Kenichiro Iwakiri

Unsteady and three-dimensional flow phenomena in a transonic centrifugal compressor impeller at rotating stall

This paper presents a combined experimental and numerical analysis of rotating stall in a transonic centrifugal compressor impeller for automotive turbochargers. Stall characteristics of the compressor were examined by two high-response pressure transducers mounted on the casing wall near the impeller inlet. The pressure traces were analyzed by wavelet transforms to estimate the disturbance waves quantitatively. Three-dimensional unsteady internal flow fields were simulated numerically by Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) coupled LES-RANS approach. The analysis results show good agreements on both compressor performance characteristics and the unsteady flow features at the rotating stall. At stall inception, spiral-type breakdown of the full-blade tip leakage vortex was found out at some passages and the brokendown regions propagated against the impeller rotation. This phenomenon changed with throttling, and tornado-type separation vortex caused by the full-blade leading edge separation dominated the flow field at developed stall condition. It is similar to the flow model of short-length scale rotating stall established in an axial compressor rotor.Copyright

Vortical flow structure and loss generation process in a transonic centrifugal compressor impeller

Transonic centrifugal compressors are used in turbochargers and turboshaft engines because of their small dimensions, relatively high efficiency and wide operating range. The flow field of the transonic centrifugal compressor impeller is highly three dimensional, and is complicated by shock waves, tip leakage vortices, secondary flows and the interactions among them. In order to improve the performance, it is indispensable to understand these complicated flow phenomena in the impeller. Although experimental and numerical research on transonic impeller flow has been reported, thus providing important flow physics, some undetected flow phenomena remain. The authors of the present report carried out detailed Navier-Stokes computations of a transonic impeller flow measured by Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) in previous work. The highly complicated vortical flow structure and the mechanism of loss generation were revealed by a visual data mining technique, namely vortex identification based on the critical point theory and limiting streamline mapping by means of line integral convolution. As a result, it was found that the tip leakage vortices have a significant impact on the flow field and vortex breakdowns that increase the blockage of the flow passage, and that these were caused by shock wave interaction.Copyright

Three-Dimensional Structure of Separated and Vortical Flow in a Half-Ducted Propeller Fan

Three-dimensional structure of separated and vortical flow field has been investigated by numerical analysis on a half-ducted propeller fan. Complicated flow phenomena in the fan were captured by the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes flow simulation (RANS) and a vortex structure identification technique based on the critical point theory. The flow field around the fan rotor is dominated by the tip leakage vortex. The tip leakage vortex starts to be formed near the blade mid-chord and grows nearly in the tangential direction without vortex breakdown. In the rotor passage, the high vorticity flow around the tip leakage vortex core is impinging on the pressure surface of the adjacent blade. It is expected that the behavior of the tip leakage vortex plays a major role in characteristics of the fan noise.Copyright