Journal of Turbomachinery

In this paper, we describe the structures that produce a spike-type route to rotating stall and explain the physical mechanism for their formation. The descriptions and explanations are based on numerical simulations, complemented and corroborated by experiments. It is found that spikes are caused by a separation at the leading edge due to high incidence. The separation gives rise to shedding of vorticity from the leading edge and the consequent formation of vortices that span between the suction surface and the casing. As seen in the rotor frame of reference, near the casing the vortex convects toward the pressure surface of the adjacent blade. The approach of the vortex to the adjacent blade triggers a separation on that blade so the structure propagates. The above sequence of events constitutes a spike. The computed structure of the spike is shown to be consistent with rotor leading edge pressure measurements from the casing of several compressors: the centre of the vortex is responsible for a pressure drop and the partially blocked passages associated with leading edge separations produce a pressure rise. The simulations show leading edge separation and shed vortices over a range of tip clearances including zero. The implication, in accord with recent experimental findings, is that they are not part of the tip clearance vortex. Although the computations always show high incidence to be the cause of the spike, the conditions that give rise to this incidence (e.g., blockage from a corner separation or the tip leakage jet from the adjacent blade) do depend on the details of the compressor.

The aim of this research is to study the stall and recovery behavior of a transonic fan stage with and without inlet distortion. For this purpose, simulations of the stall and recovery process of NASA stage 67 are performed with clean and distorted inflow conditions. The rotor is pushed into stall by closing the exit nozzle. It is shown that in both cases, stall is initiated via spike but the subsequent development of the stall differs. In the stable rotating stall, both cases contain one stall cell traveling at 63% shaft speed. During the recovery process, when the exit nozzle is gradually opened, the size of this stall cell reduces as the corrected mass flow increases. Although the fan stalls at a larger mass flow with inlet distortion, it recovers to a similar corrected mass flow as the case with clean inflow, which indicates that inlet distortion has minor effects on the recovery process for this blade. In spite of the lack of data, detailed analysis based on past experience and physical reasoning is used to demonstrate the validity on numerical simulations. The author appreciates that a validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study can provide instructive results to other researchers.

This paper addresses a comparison of numerical stall simulations with experimental data at 60% (subsonic) and 95% (supersonic) of the design speed in a modern transonic fan rig. The unsteady static pressures were obtained with high frequency Kulite transducers mounted on the casing upstream and downstream of the fan. The casing pressure variation was clearly visible in the measurements when a stall cell passed below the transducers. Numerical stall simulations were conducted using an implicit, time-accurate, 3D compressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver. The comparisons between the experiment and simulation mainly cover performance curves and time-domain pressure traces of Kulites during rotating stall. At two different fan speeds, the stall characteristics such as the number and rotating speed of the stall cells were well-matched to the experimental values. The mass flow rate and the loading parameter under the fully-developed rotating stall also showed good agreement with the experiment. In both the numerical and experimental results, a large stall cell was eventually formed after stall inception regardless of the fan speed. Based on the validation, the detailed flow has been evaluated to understand rotating stall in a transonic fan. In addition, it was found that the mass flow measurement using casing static pressure might be wrong during transient flow if the Kulites were mounted too close to the fan blade.

This paper describes the role of tip leakage flow in creating the leading edge separation necessary for the onset of spike-type compressor rotating stall. A series of unsteady multipassage simulations, supported by experimental data, are used to define and illustrate the two competing mechanisms that cause the high incidence responsible for this separation: blockage from a casing-suction-surface corner separation and forward spillage of the tip leakage jet. The axial momentum flux in the tip leakage flow determines which mechanism dominates. At zero tip clearance, corner separation blockage dominates. As clearance is increased, the leakage flow reduces blockage, moving the stall flow coefficient to lower flow, i.e., giving a larger unstalled flow range. Increased clearance, however, means increased leakage jet momentum and contribution to leakage jet spillage. There is thus a clearance above which jet spillage dominates in creating incidence, so the stall flow coefficient increases and flow range decreases with clearance. As a consequence, there is a clearance for maximum flow range; for the two rotors in this study, the value was approximately 0.5% chord. The chordwise distribution of the leakage axial momentum is also important in determining stall onset. Shifting the distribution toward the trailing edge increases flow range for a leakage jet dominated geometry and reduces flow range for a corner separation dominated geometry. Guidelines are developed for flow range enhancement through control of tip leakage flow axial momentum magnitude and distribution. An example is given of how this might be achieved.

The breakdown of tip leakage vortex has been investigated on a low-speed axial compressor rotor with moderate blade loading. Effects of the breakdown on the rotor aerodynamics are elucidated by Navier–Stokes flow simulations and visualization techniques for identifying the breakdown. The simulations show that the leakage vortex breakdown occurs inside the rotor at a lower flow rate than the peak pressure rise operating condition. The breakdown is characterized by the existence of the stagnation point followed by a bubblelike recirculation region. The onset of breakdown causes significant changes in the nature of the tip leakage vortex: large expansion of the vortex and disappearance of the streamwise vorticity concentrated in the vortex. The expansion has an extremely large blockage effect extending upstream of the leading edge. The disappearance of the concentrated vorticity results in no rolling-up of the vortex downstream of the rotor and the disappearance of the pressure trough on the casing. The leakage flow field downstream of the rotor is dominated by the outward radial flow, resulting from the contraction of the bubblelike structure of the breakdown region. It is found that the leakage vortex breakdown plays a major role in characteristic of rotor performance at near-stall conditions. As the flow rate is decreased from the peak pressure rise operating condition, the breakdown region grows rapidly in the streamwise, spanwise, and pitchwise directions. The growth of the breakdown causes the blockage and the loss to increase drastically. Then, the interaction of the breakdown region with the blade suction surface gives rise to the three-dimensional separation of the suction surface boundary layer, thus leading to a sudden drop in the total pressure rise across the rotor.

