Proceedings of ICFDP7:

Seventh International Congress of Fluid Dynamics and Propulsion

December 19-21, 2001, Sharm El-sheik, EGYPT

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MEASUREMENTS OF UNSTEADY FLOW OF CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR WITH

VANED DIFFUSER

Kwang Ho Kim You Hwan Shin

Thermal/Flow Control Research Center Thermal/Flow Control Research Center
Korea Institute of Science and Technology Korea Institute of Science and Technology

ABSTRACT fluctuations. Shin et al. [4] investigated two different

In this study, the instability of a centrifugal compressor
with vaned diffuser has been investigated. Unsteady pressure
fluctuation with the variation of flow rate and impeller rotating
speed at diffuser inlet and exit were measured by using high
frequency pressure transducers.
From the spectrum analysis of measured signal, a transient
zone was observed at a certain flow rate where two different
frequency peaks coexisted, whereas there was only one
dominant frequency component at other flow rates. And the
result of Wavelet transform analysis also showed such feature
which is distinguished from that of other flow rates.
In this zone, the compressor performance was steeply
deteriorated, propagation speed of stall cell was rapidly
decreased and pressure fluctuation amplitude was quickly
increased.
mechanisms that were recognized for the extension of the
reverse flow with flow rate.
However, for the industrial compressors which demand
high pressure ratio and high efficiency, vaned diffusers are often
used. Hunziker et al. [5], Seidel et al. [6] investigated the
characteristics of stall with variation of vane angle. Hunziker et
al. found that the diffuser channel dominated the instability of
compressor. Seidel et al. examined that the number and the
propagation speed of stall cell changed a lot with rotating speed
and flow rate.
In this study flow measurements have been conducted at
rotating stall in a centrifugal compressor with vaned diffuser.
Particularly the transient behavior, which occurs with the
reducing flow rates from the stable to unstable operating range,
is focused.

INTRODUCTION
The performance of a compressor is typically characterized NOMENCLATURE
with its pressure ratio, flow rate, and efficiency. Stability is also Cp : static pressure rise coefficient
considered as one of the important performance factor. Rotating p : static pressure
stall and surge in compressor, which are unstable and Q : flow rate
undesirable phenomena for the operation, cause the fluctuation φ : flow coefficient
of pressure and velocity and result in vibration and mechanical r : radius
damages. Especially, in case of turbomachines that their D : diameter
operating conditions frequently change, turbochargers and gas b : diffuser axial width
turbine engines for aircraft, the extension of the stable operating ϕ : diffuser peripheral angle
range for a turbo-compressor is more important factor. γ : diffuser vane angle
Most previous studies on rotating stall in centrifugal Subscripts
compressor have been dependent upon experiment and 1 : impeller inlet
accomplished in vaneless diffusers. Fringe et al. [1], Shin et al. 2 : impeller exit or diffuser inlet
[2] investigated the characteristics of rotating stall with the 3 : diffuser exit
number of stall cell, the propagation speed and the amplitude. 4 : discharge duct
Abdelhamid et al. [3] reported the behavior of pressure

TMP-11-1 Copyright © 2001 by ASME

 Table 1 Geometry of impeller and diffuser (mm)
Impeller exit diameter 418
Impeller hub diameter 110
Impeller tip diameter 240
Number of impeller blade 17 (no splitter)
Impeller exit blade angle 90° (radial type)
Diffuser inlet diameter 420
Diffuser outlet diameter 720
Diffuser inlet width 19.4
Diffuser outlet width 19.4
Number of vanes 16
Fig. 1 Centrifugal compressor test rig Vane type Plate (straight)
Vane stagger angle 23°
Vane inlet radius ratio (r3/r2) 1.09
EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY AND INSTRUMENTATION Vane length 120
Vane solidity 1.33
A schematic view of the test section of the low-speed
Vane thickness 2
centrifugal compressor is shown in Fig. 1. This compressor has
a single stage with an unshrouded radial impeller and a parallel
wall vaned diffuser. The dimensions of the impeller and diffuser 1.4
rotating stall
are summarized in Table 1. The test compressor was driven by a onset
15 kW electric motor with a frequency inverter. The flow rate 1.2
total

static pressure rise coefficient (C p)

was controlled by the throttle valve at the end of the discharge
duct and measured by using the orifice plate in the discharge 1.0

