Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Secondary Flow in a High-Speed Compressor Stator

Abstract

A series of numerical and experimental studies have been conducted to understand the mechanism of loss generation in a high-speed compressor stator with inlet radial shear flow over the span. In this study, numerical simulation is extensively used to investigate the complex three-dimensional flow in the cascades and to interpret the phenomena that appeared in the high-speed compressor tests. It has been shown that the inlet radial shear flow generated by the upstream rotor had a significant influence on the stator secondary flow, and consequently on the total pressure loss. Redesign of the stator aiming at the reduction of loss by controlling secondary flow has been carried out and the resultant performance recovery was successfully demonstrated both numerically and experimentally.