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At least 937 records · Page 52

The hub wall boundary layer development and losses in an axial flow compressor rotor passage

The hub wall boundary layer development in a compressor stage including the rotor passage is experimentally investigated. A miniature five-hole probe was employed to measure the hub wall boundary layer inside the inlet guide vane passage, upstream and far downstream of the rotor. The hub wall boundary layer inside the rotor passage was acquired using a rotating miniature five-hole probe. The boundary layer is well behaved upstream and far downstream of the rotor. The migration of the hub wall boundary layer towards the suction surface corner is observed. The limiting streamline angles and static pressure distribution across the stage were also measured. The mean velocity profiles and the integral properties upstream, inside and downstream of the rotor, and the losses are presented and interpreted.

Murthy, K. N. S.↗

Failure analysis of a large wind tunnel compressor blade

A failure analysis was performed to establish the cause of a 2014-T6 aluminum compressor rotor blade failure in a large NASA-Ames wind tunnel. Metallurgical failure analysis by light photography, fractographic SEM examinations, and fatigue experiments showed that a 0.13-mm-deep scratch in the shank of the blade had acted as an initiation site for a fatigue crack, which subsequently grew by Stage II fatigue before occurrence of the final fracture by unstable crack growth. Studies of modal deformation plots and blade FEM analysis indicated that Mode-3 was the most likely mode responsible for the resonance condition which produced the vibration loading that effected crack growth. Tunnel measurements data showed that the crack growth was controlled by both the tunnel resonance and the dampening from the crack itself.

Hampton, Roy W.↗

Oxygen chemisorption compressor study for cryogenic J-T refrigeration

Over twenty potentially reversible heat-powered oxide reactions have been studied and/or tested to determine their potential use as thermochemical oxygen compressors for cryogenic J-T LO2 refrigerators. One gas-solid compound family, Pr(1-n)Ce(n)O(x), proved to be completely reversible with fast kinetics for all pressure ranges tested below 650 C. With a heat-powered charcoal/methane physical adsorption upper stage and a Pr(1-n)Ce(n)O(x) chemisorption lower stage, temperatures should be attainable in the 55-80 K range for less power and over five times less weight than for charcoal/nitrogen sorption refrigeration systems. Total system power requirements with a hydride chemisorption lower stage (10 K to 7 K minimum) are about three times less than any mechanical refrigerator, and spacecraft refrigeration weights are about twenty times less. Due to the lack of wear-related moving parts in sorption refrigerators, life expectancy is at least ten years, and there essentially no vibration.

Jones, Jack A.↗

An experimental study on the effects of tip clearance on flow field and losses in an axial flow compressor rotor

Detailed measurement of the flow field in the tip region of a compressor rotor was carried out using a Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) and a Kiel probe at two different tip clearance heights. At both clearance sizes, the relative stagnation pressure and the axial and tangential components of relative velocities were measured upstream, inside the passage and downstream of the rotor, up to about 20 percent of the blade span from the annulus wall. The velocities, outlet angles, losses, momentum thickness, and force defect thickness are compared for the two clearances. A detailed interpretation of the effect of tip clearance on the flow field is given. There are substantial differences in flow field, on momentum thickness, and performance as the clearance is varied. The losses increase linearly within the passage and their values increase in direct proportion to tip clearance height. No discernable vortex (discrete) is observed downstream of the rotor.

Lakshminarayana, B.↗

A method for assessing effects of circumferential flow distortion on compressor stability

This paper describes the development of a new analysis to predict the onset of flow instability for an axial compressor operating in a circumferentialy distorted inlet flow. A relatively simple model is used to examine the influence of various distortions in setting this instability point. It is found that the model reproduces known experimental trends for the loss of stability margin with increasing distortion amplitude and with changes in reduced frequency. In particular, there is a recognizable 'critical sector angle' which characterizes loss of stability margin. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time the effects described herein have been theoretically demonstrated as the direct result of a fluid dynamic stability.

Hynes, T. P.↗

The measurement of boundary layers on a compressor blade in cascade. II - Suction surface boundary layers

A one-component laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) has been used to measure the two-dimensional, periodic flow field about a double circular arc, compressor blade in cascade. Eleven boundary layer profiles were taken on both the pressure and suction surfaces of the blade, and two were taken in the near wake. In this part of the study, the LDV system is described and the suction surface flow field is documented. The suction surface profiles appear to separate both at the leading edge and again somewhat beyond midchord; the leading edge separation apparently reattaches by 2.6 percent chord.

