Abstract
In this study, effects of the flow path height at the impeller exit and the diffuser on flow fields in a transonic centrifugal compressor have been investigated. The detached-eddy simulation (DES) was applied to investigate the change of flow fields when the flow path height was reduced. The simulation revealed that the reduction of flow path height affected behavior of the tip leakage vortex. The suppression of tip leakage vortex breakdown led to the reduction of not only the accumulation of low momentum fluids at the impeller exit but the reversed flows in the impeller and the diffuser.
