Combined Flow Control Strategy Investigation for Corner Separation and Mid-Span Boundary Layer Separation in a High-Turning Compressor Cascade

Abstract

To comprehensively control the corner separation and mid-span boundary layer (BL) separation, this study proposed and evaluated two new flow control configurations. One is a slotted configuration composed of blade-end and whole-span slots, and the other is a combined configuration with end-wall BL suction and whole-span slot. Additionally, the adaptability of the combined configuration to the lower blade solidity (c/t) condition was verified. The results indicate that both the slotted configuration and combined configuration can eliminate the mid-span BL separation, but a better reduction in the corner separation can be observed in the combined configuration. The two configurations can remove the concentrated shedding vortex and reduce the passage vortex (PV) for the datum cascade, but the wall vortex (WV) will be generated. By contrast, the combined configuration has weaker WV and PV than the slotted configuration, which contributes to further reducing the corner separation. In the combined configuration with a c/t of 1.66 and 1.36, the total pressure loss is reduced by 38.4% and 42.1%, respectively, on average, while the averaged static pressure rise coefficient is increased by 16.2% and 17.6%, respectively. This is advantageous for enhancing the working stability and pressure diffusion capacity for compressors. Besides this, the combined configuration with lower c/t can achieve a stronger pressure diffusion capacity and smaller loss than the higher c/t datum cascade. Therefore, the combined configuration is advantageous to the improvement of the aero-engine thrust-to-weight ratio through decreasing the compressor single-stage blade number.