COMPRESSOR↗
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The effect of prewhirl on the internal aerodynamics and performance of a mixed flow research centrifugal compressor
The internal three-dimensional steady and time-varying flow through the diffusing elements of a centrifugal impeller were investigated using a moderate scale, subsonic, mixed flow research compressor facility. The characteristics of the test facility which permit the measurement of internal flow conditions throughout the entire research compressor and radial diffuser for various operating conditions are described. Results are presented in the form of graphs and charts to cover a range of mass flow rates with inlet guide vane settings varying from minus 15 degrees to plus 45 degrees. The static pressure distributions in the compressor inlet section and on the impeller and exit diffuser vanes, as well as the overall pressure and temperature rise and mass flow rate, were measured and analyzed at each operating point to determine the overall performance as well as the detailed aerodynamics throughout the compressor.
Bryan, William B.↗
Subsynchronous vibrations in a high pressure centrifugal compressor: A case history
Two distinct aerodynamically excited vibrations in a high pressure low flow centrifugal compressor are documented. A measured vibration near 21% of running speed was identified as a nonresonant forced vibration which results from rotating stall in the diffuser; a measured vibration near 50% of running speed was identified as a self excited vibration sustained by cross coupling forces acting at the compressor wheels. The dependence of these characteristics on speed, discharge pressure, and changes in bearing design are shown. The exciting mechanisms of diffuser stall and aerodynamic cross coupling are evidenced. It is shown how the rotor characteristics are expected to change as a result of modifications. The operation of the compressor after the modifications is described.
Evans, B. F.↗
Critical review of the trailing edge condition in steady and unsteady flow. Blade flutter in compressors and fans: Numerical simulation of the aerodynamic loading
Existing interpretations of the trailing edge condition, addressing both theoretical and experimental works in steady, as well as unsteady flows are critically reviewed. The work of Kutta and Joukowski on the trailing edge condition in steady flow is reviewed. It is shown that for most practical airfoils and blades (as in the case of most turbomachine blades), this condition is violated due to rounded trailing edges and high frequency effects, the flow dynamics in the trailing edge region being dominated by viscous forces; therefore, any meaningful modelling must include viscous effects. The question of to what extent the trailing edge condition affects acoustic radiation from the edge is raised; it is found that violation of the trailing edge condition leads to significant sound diffraction at the tailing edge, which is related to the problem of noise generation. Finally, various trailing edge conditions in unsteady flow are discussed, with emphasis on high reduced frequencies.
Radwan, S. F.↗
Investigation of a high-pressure-ratio eight-stage axial-flow research compressor with two transonic inlet stages I : aerodynamic design
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Voit, Charles H↗
Three-Dimensional Aerodynamic Instabilities In Multi-Stage Axial Compressors
This thesis presents the conceptualization and development of a computational model for describing three-dimensional non-linear disturbances associated with instability and inlet distortion in multistage compressors. Specifically, the model is aimed at simulating the non-linear aspects of short wavelength stall inception, part span stall cells, and compressor response to three-dimensional inlet distortions. The computed results demonstrated the first-of-a-kind capability for simulating short wavelength stall inception in multistage compressors. The adequacy of the model is demonstrated by its application to reproduce the following phenomena: (1) response of a compressor to a square-wave total pressure inlet distortion; (2) behavior of long wavelength small amplitude disturbances in compressors; (3) short wavelength stall inception in a multistage compressor and the occurrence of rotating stall inception on the negatively sloped portion of the compressor characteristic; (4) progressive stalling behavior in the first stage in a mismatched multistage compressor; (5) change of stall inception type (from modal to spike and vice versa) due to IGV stagger angle variation, and "unique rotor tip incidence" at these points where the compressor stalls through short wavelength disturbances. The model has been applied to determine the parametric dependence of instability inception behavior in terms of amplitude and spatial distribution of initial disturbance, and intra-blade-row gaps. It is found that reducing the inter-blade row gaps suppresses the growth of short wavelength disturbances. It is also concluded from these parametric investigations that each local component group (rotor and its two adjacent stators) has its own instability point (i.e. conditions at which disturbances are sustained) for short wavelength disturbances, with the instability point for the compressor set by the most unstable component group. For completeness, the methodology has been extended to describe finite amplitude disturbances in high-speed compressors. Results are presented for the response of a transonic compressor subjected to inlet distortions.
