Effects of Rotation on the Flow Structure in a Compressor Cascade

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

In turbomachines, rotors and stators differ by the rotation of the former. Hence, half of each stage is directly influenced by rotation effects. The influence of rotation on the flow structure and its impact on the performance is studied through wall-resolving large Eddy simulations of a rotor with large relative tip gap size. The simulations are performed in a rotating frame with rotation accounted for through a Coriolis force term. In a first step, experimental results are used to provide validation. The main part of the study is the comparison of the results from two simulations, one representing the rotating configuration and one with the Coriolis force removed, without any other change. This setup allows a very clean assessment of the influence of rotation. The turbulence-resolving approach ensures that the turbulent flow features are well represented. The results show a significant impact of rotation on the secondary flow. In the tip region, the tip leakage vortex is enlarged and destabilized. Inside the tip gap, the flow is altered as well, with uniformization in the rotating case. At the blade midspan, no significant effects are observed on the suction side, while an earlier transition to turbulence is found on the pressure side. Near the hub, rotation effects are shown to reduce the corner separation significantly.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number081006
Pages (from-to)1-24
Number of pages24
JournalJournal of turbomachinery
Volume144
Issue number8
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85126210603
Mendeley 39d2522c-7279-3aa4-8d12-7c25085ad46b
unpaywall 10.1115/1.4053537
ORCID /0000-0003-1653-5686/work/170585409

Keywords

Keywords

  • CORIOLIS FORCE, rotating compressor cascade, secondary flows, tip gap vortex, wall-resolving large Eddy simulation, Wall-resolving large Eddy simulation (WRLES), Coriolis force, Secondary flows, Rotating compressor cascade, Tip gap vortex