1 Copyright 2012 by ASME

Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2012

GT2012
June 11-15, 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark
GT2012-68219
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF HIGH PRESSURE RATIO CENTRIFUGAL
COMPRESSOR WITH AXISYMMETRIC AND NON-AXISYMMETRIC
RECIRCULATION DEVICE
Hideaki Tamaki
Turbo Machinery and Engine Technology Department, IHI Corporation
1, Shin-Nakahara-Cho, Isogo-Ku, Yokohama, 235-8501, J apan
hideaki_tamaki@ihi.co.jp
Xinqian Zheng, Yangjun Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tshingua University
Beijing, 100084, China
ABSTRACT
Centrifugal compressors used for turbochargers are
required to have a wide operating range. A recirculation device,
which consists of a bleed slot, an upstreamslot and an annular
cavity connecting both slots, is often used with them. It
improves the incidence angle of the impeller leading edge, i.e.
the blade loading of the inducer, at low flow rates due to the
recirculation flow supplied to the compressor inlet. However
the compressor efficiency drops when there is a recirculation
flow fromthe bleed slot to the upstream slot. A one dimensional
analysis in the first section of this paper showed that the
reduction in the compressor efficiency can be lowered by
decreasing the pressure drop or reducing the recirculation flow
rate within the recirculation device. This study examined the
possibility of improvement in the compressor efficiency by the
use of a recirculation device with an asymmetric bleed slot.
An impeller of a turbocharger compressor is normally
contained in a volute. Since the geometry of the volute is not
axisymmetric, the impeller is surrounded by an asymmetric flow
field. Hence each impeller passage, which is formed by two
adjacent full blades, is operated at a different operating point.
This means that some of passages need the improvement in the
blade loading by the recirculation device but others do not.
There is a possibility that this is realized by a recirculation
device with an asymmetrically-distributed bleed slot, called a
non-axisymmetric recirculation device in this paper. If the
asymmetric bleed slot shortens the average distance between the
bleed slot and upstreamslot or reduces the area of the bleed
slot, it can reduce the pressure drop or recirculation flow rate
within the recirculation device, and hence can improve the
compressor efficiency.
This study discusses the characteristics of high pressure
ratio compressors for turbochargers without the recirculation
device and those with the recirculation device with an
axisymmetric bleed slot. Further, the effects of non-
axisymmetric recirculation devices on the compressor
characteristics are experimentally investigated. Two types of
non-axisymmetric recirculation devices were tested. One had
the bleed slot of a sine wave pattern. The other had the bleed
slot partially channeled in the circumferential direction. There
were appropriate positions relative to the volute for both non-
axisymmetric recirculation devices. The compressor efficiency
with non-axisymmetric recirculation devices was higher than
that with axisymmetric recirculation devices, and the surge lines
of the compressor with non-axisymmetric recirculation devices
were located at flow rate lower than or equal to those with the
axisymmetric recirculation devices.
NOMENCLATURE
b
3
Impeller exit blade height [m]
b
4
Diffuser height [m]
H Axial impeller length between hub side of impeller
exit and shroud side of impeller inlet [m]
M Meridional length [m]
m Compressor inlet (discharge) mass flow rate [kg/s]
mc Choke flow rate [kg/s]
m
d
Design mass flow rate [kg/s]
m
r
Recirculation flow rate [kg/s]
2 Copyright 2012 by ASME
m
s
Mass flow rate near surge [kg/s]
Mu Peripheral Mach number (=U/(RgT
1
)
0.5
)
P
s
Static pressure [Pa]
P
T
Stagnation pressure [Pa]
P
TU
Stagnation pressure of fluid injected fromupstream
slot [Pa]
R Radius [m]
R
Ls
Impeller inlet radius of shroud side [m]
Rg Gas constant [J /( kgK)]
U Impeller speed [m/s]
Z Number of blades
Ratio of recirculation flow rate to mass flow rate

Lb
Impeller blade angle at inlet radius (from radial
direction) [deg]

3b
Impeller back-sweep (fromradial direction) [deg]
Specific heat ratio
E
m
Ideal specific work between impeller leading edge and
bleed slot at mass flow rate of m[J /kg]
P Pressure loss in recirculation device [Pa]
W
m
Ideal specific work between bleed slot and impeller
exit at flow rate of m[J /kg]

1,m
Adiabatic impeller efficiency between impeller
leading edge and bleed slot at mass flow rate of m

2,m
Adiabatic impeller efficiency between bleed slot and
impeller exit at mass flow rate of m

T,m
Adiabatic impeller efficiency with recirculation device
at mass flow rate of m

*
T,m
Adiabatic impeller efficiency without recirculation
device at mass flow rate of m
Circumferential position relative to volute tongue ()
Total to total pressure ratio of compressor stage

d
at design flow rate (at m/m
d
=1.0)

s
near surge flow rate (at m
s
/m
d
)
Density [kg/m
3
]
Subscript
0 Compressor inlet
1 Upstreamslot (Figure 2)
2 Bleed slot (Figure 2)
3 Impeller exit
4 Diffuser exit
Definition of non-dimensional parameters
Flow coefficient
3
2
3
) 2 ( U R
Q
Pressure coefficient
2
3
1
0
) 1 (
U
CpT