Tan, Choon S.↗
Progress Towards the Aerodynamic Testing of the High Efficiency Centrifugal Compressor
No abstract available
Shabbir, Aamir↗
Vortex shedding in high-speed compressor blade wakes
The wakes of highly loaded compressor blades are generally considered to be turbulent flows. Recent work has suggested that the blade wakes are dominated by a vortex streetlike structure. The experimental evidence supporting the wake vortex structure is reviewed. This structure is shown to redistribute thermal energy within the flowfield. The effect of the wake structure on conventional aerodynamic measurements of compressor performance is noted. A two-dimensional, time-accurate, viscous numerical simulation of the flow exhibits both vortex shedding in the wake and a lower-frequency flow instability that modulates the shedding. The numerical results are shown to agree quite well with the measurement from transonic compressor rotors.
Epstein, A. H.↗
NASA HECC Geometry and Performance Review Part 3: A Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Tip Clearance Effects on the Vaneless Diffuser Configuration
Tip clearance effects in centrifugal compressors have been extensively investigated to understand the losses associated with the flow in the impeller tip clearance gap between the rotating blades and the stationary shroud. In Part 3 of this multipart investigation, experimental data and validated numerical simulations from Parts 1 and 2 were used to analyze the effects of the size of the tip clearance gap on the High Efficiency Centrifugal Compressor performance and aerodynamics. Four tip clearance gaps ranging from 0.012-in to 0.030-in (2.0% to 4.9% of the impeller exit blade height) were considered at both design and off-design operating conditions. The total pressure ratio and efficiency of the stage are found to decay linearly with increasing tip gaps. The sensitivity of the impeller performance to the tip gap was found to vary with the rotational speed of the compressor. Spanwise surveys of flow angle, total pressure, and total temperature collected at the impeller exit at design speed are used to validate numerical simulations at each experimental tip gap condition. Numerical simulations show that increased turbulence kinetic energy near the shroud at larger tip gaps leads to spanwise mixing of high entropy fluid near the impeller trailing edge which decreases the useful work input by the impeller. The data presented have been made available to the public in the HECC Data Archive located at https://storage.googleapis.com/hecc-data/NASA-HECC-Data-Archive.zip.
centrifugal compressor↗
NASA HECC Geometry and Performance Review Part 3: A Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Tip Clearance Effects on the Vaneless Diffuser Configuration
Tip clearance effects in centrifugal compressors have been extensively investigated to understand the losses associated with the flow in the impeller tip clearance gap between the rotating blades and the stationary shroud. In Part 3 of this multipart investigation, experimental data and validated numerical simulations from Parts 1 and 2 were used to analyze the effects of the size of the tip clearance gap on the High Efficiency Centrifugal Compressor performance and aerodynamics. Four tip clearance gaps ranging from 0.012-in to 0.030-in (2.0% to 4.9% of the impeller exit blade height) were considered at both design and off-design operating conditions. The total pressure ratio and efficiency of the stage are found to decay linearly with increasing tip gaps. The sensitivity of the impeller performance to the tip gap was found to vary with the rotational speed of the compressor. Spanwise surveys of flow angle, total pressure, and total temperature collected at the impeller exit at design speed are used to validate numerical simulations at each experimental tip gap condition. Numerical simulations show that increased turbulence kinetic energy near the shroud at larger tip gaps leads to spanwise mixing of high entropy fluid near the impeller trailing edge which decreases the useful work input by the impeller. The data presented have been made available to the public in the HECC Data Archive located at https://storage.googleapis.com/hecc-data/NASA-HECC-Data-Archive.zip.
centrifugal compressor↗
Design of an Object-Oriented Turbomachinery Analysis Code: Initial Results
Performance prediction of turbomachines is a significant part of aircraft propulsion design. In the conceptual design stage, there is an important need to quantify compressor and turbine aerodynamic performance and develop initial geometry parameters at the 2-D level prior to more extensive Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses. The Object-oriented Turbomachinery Analysis Code (OTAC) is being developed to perform 2-D meridional flowthrough analysis of turbomachines using an implicit formulation of the governing equations to solve for the conditions at the exit of each blade row. OTAC is designed to perform meanline or streamline calculations; for streamline analyses simple radial equilibrium is used as a governing equation to solve for spanwise property variations. While the goal for OTAC is to allow simulation of physical effects and architectural features unavailable in other existing codes, it must first prove capable of performing calculations for conventional turbomachines.OTAC is being developed using the interpreted language features available in the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) code described by Claus et al (1991). Using the NPSS framework came with several distinct advantages, including access to the pre-existing NPSS thermodynamic property packages and the NPSS Newton-Raphson solver. The remaining objects necessary for OTAC were written in the NPSS framework interpreted language. These new objects form the core of OTAC and are the BladeRow, BladeSegment, TransitionSection, Expander, Reducer, and OTACstart Elements. The BladeRow and BladeSegment consumed the initial bulk of the development effort and required determining the equations applicable to flow through turbomachinery blade rows given specific assumptions about the nature of that flow. Once these objects were completed, OTAC was tested and found to agree with existing solutions from other codes; these tests included various meanline and streamline comparisons of axial compressors and turbines at design and off-design conditions.
