Abstract ▼ AI-Helper

A three-dimensional computation was conducted to understand effects of the inlet boundary layer thickness on the loss mechanism in a low-speed axial compressor operating at the design condition(${\phi}=85\%$) and near stall condition(${\phi}=65\%$). At the design condition, the...

A three-dimensional computation was conducted to understand effects of the inlet boundary layer thickness on the loss mechanism in a low-speed axial compressor operating at the design condition(${\phi}=85\%$) and near stall condition(${\phi}=65\%$). At the design condition, the flow phenomena such as the tip leakage flow and hub comer stall are similar independent of the inlet boundary layer thickness. However, when the axial compressor is operating at the near stall condition, the large separation on the suction surface near the casing is induced by the tip leakage flow and the boundary layer on the blade for thin inlet boundary layer but the hub corner stall is enlarged for thick inlet boundary layer. These differences of internal flows induced by change of the boundary layer thickness on the casing and hub enable loss distributions of total pressure to be altered. When the axial compressor has thin inlet boundary layer, the total pressure loss is increased at regions near both casing and tip but decreased in the core flow region. In order to analyze effects of inlet boundary layer thickness on total loss in detail, using Denton's loss models, total loss is scrutinized through three major loss categories in a subsonic axial compressor such as profile loss, tip leakage loss and endwall loss.