0
Work coefficient
( )
2
3
0 3
U
T T Cp
INTRODUCTION
A high boost pressure is required in order to increase the
specific output power of Diesel engines. Improved thermal
efficiency and reduced emissions are also essential for
environmental conservation. The pressure ratio of compressors
for turbochargers has been increasing to meet these engine
requirements, in particular to downsize automotive engines and
to apply Miller timing to Diesel engines.
Centrifugal compressors used for turbochargers need to
have a wide operating range. However the above engine
requirement on turbochargers makes it difficult for the
compressor to ensure a wide operating range. There are many
countermeasures to enhance the compressor operating range. A
recirculation device, which consists of a bleed slot, an upstream
slot and an annular cavity connecting both slots, is often used
with turbocharger compressors. A typical recirculation device is
shown in Fig. 1. There are many studies about recirculation
devices. Hunziker et al. [1] adapted a recirculation device to a
centrifugal compressor with pressure ratio of 4.2 and succeeded
in the enhancement of the surge margin without sacrificing
compressor efficiency on a typical engine operating line.
Sivagnanasudaramet al. [2] investigated the effect of a bleed
slot on flow characteristics in a centrifugal compressor with a
pressure ratio of 4.5 and proposed a proper width of the bleed
slot. They also showed that suction of separation vortex and
over-tip vortex by the bleed slot reduces the formation of stall
flow.
Cavity
Bleed Slot
Upstream Slot Cavity
Bleed Slot
Upstream Slot
Fig. 1 Schematic view of conventional recirculation device
An impeller of a turbocharger compressor is normally
contained in a volute. Since the geometry of the volute is not
axisymmetric, the impeller is surrounded by a non-axisymmetric
flow field [3]. The cross-sectional area of the volute is designed
to increase from the tongue towards the discharge section to
accommodate the increasing flow [4]. The variation of static
pressure around the volute depends on the flow rate. There is a
flow rate at which the average velocity in the throat section of
the volute, i.e., at the exit of the volute, is equal to the mean
velocity in other cross sections of the volute. The static pressure
around the volute is nearly uniformat this flow rate. If the flow
rate is reduced to less than this flow rate, the flow is decelerated
and the static pressure increases towards the exit of the volute.
Fink el al. [5] measured static pressures on a casing of a
turbocharger compressor versus time with high-response
pressure transducers and found asymmetric stalling of the
impeller. As the compressor was throttled, local flow reversal at
the inducer was found, first near a circumferential location of
the volute tongue, and then away from that location. The
asymmetric stalling of the impeller at the circumferential
location of the volute tongue was considered to be linked to the
3 Copyright 2012 by ASME
onset of a deep stall. Near the tongue, a pressure rise around the
impeller was lower relative to the angular positions away from
the tongue. This asymmetry was still seen in the inducer leading
edge. They also showed that the axial velocity at the inducer tip
dropped to zero at the angular position of the volute tongue.
Fisher [6] pointed out that a recirculation device reduced the
circumferential pressure distortion at the inducer tip at surge,
i.e., it decoupled the inducer fromthe circumferential pressure
field in the rest of the compressor stage.
Zheng et al. [7] paid attention to the distorted flow field in
a compressor caused by an asymmetric geometry of the volute.
They devised a non-axisymmetric recirculation device, the
recirculation device whose bleed slot is asymmetrically-
distributed around the impeller. It was confirmed that the non-
axisymmetric recirculation device had more potential for the
enhancement of compressor operating range than the
conventional recirculation device whose bleed slot is
axisymmetric around the impeller. Yang et al. [8] tried to
explain the reason why the non-axisymmetric recirculation
device was more effective in enhancing the compressor
operating range than the conventional recirculation device.
They found that the non-axisymmetric recirculation device can
distribute the recirculation flow in the circumferential direction
on the basis of the distance from the leading edge of the
impeller to the bleed slot. They concluded that a well-designed
non-axisymmetric recirculation device could depress the
asymmetric flow in the inducer more effectively compared to
the conventional recirculation device, and this contributed to
preventing the asymmetric stalling of the impeller.
m m+m
r
m
m
r
Bleed slot : 2 Upstream slot : 1
Compressor inlet : 0
Impeller leading edge

(a) Existence of a recirculation flow
m m-m
r
m
m
r
Bleed slot : 2 Upstream slot : 1
Compressor inlet : 0
Impeller leading edge
(b) Near choke condition
Fig. 2 One-dimensional model of recirculation device
Fig. 2 is an illustration of a one-dimensional model for the
impeller with the conventional recirculation device. Most of the
turbocharger compressors operate at high Mach numbers with
significant compressible effects. However it is expected that a
simple analysis based on incompressible flow would be able to
explain the impact of the recirculation device on the impeller
efficiency qualitatively. In the case of incompressible flow, the
specific enthalpy is the ratio of pressure to density.
The following discussion is possible when a recirculating
flow is present. Stagnation enthalpy at the upstreamslot station,
1, is the sum of the stagnation enthalpy at the compressor inlet,
0, and that of the recirculation flow injected fromthe upstream
slot.
/ / / ) (
0 1 TU r T T r
P m mP P m m + = + (1)
The stagnation pressure of the fluid injected from the
upstreamslot P
TU
, is described by Equation (2).
P P P
T TU
=
2
(2)
P is the pressure loss in the recirculation device between
the bleed slot and the upstreamslot including the mixing loss at
the upstreamslot. Using an ideal specific work between the
impeller leading edge and the bleed slot provided by the
impeller at a mass flow rate of mE
m
, the stagnation pressure at
the bleed slot P
T2
, can be written as:
r r
m m m m T T
E P P
+ +
+ =
, 1 1 2
(3)

1,m+mr
is the efficiency of the impeller between the impeller
leading edge and the bleed slot at the mass flow rate of m+m
r
.

