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Relationship between the flow blockage of tip leakage vortex and its evolutionary procedures inside the rotor passage of a subsonic axial compressor

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Abstract

The near casing flow fields inside the rotor passage of a 1.5 stage axial compressor with different blade-loading levels and tip gap sizes were measured by using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV). Based on a carefully defined blockage extracting method, the variations of blockage parameter inside the blade passage were analyzed. It was found that the variation of blockage parameter appeared as a non-monotonic behavior inside the blade passage in most cases. This non-monotonic behavior became much more remarkable as the blade loading increases or mass flow rate decreases.The variations of the blockage parameter inside the blade passage had close relation to the evolutionary procedures of the tip leakage vortex (TLV). The destabilization of the TLV caused a rapid increasing of the blockage parameter. After the TLV lost the features of a concentrated streamwise vortex, the blockage parameter usually got a peak value. And then, because of the intense turbulent mixing between the TLV low momentum flow and its surrounding flows, the flow deficit inside the TLV recovered.

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Abbreviations

A, T, R:

axial, tangential and radial directions

B T :

local reduced through-flow area

B m :

mass-flow-based blockage coefficient

C :

blade chord length of rotor tip

C p :

static pressure rise coefficient, (P out−P in)/((1/2)ρV tip 2)

H:

rotor blade height

L :

distance away from blade leading edge along the chord-wise direction

m b :

local reduced mass flow rate caused by the TLV

m t :

total mass flow rate of the compressor

P :

static pressure

p t :

total pressure

PW :

the width of blade passage at the rotor tip

R :

radial direction

u,v,w:

velocity in X, Y, Z directions, respectively

V tip :

rotor tip speed

V mid :

rotor mid-span speed

V aix :

axial flow velocity

v m :

streamwise velocity

V m,avg :

Averaged v m at 80% blade height

W ext :

local mean streamwise velocity at the outer edge of the core of the TLV

X, Y, Z :

coordinates of SPIV measuring planes

θ :

circumferential direction

ρ :

air density

Δp t :

total pressure rise, p t,out −p in

τ:

tip gap of 1% blade height

ϕ :

mass flow coefficient, V aix/V tip

Ω z :

out-of-plane vorticity

Ω:

rotor rotational speed

De:

design condition

Mid:

middle condition

Max:

maximum static pressure rise condition

Nc:

Near-choke condition

Ns:

near-stall condition

PIV:

particle image velocimetry

SPIV:

stereoscopic particle image velocimetry

SGP:

tip leakage vortex stable growth procedure

TLF:

tip leakage flow

TLV:

tip leakage vortex

TMP:

tip leakage vortex turbulent mixing procedure

USP:

tip leakage vortex unstable procedure

in:

Inlet

out:

Outlet

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Science & Technology on Aero-Engine Aero-Thermodynamics, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Hui Du, Xianjun Yu, Zhibo Zhang & Baojie Liu

Authors
  1. Hui Du
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  2. Xianjun Yu
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  3. Zhibo Zhang
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  4. Baojie Liu
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Additional information

This work is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 51006007,51136003 and 50976009.

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Du, H., Yu, X., Zhang, Z. et al. Relationship between the flow blockage of tip leakage vortex and its evolutionary procedures inside the rotor passage of a subsonic axial compressor. J. Therm. Sci. 22, 522–531 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-013-0658-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-013-0658-2

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