duct. impeller
Total pressure, temperature and wall static pressure were 0.8

measured at the inlet plenum, impeller inlet and exit, diffuser

exit, and discharge duct. A pressure scanner (PSI system 8400) 0.6

for the pressure measurement and K-type thermocouples for the diffuser
temperature measurement were used. For investigating 0.4
N
characteristics of rotating stall, unsteady fluctuations of pressure 1800 rpm
2400
at diffuser inlet and exit were measured by using 4 high 0.2
3000
frequency pressure transducers (Kulite XCS-062). 2 high 3560
0.0
frequency pressure transducers are mounted on the diffuser inlet 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
(r/r2=1.02) wall with the interval of 21° in the circumferential flow coefficient (φ)
direction (ϕ=180° and 201°). The others are mounted on the
diffuser exit (r/r2=1.56) wall with the circumferential interval of Fig. 2 Centrifugal compressor test rig
90° (ϕ=90° and 180°). A low-pass filter (Krohn-Hite 3384)
filtered the signal from 4 high frequency pressure transducers ∆p
Cp = 2
(2)
and the signal was processed with a waveform analyzer 1 / 2 ρ ∞U 2
(Analogic D6500E). The low-pass filter has removed the signal
higher than 200Hz and sampling period is 0.9 milliseconds. For
Fig. 2 shows the performance characteristics of the tested
analyzing the signal, correlation function, FFT, and wavelet
compressor with variation of impeller rotating speed. In this
transform were used.
case, the diffuser vane angle was maintained at 23°. This figure
also shows the similarity of a turbo-machinery, because the
change of the pressure coefficient in the impeller of this tested
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
compressor is independent of the rotating speed. It can be found
that the drop of the total compressor performance in the stable
Compressor Performance
operating range is dominated by the static pressure rise in the
The static pressure rise was measured to obtain the
diffuser. It means that the flow from the impeller is blocked to
performance of impeller, diffuser, and total compressor. The
the suction side of the diffuser vane.
flow coefficient and the static pressure rise coefficient are
As the flow rate decreases, the static pressure coefficient
defined by
increases and then drops at about φ=0.33. The rotating stall
Q occurs at this flow rate and the condition of the compressor
φ= (1)
πD2b2U 2 turns into unstable condition. The stall phenomenon was

TMP-11-2 Copyright © 2001 by ASME

 2500 Pa
Pamp, max = 704 Pa ( φ = 0.15, 16.6 Hz )
300
N = 3000 rpm (φ)

amplitude (Pa)
frs = 21.9721 Hz
0.04 200
1200
amplitude (Pa)

0.09
900 100
0.15
600
0.27
0
300 0.29 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0 0.32 frequency (Hz)
0 20 40 60 80 100
(a) φ=0.32
Fig. 3 Pressure fluctuation amplitude spectra with
flow rate at impeller exit (r/r2=1.02, ϕ=180°°)

2500 Pa
0.5 300
propagation speed ( f rs/fi )

frs = 21.9721 Hz

amplitude (Pa)
N
200
1800 rpm
18.1744 Hz
2400
3000 100
0.4 3560

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

frequency (Hz)

0.3
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 (b) φ=0.29
flow coefficient (φ)
2500 Pa
Fig. 4 Stall cell propagation speed with flow rate and
impeller rotating speed 800
700
frs = 18.1744 Hz
amplitude (Pa)

600
500
observed intermittently at the flow ranges φ=0.33−0.31. As the 400
300
flow rate decreases, the performance characteristics of the 200
100
impeller in the unstable operating range increases continuously 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
but that of the diffuser decreases. Therefore, it is believed that
frequency (Hz)
the total compressor performance in the unstable operating
range is also dominated by the characteristics of the diffuser. (c) φ=0.27

Fig. 5 Pressure fluctuations and amplitude spectra

Characteristics of Rotating Stall with flow rate at impeller exit (N=3000 rpm)
Fig. 3 shows the spectrum of the measured pressure
fluctuation amplitude with impeller rotating speed and flow rate coefficient suddenly drops and two specific frequency peaks
at impeller exit (r/r2=1.02). The pressure fluctuation spectrum appeared.
before and after the onset of rotating stall was compared. The
stall frequency was not observed at the flow rate coefficient of Spectrum Analysis
φ=0.35. From the experiment, the number of rotating stall cell Fig. 5 shows the pressure fluctuation and amplitude
was one at all speed and flow rate. The cell rotates with the spectrum which measured from the impeller exit with flow
direction of the impeller rotation. The specific frequency shown rates. One dominant frequency of 21.9721Hz was observed at
in Fig. 3 is the propagation speed of the rotating stall cell. One φ=0.32 but there was two different frequency peaks when the
dominant frequency peak and harmonics were observed at the flow rate decreased to φ=0.29. The frequency of 21.9721Hz is
entire flow ranges except φ=0.29 where two different frequency identical with specific frequency element and pressure wave of
peaks existed simultaneously. φ=0.32. When the flow rate reduces further to φ=0.27, only one
Fig. 4 shows the propagation speed of the stall cell which is signal of specific frequency, 18.1744Hz is observed. This
normalized by the impeller rotating speed. It was found that the frequency is identical with the frequency which is observed
propagation speed of the stall cell is independent of the impeller from φ=0.29.
rotating speed at the same flow rate. As the flow rate decreased
to φ=0.15, the propagation speed of the stall cell also decreased. Wavelet Analysis
With further throttling from the point, the stall cell speed The Wavelet transform is useful to get local information on
increased gradually. Specially, the propagation speed suddenly disturbances.[11]
drops at the ranges φ=0.3−0.25, where the static pressure rise In this study, the size, interval and transient behavior of
stall cells were examined by the Wavelet transform.[10]