1,m+mr
E
m
is the work transferred fromthe impeller to the fluid
through the impeller between the impeller leading edge and the
bleed slot accordingly. Using the above equations,
) (
, 1 0 1
P E P P
r r
m m m m T T
+ =
+ +
(4)
where is the recirculation ratio that is defined as m
r
/m. The
stagnation pressure at the impeller exit P
T3
is
m m m m m m T
m m m m m m T
m m T T
W P E P
W E P
W P P
r r
r r
+ + + =
+ + =
+ =
+ +
+ +



, 2 , 1 0
, 2 , 1 1
, 2 2 3
) 1 (
(5)
where W
m
is the ideal specific work between the bleed slot
and the impeller exit provided by the impeller at the mass flow
rate of m.
2,m
is the efficiency of the impeller between the
bleed slot and the impeller exit at a mass flow rate of m.
The impeller efficiency with the recirculation device at a
mass flow rate of m
T,m
, is expressed as:
m m m
m m m m m m
m m m r
T T
m T
W E
P W E
W m E m m
P P m
r
r r
r
+ +
+ +
=
+ +

=
+
+ +
+
) 1 (
/ ) 1 (
) (
/ ) (
, 2 , 1
0 3
,

(6)
E
m+mr
is smaller than E
m
because of the increase in the mass
flow rate due to m
r
.
1,m+mr
is higher than
1,m
because of the
improvement of incidence. When the product of (m+m
r
) and
4 Copyright 2012 by ASME
E
m+mr
is comparable to the product of mand E
m
, and P/ is
approximated by E
m
, Equation (6) becomes,
m m
m m m m m
m T
W E
E W E
+
+
=
) (
1 , 2 , 1
,

(6)
where
1,m+mr
is split into the following two terms.
1 , 1 , 1
+ =
+ m m m
r

1
corresponds to the increase in the impeller efficiency.
Near the choking flow rate, a part of the inflow gets into the
upstreamslot and comes out of the bleed slot. In this situation,
the stagnation enthalpy at the bleed slot satisfies Equation (7).


/ ) ( ) (
/ ) ( /
0 , 1
0 2
P P m E m m
P m m mP
T r m m r m m
T r T
r r
+ +
=

(7)
P is the pressure loss in the recirculation device between the
upstreamslot and the bleed slot including the mixing loss at the
bleed slot. Near the choking condition, the pressure drop P
corresponds to the negative pressure at the bleed slot which is
produced by the fluid pumped out by the part of the impeller
between the upstream slot and the bleed slot. m
r
is the flow rate
passing through the recirculation device. The stagnation
pressure at the impeller exit, P
T3
is
m m m m m m T
m m T T
W E P P
W P P
r r
+ + =
+ =



, 2 , 1 0
, 2 2 3
) 1 (
(8)
where is the flow ratio defined as m
r
/m.
The impeller efficiency with the recirculation device at a
mass flow rate of m
T,m
, is expressed as:
m m m
m m m m m m
m m m r
T T
m T
W E
P W E
W m E m m
P P m
r
r r
r
+
+
=
+

) 1 (
/ ) 1 (
) (
/ ) (
, 2 , 1
0 3
,

(9)
E
m-mr
is larger than E
m
due to the decrease in the mass flow
rate by m
r
.
1,m-mr
is higher than
1,m
because of the reduction in
the incidence loss. When the product of (m-m
r
) and E
m-mr
is
comparable to the product of m and E
m
, and if P/ is
considered to be equal to E
m
, Equation (9) becomes the same
as Equation (6).
m m
m m m m m
m T
W E
E W E
+
+
=
) (
1 , 2 , 1
,

(9)
where
1,m-mr
is split into following two terms.
1 , 1 , 1
+ =
m m m
r

1
corresponds to the increase in the impeller efficiency.
In the case of the impeller without a recirculation device,
the impeller efficiency at a mass flow rate of m
*
T,m
, can be
obtained by changing
1,m+mr
to
1,m
and substituting 0 into m
r
and in equation (6).
m m
m m m m
m T
W E
W E
+
+
=
, 2 , 1
,
*

