Acta Mech Sin (2006) 22:521527 DOI 10.

1007/s10409-006-0042-5

R E S E A R C H PA P E R

Separation control using synthetic vortex generator jets in axial compressor cascade
Xinqian Zheng Sheng Zhou Anping Hou Zhengli Jiang Daijun Ling

Received: 16 June 2006 / Revised: 3 July 2006 / Accepted: 7 August 2006 / Published online: 17 November 2006 Springer-Verlag 2006

Abstract An experimental investigation conducted in a high-speed plane cascade wind tunnel demonstrates that unsteady ow control by using synthetic (zero mass ux) vortex generator jets can effectively improve the aerodynamic performances and reduce (or eliminate) ow separation in axial compressor cascade. The Mach number of the incoming ow is up to 0.7 and most tested cases are at Ma = 0.3. The incidence is 10 at which the boundary layer is separated from 70% of the chord length. The roles of excitation frequency, amplitude, location and pitch angle are investigated. Preliminary results show that the excitation amplitude plays a very important role, the optimal excitation location is just upstream of the separation point, and the optimal pitch angle is 35 . The maximum relative reduction of loss coefcient is 22.8%. Keywords Flow control Compressor Synthetic jet

1 Introduction Flow separation greatly constrains the improvement of machine performances involving ow and many effective control methods have been developed to shift the separation point downstream or eliminating the separation entirely [1]. It is well known that the strong adverse pressure gradient and the decreased momentum of the boundary layer are two critical factors underlying the boundary layer separation. Therefore, almost all separation control methods, however different they may be, are focused on accelerating the low momentum of uid against the adverse pressure gradient. Suction is the rst method ever proposed by Prandtl for separation control. The basic principle is to remove decelerated uid near a surface and deect the high-momentum free-stream uid towards the surface. Blowing is another effective method to add momentum directly. Seifert et al. [2] found that the injected mass ow can be reduced by an order of magnitude for a given level of mixing by using oscillating jets instead of steady ones. They demonstrated that unsteady control methods are much more effective than steady ones and can be realized at very low level of power input. For the methods of suction, blowing and oscillating jets, the routing of transporting air may present a prohibitive addition of complexity and weight. However this problem could be avoided with synthetic jet, which is characterized by zero net mass ux and nonzero momentum ux and does not require a complex system of pumps and pipes [3]. This technique is very efcient because the low momentum uid is sucked into the device during the suction period of the cycle, whereas a high momentum wall-jet is superimposed on

The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10477002 and 50476003) and the Ph.D. Innovative Foundation of Beihang University. The English text was polished by Yunming Chen. X. Zheng (B) S. Zhou A. Hou National Key Laboratory of Aircraft Engine, Beihang University, Beijing 100083, China e-mail: zhengxq@tsinghua.edu.cn Z. Jiang D. Ling Chinese Gas Turbine Establishment, Jiangyou, Sichuan 621700, China

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the separating velocity prole during the blowing period of the cycle. The spanwise vorticity is enhanced during both periods [4]. In addition, the method of vortex generator jets (VGJs) for separation control has been developed for many years [57]. Blowing from small, skewed, and pitched holes is utilized in this method to create streamwise vortices similar to those created by solid vortex generators. The oscillating ow of synthetic jets and the compound angle injection of VGJs are combined to produce synthetic VGJs. Volino [8] used synthetic VGJs to control separation on lowpressure turbine airfoils at a very low Reynolds number (Re = 25, 000) in the case of the low-speed incoming ow. In axial compressors, the adverse pressure gradient is generally strong. Since the adverse pressure gradient associated with the diffusion becomes stronger at highloading levels in modern designs, an unsteady separation is inevitable [9]. This has a negative impact on stall margin, efciency and pressure rise capability and even leads to rotating stall or surge. But, only a few studies have been conducted to control the separation in axial compressors by using an unsteady excitation. Culley [10] used the embedded injection to control the separation on stator vanes in a low-speed axial multistage compressor. Zheng [11] showed that the disordered unsteady separated ow could be effectively controlled by the periodic suction and blowing in a wide range of incidence, resulting in enhancement of the time-averaged aerodynamic performances of the axial compressor cascade. In the present study, the synthetic vortex generator jets (VGJs) are used to control separation on the axial compressor blades in the plane cascade wind tunnel experiments. The boundary layer of the test case is turbulent since the Reynolds number on the chord exceeds 6.0 105 , which is a typical Reynolds number in the real axial compressors. The high incidence of 10 , which denotes the high blade loadings and where the separation of the turbulent boundary layer occurs, is chosen for all the test cases. The Mach numbers of the incoming ows are from 0.3 to 0.7. Thus, the ow velocity for tests is approximately in tune with that of real high-pressure compressors. Detail tests are conducted with 0.3 Ma. There are many parameters that can be varied in a synthetic VGJs study, such as jet location, jet velocity, jet oscillating frequency, and jet angle. The roles of these parameters are investigated and discussed preliminarily. To the authors knowledge, this is believed to be the rst application of synthetic VGJs to the separation control in the axial ow compressors, especially in a high-speed experimental facility.

