Implementation of New Design Concepts to An Axial Compressor and A Case Study with CFD

Abstract

The present study elaborates on new concepts in designing an axial flow compressor. With the help of an innovative in-house design code, a rotor design is obtained. CFD was used to explore the level of achievement in the performance of the device with the new attributes. In that, the features including local angle of attack, chord length, camber, and thickness were radially adjusted to fulfil flow rate and pressure head requirements at a specific rotational speed, hub, and tip diameters. At the core of this methodology lies the effective use of a lookup table that interrelates airfoil shapes to their corresponding lift coefficients. The most important outcome was the machine attaining the endurance to stall. Furthermore, the rotor geometry is optimized so that the maximum efficiency coincides with the design point of the device, where a low-pitch air motion with a uniform pressure was observed downstream of the rotor, inducing improved aerodynamic conditions. This leads to the minimization of the tangential stresses, and the level of turbulence remained consistently below 15%, signifying a controlled and efficient flow environment. This research expands the understanding of compressor dynamics and offers a practical design methodology, promising increased operational stability and performance across diverse applications.

Received: 26 June 2023 | Revised: 15 August 2023 | Accepted: 21 August 2023

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.