(10)
A comparison of (6) and (9) with (10) indicates that the
efficiency of the compressor with the recirculation device
becomes higher with decreasing pressure loss in the
recirculation device which is required to get a certain
recirculation flow ratio of . It also requires the development of
recirculation devices that can enhance the compressor operating
range with the recirculation flow ratio being made as small as
possible. Reducing the distance between the upstreamslot and
the bleed slot is one of countermeasures for the reduction in the
pressure loss or the recirculation flow ratio in the recirculation
device. If a recirculation device with an asymmetric bleed slot,
called non-axisymmetric recirculation device in this paper,
could really provide an extra operating range, there is a
possibility that non-axisymmetric recirculation devices can be
made which satisfy following two features;
(1) Equal to or wider operating range than that offered by
the recirculation device here with an axisymmetric bleed slot,
called conventional recirculation device.
(2) Smaller (average) distance between the upstreamslot
and the bleed slot or smaller area of the bleed slot compared to
a conventional recirculation device.
This non-axisymmetric recirculation device will recover the
efficiency drop caused by the recirculation flow without
deteriorating the operating range which is obtained by the
conventional recirculation device.
This paper presents the development of non-axisymmetric
recirculation devices which satisfy the above two features.
Taking the asymmetry of the bleed slot and volute into account,
3-D calculations ought to be unsteady. Yang et al. [10] tried to
calculate a compressor with a volute by a steady state
calculation, frozen rotor model. They showed that calculated
circumferential variation of static pressures near splitter blade
leading edge were significantly different from test results
particularly a location where the static pressure became a
minimum value, and hence the necessity for unsteady
calculations to understand the effect of the volute on the flow
field. Since unsteady calculations will take a lot of time, this
study was mainly done based on experiments. Two types of
asymmetric bleed slots were produced experimentally and the
compressor characteristics with the non-axisymmetric
recirculation devices were compared to those with conventional
recirculation devices. The first recirculation device was
designed to shorten the average distance between the upstream
slot and the bleed slot and the second one was designed to
correct a defect of the first one.
INVESTIGATED COMPRESSOR AND ITS
CHARACTERISTICS
The specifications and main parameters of the investigated
compressor are listed in Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3. It was
developed by one of the authors. The detailed design of the
compressor has been reported in [9]. The outer radius of the
5 Copyright 2012 by ASME
impeller is 72.2mm, and the tip clearance is 0.5mm. Figure 3
shows two pictures of the compressor. The impeller adopts
double splitter blades. Backsweep angles of the full blade and
the two adjoining splitter blades are different from each other.
The compressor was originally designed to be used with vaned
diffuser. However experiments were done with a vaneless
diffuser to exclude the possibility of stall caused by a vaned
diffuser. The original volute designed for the vaned compressor
was also used for the compressor with a vaneless diffuser.
Table 1 Compressor specifications
Mu
1.62 0.108 0.624 5.7
Table 2 Main parameters of impeller
Z 6/6/6 full/1
st
/2
nd
splitter
R
Ls
/R
3
0.72 b
3
/R
3
0.11

Lb
62 /28 shroud/hub

3b
15/16/11 full/1
st
/2
nd
splitter
Table 3 Main parameter of vaneless diffuser
b
4
/b
3
R
4
/R
3
0.75 1.74

1
st
splitter
2
nd
splitter
1
st
splitter
2
nd
splitter

Fig. 3 Picture of investigated compressor

^t
d
D

(a) Pressure ratio of SW and CT

(b) Efficiency of SW and CT

Fig. 4 Compressor characteristics of SW and CT

W
d

D
Fig. 5 Circumferential variation of static pressure
distribution of SW at 1.14R
2
Figure 4 shows the measured compressor characteristics
with and without the original recirculation device. The
compressor without the recirculation device is called SW in this
study. Figure 5 shows the circumferential variation of static
pressure of SW at 1.14R
3
at the design peripheral Mach
number. starts fromthe angular position of the volute tongue.
As the volute was originally designed to reduce the volute
discharge velocity, the circumferential variation of static
pressure increases towards the volute discharge section at the
design flow rate of m/m
d
=1.0 even for the testing with a
vaneless diffuser. Hence the volute throat is not under-sized for
the vaneless diffuser.
Figure 6 is a meridional view of the compressor with the
main dimensions of the original recirculation device called CT.
H/R
3
is 0.79. Its bleed slot is axisymmetric around the impeller.
The peak efficiency falls by about 1.0 points at the design
peripheral Mach number of Mu=1.62 by the use of CT.
Figure 7 shows that of SW and CT at 1.14R
3
at the design
peripheral Mach number. m/m
d
=0.95 is near surge of SW. near
surge is the operational point of the smallest flow rate. Both
SW and CT show similar distributions. The variation of static
pressure is very large. It has a minimumvalue just downstream
of the tongue, at a of between 30 and 60.
6 Copyright 2012 by ASME
,
,
,
,
Fig. 6 Original recirculation device of CT

W
d

D
Fig. 7 Circumferential variation of static pressure
distribution of SW and CT at 1.14R
2

W
d

Fig. 8 Circumferential variation of static pressure
distribution at 0.224H and 0.112H near surge
Figure 8 is the circumferential variation of static pressure of
SW on the shroud at the center of the bleed slot, 0.224H from
the impeller leading edge, and at 0.112H in the middle of the
impeller leading edge and 0.224H for Mu=1.54 and the design
peripheral Mach number of Mu=1.62 . The variation of static
pressure due to the asymmetric static pressure distribution
downstreamof the impeller still remains at the inducer tip.
Time averaged static pressure variations between two
adjacent full blades were derived fromaveraging instantaneous
static pressures which were sampled periodically are shown in
Fig. 9. The operating conditions are near surge at Mu=1.54 and
the design peripheral Mach number of Mu=1.62. Four different
circumferential positions of =60, 150, 240 and 330 were
selected as installation positions of high frequency pressure
transducers (Kulite XCE-062). The region where the static
pressures were measured was between -0.151H (negative value
corresponds to upstream fromthe leading edge) and 0.302H.
Eight pressure transducers were installed in the axial direction
for each circumferential position. Although the contours are not
smooth because of the limited number of sensors, the static
pressure distribution obtained by the data at =150 clearly has
the broadest high pressure region for each peripheral Mach
number. The results show the existence of asymmetric static
pressure distribution at the inducer similar to Fig. 8.