2 Experimental apparatus and procedures 2.1 Cascade wind tunnel Experiments were carried out in the plane cascade wind tunnel located in China Gas Turbine Establishment. The available experimental Mach number ranges from 0.3 to 2.0. The wind tunnel with a length of 19 m consists of a gate valve, a quick start valve, a pressure regulator valve, a stabilizing section, a nozzle section, an experimental section, an air-collector, an air-injector, an air-suction system, etc. The sizes of the experimental section are 300 mm (width)160 mm (height). The pressured, dried, and cleaned air is stored in nine containers with the total cubage of 1,000 m3 . The maximum ow ux is 22 kg/s and the stable continuous working time exceeds 4 min The start-up time is about 3 s. The pressure uctuation is less than 0.3%. At the entrance of experimental section, the mean velocity is uniform to within 0.5%. The free stream turbulence intensity (FSTI) is 0.30.05%. 2.2 Test blades Six blades were prepared to ensure that the third blade, i.e. the test blade, would not be inuenced by the sidewall. The span-to-chord ratio of 2 was chosen to ensure two-dimensional ow along the span wise centerline of the blades where all measurements were made. The blade-root prole of the rst stage rotor of a highpressure compressor, which is a high turning angle prole (42.83 ), was chosen as the experimental blade in order to facilitate the separation. The chord length of a blade is 80.6 mm and the solidity is 1.5. The synthetic VGJs are produced from the cavities. The blade material is 2Cr13. Four cavities of diameter 3.6 mm are drilled through the blade span at four locations, i.e. 15, 25, 50, and 70% of the chord length b, as shown in Fig. 1. One end of each cavity is plugged by plastic clay, and another end is attached to the narrow end of a funnel. A high-power loudspeaker of diameter 200 mm is attached by screw to the wide end of the funnel. The joints are sealed with silicone to prevent air from leakage. Inside the speaker, a piston is driven by electromagnetic force to move back and forth, sucking and blowing the air alternatively to generate a synthetic jet. The speaker is driven by a 500 W audio amplier (HuSan PB2500) which is driven by a function generator (GFG-813). The function generator was set to output a sine wave in the present study. Small holes for synthetic VGJs are drilled into the suction surface along four span-wise lines at 15, 25, 50, and 70% of the chord length. Each VGJ hole extends from the suction surface into the cavity at a pitch angle . The VGJ holes are

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Fig. 2 Time trace of jet velocity and speaker input voltage, fe = 100 Hz, P = 35 W, sine wave

Fig. 1 Drawing of the suction side with cavity and VGJ holes. a Full blade, b Cross-section of VGJ holes