Deutsch, Steven↗

The measurement of boundary layers on a compressor blade in cascade. III - Pressure surface boundary layers and the near wake

A one-component laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) has been used to measure the two-dimensional periodic flow field about a double circular arc, compressor blade in cascade. Eleven boundary layer profiles were taken on both the pressure and suction surfaces of the blade, and two profiles were taken in the near wake. In this part of the study, the detailed LDV studies are described. The measurements indicate that the onset of transition occurs near 60 percent chord. The lack of a logarithmic region in the data measured at 97.9 percent chord indicates that transition is not complete. The thin laminar boundary layers near the leading edge led to some measurement problems, characterized by large turbulence intensities, in using the LDV.

Deutsch, Steven↗

Laser Doppler velocimeter measurement of annulus wall boundary layer development in a compressor rotor

Detailed measurement of the flow field in the tip region of a compressor rotor was carried out using LDV. The axial and tangential components of relative velocities were measured upstream, inside the passage, and at the exit of the rotor, up to about 20 percent of the blade span from the blade tip. The annulus-wall boundary layer is well behaved at the leading edge and far downstream of the rotor. But inside the passage, complex interactions between the leakage flow and the annulus-wall boundary layer result in unconventional profiles with wide deviations from models employed for analyses.

Lakshminarayana, B.↗

Weak rotating flow disturbances in a centrifugal compressor with a vaneless diffuser

A theory is presented to predict the occurrence of weak rotating waves in a centrifugal compression system with a vaneless diffuser. As in a previous study of axial systems, an undisturbed performance characteristic is assumed known. Following an inviscid analysis of the diffuser flow, conditions for a neutral rotating disturbance are found. The solution is shown to have two branches; one with fast rotation, the other with very slow rotation. The slow branch includes a dense set of resonant solutions. The resonance is a feature of the diffuser flow, and therefore such disturbances must be expected at the various resonant flow coefficients regardless of the compressor characteristic. Slow solutions seem limited to flow coefficients less than about 0.3, where third and fourth harmonics appear. Fast waves seem limited to a first harmonic. These fast and slow waves are described, and effects of diffuser-wall convergence, backward blade angles, and partial recovery of exit velocity head are assessed.

Moore, F. K.↗

Performance of Lempel-Ziv compressors with deferred innovation

The noiseless data-compression algorithms introduced by Lempel and Ziv (LZ) parse an input data string into successive substrings each consisting of two parts: The citation, which is the longest prefix that has appeared earlier in the input, and the innovation, which is the symbol immediately following the citation. In extremal versions of the LZ algorithm the citation may have begun anywhere in the input; in incremental versions it must have begun at a previous parse position. Originally the citation and the innovation were encoded, either individually or jointly, into an output word to be transmitted or stored. Subsequently, it was speculated that the cost of this encoding may be excessively high because the innovation contributes roughly 1g(A) bits, where A is the size of the input alphabet, regardless of the compressibility of the source. To remedy this excess, it was suggested to store the parsed substring as usual, but encoding for output only the citation, leaving the innovation to be encoded as the first symbol of the next substring. Being thus included in the next substring, the innovation can participate in whatever compression that substring enjoys. This strategy is called deferred innovation. It is exemplified in the algorithm described by Welch and implemented in the C program compress that has widely displaced adaptive Huffman coding (compact) as a UNIX system utility. The excessive expansion is explained, an implicit warning is given against using the deferred innovation compressors on nearly incompressible data.

Cohn, Martin↗

The measurement of boundary layers on a compressor blade in cascade. Volume 1: Experimental technique, analysis and results

Measurements were made of the boundary layers and wakes about a highly loaded, double-circular-arc compressor blade in cascade. These laser Doppler velocimetry measurements have yielded a very detailed and precise data base with which to test the application of viscous computational codes to turbomachinery. In order to test the computational codes at off-design conditions, the data were acquired at a chord Reynolds number of 500,000 and at three incidence angles. Moreover, these measurements have supplied some physical insight into these very complex flows. Although some natural transition is evident, laminar boundary layers usually detach and subsequently reattach as either fully or intermittently turbulent boundary layers. These transitional separation bubbles play an important role in the development of most of the boundary layers and wakes measured in this cascade and the modeling or computing of these bubbles should prove to be the key aspect in computing the entire cascade flow field. In addition, the nonequilibrium turbulent boundary layers on these highly loaded blades always have some region of separation near the trailing edge of the suction surface. These separated flows, as well as the subsequent near wakes, show no similarity and should prove to be a challenging test for the viscous computational codes.

