The flow fields in rear stages of multi-stage axial compressor is difficult to measured in detail owing to the limited height and space. Thus, low speed research compressor (LSRC) facilities which are modelled from rear stages have been widely used to explore the internal flow fields and improve compressor design. A newly-designed vertical LSRC facility is established and put into used in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. This construction and design features of this LSRC facility is introduced in this paper. An original stage and cantilevered stage have been tested in this test rig. Compressor performance, inter-stage parameters distributions and contours are measured at design point and near stall point. The experimental results are compared between two types of stator configurations to understand the influence of cantilevered stator on stage performance. Steady single passage simulations are carried out to validate numerical methods and further interpret the internal flow fields in test stages.

This vertical LSRC facility consists of inlet guide vane (IGV) and four repeated stages with an external diameter of 1.5 meter and a rotating speed of 900 RPM. The third stage is the mainly tested one, while the first and second stages provide the inlet conditions and the fourth stage provides the outlet conditions. After the testing of the original third stage, an optimized third stage with a highly loading rotor and a cantilevered stator is replaced and tested. The experimental results show that the optimized stage obtained higher pressure ratio and lower efficiency. Total pressure distributions indicate that the cantilevered stators restrain the corner separation in shrouded stators. The results of steady simulation have a similar trend with experimental ones, in terms of overall performance and parameters distributions, in spite of the overestimated efficiency.


Experimental and Numerical Researches in a Four-Stage Low Speed Research Compressor Facility

Division / Sponsor:
International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/GT/GT2020/volume/84058

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