The Distribution and Stability of Flow in a Rotating Channel

Abstract

The importance of flow distribution and stability leaving the impeller of a centrifugal compressor is discussed. Experiments on the flow in converging, parallel, and diffusing channels, representative of sections of impeller channels, are reported and discussed. The convergent or divergent character of the channel appears to have less influence on the flow pattern than on the stability. Change of Reynolds number appears to change the degree of nonuniformity of distribution in the channel, but change of rotation number appears to affect the distribution of the nonuniformity more. It appears that the influence of adjacent channels, and of the downstream flow-field in general, has a large effect on the flow within the rotating channel, particularly as regards detachment from the suction channel wall. “No man is an island unto himself,” and no element in an aerodynamic system can be divorced from its upstream or downstream neighbors.