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Tip injection effects on a transonic centrifugal impeller with various tip clearances in the presence of inlet distortion

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Abstract

This paper reports on tip injection mechanism for stability enhancement of a transonic centrifugal impeller with different tip clearances for clean or distorted inflow. Unsteady three-dimensional analysis has been utilized to study the flow through the impeller. According to the results, the inlet distortion effect is a slight decrease in total pressure ratio, efficiency and operating range. In this study, the tip clearance increment extends the operating range but at the expense of a significant reduction in total pressure ratio and efficiency. Another disadvantage of increasing the tip clearance is the increased sensitivity of the impeller performance to the inlet distortion. In the larger tip clearances, the reduction in the operating range due to the inlet distortion is more noticeable. The main effect of the tip injection is to improve stability. The injection leads to a 50% increment in the operating range for nominal tip clearance. The flow field study reveals that tip leakage flow behavior influences the impeller performance. The tip distortion at the inlet and the tip clearance increment intensify the tip leakage flow and its interactions, leading to increased pressure loss and decreased performance. However, the tip injection increases the operating range due to weakening the tip leakage flow interactions.

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Abbreviations

Dist:

Distorted inflow

Inj:

Tip injection

LC1:

Large tip clearance 1

LC2:

Large tip clearance 2

LE:

Leading-edge

MB:

Main blade

NC:

Nominal tip clearance (design tip clearance)

SB:

Splitter blade

SFC:

Specific fuel consumption

TE:

Trailing-edge

ZC:

Zero tip clearance

Adb:

Adiabatic

Amb:

Ambient

In:

Inlet

J:

Jet

Op:

Operating point

Out:

Outlet

ω:

Rotation speed

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, 15875-4413, Iran

    Zeinab Jahani, Hossein Khaleghi & Sadegh Tabejamaat

Authors
  1. Zeinab Jahani
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  2. Hossein Khaleghi
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  3. Sadegh Tabejamaat
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Correspondence to Hossein Khaleghi.

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Technical Editor: Daniel Onofre de Almeida Cruz.

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Jahani, Z., Khaleghi, H. & Tabejamaat, S. Tip injection effects on a transonic centrifugal impeller with various tip clearances in the presence of inlet distortion. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 44, 397 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-022-03714-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-022-03714-5

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