WW

&

,
,
(a) Mu=1.54

&

,
,
WW

(b) Design peripheral Mach number of Mu=1.62

Fig. 9 Static pressure distribution between full blades
Figure 10 shows the circumferential variation of static
pressure on the shroud at 0.112H fromthe impeller leading
edge for SW and CT. The operating conditions are near surge at
Mu=1.54 and the design peripheral Mach number of Mu=1.62.
As Fisher [6] pointed out, the recirculation device depresses the
circumferential distortion upstreamof the recirculation device.
Figure 10 also shows a comparison of the relation between the
flow rate and the circumferentially averaged static pressures at
0.112H of SW with that of CT. There are points of intersection
between the curves for SW and CT. The flow passing through
the recirculation device does not exist around this intersection.
Near the choke condition, some of the compressor inlet flow
bypasses the impeller between the leading edge and the bleed
slot. Since the flow passing through the impeller between the
leading edge and the bleed slot reduces, the static pressure
7 Copyright 2012 by ASME
upstreamof the bleed slot increases. This corresponds to the
description that E
m-mr
is larger than E
m
in the one-dimensional
model. At lower flow rates, the recirculation flow is added to
the incoming flow into the compressor. As the flow passing
through the impeller between the leading edge and the bleed
slot increases, the static pressure upstream of bleed slot
decreases as E
m+mr
<E
m
in the one-dimensional model. As a
result of the flow passing through the recirculation device, the
curve of the static pressure characteristics at 0.112H of CT
becomes flat compared to that of SW.

(a) Circumferential variation of static pressure

distribution at 0.112H near surge of SW and CT

SW C1
M M

M
(b) Circumferentially average static pressure at 0.112H
Fig. 10 Static pressure distribution at 0.112H of SW and CT
COMPRESSOR CHARACTERISTICS WITH FIRST
NON-AXISYMMETRIC RECIRCULATION DEVICE
The bleed slot sucks out low energy fluid (i.e. blockage)
near the shroud except in the vicinity of the choke. This allows
the additional flow passing through the impeller between the
leading edge and the bleed slot, and reduces the blade loading
between the leading edge and the bleed slot. The additional
flow corresponds to the flow sucked out by the bleed slot, i.e.,
the recirculation flow. The recirculation flow increases in
response to the increase in the static pressure difference
between the bleed slot and upstreamslot. When the suction of
the blockage or the reduction in the blade loading at the front
part of the impeller (i.e. inducer) is required at high flow rate,
the bleed slot should be located at the latter part of the inducer.
If the suction of the blockage is needed at lower flow rate, the
bleed slot will come closer to the leading edge.
The non-axisymmetric recirculation device called ASCT1
that was tested first has the asymmetric bleed slot whose
centerline is a sine wave pattern. The width of the bleed slot is
the same as CT. Figure 11 shows a schematic of the bleed slot
of ASCT1. The downstreamposition of the bleed slot centerline
of ASCT1 is the same as that of CT, 0.224H from the impeller
leading edge. The upstreamposition of the centerline of bleed
slot is just above the impeller leading edge and this is the
closest position to the impeller leading edge that the bleed slot
can take.

P
ASC1
u

L
C1

P
(a) Bleed slot of ASCT1 and CT
l
u
l
8
C
(b) Tested compressor casing
Fig. 11 Non-axisymmetric recirculation device ASCT1

^d
^d
^d
^d

Fig. 12 Circumferential position of ASCT1
Figure 11 also shows a schematic of the tested compressor
casing. The compressor casing consists of an outer casing, an
inner casing, and an inlet part. The outer casing includes a part
of the impeller shroud, a vaneless diffuser, and a volute. The
inner casing is nearly cylindrical. The inner side of the inner
8 Copyright 2012 by ASME
casing is the impeller shroud and inlet. The outer side of that
constitutes the annular cavity with the inner side of the outer
casing. The slot which cuts through the inner casing is the bleed
slot. One end of the inner casing is connected to the outer
casing by bolting. The inlet part is fixed in front of the other
end of the inner casing and the gap between the inlet part and
the end of the inner part forms the upstream slot. Since twelve
bolt holes are evenly placed at the outer casing, the angular
position of the bleed slot relative to the volute can be varied in
steps of 30.
Four different circumferential positions of the bleed slot
relative to the volute were tested. The downstream position of
the bleed slot centerline, 0.224H from the impeller leading
edge, of ASCT1-1 is =0, just at the tongue angular position.
The downstream positions of the bleed slot centerline of
ASCT1-2, ASCT1-3 and ASCT1-4 are =90, 180 and 270
respectively. Figure 12 shows the circumferential bleed slot
position of ASCT1. For a comparison of the compressor
characteristics of ASCT1 with those of a conventional
recirculation device, a conventional recirculation device called
CT1 was additionally tested (Fig. 13). CT1 has the bleed slot
centerline at 0.112H from the impeller leading edge. This
position is at the middle between the leading edge and the
downstream position of the bleed slot centerline of ASCT,
0.224H from the impeller leading edge (Fig. 13). Here the
width of the bleed slot of CT1 is the same as that of CT.
P
Fig. 13 Recirculation device of CT1
Figure 14 shows the test results of ASCT1. The relationship
of the flow rate and pressure ratio of SW is also shown in Fig.
14. Only the change in the phase angle of the sine-wave bleed
slot varies the surge line, which is the line connecting the
operational points of the smallest flow rates on all the
peripheral Mach numbers. These test results imply that the
existence of the asymmetric flow field in the compressor affects
the inception of surge or stall. This asymmetric flow field will
be created by the volute. The surge line of ASCT1-1 is located
at the smallest flow rate among the four bleed slot positions.
Figure 15 shows the test results of ASCT1-1, CT and CT1.
Figure 15 includes the relationship of the flow rate and pressure
ratio of SW. The surge line of ASCT1-1 is located at the
smallest flow rate. The surge line of CT1 is almost same as that
of CT. The peak efficiency of ASCT1-1 and CT1 is higher than
that of CT. The peak efficiency of ASCT1-1 was almost the
same as that of SW (not shown in Fig. 15). However the
maximumflow rates of ASCT1 and CT1 are less than that of
SW as shown in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15.

ASC1
ASC1
ASC1
ASC1
SW
M

(a) Pressure ratio of ASCT2 and SW

L

(b) Efficiency of ASCT2

Fig.14 Compressor characteristics of ASCT1
Figure 16 shows static pressure distributions near choke
conditions for SW, CT and CT1 along the impeller shroud
which were calculated with CFD by changing static pressures at
the exit boundaries. Calculations were steady 3-D using a
RANS in-house code developed by IHI [11]. Impeller and
vaneless diffuser passages were modeled with one periodic
pitch of the impeller. These were discretized by H-grids. The
Chakravarthy-Osher TVD scheme was used to discretize the
convective term and the Spalart-Allmaras model for turbulence
closure. The volute was not modeled in these calculations. The
number of grid points for these configurations were about
4,500,000 to 5,200,000. Twenty-one (21) grid points were
located between the blade tip and the casing to represent the tip
clearance. The conventional recirculation device was defined in
the rotating systemof the impeller and modeled with the same
periodicity as an impeller blade passage. The mean value of y+
was 3.0 for all the three cases. mc in Fig. 16 is a choke flow
rate for each calculation. As the pressure at the exit boundary,
i.e. the back pressure of the impeller, is decreased up to a
certain value, choking occurs at the throat of the impeller. For
all back pressures below this value, the flow upstreamof the
throat is not affected by the back pressure because the pressure
9 Copyright 2012 by ASME
information from downstream of the throat cannot travel
upstream. Hence the throat is roughly found as the closest
position from the impeller leading edge where the static
pressure is unchanged for different back pressures close to
choke condition. The approximate throat position near the
shroud is indicated by arrows in Fig. 16. Since the bleed slot of
CT1 is upstreamof the throat, the fluid injected fromthe bleed
slot becomes mixed with the flow passing through the impeller.
This mixing process increases the entropy upstream of the
throat, and a blockage at the throat increases accordingly. As the
bleed slot of CT is near the throat, the increase in the blockage
at the throat due to the fluid injected fromthe bleed will be
much smaller than that of CT1. Figure 16 includes the
circumferentially averaged entropy distributions of CT1 and
CT. The position of the exit boundary for the calculation of CT1
was the same as that of CT. The static pressure at the exit
boundary for the calculation of CT1 was equal to that of CT.
The entropy distributions indicate that CT1 has a wider high
entropy region than CT near the throat which is roughly located
just downstreamof the bleed slot of CT. The reason why the
maximumflow rate of CT1 is smaller than that of SW is the
increase of blockage at the throat due to the fluid injected from
the bleed slot.

ASC1
C1
C1
SW
M

(a) Pressure ratio of ASCT1-1, CT1, CT and SW

L

(b) Efficiency of ASCT1 and CT

L

(c) Efficiency of CT1 and CT

Fig. 15 Compressor characteristics of ASCT1-1 and CT1

MM
M

MM
SW
(a) Static pressure distribution SW

MM
M

C1
(b) Static pressure distribution CT
10 Copyright 2012 by ASME

MM
M

C1
(c) Static pressure distribution CT1
8
L
L

C1
C1
(d) Circumferentially averaged entropy distribution
Fig. 16 Static pressure distribution along impeller shroud
and entropy distribution near bleed slot

ASC1 S
ASC1
SW
M

Fig. 17 Compressor characteristics of ASCT1-1 with sealed

upstream slot, SW and ASCT1-1
Since most of the bleed slot of ASCT1 is located upstream
of the bleed slot of CT, the reason for the reduction in the
maximumflow rate by the use of ASCT1 is probably the same
as that of CT1. To confirm this, ASCT1-1 whose upstreamslot
is sealed was tested. Figure 17 shows the relations between the
flow rate and pressure ratio of ASCT1-1 with the sealed
upstreamslot, SW and ASCT1-1. The maximumflow rate of
ASCT1-1 with the sealed upstream slot is almost the same as
that of SW. Hence the increase of blockage at the throat due to
the fluid injected fromthe bleed slot of ASCT1 makes the
maximumflow rate smaller than that of SW.
COMPRESSOR CHARACTERISTICS WITH SECOND
NON-AXISYMMETRIC RECIRCULATION DEVICE
The defect in the first recirculation device, ASCT1, is that
the bleed slot increases the blockage at the throat near choke
and reduces the maximum flow rate. Another type of non-
axisymmetric recirculation device was designed to overcome
the above defect. The centerline of a new bleed slot was fixed at
0.224H fromthe impeller leading edge, same as that of the
bleed slot of CT, to avoid the reduction in the maximum flow
rate. However the bleed slot of the new recirculation device
partially exits within a certain circumferential range. Two inner
casings with different new bleed slots were manufactured for
experiments. One is ASCT2 whose bleed slot exists over a 90
range of the circumference and the other is ASCT3 whose bleed
slot exists over a 60 range of the circumference as shown in
Fig 18. The bleed slot width of the new bleed slots is the same
as that of CT. The position where the recirculation device or the
suction of low energy fluid is required was found out
experimentally.
In the case of ASCT2, the inner casing was rotated in steps
of 90 as well as ASCT1. The slot of ASCT2-1 starts at =-34
and ends at =56. The slots of ASCT2-2, ASCT2-3 and
ASCT2-4 start at =56, 146 and 236 respectively as shown
in Fig. 18.

ASC1
ASC1
ASC1
ASC1
C
(a) Circumferential position of ASCT2


^d
^d
(b) Circumferential position of ASCT3
Fig. 18 New type of non-axisymmetric recirculation device
11 Copyright 2012 by ASME

ASC1
ASC1
ASC1
ASC1
SW
M

(a) Pressure ratio of ASCT2 and SW

L

(b) Efficiency of ASCT2

Fig. 19 Compressor characteristics of ASCT2
Figure 19 shows the test results of ASCT2. Figure 19 also
illustrates the relation between the flow rate and the pressure
ratio of SW. The shift in the angular position of the bleed slot
relative to the volute tongue varies the compressor
characteristics remarkably. The surge line of ASCT2-1 is
located at the smallest flow rate and the efficiency of ASCT2-1
is the highest in the four cases. Figure 20 shows comparisons of
the compressor characteristics of ASCT2-1 with those of SW
and CT. The maximumflow rate of ASCT2-1 is equal to that of
SW and the surge line of ASCT2-1 is located at a slightly
smaller flow rate than that of CT. The efficiency of ASCT2-1 is
higher than or equal to that of SW. Figure 19 demonstrates that
the surge line of ASCT2-2 is located at a larger flow rate than
that of SW and that of ASCT2-3 occupies almost the same
position of that of SW. The positions of the surge line of
ASCT2-1, ASCT2-2 and ASCT2-3 indicate that the investigated
compressor requires the bleed slot at of between -34 and 56
but does not require at of between 56 and 236 for
enhancement of its operating range. This confirms that each
blade passage is operated at a different operating point in the
circumferential direction.

ASC1
C1
SW
M

(a) Pressure ratio of ASCT2-1, CT and SW

L

(b) Efficiency of ASCT2-1 and CT

L

(c) Efficiency of ASCT2-1 and SW

Fig. 20 Compressor characteristics of ASCT2-1
In the case of ASCT3, two different inner casing positions
were tested. The bleed slot of ASCT3-1 starts at =-4 and ends
at =56. The bleed slot of ASCT3-2 starts at =26 and ends at
=86 as shown in Fig. 18. Figure 21 shows the test results. The
test result of SW is included in Fig. 21. The surge line of
ASCT3-1 is located at a smaller flow rate than that of ASCT3-2
and the efficiency of ASCT3-1 is higher than that of ASCT3-2.
Only the rotation of the bleed slot by 30 generates considerable
variations in the compressor characteristics. Figure 22 shows
the comparisons of ASCT3-1 with CT and ASCT2-1. Table 4
lists the operating range, OPR, for SW, CT, ASCT3-1 and
ASCT2-1. The definition of OPR in Table 4 is
12 Copyright 2012 by ASME
1 =
s
d
d
s
m
m
OPR

where
d
and
s
are total to total pressure ratio at design and
near surge flow rate respectively. m
s
is the flow rate near surge.
Since an increase in the pressure ratio tends to move the surge
line towards the smaller flow rate, an OPR which includes the
effect of the pressure ratio was used here. The bleed slot of 60
provides 1.7% less operating range than CT. However it could
recover the efficiency drop caused by CT as shown in Fig. 21.

