0608 Detached Eddy Simulation of Rotating Stall in a Transonic Centrifugal Compressor with Single Splitter Blades

Abstract

In order to improve the performance and operating range of centrifugal compressors, it is indispensable to understand unsteady behavior of vortical flows. In this paper, the flow fields in a centrifugal compressor with single splitter blades have been investigated by Detached Eddy Simulation(DES). The simulation showed that the vortex breakdown occurred in the tip leakage vortex of full blade and discharged a part of the leakage vortex interacting with a horseshoe vortex around the leading edge of splitter blade. Moreover, the horseshoe vortex interacted with the leading edge of adjacent full blade periodically. It means that such unsteadiness of flow fields inside the impellers affects total performance characteristics.