compressors↗
Design of an Object-Oriented Turbomachinery Analysis Code: Initial Results
Performance prediction of turbomachines is a significant part of aircraft propulsion design. In the conceptual design stage, there is an important need to quantify compressor and turbine aerodynamic performance and develop initial geometry parameters at the 2-D level prior to more extensive Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses. The Object-oriented Turbomachinery Analysis Code (OTAC) is being developed to perform 2-D meridional flowthrough analysis of turbomachines using an implicit formulation of the governing equations to solve for the conditions at the exit of each blade row. OTAC is designed to perform meanline or streamline calculations; for streamline analyses simple radial equilibrium is used as a governing equation to solve for spanwise property variations. While the goal for OTAC is to allow simulation of physical effects and architectural features unavailable in other existing codes, it must first prove capable of performing calculations for conventional turbomachines. OTAC is being developed using the interpreted language features available in the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) code described by Claus et al (1991). Using the NPSS framework came with several distinct advantages, including access to the pre-existing NPSS thermodynamic property packages and the NPSS Newton-Raphson solver. The remaining objects necessary for OTAC were written in the NPSS framework interpreted language. These new objects form the core of OTAC and are the BladeRow, BladeSegment, TransitionSection, Expander, Reducer, and OTACstart Elements. The BladeRow and BladeSegment consumed the initial bulk of the development effort and required determining the equations applicable to flow through turbomachinery blade rows given specific assumptions about the nature of that flow. Once these objects were completed, OTAC was tested and found to agree with existing solutions from other codes; these tests included various meanline and streamline comparisons of axial compressors and turbines at design and off-design conditions.
object-oriented programming↗
Optimization of cascade blade mistuning. I - Equations of motion and basic inherent properties
Attention is given to the derivation of the equations of motion of mistuned compressor blades, interpolating aerodynamic coefficients by means of quadratic expressions in the reduced frequency. If the coefficients of the quadratic expressions are permitted to assume complex values, excellent accuracy is obtained and Pade rational expressions are obviated. On the basis of the resulting equations, it is shown analytically that the sum of all the real parts of the eigenvalues is independent of the mistuning introduced into the system. Blade mistuning is further treated through the aerodynamic energy approach, and the limiting vibration modes associated with alternative mistunings are identified.
Nissim, E.↗
Compressor Stall Recovery Through Tip Injection Assessed
Aerodynamic stability is a fundamental limit in the compressor design process. The development of robust techniques for increasing stability has several benefits: enabling higher loading and fewer blades, increasing safety throughout a mission, increasing tolerance to stage mismatch during part-speed operation and speed transients, and providing an opportunity to match stages at the compressor maximum efficiency point, thus reducing fuel burn. Mass injection upstream of the tip of a high-speed axial compressor rotor is a stability enhancement approach known to be effective in suppressing stall in tip-critical rotors if the injection is activated before stall occurs. This approach to stall suppression requires that a reliable stall warning system be available. Tests have recently been performed to assess whether steady injection can also be used to recover from fully developed stall. If mass injection is effective in recovering from stall quickly enough to avoid structural damage or loss of engine power, then a stall warning system may not be required. The stall recovery tests were performed on a transonic compressor rotor at its design tip speed of 1475 ft/sec using four injectors evenly spaced around the compressor case upstream of the rotor. The injectors were connected to an external air source. In an actual engine application, the injected air would be supplied with compressor bleed air. The injectors were isolated from the air source by a fast-acting butterfly valve. With the injectors turned off, the compressor was throttled into stall. Air injection was then activated with no change in throttle setting by opening the butterfly valve. The compressor recovered from stall at a fixed throttle setting with the aid of tip injection. The unsteady operating characteristic of the rotor was measured during these tests using high-response pressure sensors located upstream and downstream of the rotor. The figure shows the results, where the unsteady pressure and mass flow are superimposed on the steady operating characteristic. The total injected mass flow was equal to 1.3 percent of the compressor flow. The solid line with no solid squares on it denotes the operating point during the beginning of throttle closure and the initial drop into stall. The gray traces denote the operating point during an additional throttle closure that occurred over the next 1200 rotor revolutions (4 sec). The dashed line denotes the recovery from stall that occurred during 90 rotor revolutions (0.3 sec) after the injectors were activated with no change in throttle setting. Tip injection not only recovers the compressor from stall, but also restores the compressor to its pre-stall level of pressure rise. In contrast, standard stall recovery schemes such as compressor bleed, stator vane actuation, or engine throttle modulation result in a loss of pressure rise across the compressor, which results in a loss of engine power.