Zierke, William C.↗

The measurement of boundary layers on a compressor blade in cascade. Volume 2: Data tables

Measurements were made of the boundary layers and wakes about a highly loaded, double-circular-arc compressor blade in cascade. These laser Doppler velocimetry measurements have yielded a very detailed and precise data base with which to test the application of viscous computational codes to turbomachinery. In order to test the computational codes at off-design conditions, the data have been acquired at a chord Reynolds number of 500,000 and at three incidence angles. Average values and 95 percent confidence bands were tabularized for the velocity, local turbulence intensity, skewness, kurtosis, and percent backflow. Tables also exist for the blade static-pressure distributions and boundary layer velocity profiles reconstructed to account for the normal pressure gradient.

Zierke, William C.↗

Space station gas compressor technology study program, phase 1

The objectives were to identify the space station waste gases and their characteristics, and to investigate compressor and dryer types, as well as transport and storage requirements with tradeoffs leading to a preliminary system definition.

Hafele, B. W.↗

The measurement of boundary layers on a compressor blade in cascade. IV - Flow fields for incidence angles of -1.5 and -8.5 degrees

Measurements, made with laser Doppler velocimetry, about a double-circular-arc compressor blade in a cascade are presented for -1.5 and -8.5 degree incidence angles and a chord Reynolds number near 500,000. Comparisons between the results of the current study and those of an earlier work at a 5.0 degree indicence are made. It is found that, in spite of the relative sophistication of the measurement techniques, transition on the pressure surface at the -1.5 degree incidence is dominated by a separation 'bubble' too small to be detected by the laser Doppler velocimeter. The development of the boundary layers at -1.5 and 5.0 degrees are found to be similar. In contrast to the flow at these two incidence angles, the leading edge separation 'bubble' is on the pressure surface for the -8.5 degree incidence.

Zierke, W. C.↗

Plasma Spraying Reclaims Compressor Housings

Plasma-spraying process used to build up material in worn and pitted areas. Newly applied material remachined to specified surface contours. Effective technique for addition of metal to out-of-tolerance magnesium-alloy turbine-engine compressor housings.

Leissler, George W.↗

Sorption Compressor With Rotary Regenerator

Proposed two-stage sorption compressor for cryogenic system features rotary regenerator. At each stage, rotor interacts with stator to provide quadruple regeneration. Contains no valves, and only moving part is rotor, which turns very slowly. Features include less required power and greater reliability.

Jones, Jack A.↗

The effects of compressor seventh-stage bleed air extraction on performance of the F100-PW-220 afterburning turbofan engine

A study was conducted to determine the effects of seventh-stage compressor bleed on the performance of the F100 afterburning turbofan engine. The effects of bleed on thrust, specific fuel consumption, fan turbine inlet temperature, bleed total pressure, and bleed total temperature were obtained from the engine manufacturer's status deck computer simulation. These effects were determined for power settings of intermediate, partial afterburning, and maximum afterburning for Mach numbers between 0.6 and 2.2 and for altitudes of 30,000, 40,000, and 50,000 ft. It was found that thrust loss and specific fuel consumption increase were approximately linear functions of bleed flow and, based on a percent-thrust change basis, were approximately independent of power setting.

Evans, Alison B.↗

Effects of inlet distortion on the development of secondary flows in a subsonic axial inlet compressor rotor

Detailed flow measurements were taken inside an isolated axial compressor rotor operating subsonically near peak efficiency. Laser anemometer measurements were made with two inlet velocity profiles. One profile consisted of an unmodified baseline flow, and the second profile was distorted by placing axisymmetric screens on the hub and shroud well upstream of the rotor. A primary flow is defined in the rotor and deviations from this primary flow for each inlet flow condition identified. A comparison between the two flow deviations is made to assess the development of a passage vortex due to the distortion of the inlet flow. A comparison of experimental results with computational predictions from a Navier-Stokes solver showed good agreement between predicted and measured flow. Measured results indicate that a distorted inlet profile has minimal effect on the development of the flow in the rotor passage and the resulting passage vortex.

Owen, Albert K.↗