School of Aerospace

Engineering

Computational Analysis of Stall and

Separation Control in Axial &
Centrifugal Compressors

Alex Stein Saeid Niazi Lakshmi N. Sankar

School of Aerospace Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

Supported by the U.S. Army Research Office Under the Multidisciplinary

University Research Initiative (MURI) on Intelligent Turbine Engines

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Outline

• Research objectives and motivation

• Recap of last presentation

• Centrifugal compressor work

• Axial compressor work

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Motivation and Objectives
• Use CFD to explore and
understand stall and surge

• Develop control strategies for

centrifugal and axial compressors

• Apply CFD to industrial

turbomachinery (high pressure
ratios, multi-stage)

• Investigate both rotating stall &

surge separately

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Recap of Last Presentation
• Detailed study and simulation of NASA Low
Speed Centrifugal Compressor

• Simulation and Validation of Air Bleeding &

Blowing/Injection as a Means to Control and
Stabilize Compressors Near Surge Line

• Useful Operating Range of Compressor was

Extended to 60% Below Design Conditions
Perspective View of the NASA Low Speed Centrifugal Compressor
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Centrifugal Compressor
Engineering

Allison Engine Impeller

• 15 main & 15 splitter blades
• Design Conditions:
22000 RPM
Mass Flow = 4.54 kg/s
Tot. Pressure Ratio = 4.13
Adiab. Efficiency = 87%
Tip speed = 492 m/s
Inlet Mrel= 0.4 (hub)-0.9 (shroud)
• Designed for use in advanced
regenerative gas turbine engine for
truck/bus and power generation

431 mm
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Centrifugal Compressor
Engineering - Grid
Computational Grid
101x49x25 (blocks I & II)
33x49x81 (block III)
400000 grid points

diffuser
III

I II
splitter
blade
main
blades
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Validation Results for 4:1 Centrifugal Compressor
Validation Results for 4:1 Centrifugal Compressor
Circumferentially Averaged Static Pressure Along Shroud (Design Condition)
3.5
Local Static Pressure/Leading Edge

3 CFD
Static Pressure, P/P1

2.5 Experiment
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Meridional Chord,S/Smax

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Results for 4:1 Centrifugal Compressor
Performance Characteristic Map
4.7
4.5
Choked Flow
4.3
Total Pressure Ratio

4.1
3.9
3.7
Design Operation
3.5
3.3
Experiment
3.1
2.9
CFD
2.7
2.5
3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 5.2 5.4
Mass Flow Rate(kg/s)
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Velocity Vectors at Midpassages
Engineering
Operation near Choked Flow
AB
Impeller flow well
behaved
III Diffuser flow separated

p/pinf
I II
Pressure Suction
Passage Passage
A-A B-B

AB

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Velocity Vectors at Midpassage
Engineering
B Operation near Design Condition
Possible sources for
diffuser stall:
• Adverse effect of
III downstream BC

I II • Unknown performance
Mrel of Spalart-Allmaras
Turbulence model in
separated flows

• Compressor geometry
B Suction
(e.g. diffuser) not
exactly modeled
Passage
B-B
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Axial Compressor
Engineering

• 22 Full Blades Rotor67

• Inlet Tip Diameter 0.514 m
• Exit Tip Diameter 0.485 m
• Tip Clearance 0.61 mm
• 22 Full Blades
• Design Conditions:
– Mass Flow Rate 33.25 kg/sec
– Rotational Speed 16043 RPM
– Rotor Tip Speed 429 m/sec
– Inlet Tip Relative Mach
Number 1.38
– Total Pressure Ratio 1.63
– Adiabatic Efficiency 0.93
514 mm
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SIMULATION SETUP
Axial Compressor Rotor-67
Computational Grid
86x35x15 (blocks I & II)
90300 grid points

PS
I
II ω
SS
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Results for Axial Rotor-67
Performance Map
1.8 Experimental
1.7 choke mass
Total Pressure ratio

flow rate:
1.6 34.96 kg/s

1.5 Turb
Design CFD choke
1.4 Experiment mass flow
laminar
rate:
1.3 34.76 kg/s
0.88 0.9 0.92 0.94 0.96 0.98 1
Mdot/mdot(Choke)
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EngineeringSide (Design)
Velocity Profile at Pressure
(Colored by Pressure)

• No reversed
flow in
clearance gap

Tip Pressure Side

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Mid-Passage Velocity Profile (Design)

• Flow is well
behaved

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Velocity Profile at Pressure Side
(Off-Design)

• reversed flow
was seen in
the clearance
gap
• Tip leakage
produces
vorticity

Tip Pressure Side

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CONCLUSIONS
• CFD code has been extended to centrifugal and axial
compressors with high pressure ratio.

• CFD Performance maps and pressure data show good

agreement with experiments.

• For centrifugal compressor diffuser separation was

observed in the simulations; not in agreement with
experiments.

• For the axial compressor, tip leakage vortex is stronger

under off-design conditions compared to design
conditions. This may cause the compressor to go into an
unstable state.
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FUTURE WORK
Bleed Air
• Continue to Work on Controller
Control Issues, e.g. Pressure
Unsteady Injection, Air Sensors
Inject
Recirculation.

• Improved geometry to validate flow field.

• Multi-flow passage to simulate rotating stall.
• Investigate influence of shock interaction on
boundary layer.
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