0.8 mm in diameter (0.99% of b) and are spaced 5.0 mm (6.2% of b). Nine holes are in a line from 37.5 to 62.5% of span. The VGJ holes were separately drilled at 35 , 50 , 90 pitch angles for three test cases. Three test blades were needed. In fact, each test blade had a backup and there were six test blades totally. 2.3 Measurement and data processing Total pressure p 1 was measured by total pressure rake inside the stabilizing section. Static pressures were measured in 21 afore-cascade static pressure holes drilled in several passages located at the central part of the cascade and their area-averaged value was taken as the afore-cascade static pressure p1 . At the location 19 mm behind the cascade and 50% of the blade height, total pressures were measured at 28 points (the distance between consecutive points is 2 mm) by 3-hole steady probes of the model PS682A in the circumferential direction and within one pitch space, and their area-averaged value was taken as the post-cascade total pressure p 2 . Thus, the benet to the dynamic performance due to the synthetic VGJs with no mass addition is quantied by a total pressure loss coefcient. The conventional denition of loss coefcient for a blade passage is
= (p 1 p2 )/(p1 p1 ).

anemometer and data acquisition was implemented by the data acquisition system TSI-IFA300. Data were collected for 6.5536 s at a 40 kHz sampling rate (218 samples). All raw data were saved. The high sampling rate provides an essentially continuous signal and the long sampling time results in low uncertainty in statistical quantities. Inaccuracy in velocity measurement is estimated to be lower than 0.5 m/s. Typical variation of jet velocity versus time is shown in Fig. 2, in which the maximal velocity of the synthetic jet Vjet is about 83 m/s. Since one-dimensional anemometer was used, both the blowing velocity and reversal suction velocity are shown as positive value. For brevity, the experiment results about the effects of various parameters, such as excitation frequency, excitation intensity and excitation waveform, on the jet velocity will not be presented and discussed here. The detail, can be found in Ref. [12].

3 Results 3.1 Effect of excitation frequency and jet velocity In order to indicate the improvement of aerodynamic performance by synthetic VGJs, the relative reduction of loss coefcient versus the excitation frequency is shown in Fig. 3(a) for three pitch angles. Let us rst focus on the curve of = 35 . When the excitation frequency is 1,690 Hz, the prominent positive effect is obtained, and the maximum relative reduction of loss coefcient ( ) is 22.8%. In addition, aerodynamic performance is also improved when the excitation frequencies are 710 Hz and about 40 Hz although the positive effect decreases lightly. The inexions of the curve are at 710 Hz and 1,690 Hz and the positive effect decreases sharply at other excitation frequencies. The relations of ( ) ver-

The velocity of synthetic jets was measured at the narrow end of the funnel by a one-dimensional hot-wire

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Fig. 3 a The increase of loss coefcient versus frequency; b Jet velocity (and speaker impedance) versus frequency. Ma = 0.3, i = 10 , L = 0.7b

sus fe exhibit similar well-regulated variation in the cases of = 50 and 90 . However, the positive excitation effect decreases. When = 50 the positive effect is the smallest in the three cases. The effect of pitch angle will be further analyzed later. What is the reason behind the best excitation effect at 1,690 and 710 Hz? Figure 3(b) shows the peak velocity of the synthetic jet versus the excitation frequency. The strength of jet was measured at the VGJ output after the speaker was coupled to the blade. The dashed line is the speaker impedance versus frequency. It is well known that the maximum impedance is corresponding to the resonance frequency of the loudspeaker [12]. It is just at 710 and 1,690 Hz that there exist two resonance frequencies and the maximum jet velocity is obtained. At the resonance frequencies of 710 and 1,690 Hz, the are 0.495 and 0.53 (the relative excitation amplitudes A free-steam velocity is about 102 m/s), respectively. Correspondingly, the maximum positive effects are obtained at the resonance frequencies. The positive effect decreases rapidly (even no positive effect is obtained) at non-resonance frequencies where the jet velocity (or ) decreases. It is obvious that the jet velocity (or A ) A plays a signicant role and the jet velocity must be sufciently high to exceed a threshold value. The jet velocity instead of the frequency itself affects the control results. The frequency role can not be visualized in the present experiments since the jet velocity is dependent on the resonance characteristics of the loudspeaker. In order to investigate the frequency role, it is necessary to devise a uidic actuator, the jet velocity of which is independent on the frequency. Of course, optimal analysis of