TMP-11-3 Copyright © 2001 by ASME

 14

14
12

12

10

10 a/∆t
a/∆ t 8
8

6
6

4 4
0 250 500 750 100 0 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000 3250 3500 3750 4000

b /∆ t b/∆t

(a) φ=0.32 (b) φ=0.29

14 14

12 12

10 10
a/∆t
a/∆t
8 8

6 6

4
0 250 500 750 1000 4
0 250 500 750 1000

b/∆ t b/∆t

(c) φ=0.27 (d) φ=0.29 fourfold enlarged

Fig. 6 Wavelet transform with flow rate at diffuser inlet (N=3000 rpm)

The Wavelet transform of pressure signal p(t) is given by

CONCLUSION
1 In order to investigate the unstable characteristics in a
W ( a, b) = ∫ Ψ (T ) p (t ) dt (4) centrifugal compressor with vaned diffuser (γ=23°), the rotating
a
stall signal was measured by using high frequency pressure
2
where Ψ (T ) = − sin( 2T ) exp( −T ) is Morlet wavelet function, transducers. From the analysis of the measurements, the several
results are obtained as follows.
T = ( t - b ) / a , a is scaling parameter and b is translation.
A transient zone was observed at a flow rate φ=0.29 where
The result of Wavelet transform of the diffuser inlet static
two different frequency peaks existed. In this zone, the pressure
pressure signal is shown in Fig. 6.
rise of the compressor suddenly drops, which is dominated by a
In Fig. 6(a), the maximum values of W(a,b) are located at
frequency shift, from 21.9721Hz to 18.1744Hz in this case and
a/∆t ≈ 8∼10 at equal intervals of b/∆t ≈ 50 (where ∆t, 0.0009sec
the occurrence of double peaks. Also, the propagation speed of
is 1/22 rotor rotation, 50Hz). This means that the size of stall
rotating stall cell in this zone rapidly decreased and pressure
cell is on the order of 6∼7 blade spacings in the circumferential
fluctuation amplitude was quickly increased.
direction since the rotor has 17 blades and they appear at
The Wavelet analysis showed the unique feature which is
intervals of about 2.3 of a rotor rotation. This value (50 Hz / 2.3
distinguished from that of other flow rates. The size and interval
= 21.74 Hz) is similar to that of spectrum Analysis (frs = 21.97
were irregular, explaining the transient behavior of stall cell.
Hz).
From the analyzed results of FFT and Wavelet Transform,
At the flow rate φ=0.29 where two different frequency it was confirmed that two different transform are in substantial
peaks coexisted from the spectrum analysis, the Wavelet agreement for understanding the characteristics of stall cell.
analysis shows totally different feature in contrast with that of
other flow rates. That is, the size and the intervals are irregular
and this irregular pattern explains the behavior of stall cell in
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
transient region.
This study was accomplished with the support of the
Fig. 6(c) shows slight increase of a/∆t (8.8→9.2) and b/∆t research program, the Machinery Design Technology
(50→60) as compared against the flow rate (a) φ=0.32. This Enhancement, from the Ministry of Science and Technology,
means that the size of stall cell increases and propagation speed Korea. The authors would like to thank for the support.
decreases after transient region.
In the generally accepted idea, the increase of cell size is
linked with decrease of propagating speed. In this study, The
idea was confirmed by Wavelet analysis.

TMP-11-4 Copyright © 2001 by ASME

REFERENCES
[1] Frigne, P., and Van Den Braembussche, R., 1984,
“Distinction Between Different Types of Impeller and
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[2] Shin, Y.H., Kim, K.H., and Son, B.J., 1998, “An
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[7] Shin, Y.H., Kim, K.H., Bae, M.H., and Kim, J.H., 2000,
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