G403 Unsteady Flow Behavior in an Axial Compressor Rotor at Near-Stall Conditions

Abstract

Effects of the rotor tip clearance on the performance and the stall phenomena at near-stall conditions in an axial flow compressor rotor have been investigated experimentally. For two different tip clearances, the internal flow structure and the unsteady flow behavior was analyzed by measuring the wall pressure on the casing and the three-dimensional velocity field downstream of the rotor. It is found that the stall inception originates from the separation of blade suction surface boundary layer for the small tip clearance and from the breakdown of tip leakage vortex for the large tip clearance.