individual parameters based on reliable numerical simulations is also an economical and effective method. Furthermore, the positive effect is also obvious within the low-frequency domain (about 40 Hz) although the = 0.33) is lower than that correspondjet velocity (A = 0.495) or 1,690 Hz (A = 0.53). ing to 710 Hz (A The authors would like to guess the underlying physical mechanism. Excitation at lower frequency would produce larger scale vortex-structures during the interaction between the jets and the main ow since the mass ux of jets is larger in each outward pulse. Larger scale vortex-structure generated by synthetic VGJs might increase the mixing of streamwise momentum more effectively. The main difference between steady methods (such as suction or blowing) and unsteady methods is that the excitation frequency plays a role on the separation control in the latter. Many researches show that the excitation frequency is correlated with the instability of shear layer. Zheng et al. [11] found that the optimal excitation frequency was nearly equal to the characteristic frequency of vortex shedding and the effective excitation frequency spaned a wide spectrum in axial compressor cascades. Wu et al. [13] showed that the largest lift increase was attained when the excitation frequency was half of the vortex shedding frequency over a poststall airfoil. Amitay et al. [14] investigated the effect of the actuation frequency on the coupling between the synthetic jets and the crossow over a stalled airfoil in detail and the experiment results showed that there were two distinct frequency bands in the response of the separated ow to the actuation. All of these researches indicated that the excitation frequency plays an important role. In particular, the ow in axial compressors is more complicated than the ow over an airfoil. All unsteady vortexes move randomly with different scales and frequencies and constitute a highly nonlinear multifrequencies system. There are more challenges and opportunities in investigating the essential role of excitation frequency by using synthetic VGJs in axial compressors, which is our next object. 3.2 Effect of excitation location Figure 4a illustrates the oil ow of unexcited case of Ma = 0.3 and i = 10 . The oil cumuli denote the separation region and the separation line is obvious at about 70%b. The boundary layer is turbulent from the leading edge since the Reynolds number on chord is up to 0.6 106 , surpassing the transition Reynolds number. Figure 4b shows the oil ow of typical excited case when the excitation location is at 0.7b, just at the separation line. By comparing Fig. 4a and b, it can be seen that the

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Fig. 4 Oil ow visualization a unexcited case and b excited case. = 0.495, L = 0.7b, = 35 , Ma = 0.3, i = 10 fe = 710 Hz, A

separation is eliminated entirely and the aerodynamic performance is improved. When the location is at the other three positions, no positive effect is obtained. It is obvious that the excitation location plays also an important role. We guess that the boundary layer close to the separation point is sensitive to external disturbances. Just around this specic local region, the boundary layer is receptive to unsteady excitations. The basic steady ow has a high velocity component upwards in the local region near the separation point, which will amplify the effect of any nonlinear streaming and thus make local oscillations an effective actuator in delaying the separation on the blade. This amplication mechanism, which cannot be found in attached ows, will enhance the primary entrainment and rolling-up coalescence inherent in boundary layer, resulting in a reduced separation region or even eliminating the separation entirely. 3.3 Effect of pitch angle The pitch angle effect on the performance has been given in Fig. 2. The further discussion is presented in this section. One of the effects of blade separation is signicant widening and deepening of the blade wake. Circumferential surveys of the downstream total pressure recover coefcient distribution across the blade pitch are used as an indicator of the degree of this separation and the improvement by excitation. The comparison between unexcited ow wake and excited ow wake for the three pitch angles is shown in Fig. 5. The loss due to the viscous dissipation and the separation is serious in the case of large incidence (i = 10 ). The increase of total pressure by synthetic VGJs occurs only in the

Fig. 5 Wake total pressure recover coefcient for the three pitch = 0.495, angle a = 35 , b = 50 , and c = 90 . fe = 710 Hz, A L = 0.7b, Ma = 0.3, i = 10

boundary layer on the blade suction side, whereas the main ow and the boundary layer on the blade pressure side exhibit little change. Synthetic VGJs generate streamwise vortices to interact with the main ow and enhance cross-stream mixing [6]. The strength of the streamwise vortices plays a key role and is a strong function of the jet velocity and the pitch angle. The vortex is strongest at = 35 and weakest at = 50 . The stronger the vortex, the better the positive effect. VGJs are typically congured with a low pitch angle (30 45 ) and aggressive skew angle (45 90 ) [7]. However, the positive effect is also obvious at = 90 by using synthetic VGJs although the