ASC1
ASC1
SW
M

(a) Pressure ratio of ASCT3 and SW

L

(b) Efficiency of ASCT3 and SW

Fig. 21 Compressor characteristics of ASCT3
Figure 23 shows the circumferential variation of static
pressure at 1.14R
2
near surge for CT, ASCT2-1 and ASCT3-1 at
the design peripheral Mach number of Mu=1.62. Although the
static pressure of CT is lower than that of ASCT2-1 and
ASCT3-1 because of the lower efficiency of CT compared to
ASCT2-1 and ASCT3-1, the circumferential variation of static
pressure of CT seems to be similar to that of ASCT2-1 and
ASCT3-1. Clear improvement of the static pressure distribution
downstreamof the impeller could not be found by the use of the
non-axisymmetric recirculation devices.
To summarize the test results of two types of non-
axisymmetric recirculation devices, a way to design the
recirculation device without deteriorating compressor efficiency
or to improve compressor efficiency with the conventional
recirculation device can be proposed. The position of bleed slot
should be near the impeller throat to avoid the reduction in the
maximum flow rate. This might contribute to suppress the
excessive recirculation flow, and hence avoid the deterioration
in the compressor efficiency. The bleed slot covering a certain
range in a circumferential direction, 60 to 90 in the tested
compressor, is enough to obtain the operating range the
conventional recirculation device can provide. This will
suppress the drop in the efficiency caused by the use of the
recirculation device.

ASC1
ASC1
C1
M

(a) Pressure ratio of ASCT3-1, ASCT2-1 and CT

L

(b) Efficiency of ASCT3-1, ASCT2-1 and CT

Fig. 22 Compressor characteristics of ASCT3-1
Table 4 Compressor operating range
SW CT ASCT2-1 ASCT3-1
OPR (%) 6.6 13.6 13.9 11.9
13 Copyright 2012 by ASME

W
d

D
Fig. 23 Circumferential variation of static pressure
distribution of CT, ASCT2-1and ASCT3-1 at 1.14R
2
CONCLUSIONS
(1) Shifting the angular position of the non-axisymmetric bleed
slot relative to the volute tongue caused a considerable
change in the compressor characteristics. These results
confirmthat each blade passage is operated at a different
operating point in the circumferential direction, and hence
the existence of asymmetric flow field in the impeller. It
also presents indirect evidence of the existence of the
asymmetric flow field in the centrifugal compressor affects
the inception of surge or stall. Since the centrifugal
compressor does not have any asymmetric elements except
the volute, this asymmetric flow field is created by the
volute.
(2) Taking the asymmetry of the bleed slot and volute into
account, 3-D unsteady calculation is inevitable. It is
considered that designing non-axisymmetric recirculation
devices with CFD would take a lot of time. From the
practical point of view, the experimental method by
rotating bleed slots is an effective way of designing non-
axisymmetric recirculation devices.
(3) The non-axisymmetric bleed slot, which varies its location
between the impeller leading edge and original bleed slot
position along the sine wave pattern, could shift the surge
line towards smaller flow rates. However the increase in the
throat blockage due to the injected fluid from the bleed slot
made its maximumflow rate smaller than the maximum
flow rate of the compressor without the recirculation
device.
(4) The recirculation device whose bleed slot was partially
manufactured in a circumferential direction showed
promising test results. The recirculation device with the
bleed slot covering 90 in the circumferential direction
could achieve slightly wider operating range than the
original recirculation device without deteriorating the
compressor efficiency and without reducing the maximum
flow rate which the compressor the recirculation device can
achieve.
(5) This study proposed a way to design the recirculation
device without deteriorating compressor efficiency. There
is a proper position of bleed slot and a proper range of
bleed slot in a circumferential direction enhancing the
compressor operating range without sacrificing compressor
efficiency and other characteristics.
REFERENCES
[1] Hunziker, R., Dickmann H.-P., Emmrich, R., 2001,
Numerical and Experimental Investigation of a Centrifugal
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Proceedings of Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Vol. 215
Part A.
[2] Sivagnanasundaram, S., Spence, S., Early, J ., Nikpour, B.,
2010, An Investigation of Compressor Map Width
Enhancement and the Inducer Flow Field Using Various
Configurations of Shroud Bleed Slot, ASME GT2010-22154
[3] Cumpsty, N. A., 1989, COMPRESSOR AERODYNAMICS,
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[4] Whitfield, A., Baines, N. C., 1990, Design of radial
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Casing-Treatment, ASME Paper GT2010-22582
[8] Yang, M., Martinez-Botas, R., Zhang, Y., Zheng, X.,
Tamaki, H., Bamba, T., Li, Z., 2011, Investigation of Self-
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High Pressure Ratio Centrifugal Compressor With a Volute,
ASME GT2011-45065
[9] Tamaki, H., Unno, M., Kawakubo, T., Hirata, Y., 2009,
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Compressors for Turbochargers, ASME GT2009-59160
[10] Yang., M., Zheng, X., Zhang, J ., Bamba, T., Tamaki, H.,
Huenteler, J ., Li, Z., 2010, Stability Improvement by High-
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Asymmetric Flow ControlPart I: Non-Axisymmetric Flow in
Centrifugal Compressor, ASME Paper GT2010-22581
[11] Tamaki, H., 2011, Effect of Recirculation Device with
Counter Swirl Vane on Performance of High Pressure Ratio
Centrifugal Compressor, ASME Paper GT2011-45360