Suder, Ken L.↗
User's Guide for MSAP2D: A Program for Unsteady Aerodynamic and Aeroelastic (Flutter and Forced Response) Analysis of Multistage Compressors and Turbines
This guide describes the input data required for using MSAP2D (Multi Stage Aeroelastic analysis Program - Two Dimensional) computer code. MSAP2D can be used for steady, unsteady aerodynamic, and aeroelastic (flutter and forced response) analysis of bladed disks arranged in multiple blade rows such as those found in compressors, turbines, counter rotating propellers or propfans. The code can also be run for single blade row. MSAP2D code is an extension of the original NPHASE code for multiblade row aerodynamic and aeroelastic analysis. Euler equations are used to obtain aerodynamic forces. The structural dynamic equations are written for a rigid typical section undergoing pitching (torsion) and plunging (bending) motion. The aeroelastic equations are solved in time domain. For single blade row analysis, frequency domain analysis is also provided to obtain unsteady aerodynamic coefficients required in an eigen analysis for flutter. In this manual, sample input and output are provided for a single blade row example, two blade row example with equal and unequal number of blades in the blade rows.
Reddy, T. S. R.↗
Forced response analysis of an aerodynamically detuned supersonic turbomachine rotor
High performance aircraft-engine fan and compressor blades are vulnerable to aerodynamically forced vibrations generated by inlet flow distortions due to wakes from upstream blade and vane rows, atmospheric gusts, and maldistributions in inlet ducts. In this report, an analysis is developed to predict the flow-induced forced response of an aerodynamically detuned rotor operating in a supersonic flow with a subsonic axial component. The aerodynamic detuning is achieved by alternating the circumferential spacing of adjacent rotor blades. The total unsteady aerodynamic loading acting on the blading, as a result of the convection of the transverse gust past the airfoil cascade and the resulting motion of the cascade, is developed in terms of influence coefficients. This analysis is used to investigate the effect of aerodynamic detuning on the forced response of a 12-blade rotor, with Verdon's Cascade B flow geometry as a uniformly spaced baseline configuration. The results of this study indicate that, for forward traveling wave gust excitations, aerodynamic detuning is very beneficial, resulting in significantly decreased maximum-amplitude blade responses for many interblade phase angles.
Hoyniak, D.↗
Aerodynamic and mechanical design of an 8:1 pressure ratio centrifugal compressor
A high-pressure-ratio, low-mass-flow centrifugal compressor stage was designed, fabricated, and tested. The design followed specifications that the stage be representative of state-of-the-art performance and that the stage is to be used as a workhorse compressor for planned experiments using laser Doppler velocimeter equipment. The final design is a 75,000-RPM, 19-blade impeller with an axial inducer and 30 degrees of backward leaning at the impeller tip. The compressor design was tested for two- and/or quasi-three-dimensional aerodynamic and stress characteristics. Critical speed analyses were performed for the high speed rotating impeller assembly. An optimally matched, 17-channel vane island diffuser was also designed and built.
Osborne, C.↗
Effects of Unsteady Flow Interactions on the Performance of a Highly-Loaded Transonic Compressor Stage
Effects of unsteady flow interactions on the aerodynamic performance of a highly-loaded transonic axial compressor are investigated in the present study. The primary focus of the study is to investigate how unsteady flow interactions between blade rows affect the aerodynamic performance of a highly-loaded transonic axial compressor. Recent experimental and numerical studies of current highly-loaded axial compressor performance indicated that predicting calculating the loss generation is very challenging with various analysis tools. In the present study, the effects of generation and transport of shock induced vortices on the compressor performance is investigated in detail.
Stall↗