Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Physical property effects of the compression process with supercritical carbon dioxide as working fluid

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The compressor is one of the key components in the closed supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton cycle, but its design method is far from mature. It is naturally expected that the well-established design method of the air compressor can provide favorable guidelines, on the basis of further understanding the effects of the physical property on the compressor flow field. Considering that isentropic compression is one of the core physical processes in the compressor, the physical property effects on this process were mainly investigated in this work. Similarity criterion was considered, and the change rate discrepancy of the main variables in this process between S-CO2 and the ideal air was fully analyzed. Results show that S-CO2 is compressed faster than the ideal air in most cases, along with generating smaller Mach number and larger pressure rise ratio. It is noted the important parameter of the static pressure coefficient distribution with S-CO2 in the compression process is almost the same as that with the ideal air at low Mach number, which is conductive to the extension of the air compressor research experience, but it is quite different at high Mach number. The simulation cases about compressor cascade are further applied and prove the suitability of the revealed physical property effects in the compressor passage. Understanding these effects on the compression process is helpful to improve the design method of the S-CO2 compressor.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

p :

Static pressure, MPa

p t :

Total pressure, MPa

u :

Fluid velocity, m/s

c :

Speed of sound, m/s

ρ :

Density, kg/m3

T :

Static temperature, K

h :

Enthalpy, kJ/kg

s :

Entropy, kJ/kg·K

n s :

Isentropic exponent of the real gas

α :

Growth rate of \({{{p_t}} \over p}\) to Ma, \(\alpha = {{d{{{p_t}} \over p}} \over {dMa}}\)

β :

Growth rate of \({p \over {{p_t}}}\) to Ma, \(\beta = {{d{p \over {{p_t}}}} \over {dMa}}\)

γ :

Isentropic exponent of the ideal air, γ = 14

C p :

Static pressure coefficient, \({C_p} = {{p - {p_1}} \over {{p_{t1}} - {p_1}}}\)

RANS:

Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations

SST:

Shear stress transport

S-CO2 :

Supercritical carbon dioxide

References

  1. Y. Ahn et al., Review of supercritical CO2 power cycle technology and current status of research and development, Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 47(6) (2015) 647–661.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. J. Sarkar, Review and future trends of supercritical CO2 Rankine cycle for low-grade heat conversion, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 48(Supplement C) (2015) 434–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. E. G. Feher, The supercritical thermodynamic power cycle, Energy Conversion, 8(2) (1968) 85–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. G. Angelino, Carbon dioxide condensation cycles for power production, Engineering for Power, 90(3) (1968) 287–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. S. A. Wright et al., Operational results of a closed brayton cycle test-loop, Proceedings of the Space Technology and Applications International Forum, New York (2005).

  6. S. A. Wright et al., Operation and Analysis of a Supercritical CO2Brayton Cycle, Sandia Report (2010) 2010–0171.

  7. J. S. Noall and J. J. Pasch, Achievable efficiency and stability of supercritical CO2 compression systems, Proceedings of the S-CO2Power Cycle Symposium, September 9 & 10 (2014).

  8. F. Behafarid and M. Z. Podowski, Modeling and computer simulation of centrifugal CO2 compressors at supercritical pressures, Journal of Fluids Engineering, 138(6) (2016) 061106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. S. G. Kim et al., CFD investigation of a centrifugal compressor derived from pump technology for supercritical carbon dioxide as a working fluid, J. of Supercritical Fluids, 86(Supplement C) (2014) 160–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. M. Utamura, T. Fukuda and M. Aritomi, Aerodynamic characteristics of a centrifugal compressor working in supercritical carbon dioxide, Energy Procedia, 14 (2012) 1149–1155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. R. Pecnik, E. Rindldi and P. Colonna, Computational fluid dynamics of a radial compressor operating with supercritical CO2, J. of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 134 (2012) 122301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. S. K. Raman and H. D. Kim, A new equation of state to predict S-CO2 flow with real gas effects, Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 32(3) (2018) 1099–1104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. H. D. Vo, C. S. Tan and E. M. Greitzer, Criteria for spike initiated rotating stall, J. of Turbomachinery, 130(1) (2008) 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. J. März, C. Hah and W. Neise, An experimental and numerical investigation into the mechanisms of rotating instability, J. of Turbomachinery, 124(3) (2002) 367–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. H. Wang et al., Entropy analysis of the interaction between the corner separation and wakes in a compressor cascade, Entropy, 19 (7) (2017).