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Fig. 6 Wake total pressure recover coefcient at Ma = 0.7. = 0.47, L = 0.7b, i = 10 = 35 , fe = 710 Hz, A

positive effect is slightly weaker than that of = 35 , at least in our experiment. 3.4 Effect of compressibility The experiments are mostly conducted at Ma = 0.3. In order to investigate the effect of compressibility, a few additional experiments were also carried out at Ma = 0.5 and 0.7. Figure 6 presents the comparison between unexcited ow wake and excited ow wake at Ma = 0.7. Even the Mach number is up to 0.7, which is near the real velocity at blade-root of high-pressure compressor, the positive effect is also obtained, and the relative reduction of loss coefcient ( ) is 5.1%. Compared with the condition of Ma = 0.3 (see Fig. 5a, the ( ) is 18%), the positive effect decreases moderately at decreases Ma = 0.7. The relative excitation amplitude A from 0.495 to 0.21 when the main ow velocity increases from about 102 m/s (Ma = 0.3) to 238 m/s (Ma = 0.7). It could be predicted that the positive effect would be larger with higher jet velocity. In addition, the widening and deepening of the wake at high Mach number lead to the increase of loss coefcient, which is another reason that the relative reduction of loss coefcient decreases at high Mach number.

dynamic performance can be substantially increased and the maximum relative reduction of loss coefcient is 22.8%. The separation is almost eliminated and the total pressure recovery coefcient is enhanced only in boundary layer on the blade suction side instead of an entire improvement along the pitch space. The role of some parameters, such as excitation frequency, amplitude, location, and pitch angle, are studied at Ma = 0.3. Unfortunately, the role of excitation frequency is not demonstrated since the jet velocity is dependent on the frequency in the present experiment. The positive effect is obtained at the resonance frequency of loudspeaker where the jet velocity is maximal and exceeds the threshold. The results show that the jet amplitude plays an important role. In order to investigate the role of frequency and take advantage of an instability mechanism, it is necessary to devise a new uidic actuator, the jet velocity of which is independent on the frequency. The test were carried out at four excitation locations, i.e. L = 15, 25, 50, 70%b, and positive effect was obtained at L = 70%b only where the incipient ow separation occurred. The positive effect reaches the maximaum at = 35 and the minimum at = 50 in the three cases of pitch angle with respect to the main ow (i.e., 35 , 50 , 90 ). The effect of compressibility was also investigated. Even when the Mach number is up to 0.7, which is near the real velocity at blade-root of high-pressure compressor, positive effect is also obtained, and the relative reduction of loss coefcient is 5.1%. It can be predicted that the positive effect would be larger with higher jet velocity. These results lead the authors to conclude that the application of the synthetic vortex generator jets for the separation control on axial compressor blades shows great promise.
Acknowledgments The authors are deeply grateful to Jian Cui, Yang Gu, Zhiwei Liu, Shenghong Peng, Hui Wang, Jian Yang, Hong Li, and the entire 301SB crew at the China Gas Turbine Establishment for their efforts to make this experiment possible. The author Xinqian Zheng would also like to thank Prof. Yajun Lu, Qiushi Li, Wei Yuan and Liyun Ren for their great support. In addition, this works are greatly supported by National Key Laboratory of Diesel Engine Turbochargering Technology.

4 Conclusions Active separation control is successfully demonstrated on axial ow compressor blades by using synthetic vortex generator jets. The experiments were performed in a high-speed plane cascade wind tunnel by using a typical blade-root shape under high-loading conditions (i = 10 ), where the separation from the suction side of the blade occurred at about 70% of chord length from the leading edge. The experiment results show that the aeroReferences
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