In a low-speed compressor test rig at Kyushu University, multiple short length-scale stall cells appeared under a mild stall condition and turned into a long length-scale cell under a deep stall condition. Then, for the two types of stall cell, the pressure distribution on the casing wall and the velocity distributions upstream and downstream of the rotor have been measured by high-response pressure transducers and a slanted hot-wire, respectively. The time-dependent ensemble-averages of these distributions have been obtained phase-locked to both the rotor and the stall cell rotation using a “double phase-locked averaging technique” developed by the authors. The structures of the two stall cells are compared: The short length-scale stall cell is characterized by a concentrated vortex spanning from the casing wall ahead of the rotor to the blade suction surface. In the long length-scale stall cell, the separation vortices go upstream irregularly when blade separation develops in the front half of the cell, and re-enter the rotor on the hub side in the rear half of it. The unsteady aerodynamic force and torsional moment acting on the blade tip section have been evaluated from the time-dependent ensemble-averages of the casing wall pressure distribution. The force fluctuation due to the short length-scale cells is somewhat smaller than that for the long length-scale cell. The blade suffers two peaks of the force during a period of the short length-scale cells passing through it. The moment fluctuation for the short length-scale cells is considerably larger than that for the long length-scale cell.

A combined experimental and computational test program, with two low-pressure ratio aero-engine fans, has been used to identify the flow mechanisms at stall inception and the subsequent stall cell growth. The two fans have the same rotor tip clearance, annulus design, and downstream stators, but different levels of tip loading. The measurement data show that both the fans stall via spike-type inception, but that the growth of the stall cell and the final cell size is different in each fan. The computations, reproducing both the qualitative and quantitative behavior of the steady-state and transient measurements, are used to identify the flow mechanisms at the origin of stall inception. In one fan, spillage of tip leakage flow upstream of the leading edge plane is responsible. In the other, sudden growth of casing corner separation blockage leads to stall. These two mechanisms are in accord with the findings from core compressors. However, the transonic aerodynamics and the low hub-to-tip radius ratio of the fans lead to the following two findings: first, the casing corner separation is driven by shock-boundary layer interaction and second, the spanwise loading distribution of the fan determines whether the spike develops into full-span or part-span stall and both types of behavior are represented in the present work. Finally, the axial momentum flux of the tip clearance flow is shown to be a useful indicator of the leakage jet spillage mechanism. A simple model is provided that links the tip loading, stagger, and solidity with the tip clearance axial momentum flux, thereby allowing the aerodynamicist to connect, qualitatively, design parameters with the stall behavior of the fan.

The influence of three-dimensional flow structures within a compressor blade passage has been examined computationally to determine their role in rotating stall inception. The computations displayed a short length-scale (or spike) type of stall inception similar to that seen in experiments; to the authors’ knowledge this is the first time such a feature has been simulated. A central feature observed during the rotating stall inception was the tip clearance vortex moving forward of the blade row leading edge. Vortex kinematic arguments are used to provide a physical explanation of this motion as well as to motivate the conditions for its occurrence. The resulting criterion for this type of stall inception (the movement of the tip clearance vortex forward of the leading edge) depends upon local flow phenomena related to the tip clearance with the implication that for this and possibly other stall mechanisms the flow structure within the blade passages must be addressed to explain the stability of an axial compression system that exhibits such short length-scale disturbances.

At low mass flow rates, axial compressors suffer from flow instabilities leading to stall and surge. The inception process of these instabilities has been widely researched in the past---primarily with the aim of predicting or averting stall onset. In recent times, attention has shifted to conditions well before stall and has focused on the level of irregularity in the blade passing signature in the rotor tip region. In general, the irregularity increases in intensity as the flow rate through the compressor is reduced. Attempts have been made to develop stall warning/avoidance procedures based on the level of flow irregularity, but little effort has been made to characterize the irregularity itself, or to understand its underlying cause. Work on this project has revealed for the first time that the increase in irregularity in the blade passing signature is highly dependent on both tip-clearance size and eccentricity. In a compressor with small, uniform, tip-clearance, the increase in blade passing irregularity that accompanies a reduction in flow rate will be modest. If the tip-clearance is enlarged, however, there will be a sharp rise in irregularity at all circumferential locations. In a compressor with eccentric tip-clearance, the increase in irregularity will only occur in the part of the annulus where the tip-clearance is largest, regardless of the average clearance level. In this paper, some attention is also given to the question of whether the irregularity observed in the prestall flow field is due to random turbulence or to some form of coherent flow structure. Detailed flow measurements reveal that the latter is the case. From these findings, it is clear that a stall warning system based on blade passing signature irregularity would be difficult to implement in an aero-engine where tip-clearance size and eccentricity change during each flight cycle and over the life of the compressor.

This paper describes a novel way of prescribing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) boundary conditions for axial-flow compressors. The approach is based on extending the standard single passage computational domain by adding an intake upstream and a variable nozzle downstream. Such a route allows us to consider any point on a given speed characteristic by simply modifying the nozzle area, the actual boundary conditions being set to atmospheric ones in all cases. Using a fan blade, it is shown that the method not only allows going past the stall point but also captures the typical hysteresis loop behavior of compressors.