  16. J. Du et al., Flow structures in the tip region for a transonic compressor rotor, J. of Turbomachinery, 135(3) (2013) 031012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. F. Han, Y. Mao and J. Tan, Influences of flow loss and inlet distortions from radial inlets on the performances of centrifugal compressor stages, Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 30(10) (2016) 4591–4599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. J. Gou, X. Yuan and X. Su, Adaptive mesh refinement method based investigation of the interaction between shock wave, boundary layer, and tip vortex in a transonic compressor, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: J. of Aerospace Engineering, 232(4) (2018) 694–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Y. Liu et al., Investigation of vortical structures and turbulence characteristics in corner separation in a linear compressor cascade using DDES, J. of Fluids Engineering, 139(2) (2017) 021107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. X. Su and X. Yuan, Improved compressor corner separation prediction using the quadratic constitutive relation, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: J. of Power and Energy, 231(7) (2017) 618–630.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Y. Liu, L. Zhong and L. Lu, Comparison of DDES and URANS for unsteady tip leakage flow in an axial compressor rotor, J. of Fluids Engineering, 142(12) (2019) 121405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. R. Pecnik, E. Rindldi and P. Colonna, Computational fluid dynamics of a radial compressor operating with supercritical CO2, J. of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 134 (2012) 122301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. C. Lettieri et al., Low-flow-coefficient centrifugal compressor design for supercritical CO2, J. of Turbomachinery, 136 (2014) 081008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. N. D. Baltadjiev, C. Lettieri and Z. S. Spakovszky, An investigation of real gas effects in supercritical CO2 centrifugal compressors, J. of Turbomachinery, 137 (2015) 091003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. A. Ameli et al., Effects of real gas model accuracy and operating conditions on supercritical CO2 compressor performance and flow field, Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition (2016) GT2017-63570.

  26. A. Ameli, T. Turunen-Saaresti and J. Backman, Numerical investigation of the flow behavior inside a supercritical CO2 centrifugal compressor, Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition (2016) GT2016-57481.

  27. J. Lee et al., Sensitivity study of S-CO2 compressor design for different real gas approximations, Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition (2016) GT2016-57100.

  28. N. D. Baltadjiev, C. Lettieri and Z. S. Spakovszky, An investigation of real gas effects in supercritical CO2 centrifugal compressors, J. of Turbomachinery, 137 (2015) 091003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. W. A. Ma et al., Experimental study of corner stall in a linear compressor cascade, Chinese J. of Aeronautics, 24(3) (2011) 235–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the long-term support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant NO. 51806154) and Hubei Province Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2018CFB317, No. 2017CFB325, No. 2016CFA019).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science and Technology on Thermal Energy and Power Laboratory, Wuhan, 430205, Hubei Province, China

    Jinlan Gou, Kelong Zhang, Yuansheng Lin, Yong Li, Can Ma & Hanbing Ke

  2. Wuhan Second Ship Design and Research Institute, Wuhan, 430205, Hubei Province, China

    Jinlan Gou, Kelong Zhang, Yuansheng Lin, Yong Li, Can Ma & Hanbing Ke

Authors
  1. Jinlan Gou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kelong Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yuansheng Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yong Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Can Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hanbing Ke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hanbing Ke.

Additional information

Recommended by Editor Yong Tae Kang

Jinlan Gou is an engineer at the Science and Technology on Thermal Energy and Power Laboratory, Wuhan, China. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Tsinghua University. His research interests include computational fluid dynamics and supercritical carbon dioxide compressor.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gou, J., Zhang, K., Lin, Y. et al. Physical property effects of the compression process with supercritical carbon dioxide as working fluid. J Mech Sci Technol 34, 3379–3393 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0731-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0731-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation