Effect of Inlet Flow Distortion on Performance of Vortex Controlled Diffusers

Abstract

The present experimental investigations are concerned with diffusers employing the concept of vortex control to achieve high pressure recovery in a short length. Two types of two-dimensional diffusers have been studied, namely, vortex controlled and hybrid diffusers. Investigations have been carried out on such short diffusers with symmetrically and asymmetrically distorted inlet velocity profiles for area ratios 2.0 and 2.5 and divergence angle of 30 and 45 deg at a Reynolds number of 105 . For each of the above configurations, experiments have been carried out for a range of fence subtended angles and bleed rates. The results indicate improvement in diffuser effectiveness up to a particular bleed off for both types of diffusers. It was observed that the nature of exit velocity profiles could be controlled by differential bleed.