LES study on the influence of the diffuser inlet angle of a centrifugal pump on pressure fluctuations

Large-Eddy Simulations are conducted on a centrifugal pump at design and reduced flow-rates for three diffuser geometries, to investigate the effect of changing the diffuser inlet angle on the overall performance and the pressure fields. In particular, pressure fluctuations are investigated, which affect the unsteady loads acting on the pump, as well as vibrations, noise and cavitation phenomena. The considered modification of the diffuser geometry is targeted at decreasing the incidence angle at the off-design flow-rate by rotating the stationary blades of the pump around their leading edge. Results are compared against those of an earlier study, where the same modification of the diffuser inlet angle was achieved by increasing also the radial gap between impeller and diffuser, whose blades were rotated relative to their mid camber location. The comparisons across cases demonstrate that the radial gap between the trailing edge of the impeller blades and the leading edge of the diffuser blades has a more profound influence on pressure fluctuations, compared to the angle of incidence on the diffuser blades of the flow coming from the impeller.     

Application of particle image velocimetry to a transonic centrifugal compressor

As part of an ongoing research project the performance and internal flow field of a high-pressure ratio centrifugal compressor is being investigated. Based on previous, primarily, point-wise laser-optical measurements the compressor was redesigned and resulted in an improved impeller and diffuser with a single-stage pressure ratio of 6:1 at 50,000 rpm. Current research activities involve the use of particle image velocimetry (PIV) to analyze and further improve the understanding of the complex flow phenomena inside the vaned diffuser given the capability of PIV of capturing spatial structures. The study includes phase-resolved measurements of the flow inside a diffuser vane passage with respect to the impeller blade position. Both, instantaneous and phase-averaged velocity fields are presented. The flow field results obtained by PIV are to be used for future validation of the related CFD calculations, which in turn are expected to lead to further improvements in compressor performance. In addition, the potential of stereo PIV for this type of turbomachinery application could be successfully demonstrated.     

Numerical simulation of unsteady interaction of centrifugal impeller with its diffuser using Lagrangian discrete vortex method

In this study, an advanced Lagrangian vortex- boundary element method is applied to simulate the unsteady impeller-diffuser interactions in a diffuser pump not only for design but also for off-design considerations. In velocity calculations based on the Biot-Savart law we do not have to grid large portions of the flow field and the calculation points are concentrated in the regions where vorticity is present. Lagrangian representation of the evolving vorticity field is well suited to moving boundaries. An integral pressure equation shows that the pressure distribution can be estimated directly from the instantaneous velocity and vorticity field. The numerical results are compared with the experimental data and the comparisons show that the method used in this study can provide us insight into the complicated unsteady impeller-diffuser interaction phenomena in a diffuser pump.     

Diffuser stall and rotating zones of separated boundary layer

Unsteady flows and rotating stall in vaneless diffusers were investigated by measuring both the wall fluctuating pressures and the unsteady velocity field using hot-wires and laser Doppler anemometers. Experiments were carried out with a fixed impeller and fixed diffuser inlet and outlet radii. However, the diffuser width was varied so that its effect on rotating stall could be examined. Results show that the variation of _r with b/r _i is in qualitative agreement with the prediction of Senoo et al. (1977). Therefore, the onset of stall is delayed as diffuser width is decreased. For diffusers with small width, stall emerges first with one stall cell and then develops into 2 and 4 stall cells as the mass flow rate is decreased. On the other hand, for the diffuser with the largest width tested, stall emerges with one stall cell and quickly develops into 3 stall cells. The ratio of the speed of rotation of the stall cell to impeller speed is independent of diffuser width, but decreases slightly as the number of stall cells increases. Finally, rotating stall is associated with reversed flow originating from the hub side rather than from the shroud side.     

PIV investigation of the flow induced by a passive surge control method in a radial compressor

Due to recent emission regulations, the use of turbochargers for force induction of internal combustion engines has increased. Actually, the trend in diesel engines is to downsize the engine by use of turbochargers that operate at higher pressure ratios. Unfortunately, increasing the impeller rotational speed of turbocharger radial compressors tends to reduce their range of operation, which is limited at low mass flow rate by the occurrence of surge. In order to extend the operability of turbochargers, compressor housings can be equipped with a passive surge control device such as a ??ported shroud.?? This specific casing treatment has been demonstrated to enhance the surge margin with minor negative impact on the compressor efficiency. However, the actual working mechanisms of the system remain not well understood. Hence, in order to optimize the design of the ported shroud, it is crucial to identify the dynamic flow changes induced by the implementation of the device to control instabilities. From the full dynamic survey of the compressor performance characteristics obtained with and without ported shroud, specific points of operation were selected to carry out planar flow visualization. At normal working, both standard and stereoscopic particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) measurements were performed to evaluate instantaneous and mean velocity flow fields at the inlet of the compressor. At incipient and full surge, phase-locked PIV measurements were added. As a result, satisfying characterization of the compressor instabilities was provided at different operational speeds. Combining transient pressure data and PIV measurements, the time evolution of the complex flow patterns occurring at surge was reconstructed and a better insight into the bypass mechanism was achieved.     

采用不同黏性处理方法的宽无叶扩压器不稳定流动研究

径向无叶扩压器的全局稳定性可能受到核心主流失稳,出口回流与壁面边界层分离等因素影响,对于宽无叶扩压器,无黏核心主流与壁面边界层流动对不稳定扰动诱发的作用机理是当前研究的重点.本文首先通过数值计算获得了大宽度比孤立无叶扩压器平均流动,然后基于小扰动理论和周向均质假设,分别对欧拉方程与 Navier-Stokes 方程进行线性化,建立了基于无黏核心流动的稳定性分析方法,以及基于涡黏性与分子黏性的混合稳定性分析方法;通过与实验结果的对比,验证了混合稳定性分析方法预测所得流动失稳频率和全局直接模态的准确性;最后基于伴随方法获得了特征值的结构敏感性,揭示了不同黏性处理条件下宽无叶扩压器内全局不失稳扰动的源发区域.在只考虑核心主流的无黏条件下,宽无叶扩压器内流动不稳定扰动来源于流场中部,为二维的离心失稳;在同时考虑核心主流与边界层的作用时,宽无叶扩压器不稳定扰动不仅来源于扩压器流场中部的核心主流,壁面回流对于不稳定扰动的产生了重要影响.      

Reconstruction of velocity fields from wall pressure measurements in a shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction

We present here experimental results in a shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction at Mach number of 2.3 impinged by an oblique shock wave, with a deflection angle of 9.5°, as installed in the supersonic wind tunnel of the IUSTI laboratory, France. For such a shock intensity, strong unsteadiness are developing inside the separated zone involving very low frequencies associated with reflected shock motions.The present work consists in simultaneous PIV velocity fields and unsteady wall pressure measurements. The wall pressure and PIV measurements were used to characterize the pressure distribution at the wall in an axial direction, and the flow field associated. These results give access for the first time to the spatial-time correlation between wall pressure and velocity in a shock wave turbulent boundary layer interaction and show the feasibility of such coupling techniques in compressible flows. Linear Stochastic Estimation (LSE) coupled with Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) has been applied to these measurements, and first results are presented here, showing the ability of these techniques to reproduce both the unsteady breathing of the recirculating bubble at low frequency and the Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities developing at moderate frequency.     

Experimental investigation of the wall dynamics of the A-pillar vortex flow

The influence of the A-pillar vortex on the wall flow of the side window of a car is investigated experimentally using a 30° dihedron model. The measurement of the unsteady pressure at the wall provides a map of the pressure fluctuation intensity, and a spectral analysis is performed to track the dominant frequencies of the wall pressure fluctuations. The wall flow generated by the vortex structure that develops parallel to the side-wall is characterised by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV). Its structure is analysed and compared to cross-sections of the A-pillar vortex in order to identify the different separation and reattachment lines. A comparison of the field of turbulent kinetic energy obtained by PIV with the map of the pressure fluctuations shows a correlation between the structure of the A-pillar vortex and the pressure fluctuations. It is found that the dominant wall pressure fluctuations are located at the secondary separation line, whereas the primary reattachment line does not show any significant pressure variations, that the A-pillar vortex will not naturally break down and that discrete vortices may be associated with the pressure fluctuations.     

非对称槽道中涡旋波的特性研究

利用PIV流场显示技术，对振荡流体在非对称槽道中涡旋波的产生、发展和消失的规律进 行了实验研究和分析，测得了涡旋波流场的速度矢量图，阐明了涡旋波流场周期性变化的特 点. 结合涡动力学方程，深入分析并揭示了做周期性运动的流体能在槽道中产生波的特性这 一规律，从中发现：流体周期变化的非定常性和不对称的槽道结构是形成涡旋波流动的主要 因素. 本文对涡旋波流场中各个旋涡的速度分布和涡量进行了测量和计算，分析了涡旋波 强化传质的机理，并研究了Re数对涡旋波流动的影响     

Turbulence measurements in the inlet plane of a centrifugal compressor vaneless diffuser

Detailed flow measurements at the inlet of a centrifugal compressor vaneless diffuser are presented. The mean 3-d velocities and six Reynolds stress components tensor are used to determine the turbulence production terms which lead to total pressure loss. High levels of turbulence kinetic energy were observed in both the blade and passage wakes, but these were only associated with high Reynolds stresses in the blade wakes. For this reason the blade wakes mixed out rapidly, whereas the passage wake maintained its size, but was redistributed across the full length of the shroud wall. Peak levels of Reynolds stress occurred in regions of high velocity shear and streamline curvature which would tend to destabilize the shear gradient. Four regions in the flow are identified as potential sources of loss - the blade wake, the shear layers between passage wake and jet, the thickened hub boundary layer and the interaction region between the secondary flow within the blade wake and the passage vortex. The blade wakes generate most turbulence, with smaller contributions from the hub boundary layer and secondary flows, but no significant contribution is apparent from the passage wake shear layers.     

Development of digital particle imaging velocimetry for use in turbomachinery

Digital Particle Imaging Velocimetry (DPIV) is a powerful measurement technique, which can be used as an alternative or complementary approach to Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) in a wide range of research applications. The instantaneous planar velocity measurements obtained with PIV make it an attractive technique for use in the study of the complex flow fields encountered in turbomachinery. The ability to acquire multiple measurement points of comparable accuracy to LDV results in reduced runtime and enables the study of both transient and steady state flow phenomena. Many of the same issues encountered in the application of LDV to rotating machinery apply in the application of PIV. Techniques for optical access, light sheet delivery, CCD camera technology and particulate seeding are discussed. Results from the successful application of the PIV technique to both the blade passage region of a transonic axial compressor and the diffuser region of a high speed centrifugal compressor are presented. Both instantaneous and time-averaged flow fields were obtained. The 95% confidence intervals for the velocity estimates were also determined. Received: 16 November 1998/Accepted: 10 April 1999     

LES investigation on the dependence of the flow through a centrifugal pump on the diffuser geometry

Large-Eddy Simulation is utilized to investigate the rotor–stator interaction within a centrifugal pump. Comparisons are presented across diffuser geometries for two values of the flow-rate. Decreasing the incidence angle on the diffuser blades at off-design is found the main source of higher pressure rise and lower overall values of turbulent kinetic energy within the pump, resulting in efficiency improvement. The impact on the second-order statistics of the flow is especially significant. However, the values of the pressure fluctuations acting on the diffuser blades, defining fatigue loads on them and cavitation phenomena, are found especially affected by the rotor–stator clearance. Results show that at reduced flow-rates the rotation of the diffuser blades around their mid camber is a better option than rotating them around their leading edge. They also suggest that at larger flow-rates the increased incidence on the diffuser blades causes pressure side separation and large shear layers populating the diffuser channels, not affecting substantially the region of interface between impeller and diffuser, but having detrimental effects on the performance of the latter. The rotation of the diffuser blades around their leading edge should be preferred when the pump operates at flow-rates larger than the design one, avoiding decreasing the rotor–stator gap, thus resulting in smoother rotor–stator interaction and lower pressure fluctuations.     

High-repetition-rate PIV investigations on a generic rocket model in sub- and supersonic flows

High-repetition-rate PIV measurements were performed in the trisonic wind tunnel facility at the Bundeswehr University Munich in order to investigate the boundary layer parameters on a generic rocket model and the recirculation area in the wake of the model at Mach numbers up to Mach = 2.6. The data are required for the validation of unsteady flow simulations. Because of the limited run time of the blow-down wind tunnel, a high-repetition-rate PIV system was applied to obtain the flow statistics with high accuracy. The results demonstrate this method’s potential to resolve small-scale flow phenomena over a wide field of view in a large Mach number range but also show its limitations for the investigations of wall-bounded flows.     

Spray analysis of a gasoline direct injector by means of two-phase PIV

The hollow-cone spray of a high-pressure swirl injector for a direct-injection spark-ignition (DISI) engine was investigated inside a pressure vessel by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV). As the interaction between the spray droplets and the ambient air is of particular interest for the mixture preparation process, two-phase PIV techniques were applied. To allow phase discrimination, fluorescent seeding particles were used to trace the gas phase. Because of the periodicity of piston engine injection, a statistical evaluation of ensemble-averaged fields to reduce cycle-to-cycle variations and to provide more general information about the two-phase flow was performed. Besides the general spray/air interaction process the investigation of the spray collapse at elevated ambient pressures was the main focus of the study. Future investigations of transient interaction processes require simultaneous techniques in combination with a high-speed camera to resolve the transient interaction phenomena. Therefore, optical filters that attenuate Mie-scattered light and transmit fluorescent light were used to collect both phases on the same image. Consequently, phase separation techniques were employed for data analysis. A masking and a peak separation technique are described and a comparison between the results of an instantaneous two-phase flow field in the spray cone of a DISI injector is presented in the paper.     

Experimental evaluation of numerical simulation of cavitating flow around hydrofoil

Cavitation in hydraulic machines causes different problems that can be related to its unsteady nature. An experimental and numerical study of developed cavitating flow was performed. Until now simulations of cavitating flow were limited to the self developed “in house” CFD codes. The goal of the work was to experimentally evaluate the capabilities of a commercial CFD code (Fluent) for simulation of a developed cavitating flow. Two simple hydrofoils that feature some 3D effects of cavitation were used for the experiments. A relatively new technique where PIV method combined with LIF technique was used to experimentally determine the instantaneous and average velocity and void ratio fields (cavity shapes) around the hydrofoils. Distribution of static pressure on the hydrofoil surface was determined. For the numerical simulation of cavitating flow a bubble dynamics cavitation model was used to describe the generation and evaporation of vapour phase. An unsteady RANS 3D simulation was performed. Comparison between numerical and experimental results shows good correlation. The distribution and size of vapour structures and the velocity fields agree well. The distribution of pressure on the hydrofoil surface is correctly predicted. The numerically predicted shedding frequencies are in fair agreement with the experimental data.     

Time-resolved particle imaging velocimetry for the investigation of rotating stall in a radial pump

The operating range of turbomachines is limited in terms of the low flow rate by instabilities appearing in flow-leading parts of the machinery resulting in the creation of vortices. If the flow is further throttled, stall cells can start to propagate in the impeller at a fraction of the rotor speed. This article presents an investigation of rotating stall at different flow rates in a radial pump using time-resolved particle imaging velocimetry (PIV). This technique was used to investigate the flow field at the same position in every channel of the impeller during several revolutions. Frequency analysis was applied to the measured velocities to calculate the angular speed of the rotating stall in the impeller. The interest of time-resolved PIV to understand rotating stall is demonstrated, as it allows measurement of transient, irregularly appearing flow fields.     

Numerical modelling and flow analysis of a centrifugal pump running as a turbine: Unsteady flow structures and its effects on the global performance

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the flow patterns in a centrifugal pump when it works as a centripetal turbine, with special interest in the unsteady behavior in order to explain the shape of the performance curves. Also, we focus on the determination of the radial thrust and other mechanical loads over a pump‐designed machine. The pump studied is commercial, with single axial suction and a vaneless spiral volute casing. A numerical study has been carried out in order to obtain more information about the flow into the volute and the impeller. A numerical three‐dimensional unsteady simulation has been developed using a commercial code that solves the URANS set of equations with a standard k–ε turbulence model. The results show the non‐axisymmetric flow developed in the volute, responsible for a significant radial thrust; the interaction between the tongue and the impeller, generating force fluctuations; the velocity and pressure distributions inside the impeller; and the exit flow, characterized with post‐rotation and low‐pressure. These flow results allow us to understand the behavior of the machine by comparing it with the pump mode. Complementarily, an experimental study was conducted to validate the numerical model and characterize the pump‐turbine performance curves at constant head. Fast‐response pressure taps and a three‐hole pneumatic pressure probe were employed to obtain a complete data set of non‐stationary and stationary measurements throughout the centrifugal machine. As a result, loss of efficiency or susceptibility to cavitation, detected numerically, was confirmed experimentally. The study demonstrates that the numerical methodology presented here has shown its reliability and possibilities to predict the unsteady flow and time‐mean characteristics of centrifugal pumps working as turbines. In particular, it is shown that the commercial design of the pump allows a reasonable use of the impeller as a turbine runner, due to the suitable adaptation of the inflow distributions to the volute casing. Moreover, the efficiency for the inverse mode is shown to be as high as achieved for the pumping operational mode. In addition, it is concluded that both axial and radial thrusts are controlled, though important unsteady fluctuations—up to 25%—clocked with the blade passing frequency appear beyond the nominal conditions. In that case, a moderate use of the pump as a turbine is recommended in order to minimize risks of fatigue failure of the bearings. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental performance analysis of an annular diffuser with and without struts

In this paper, the performance analysis of an annular diffuser is presented. In a typical industrial gas turbine diffuser, a certain number of structural members, called struts, serve both as load bearings support and as passages for cooling air and lubricant oil.

Measurements were made in a 35% scaled down model of a PGT10 gas turbine exhaust diffuser with and without struts in order to determine the total and static pressure development and the effect of struts on both the local phenomena and the overall performance. More realistic flow conditions are made available by a ring of 24 axial guide vanes at inlet, which represent the last turbine rotor. The model has been tested on a wind tunnel facility developed at the University of Perugia with inlet speed around 80 m/s, allowing satisfactory accuracy for flow measurements and similarity with the PGT10 diffuser in terms of Reynolds number. Static pressure taps located at various streamwise positions on the hub and the casing allowed the estimation of pressure recovery development. A Pitot tube and a hot split-film anemometer were used to determine static and total pressure inside the diffuser at different axial positions. The comparison between the two cases, with and without the struts, was made also by the use of global parameters, which correlate static and total pressure.

In a previous paper, a detailed three-dimensional analysis of the flow path inside the diffuser was presented and the detrimental effect of the struts, in terms of flow separation and unsteadiness, was discussed. The stationary flow measurements and the investigation of the diffuser without the struts are presented in this paper. The whole research project represent a complete diffuser investigation available to develop an optimal design and to advance the computational and design tools for gas turbine exhaust diffusers.     

Measurements in the vaneless diffuser of a radial flow compressor

Results from an experimental study of flow behaviour at the inlet of a vaneless diffuser of a centrifugal compressor are presented. Measurements from a crossed hot-wire probe are given for operating points having inlet flow coefficients ranging from 0.006 to 0.019 at different Reynolds numbers. Instantaneous, time-averaged, and phase-averaged absolute velocity and flow angle at the diffuser inlet are deduced from the hot-wire signals after correction for mean density variations. These results show how flow behaviour varies in stable, rotating stall and surge regimes of compressor operation